GAIT (GSM/TDMA multi-band) in CA

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Ed Swierk - 19 May 2004 21:43 GMT

Is there any advantage to getting a GAIT phone and plan (like
Multi-Band National) over a regular GSM phone and plan in California?

I currently use a TDMA phone with a local plan and don't want to lose
coverage in rural areas like western San Mateo County, Big Sur, coastal
SLO County, and the eastern Sierra. I want to upgrade my phone and plan,
and would rather do it before the GAIT plans vanish and I'm forced to
GSM-only.

--Ed

Signature

Ed Swierk
eswierk-nospam@cs.stanford.edu

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Bean - 20 May 2004 00:22 GMT

> I currently use a TDMA phone with a local plan and don't want to lose
> coverage in rural areas like western San Mateo County, Big Sur, coastal
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> --Ed

In SLO County, AT&T's only TDMA/Analog roaming partner is our local
Cellular One. As of now, they have no GSM. Cingular & AT&T have put up more
towers over the years, so the GSM is better, but not as good as the TDMA.
Cell One is supposed to do a GSM overlay, but who knows when. When they do,
we should have excellent coverage here.

Don't know if that helps, just my two cents.

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Bill Radio - 20 May 2004 05:27 GMT

Ed,
For the next year i think you'll be happier staying with TDMA in those
areas. What has been happening is that the Multi-Network phones have been
latching on to the weak GSM signal and delivering spotty service, while good
TDMA service is available, but only to TDMA-only phones. Dozens of AT&T
TDMA users have come here to tell us they switched to GSM in SoCal, then
either dropped AT&T or switched back to TDMA.

In your case, you already know (or fear) that TDMA may be essential to where
you travel. I would tread the GSM waters there very carefully. Go ahead
test it out, but well within your Tryout period.

Bill Radio
Click for Western U.S. Wireless Reviews at:
http://www.mountainwireless.com

> Is there any advantage to getting a GAIT phone and plan (like
> Multi-Band National) over a regular GSM phone and plan in California?
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> and would rather do it before the GAIT plans vanish and I'm forced to
> GSM-only.

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Richie - 20 May 2004 17:42 GMT

In SoCal, a friend of mine switched to GSM and he's very happy with the
coverage. It seems like AT&T GSM customers have more coverage because of a
roaming agreement with Cingular. AT&T customers can access the Cingular
network at no extra charge (at least in SoCal). I don't know about NoCal.

> Ed,
> For the next year i think you'll be happier staying with TDMA in those
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
> > and would rather do it before the GAIT plans vanish and I'm forced to
> > GSM-only.

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