US operator Cingular, always out to please customers, has decided to charge the 8% of its customers still using analog phones $5 a month for the privilige of being out of date. According to analysts, Cingular will re-coup some $23 million a month via this analog tax, offsetting the cost of maintaining the old network while it invests in its newer digital networks.

Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation put it well in his interview with Marketplace Radio on the issue:

"If they really want to migrate people off of analog, they would bribe them instead of punishing them...by giving those with old phones new ones as a thanks for loyalty."

That, of course, would be out of step with the operator mentality.