Try making a call on an iPhone in Midtown Manhattan, which is hardly a 'desolate wasteland'

Midtown Manhattan may have capacity problems, too many callers and not enough towers. But dropping calls in Queens at 7 AM, now that is too much (no iPhone, I might add, but good old Nokia, that has seen its first dropped call there. But yes, roaming in AT&T network).

The point of the article was that a confluence of factors come together to reduce the effectiveness of cell phone calls, not that the Cell signal results in failed calls each time. Though, that does certainly seem to be a problem in many areas of Redwood City, CA - which is clearly not in the "Desolate Wasteland" class.

Are these factors new, though? Because for a while there, cellphones seemed to be a working technology.

I have never experienced a failed call and neither had I ever heard that it is a possibility until just now.