GAIT roaming in New York City area

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Richard J. Wyble - 27 May 2005 04:40 GMT

While traveling southbound on I-95 from Connecticut into New
York, there is a stretch of perhaps 10 minutes' travel time when
a Nokia 6340i phone consistently goes into TDMA mode, displaying
"Cingular Extend." This happens immediately upon crossing the
state line.

However, when traveling that same route with a GSM-only phone, a
Nokia 6230, it shows a strong signal and works perfectly fine
along the same stretch of road, displaying "Cingular."

Why does the GAIT phone shift into TDMA? Any speculation as to
who the TDMA provider is? Why does it not stay in GSM mode?

Any speculation as to who the GSM provider is that services the
GSM-only phone?

Reply to this Message

RICHARD GORDON - 27 May 2005 15:03 GMT

> While traveling southbound on I-95 from Connecticut into New
> York, there is a stretch of perhaps 10 minutes' travel time when
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> Any speculation as to who the GSM provider is that services the
> GSM-only phone?

Hi Richard,

The TDMA provider is the old ATTWS network for sure.

WHY it does it is another matter. I have noticed that if I power up my
6340i in NYC the phone can take up to a minute or more to find a
network and then it shows 'Cingular Extended'

I don't know if a newer SIM card would help with any of this or not.
In fact I'm not even sure if there is a newer one available.

Richard Gordon

Reply to this Message

Richard J. Wyble - 27 May 2005 16:14 GMT

RICHARD GORDON wrote (5/27/2005 10:03 AM):

>>While traveling southbound on I-95 from Connecticut into New
>>York, there is a stretch of perhaps 10 minutes' travel time when
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
>
> Richard Gordon

Thanks for your observations.

I'm using a 64k SIM in the 6340i, the account initially
established only earlier this year. Only later did I pick up a
6340i and have Cingular activate GAIT on the account.

I'm speculating, ignorantly, that the preferred order of service
with GAIT is presently 1) Cingular/ATTWS GSM, 2) Cingular/ATTWS
TDMA, and then 3) another carrier like T-Mobile when either of
the other two are unavailable.

Signature

RJW

Reply to this Message

RICHARD GORDON - 27 May 2005 19:05 GMT

> RICHARD GORDON wrote (5/27/2005 10:03 AM):
>
[quoted text clipped - 37 lines]
> TDMA, and then 3) another carrier like T-Mobile when either of
> the other two are unavailable.

Hi Richard,

I purchased my 6340i over a year ago and was under the impression that
it has a smaller (32 KB) SIM card..............hang on............I
just looked at it and it is a 32 K SIM.

Off to the Cingular store to see what a 64K SIM will do for me.

BTW..............how do you find out whose network you are on ?

Is there a menu setting that shows it ?

Richard

Reply to this Message

Scott Mc - 27 May 2005 19:12 GMT

I also have the 6340i, and from what I've been told, it will search for GSM
(Cingular/AT&T/Roaming Partner) then for TDMA (Cingular/AT&T/Roaming
Partner) then Analog (Roaming Partner). Cingular stores the list of roaming
partners on the SIM card, and updates it over the air from time to time. If
the signal comes from a non-approved carrier, the SIM will not allow the
phone to work on that signal.

If this has changed or is not completely correct, someone please correct.

> RICHARD GORDON wrote (5/27/2005 10:03 AM):
>
[quoted text clipped - 37 lines]
> another carrier like T-Mobile when either of the other two are
> unavailable.

Reply to this Message

Jud Hardcastle - 30 May 2005 22:39 GMT

> I also have the 6340i, and from what I've been told, it will search for GSM
> (Cingular/AT&T/Roaming Partner) then for TDMA (Cingular/AT&T/Roaming
> Partner) then Analog (Roaming Partner). Cingular stores the list of roaming
> partners on the SIM card, and updates it over the air from time to time. If
> the signal comes from a non-approved carrier, the SIM will not allow the
> phone to work on that signal.

Nope, I'd have to agree with the earlier post. My 6340i on a GAIT plan
definately looks for Cingular/AT&T GSM *and* TDMA before going with a
GSM roaming partner. Why would Cingular set the database to use a GSM
roaming partner that they have to PAY when a FREE TDMA is available
(where they can't pass the roaming cost on to the customer)?

Soon to be a mute point though--from what I can tell all the Cingular
sites and most if not all of the AT&T ones have converted now--it's
getting difficult to find a spot that has Cingular/AT&T TDMA but not
GSM. I have seen it go with a TDMA partner over a GSM partner though
where neither is Cingular or AT&T. It would switch to the GSM partner
in areas where the TDMA one was weak so they must still be using
preferred versus non-preferred logic in addition to banned.

Signature

Jud
Dallas TX USA

Reply to this Message