telephone Archives - Bredemarket

What is the Frequency: African Mobile Internet Usage

Mobile internet coverage in Africa is one thing. African mobile internet usage is another. And the latter is lacking.

The 1990s game of leapfrog in Africa

I grew up in the United States of America, where phone landlines were built first and mobile phone connectivity followed.

But I observed something different on a 1997 business trip to South Africa.

Mobile internet coverage in Africa. Google Gemini.

Freshely freed from apartheid, South Africa was still impoverished, with many citizens not having phone service. Rather than build landlines out, one township skipped right to cell phones. Much lower infrastructure costs and much more rapid deployment.

The 2020s conflict between coverage and usage

Afterwards, old fashioned cell phones gave way to smartphones, providing immense power in the palm of your hand.

Theoretically.

Lack of mobile internet usage in Africa. 906 million people have connectivity but don't have smartphones. Google Gemini. — Lack of African mobile internet usage. 906 million people have connectivity but don’t have smartphones. Google Gemini.

Biometric Update reports on a “roadmap” issued by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA). and the Partnership for Digital Access in Africa (PDAA). The roadmap cited good news and bad news.

The good news: in 2025, the majority of people in Africa had access to broadband mobile internet.
The bad news: 906 million of those people, of 60% of the population, were not using mobile internet in 2025. This locked them out of many digital services.

GSMA and PDAA urge several solutions, including making smartphones more affordable, providing training in “digital skills,” and making sure the network is at 4G/5G levels (some areas only have 2G/3G).

And if your company has a solution that you need to communicate to your prospects, learn about Bredemarket’s content-proposal-analysis services at https://bredemarket.com/watch-book/.

Revised 10/28/2026.

24/7 Bot Answering Service

A little after 8:30 this evening, our central air conditioning started making a whining noise.

I turned the temperature up to shut the air off, then we called the service number on the magnet attached to the unit.

Even at the late hour, someone at the air conditioning service answered the phone.

I held a conversation with the person and scheduled a service appointment, but I couldn’t help but notice the unusual manner of speech.

The overly formal phrasing.
The momentary confusion when I spoke over him.
The odd stutter when repeating our street address—the number “6” sounded like “66.”

That’s when I realized I was speaking to a bot.

The conversation was good enough, although I still have to see if a technician shows up at the appointed time.

And yes, someone lost a job due to AI, but how much value add would a human provide at 8:30 at night?

I’m Not a Small Business, Monday Edition

The advertised telephone number for Bredemarket is a free service.

Which is just as well, because over 90% of the calls on that line are from companies that ask if they can speak to the owner, and then tell me how much business I’m losing because my Google Business listing isn’t active.

Never mind that the advertised address for Bredemarket is a small mailbox, but I digress.

They NEVER remove me from their calling lists, despite repeated requests. Scumbags.

But those are about the only calls that line receives. (My clients have my REAL number, but they usually contact me by email and Slack anyway.)

So the voice line is a necessary nuisance. Perhaps a small business could use it profitably, but Bredemarket is too small to be what vendors consider a “small business.”

This morning I actually received a LEGITIMATE call on this telephone line…

…from a company offering a paid telephone service. Their representative would be in my area, and they wanted to meet.

I respectfully declined the company’s offer. Among other reasons, neither of us would fit in my mailbox.

Speaking of the Good Old Days…

“What’s this? My phone number? My Social Security number? My driver’s license?”

Call Centers and the United States

I belatedly learned about Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr’s proposals regarding call centers. But it’s important to note that there are three different proposals, each with different impacts.

“First, the FCC will vote on reforms that can encourage businesses to bring call center jobs back the U.S.”
“Second, the FCC will explore ways to improve customer service at existing call centers, including a proposal to require call takers to be proficient in American Standard English.”
“Third, the FCC will address illegal robocalls that originate abroad by seeking comment on the targeted use of tariffs or bonds.”

Americans

Regarding those prized call center jobs that Americans hunger to fulfill so much, will the “reforms” include the abolition of the national $7.25 an hour minimum wage to make U.S.-based call center positions more attractive to employers? Well, employers in states that don’t have a higher minimum wage, anyway. Because call center jobs are a prime example of the jobs that Americans DON’T want to do. They’re worse than the data labeler jobs that require you to watch adult content.

English

Plus, many of these $7.25 an hour minimum wage states are in places where “American Standard English” is not widely spoken. Take Georgia and Oklahoma, each of which have a state minimum wage of $5.15, but that wage is overridden by the higher federal level.

Will the FCC consider Okie Talk as American Standard English?

How To Talk Like an Okie.

Or will companies be required to import Yankees to make those calls? And offer unsweet tea options in the break room?

Robocalls

Which brings us to robocalls. Most people hate robocalls. (My secret: when someone from a random number calls me about my Google business listing, I immediately turn on call recording and the accompanying announcement. That shuts them up.)

But when thinking about possible ways to battle robocalls, the first answer that doesn’t come to mind is tariffs. That’s about as effective as…well, tariffs. Ask Jack Daniels and Jim Beam how tariffs have worked out for them.

Of course, both companies could solve their income problems by setting up call centers to call Americans, in American Standard English, and urge them to buy American…

…well, except that both Jack Daniels and Jim Beam are age restricted products, which makes calling somewhat difficult. I don’t think ANY company is pioneering age estimation by voice.

From Flip Phone to Smartphone to No Phone?

I remember the first time I saw someone talking to himself.

I was working in Motorola’s Anaheim office at the time. For those of you who remember the “triangle” office, I was walking down the hall from the factory floor to the lunchroom. And there was someone I didn’t recognize walking the other way down the hall, talking to himself.

Or at least it looked like it.

In reality, he had an earpiece in his ear which could also pick up his voice, and he was talking on his phone. The phone was presumably tucked away in a pocket and couldn’t be seen, so if you didn’t see the earpiece, you’d assume that he was talking to himself.

This was probably in the middle of my time at Motorola (2000-2009), and smartphones hadn’t really taken off yet. Perhaps the guy was using a smartphone, but my guess is that he had a good old flip phone.

If he had a smartphone, he’d be looking at it.

While I happen to be typing this post on a laptop, I just as easily could have typed it on my smartphone. Those devices are so prominent today.

But ZDNET asserts that smartphones will go away.

“Right now, mobile phones are the main hub of our personal device ecosystem. But as AI integrates into glasses, rings, headphones, and portable form factors, we could see our very own handsets step off center stage, and these wearable devices take their place.”

ZDNET’s assertion appears in article about Qualcomm, a leading manufacturer of the chips that drive these newer wearable devices. These new chips offer greater computing (seven times faster), less power demand, and therefore longer battery life (coupled with the ability to charge up to 50% in 10 minutes).

With these more powerful wearables, ZDNET anticipates that the wearables will become less of a smartphone accessory and more of a smartphone replacement.

But if the smartphones go away, then my future blog posts will be written as I walk down the hall.

Talking to myself.