UNLIMITED CELL MINUTES FOR $100 - Cell Phone Wars Heat Up!
DATELINE: OCTOBER 13, 1983. AT SOLDIER FIELD IN CHICAGO, SPORTS ANNOUNCING LEGEND JACK BRICKHOUSE CALLS A VERY SPECIAL FOOT-RACE - WHO WOULD BE THE FIRST COMMERCIAL MOBILE PHONE CUSTOMER IN THE U.S.?
It's been over 25 Years since those old, shoe box-sized, two-handed mobile phones made their way to the American scene - right here in Chicago, believe it or not! New cell technology, developed by Bell Laboratories in suburban Naperville IL, increase fifty-fold, to 100,000, the number of wireless calls users can place every hour!
Originally, the "Car Phone" was a gadget for the rich - or those poor folks who just wanted to show off, for a hefty price tag. The original cell phones cost upwards of $3,000 - in 1983 dollars - for the hardware. Per-minute charges exceeded 65-cents, plus tax, plus roaming charges if you traveled anywhere outside the Chicago Metro Area. Inter-area roaming agreements, and free nationwide long distance, weren't even thought of way back then!
How times have changed!
Today, national wireless provider Verizon Wireless announced an unlimited calling, unlimited long distance plan for $99.99 per month. AT & T Wireless quickly followed suit. T-Mobile's plan, beginning on Thursday, February 21st, includes unlimited text messaging as well. Sprint, including Nextel, who has been testing an unlimited call, long distance, text, and data plan in several markets across the U.S,, for a monthly fee of $119.99, is expected to expand that program as well - but they have yet to commit, or set a date.
At this point, mainly mega-users (including most real estate agents here in Chicago, and elsewhere) will benefit from the new program. But, as more globally accepted, could really put the land-line phone, with it's myriad of charges for virtually every add-on service, at a serious competitive disadvantage.
See today's articles about the new Unlimited Cell Phone Plans in today's Chicago Tribune and The Wall Street Journal.
Yours truly, an avid 3,500 minute per month cell phone user, will be watching closely!
Hold the phone!
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
