Unusual roaming in San Francisco

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GeorgeB - 01 Aug 2005 05:13 GMT

I went to California for vacation, Santa Rosa/San Francisco, LA, and
San Diego. I've Alltel, Greenville SC home, Total Freedom. PRL while
there was 6055. Since getting home, I've updated to 705. Phone is a
StarTAC ST7868W.

In Santa Rosa, on the den table, San Francisco, and Oakland, my phone
would alternate between analog and digital. Signal digitally, when it
would happen, was quite strong, and displaying the test screen showed
it to NOT be at a timeout when scanning normally took place.

The SID was common among SR, SF, and Oakland, 40 (Verizon). I've been
in this house numerous times over the last 3 years, and never seen
this issue. What was happening, overuse by Verizon subscribers
pushing roamers to the analog?

In LA (SID 2) and SD (SID 4), I had no problems.

Curiosity killed the cat ...

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Larry - 01 Aug 2005 14:04 GMT

> What was happening, overuse by Verizon subscribers
> pushing roamers to the analog?

San Francisco.....Big city....tall buildings bouncing signals all over the
place....bridges, too....constant barrage of reflected signals off constant
overhead airplanes (like the ghosts they create on UHF TV).....and you're
stuck in between cells with all this multipath which makes the phones go
crazy.

Oh, and Verizon...(c; Well, no need to dwell on what I think of the big
elephant.

Welcome home. Let me ask a question. I'm in Charleston where Alltel
refuses to let us roam to Verizon or Sprint PCS in any dead zones. I
notice from the PRL they DO allow Alltel customers to roam up in Greenville
way over to Charlotte. How often do you find your phone roams up there in
the mountains over to the other carriers? Sure wish the PRL allowed it
here, but we don't have much trouble with Alltel, not near as bad as
Verizon was, especially in Summerville.

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Larry

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GeorgeB - 05 Aug 2005 04:38 GMT

>> What was happening, overuse by Verizon subscribers
>> pushing roamers to the analog?
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>stuck in between cells with all this multipath which makes the phones go
>crazy.

Problem occurred in Santa Rosa, residential with no ... NO ... 3 story
buildings within 5 miles. While actually in SF, no problem.

>Welcome home. Let me ask a question. I'm in Charleston where Alltel
>refuses to let us roam to Verizon or Sprint PCS in any dead zones. I
>notice from the PRL they DO allow Alltel customers to roam up in Greenville
>way over to Charlotte. How often do you find your phone roams up there in
>the mountains over to the other carriers?

I don't keep the diagnostic screen on as a matter of course. Before
Alltel improved their tower situation between Travelers Rest and
Hendersonville, a friend with Verizon had excellent coverage, I had
areas with none ... but this was 3 years back and I don't know the PRL
contents then.

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Larry - 05 Aug 2005 12:37 GMT

> I don't keep the diagnostic screen on as a matter of course. Before
> Alltel improved their tower situation between Travelers Rest and
> Hendersonville, a friend with Verizon had excellent coverage, I had
> areas with none ... but this was 3 years back and I don't know the PRL
> contents then.

I was amazed to see they allowed roaming to the other two carriers up
there. Verizon doesn't roam to anyone, now. It's a shame FCC doesn't
force them all to share resources to provide coverage.

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Larry

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Tropical Haven - 05 Aug 2005 16:17 GMT

> I was amazed to see they allowed roaming to the other two carriers up
> there. Verizon doesn't roam to anyone, now. It's a shame FCC doesn't
> force them all to share resources to provide coverage.

Be careful what you wish for. With the federal deficit growing at an
alarming rate, it's amazing the FCC doesn't put a $50/minute tax on wireless
usage.

TH

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Larry - 05 Aug 2005 21:54 GMT

> it's amazing the FCC doesn't put a $50/minute tax on wireless
> usage.

We're not far off.....My $39.95 Alltel plan costs $47 and change in
Charleston. There's taxes on there that don't exist! There's no county
sales tax in SC....for instance.

I live right behind a Bell$not telephone exchange, close enough the diesel
genset wakes me if the power fails. (No, I don't want DSL...(c;) I
stopped by one day when I saw the technician's truck parked outside and
knocked on the door. He asked what I wanted and I said, "I wanna see my
relay."...trying to keep a straight face. "What relay? This whole place
is digital.", he replied. "It says on my Bell$not bill I'm paying $X for
some kind of relay maintenance. I wanted to see my relay and make sure it
was properly maintained for my money." After that I couldn't keep a
straight face. We both had a great laugh at the company's expense and I
got the full tour. I'm no longer a customer. Alltel is enough financial
load for comms here. Landlines are obsolete.

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Larry

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