“Americans’ use of cellphones has increased so quickly that wireless networks are becoming overloaded, causing a growing number of customers to complain about calls that are inaudible or are cut off or are never connected in the first place.

And things could get worse before they get better, industry experts say, because even as cellphone companies are rolling out fancy features like digital photography and Internet-based games, they are hard-pressed to spend the money needed to improve basic service.” NY Times

I saw evidence of this firsthand this weekend, when I spent an inordinate length of time at the repair counter of my cellular provider’s local storefront while they replaced the broken antenna on my phone. They’ve gone to a new antenna design, the tech explained; this was presumably to stop them from breaking as readily. Unfortunately, it was also responsible for his 20-minute struggle to reassemble the phone after instaling the new antenna mount. That’s beside the point, though. While I was there, I listened to any number of cellular customers coming to the technical support counter complaining that their reception sounds like they’re underwater. There must be something in it for the support personnel to maintain the fiction that the network is okay, because they gamely examined every complainant’s phone, tweaking some and replacing others, and in any case reassuring everyone that everything will be fine.