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Cellular Phone Forum / Providers / Alltel / September 2004New to Alltel in SC...sure is quiet here.
Wow, after coming off the Verizon newsgroup listening to the copious stories of wonderful connections and fantastic customer service screwing them out of their money, this Alltel group sure is quiet! I've ported my Verizon Motorola V60i to Alltel, painlessly it seems. This is the same V60i that was always to blame for the CDMA incoming call sounding like we were standing on the bottom of the swimming pool, talking underwater. Oddly enough, when signal levels on the phone's test pages show the Alltel signal is below -95 dBm, Alltel's Charleston, SC equipment just goes ahead and provides a great call. Charleston's Verizon system, bought up from Cellular One by GTE a long time ago, would NEVER provide a useful phone call below -95 dBm on this SAME phone's signal. Thank you, Alltel! Sure is quiet, here...... >Wow, after coming off the Verizon newsgroup listening to the copious >stories of wonderful connections and fantastic customer service screwing >them out of their money, this Alltel group sure is quiet! We don't have much to complain about. When I call customer service (it is rare), they are friendly and respectful. >I've ported my Verizon Motorola V60i to Alltel, painlessly it seems. This >is the same V60i that was always to blame for the CDMA incoming call [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > >Thank you, Alltel! Just to keep it in perspective ... my daughter has Alltel and her roommate Verizon. In the house they are in in Mt Pleasant (your "neck of the woods"), her signal strength is poor, and her roommates Verizon is very good. TINSTAAFL. >Sure is quiet, here...... and here in Greenville. I am here in North Florida the capital area where the Signal Sucks from Alltel. All CS can tell me is that I am in a fringe area. Even thou I drop calls in downtown Tally. All quite here to. Griff >>Wow, after coming off the Verizon newsgroup listening to the copious >>stories of wonderful connections and fantastic customer service screwing [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > and here in Greenville. >Just to keep it in perspective ... my daughter has Alltel and her >roommate Verizon. In the house they are in in Mt Pleasant (your "neck [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >and here in Greenville. Have you found many dead spots in Greenville county, particularly from Mauldin south? >>Just to keep it in perspective ... my daughter has Alltel and her >>roommate Verizon. In the house they are in in Mt Pleasant (your "neck [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >Have you found many dead spots in Greenville county, particularly from >Mauldin south? None. I frequently am in Donaldson, and Fountain Inn (at I385) and both are fine ... of course, everyone is fine on the interstates. I used to go ot Woodruff (south part) and had trouble there, but that was 2+ years back ... haven't been there recently. >>Have you found many dead spots in Greenville county, particularly from >>Mauldin south? > >None. I frequently am in Donaldson, and Fountain Inn (at I385) and >both are fine ... of course, everyone is fine on the interstates. I thought FI would be fine. I drive by Alltel's tower all the time near the old Kemit FI plant. VZW's site is across 385, behind Bi-Lo. I'm particularly concerned about the Fairview Road/SC 418 area near Fork Shoals. Everyone who has come to my home with a cell phone (AT&T, Cingular, VZW, SPCS) has problems here. Alltel, Cingular, and VZW all have sites within 2 miles of here. I frequently hit a Seneca tower (yes, Seneca), when VZW's closest tower is only 1.75 miles west of me at Fork Shoals Rd and 418. Topographic maps of this area seem to indicate I live in a small valley. Since Alltel's tower is in the opposite direction, I am hopeful I can hit it better than the VZW tower. When I get down into Laurens County, you would think it would be worse, since it's less populated there. But I've driven all over that county and never had a problem with VZW. Of course, the land kind of flattens out by the time you get that far down 385. >I used to go ot Woodruff (south part) and had trouble there Well, that's what you get for going to Woodruff.:) Thanks for the input. I'll see if I can borrow someone's Alltel phone and make a test run down 418 to Pelzer, down SC20 to Belton, back up 247 to US25, then down to US76 to Hickory Tavern. I think that would be the ultimate "boonies" test for this area. >I'm particularly concerned about the Fairview Road/SC 418 area near >Fork Shoals. Everyone who has come to my home with a cell phone >(AT&T, Cingular, VZW, SPCS) has problems here. Alltel, Cingular, and >VZW all have sites within 2 miles of here. Not much help, but if I hadn't received a call from a gur wanting to see ma ASAP, I was going to ride that way. I went down 385 to 418, hopped off (away from FI) to the access road, went to Faurecia ... solid signal, BUT the SID hopped between 116 (Alltel Greenville) and 1640 (Alltel Laurens) ... both with similar "4 bar" signals. I didn't take hard dB comparisons. >Thanks for the input. I'll see if I can borrow someone's Alltel phone >and make a test run down 418 to Pelzer, down SC20 to Belton, back up >247 to US25, then down to US76 to Hickory Tavern. I think that would >be the ultimate "boonies" test for this area. In Belton (at HydroAluminum Wells), I had excellent signal. >Wow, after coming off the Verizon newsgroup listening to the copious >stories of wonderful connections and fantastic customer service screwing [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > >Sure is quiet, here...... Don't worry, Larry. With the pathetic offering of VZW phones, I will probably wind up with Alltel by year's end. I will miss the 2 chairs, though.;-) > Don't worry, Larry. With the pathetic offering of VZW phones, I will > probably wind up with Alltel by year's end. I will miss the 2 chairs, > though.;-) Oh, now that takes some getting used to. The main Alltel store in Charleston has a customer lounge! I had flashbacks of my beloved Cellular One of Charleston, where the customers were treated with respect and appreciated, not standing on a blank floor waiting for someone to say something.....like Verizon. Thanks for all the other posters. I thought this newsgroup was dead. Just as with Verizon and Sprint, Alltel needs the FCC to come along with a good "Proof of Performance" test standard across their licensed areas, finding the deficiencies and imposing heavy fines until they all get back to sharing resources or building out more towers. $10K/day/occurance they ALL understand....(c; Then, the FTC needs to start doing ITS job imposing heavy fines until the carriers produce REAL coverage maps showing primary, secondary, fringe and no-service areas....well, until they get tired of being fined by the FCC and show the shared resources on these TRUE maps.... We can do that....IT'S OUR AIRWAVES, NOT THEIRS.... >> Don't worry, Larry. With the pathetic offering of VZW phones, I will >> probably wind up with Alltel by year's end. I will miss the 2 chairs, >> though.;-) > >Oh, now that takes some getting used to. The main Alltel store in >Charleston has a customer lounge! I'm thinking my local VZW store must have stolen them from Alltel, as their local store has no chairs. But then, I hardly ever see anyone in there. >Just as with Verizon and Sprint, Alltel needs the FCC to come along with a >good "Proof of Performance" test standard across their licensed areas, >finding the deficiencies and imposing heavy fines until they all get back >to sharing resources or building out more towers. Not much chance that'll happen under the current FCC Commissioner. >>Just as with Verizon and Sprint, Alltel needs the FCC to come along >>with a good "Proof of Performance" test standard across their licensed >>areas, finding the deficiencies and imposing heavy fines until they >>all get back to sharing resources or building out more towers. > > Not much chance that'll happen under the current FCC Commissioner. Just dreaming. The lawyers running the FCC are all the lapdogs of big business, now. I long for the days when the ENGINEERS ran the FCC, those stoic, old fogies from the major engineering universities like MIT that kept the airwaves clean of smut and the commercials to 10 minutes an hour.....(sigh). Remember when broadcasting had actual PROGRAMS on it? alt.binaries.sounds.radio.oldtime (c; Larry, Figured if anyone knew, you might. I was in Punta Gorda for the couple of weeks after the hurricane and as expected cellular service was pretty iffy. A lot of times digital dropped, but a nice 3-5 bar analog one would pop up. I was never able to make a call on it, though, using my toy phone. Shouldn't any of the Alltel PRL's allowed us to roam onto the analog signal? My personal one is a Total Freedom and I think the company ones are as well. I almost activated an old analog Microtac, but didn't have a chance before the signal became a little more normal due to repairs and generators being setup. Would not have minded having one of your bag phones! Separately, do you have any experience with the Signal Reach rf amps for 850/1900? Thanks!  SignatureThomas M. Goethe > Larry, > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > more normal due to repairs and generators being setup. Would not have > minded having one of your bag phones! There's no reason your phone shouldn't work on AMPS. I don't wanna sound like the CSRs, but I'd be tempted to see if, in fact, the bench tech could make it work on AMPS, which he can force it into on the test equipment. After a major storm, however, anything goes. They may have had an AMPS transmitter working and dead receivers, on that cell. > Separately, do you have any experience with the Signal Reach rf > amps for > 850/1900? I have a Cell Antenna DA4000 3w (800)/2w (1900) bidirectional linear amp. It's probably nearly the same. CDMA will simply turn down your phone 20 more dB, if you add a 20 dB amp in range, making no difference at all. The signals MUST be fairly leveled to make CDMA share a channel, I suspect, or the strong ones will simply blank the receivers to the weak ones, which may be happening, anyway, when you are the fringe station. The amp does make a big difference out in the boonies away from the towers in the flat country I live in. In the mountains, I don't think it made much difference as the multipath (like TV ghosting) signals just tore up the data at any distance from a tower. This is one reason they have to run the data SO slow (8 or 11 Khz) on the codecs. The faster the data on an RF link, the more percentage of a pulse the multipath reflections off mountains, buildings, towers, airplanes causes data errors. So, the amps are a mixed bag (no pun with bagphones on AMPS which don't suffer from multipath except a little fading you can easily find a hotspot for). If their CDMA was down, I'm sure the system OVERLOAD was just amazing. Panicy people frantically all calling at once, the few AMPS channels LEFT after most of the channels had been confiscated for CDMA service, all would contribute to far greater overload, too. You toyphone was trying to get the system's attention just like the other 8,297 toyphones also screaming for service on AMPS......The strongest signal always wins. "Power is our friend", to quote an old paging buddy of mine...(c; > > Larry, > > [quoted text clipped - 47 lines] > for service on AMPS......The strongest signal always wins. "Power is our > friend", to quote an old paging buddy of mine...(c; Ah, if power wins, then I might be a leg up with the amp for the next one (which I hope heads for Iceland rather than FL or the Carolinas). I did notice a substantial insertion loss on receive with the amp when it is power down, but it brings up all the way back up when the power goes on. I think that is the same amp. I got mine from Canyon River, same model number and judging from the Cell Antenna site, the same amp. I suspect the lack of analog service was the system as we had a bunch of people there with the same issue. I didn't think to do a force analog, though. That might have helped as the phones were clearly trying to stay digital at all costs. Battery life was really bad and, of course, we stopped buying the desktop chargers and spare batteries. I didn't, but the company did. I haven't had a chance to try the amp on my PC 5220 VZW data card, am interested in whether that works or not. Thanks for the advice!! SignatureThomas M. Goethe > Ah, if power wins, then I might be a leg up with the amp for the > next [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > same model number and judging from the Cell Antenna site, the same > amp. IF the amp is inline with the antenna it MUST be running! Otherwise, you are receiving and transmitting through DEAD AMPLIFIERS. This isn't a PTT CB radio set. All the transmitted RF goes straight to the power amps and all the receive signals go straight to the receiver preamps. The on-off switch bypasses NOTHING and there is no T-R relay. There are duplexers on both ends of the amp that direct the signals to the proper devices, whether the amps, themselves, are on or off. > I suspect the lack of analog service was the system as we had a > bunch of [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > we stopped buying the desktop chargers and spare batteries. I didn't, > but the company did. Yes, the phones will hang on to a way-too-weak, high-revenue-producing digital signal as if their very lives depended on them. That's by design, of course, which makes a digital phone fairly useless in the fringe. > I haven't had a chance to try the amp on my PC 5220 VZW data card, > am > interested in whether that works or not. There's no "switching" that would block the fast data switching. The amps are full duplex, all the time. But they must be left ON. I'm still trying to figure out what the idiots put a power switch on there for. These things draw about as much idle (receiving) current as the car clock....(c; > IF the amp is inline with the antenna it MUST be running! Otherwise, you > are receiving and transmitting through DEAD AMPLIFIERS. This isn't a PTT [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > both ends of the amp that direct the signals to the proper devices, whether > the amps, themselves, are on or off. Ah, I remember the Henry's back in the good old days when we used UHF Motorola MX-360's in Convert-a-coms. They gave us 60 watts, were switched off the ignition, but if you wired it yourself, you could set it up to allow transmitting with the ignition off and you got the full five watts from the portable out the antenna. Stupidly assumed the cell amp would do the same. The phone can make a call with the amp powered off, but there is clearly signal loss. My amp does not have a switch, I was testing it with a 12 volt power supply. > Yes, the phones will hang on to a way-too-weak, high-revenue-producing > digital signal as if their very lives depended on them. That's by design, > of course, which makes a digital phone fairly useless in the fringe. I won't have a digital only phone until I know analog is gone. I think the key, which I forgot, was to force an analog call. Pity that there isn't a way on the Motorlas we use to select the next call to go out as analog. I can force the phone to anaolg only, though, so that will help. Looks like we have another storm coming in. I'm praying for a hard turn to the northeast, but that is looking less likely. You guys don't need it either, so I'm wishing it on Iceland. Anyway, thanks for the help. We also have some handheld sat phones coming in, not sure if they are Globalstar or Irridium. We have a NERA on Immarsat, but the antenna is a bit bulky and very fussy. Fine for fixed location and great for data, not so good for being on the move. I'm also collecting prepaids on as many carriers as I can get. It's funny, you can be in a spot where one works great and everything else is dead and five miles away, someone else's signal is great. SignatureThomas M. Goethe > Anyway, thanks for the help. We also have some handheld sat phones > coming in, not sure if they are Globalstar or Irridium. We have a NERA [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > funny, you can be in a spot where one works great and everything else > is dead and five miles away, someone else's signal is great. When Iridium went bankrupt, I bought one for old times sake for $25 from a yachtie who assumed, wrongly, that the system was DOOMED. I have the Motorola phone and all the toys for it. Satphone in the UK has service on Iridium for as little as $30/mo and 1.30/min. http://www.satphone.co.uk/networks/iridium/post_tariffs.shtml Not sure if you get a UK phone number or US phone number option, probably just UK, but 1010987 ld calls to UK are only 3c/min from anywhere in the USA, now, to most places in Europe in VoIP. Amazing range, but not inside a car. It does have a nice signal inside a fiberglass yacht, however. > When Iridium went bankrupt, I bought one for old times sake for $25 from a > yachtie who assumed, wrongly, that the system was DOOMED. I have the [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > Amazing range, but not inside a car. It does have a nice signal inside a > fiberglass yacht, however. Bet it bites inside an aluminum RV :-) SignatureThomas M. Goethe You can get VoIP that is free to the UK from Lingo. It is only 19.95. www.lingo.com Griff >> When Iridium went bankrupt, I bought one for old times sake for $25 from >> a [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Bet it bites inside an aluminum RV :-) > Bet it bites inside an aluminum RV :-) Remote antennas ARE available for the top of the RV. Of course, you might want to consider a permanent phone for the RV. Iridium has them, too. Wonder if the mounted phones have POTS intercouplers like my old bagphone had? If that was so, you could plug a 900 Mhz house phone into the mounted satphone and use a standard portable POTS phone roaming around the RV! I have several AMPS bagphones with "data interconnect" boxes running on barrier islands for many years. We put up 800 Mhz paging beam antennas, not so much to get the signal back to the home system in Charleston, but so we could put the AMPS system in Savannah in the beam's null to prevent the permanently-mounted phone system from roaming in wierd atmospheric conditions. Each bagphone has a POTS interconnect box plugged into it, then the whole house phoneline is plugged into the interconnect, giving dialtone/ringing/DC loop to every standard phone in the house. This was done to circumvent the $3.80/minute the damned little local phone company wanted to call 35 miles to civilization...(c; Many of them are still in use because they work better in storms than the local boonies phone system. > > Bet it bites inside an aluminum RV :-) > > Remote antennas ARE available for the top of the RV. Of course, you might > want to consider a permanent phone for the RV. Iridium has them, too. We've seen them, the one for the Immarsat NERA is $12k, more than the phone! But you can use it on the move. The Globalstar one comes with the car kit for $800, a lot easier to swallow, but it doesn't do data very well, only 9.6 kbs. We rented one of those as well as some Iridiums. Will be interesting to see which works best. Hopefully the people using them will understand the "clear view of the sky" bit in the instructions! And we don't own the RV. Keep trying to talk them into buying one, I think we spent over $8k on them for Charley, suspect it will be as bad or worse for this one. > Wonder if the mounted phones have POTS intercouplers like my old bagphone > had? If that was so, you could plug a 900 Mhz house phone into the mounted > satphone and use a standard portable POTS phone roaming around the RV! Not sure, but that would be nice. I keep meaning to get one of the cellsocket widgets for one of the toyphones to do that with. Luckily, this time, I do have cables and antennas for the toyphones as well as the amp. I also have a wider collection of prepaid phones, so hopefully something will work. > I have several AMPS bagphones with "data interconnect" boxes running on > barrier islands for many years. We put up 800 Mhz paging beam antennas, [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > wanted to call 35 miles to civilization...(c; Many of them are still in > use because they work better in storms than the local boonies phone system. Ah, ingenuity!!! I love it. SignatureThomas M. Goethe |
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