Why is mobile comm's "pants" ?

Ok, I admit it - I am a grumpy (getting older) man... but some things need airing.

I tried to have a call with my boss yesterday whilst driving (hands-free of course). He was in a car too and we both knew there was little chance of it lasting long enough to be of any use - sure enough we did not have "that all important call" when it was needed. In fact it was very short lived.

It caused me to reflect back to the early 90's when I was fortunate enough to have a mobile phone - well, "transportbale" really as it was  plumbed in to my car. Analogue technology of course but it worked remarkably well even by today's standards - it didn't drop calls and the interference was usually temporary so the call could continue with minimal impact. With all things moving digital and the apparent benefits to this I still wonder why I cannot have a conversation in my car/on the train/even on foot in certaiun locations - it's simply pants!!*?#@%!!

I know enough people in the industry/academia with in-depth knowledge of how all the technologies and the systems knit together hence I can readily get to the technical explanation - but that is not what I'm after... the technology should just work as it was intended.

The UK is a world leader in communications technologies so I frustrate... its a pity we don't have enough of the infrastructure & capacity in place to benefit us as it clearly hurts the national and local economies. Don't get me started on Broadband... pants!

On a brighter note... the guys at Nuel (and here too) seem to want to do something about it... so I'll be watching their progress carefully as they're talking the language I want to hear. Aside from that, the UK needs to get moving faster on this issue if we want to remain competitive.

Rant over - feeling of universe balance beeing restored.