Another area where Europeans appear to be making progress is in their accessibility to and use of the latest digital services. Consider that you can go to nearly any service provider, at least here in Switzerland where I'm presently located, and get your hands on a triband phone. Such handsets operate on all three GSM frequencies -- 900/1800/1900 MHz -- and as such are suitable for use in the US and Canada, as well as most of Europe and parts of Africa, Asia and Australia. However, life isn't perfect, even in the US you'll find that GSM coverage can be spotty, not to speak of broad coverage holes in less developed countries. Nevertheless, if your travels are restricted to major metropolitan areas, you can finally count on having a truly global unit. That in itself is an amazing feat for which we've been waiting a long, long time.

And now over here we're hearing about the widespread deployment of GPRS, which adds always-on data connections at a somewhat modest serial data rate. Still, for the amount of data you'll view on the display of a cell phone, that's generally plenty of bandwidth.

But when you think of us sitting here in Europe, don't get too jealous quite yet. According to recent reports, we're about to experience some growing pains. The existing networks aren't equipped to handle all the traffic that a combination voice/data network might carry, so infrastructure vendors find it necessary to upgrade their equipment with PBCCH (packet broadcast control channel) technology. However, the necessary handsets are only starting to arrive in volume.

First, though, a few words about PBCCH, very few words. I've spent many hours on the web trying to find out exactly, from a technical standpoint, what it is that allows PBCCH to increase capacity. I've downloaded a number of technical papers and found definitions (PBCCH is a unidirectional point-to-multipoint signaling channel from the base station subsystem to the mobile stations; it broadcasts specific info about the organization of the GPRS network to all GPRS mobile stations of a cell). However, this info still doesn't help me understand why PBCCH is so necessary. Even conversations with some leading industry observers resulted only in the suggestion that I get in touch with the infrastructure providers to get the hard details, and my emails to such companies, as of this writing, remain unanswered. So if there are any GPRS gurus reading this article who can clue me into what's going on from a technology standpoint, I'd be very grateful (email: PGSchreier@AmitechMarketing.com).

So in Switzerland we've got a situation where a handset you just purchased might be obsolete in the near future - seriously. Indeed, infrastructure upgrades to take on PBCCH capabilities are coming in the next months. (As an aside, it's interesting to note that already in late 2000 Sunrise was the first service provider in this country to offer GPRS, but that company opted not to publicize the service very much at all, perhaps in anticipation of this compatibility issue and also because of the lack of handsets supporting GPRS. Also interesting, the major competitors, specifically Orange and Swisscom, decided to hold off on their introductions of a GPRS network. That decision to not lead the market might have proven very wise because they don't have to worry about explaining to customers why they must get their handsets updated.)

Local newspaper stories have been giving a rundown on what to expect with "older" handsets from the major players. Motorola is reported to say that it has no problems, and even its initial GPRS units can deal with PBCCH. Nokia requires updates on only selected models, while most of its GPRS units also deal with PBCCH without problems. Siemens reportedly won't deliver mobile phones with PBCCH-compatible software until this spring, but owners of older units won't necessarily have to bring their handys to a service center and instead should be able to download the software and perform an update themselves. Sony/Ericsson units currently don't have PBCCH support, but when those firms get the necessary updates ready, users will need to bring their units to a service center for a free update that should require only a few minutes. Finally, Panasonic and Samsung don't offer GPRS handsets on the Swiss market, although it appears that their planned introductions into this market should be compatible.

Confused? If so, here's an executive summary: GPRS networks are starting to appear. Service providers find it necessary to upgrade their infrastructure with services that aren't necessarily compatible with the first round of GPRS handsets. In many cases it's necessary for users to take their handsets in for a field upgrade.

That's not going to make very many of these initial adopters very happy. In fact, depending on their level of technical expertise and what branch of business they're involved in, they might not be paying attention to such matters and even be aware of the upcoming problem. Instead, for many unlucky users who thought they were on the leading edge, one day soon their handsets will simply stop working.