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Say what you want, and he certainly said a lot, but even with recent advances in cell phones here in the U.S., I am still using a phone that would be laughed at as out-of-date if I were to wip it out in China.

As for signal quality, the U.S. is the worst by far. On this point, no matter what technology advances the author talks about are mute points. You can have the best system in the world "called Code Division Multiple Access, or CDMA" and if you can't pick up a signal you might as well toss the phone.

No where in the world do I experience the lousy signal that I do here in the U.S. Even in the interior cities of China I can hold a signal on an elevator ride up seven floors (granted, by the 7th floor I am holding the antenna closer to where the doors part). In the U.S. you better pull over if you call is clear.

I laugh every time I hear a Talk Show host say, I'm sorry, your cell phone is breaking up. I could call that same show on my cell phone from under the Hong Kong harbor (literally) or from anywhere in Mainland China, Australia or Europe and the host would think I was in the next room.

Other major failings in the U.S. are the lack of a sim card that can be switched from phone to phone.

-How many times have I used my card in a coworkers friend because my battery went dead (even switching between brands).

-Go to Hong Kong or Australia and you can buy a cell phone phone card. Just punch out a little card board sim card, slap it in your phone, dial a toll free number and you are assigned a phone number for 3 months or until your paid for service is used up - all with your own phone (phones for the U.S. excluded, they are not on GSM).

-Finally, and once again, the U.S. is on a different system than everyone else. Pay a ton for a phone here and it won't work anywhere else in the world.

Maybe the last point will change if as the author say Europe is rushing to the new system. But for now, the differences in the U.S. cell phone service all suck.

No where in the world do I experience the lousy signal that I do here in the U.S.

Sounds like you are on the b-band cellular side in analog mode (you DID admit to having an old phone) ...

Believe it or not, there are actually markets where you can carry a call around and across town. There are also some well-known bad areas, although if the carrier is worth their salt those are cleared up in a year or so (the system optimization/performance engineers can see the stats for dropped calls in the cells/sectors where 'drops' are a problem and recommend improvements like a microcell and budget it for the next year).