TracFone & GSM (Cingular) Question

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JoshIII - 14 Jun 2004 20:29 GMT

With Cingular Wireless's BIG push to convert their cellular network to GSM
technology in the long term and to acquire AT&TWS in the short term,
TracFone recently introduces an all GSM cellphone to to take advantage of
this plan..

Model: Nokia 1100 (GSM850 & GSM1900)
Size: About the size of empty roll of toilet tissue pushed down to about
2/3 of an inch thick.

Questions:
1. Any Cingular customers out there using the Nokia 1100 and if so how do
you like it?
2. How do you like Cingular's GSM network in general?

The TracFone version will primarily be using the Cingular network and
roaming will be free. All other model TracFone(s), roaming is *NOT* free.

I plan to purchase the Nokia 1100 TracFone to use when roaming, but will
wait until their website has a better free offer than the Father's Day
organizer which I don't need. TracFone asking price for the Nokia 1100 is
less than $50 new. I think its is a good price for a new cellphone (not
refurbished).

I already have one TracFone on the Verizon network. I love the coverage
with it, but I don't like the roaming rate (twice the local calling rate).

Thanks in advance!

JoshIII
josh3i@hotmail.com
Activating a TracFone soon? Ask me for a referral, and receive an
additional 100 free minutes! TracFone uses Verizon, Alltel, Cingular and
Suncom networks just to name a few.

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George - 14 Jun 2004 22:17 GMT

> With Cingular Wireless's BIG push to convert their cellular network to GSM
> technology in the long term and to acquire AT&TWS in the short term,
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
> additional 100 free minutes! TracFone uses Verizon, Alltel, Cingular and
> Suncom networks just to name a few.

It depends.. In my home area AT&T GSM is poor and Cingular is non existent
so the phone you described would be a great paper weight here. Verizon has
the best coverage by far in my home area.

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JoshIII - 14 Jun 2004 23:33 GMT

> > <snip>
> > I plan to purchase the Nokia 1100 TracFone to use when roaming, but will
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> so the phone you described would be a great paper weight here. Verizon has
> the best coverage by far in my home area.

That is the $64,000 dollar question: Will the combined Cingular / ATT&T
GSM network, after the merger, be only as good as Cingular GSM is now or
will the merger result in a GSM network that is at least as good as the sum
of the exisiting Cingular and AT&T GSM networks, or even better?

I guess the easiest way to analyse it for a resonable near term answer:
Find national coverage maps of Cingular TDMA and GSM and national coverage
maps of AT&T TDMA and GSM. Overlay all 4 maps and you get an equivalent
Cingular national GSM coverage map (within next 1-2 years)?

I have no experience with the AT&T network and only local experience with
Cingular, so I really don't have any feel for what the coverage of the
combined networks will be like.

Currently, the rule of thumb for GSM coverage: "Along interstate highways
and cities served by interstates".

This is fine as long as you are on or near near an interstate. :)

Thanks for the comments, very thought provoking!

JoshIII
upstate south carolina
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tracfoneusers

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John R Weiss - 15 Jun 2004 00:23 GMT

"JoshIII" <josh3iREMOVE@hotmail.com> wrote...

> That is the $64,000 dollar question: Will the combined Cingular / ATT&T
> GSM network, after the merger, be only as good as Cingular GSM is now or
> will the merger result in a GSM network that is at least as good as the sum
> of the exisiting Cingular and AT&T GSM networks, or even better?

That depends...

Cingular allegedly has roaming agreements NOW (and for the past 2+ years)
with AT&T for use of ALL of their GSM network. AT&T, OTOH, may not have had
similar reciprocal agreements for their plans.

I suspect it may also depend on how the SIM card is set up for network
priorities. It may not allow a strong off-company network if a marginal
on-company net is detectable. On my old Cingular phone, it would often
switch between AT&T and Cingular nets on a minute-by-minute basis in some
areas.

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something - 15 Jun 2004 14:29 GMT

Tracfone GSM roamed on T-Mobile GSM in Minnesota, not AT&T.

Shawn

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John R Weiss - 15 Jun 2004 00:13 GMT

"JoshIII" <josh3iREMOVE@hotmail.com> wrote...

> Model: Nokia 1100 (GSM850 & GSM1900)
> Size: About the size of empty roll of toilet tissue pushed down to about
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> you like it?
> 2. How do you like Cingular's GSM network in general?

YMMV...

The Nokia 1100 is hardly the only GSM phone Cingular offers. I had the
Siemens S40 for 2 years before I switched from Cingular (Seattle) to AT&T
(due to a company move to AT&T). Prior to that I had a Nokia TDMA phone
with AT&T that worked fine.

My wife still has an old Nokia GSM phone on her Cingular plan, and it works
fine.

When I went to AT&T in February, I initially got a Nokia TDMA phone. It
(and/or the AT&T service) sucked! I could not get reception in my house,
right next to the Cingular phone. Other areas I traveled to were similarly
bad.

I then went to a Siemens S46 and combined GSM/TDMA service. MUCH better
service on GSM now, and I can still get service in Anchorage (no GSM at all
yet) on TDMA.

> The TracFone version will primarily be using the Cingular network and
> roaming will be free. All other model TracFone(s), roaming is *NOT* free.

That depends on the specific plan. Cingular has National GSM plans that
have no roaming fees, and it doesn't matter which phone you use.

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