I got an Idea from a post that was on XOC earlier (but for some reason was deleted) that revolved around Analagou Cell Phones for areas with notoriously bad coverage. Some one was talking about how they were getting great analogue service in the vast Appalachia of Virginia and North Carolina with one of the old-school motorolas, like the kind that came in those big-ass bags or the ones where you just mounted the handset to your car. Does anyone know of any plans for those phones? Do they still even make them? It'd be nice to have a second phone for emergencies or brief local calls when my Nextel loses service the second I get on I-81...

The last phone I got was a tri-mode phone for this exact reason (includes analog capability). I can get an analog signal in many places in the Catskills but not a digital signal.

The cell companies are really pushing the digital phones, though, and they may be phasing out their analog service.

Simply because you can run more conversations on the same signal if it's digital. Analog requires a dedicated bandwidth for the duration of that call.