By February 18th of this year, all U.S. mobile operators will have turned off all analog services and switched to purely digital offerings.

"This will affect only a tiny fraction of wireless phone users in America - though I suspect a few wireless users in rural areas will find they've dropped off the map overnight," writes the Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro.

The real issue, Pegoraro notes, will be with hardware like home alarms and vehicle assistance systems - many car owners in particular are likely to be furious.

"We're not just talking about 10-year-old vehicles - Lexus kept selling analog-only versions of its Lexus Link system until 2004, GM was building analog-only OnStar hardware as late as 2005, and some Mercedes-Benz cars - even the $300,000-and-way-up Maybach - shipped with analog-only TeleAid systems last year," Pegoraro writes.

More here from InformationWeek ... and more here from the Associated Press.