May or May Not Work Question

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JRW - 24 Oct 2003 13:25 GMT

I'm not sure how to correctly ask my question, so I've describe
what I'm looking for and you all can figure out what I'm trying
to ask.

While I service cell site antennas for all the carriers, that
doesn't mean I know what technology a particular site is using or
who has roaming agreements. I only know the frequency band each
site uses.

I'm considering dropping Sprint and going back to Cingular because
of residential build up in my area is causing me to drop calls - I'm
over four miles from the tower and with the weakest signal, I'm the
first to be dumped when lots of people begin placing evening calls. I
need coverage in all of U.S. except where only mountain goats roam.
Only Sprint and Cingular have a local number where I live, AT&T and
Verizon don't - so they're not an option.

If I go with Cingular, their extremely limited GSM coverage isn't
going to work for me. Even after their end of year build out projection.
That means I'll need to use what they call a "multi-network" phone and
the only multi-network phone they are selling in my area is the Nokia
6340i (they pulled the Sony Ericsson T62u off the shelves).

Now my question is, am I going to discover areas where I can't use
my phone due to any sort of network incompatibilty problem or weird
lack of roaming agreement, in spite of what Cingular's nationwide
map shows (the non-GSM map). It looks like the Nokia 6340i with
GSM 850/1900, TDMA 800/1900 and AMPS 800 should cover all bases.

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Elmo P. Shagnasty - 24 Oct 2003 14:21 GMT

> I'm considering dropping Sprint and going back to Cingular because
> of residential build up in my area is causing me to drop calls - I'm
> over four miles from the tower and with the weakest signal, I'm the
> first to be dumped when lots of people begin placing evening calls. I
> need coverage in all of U.S. except where only mountain goats roam.

Around here, Sprint signal levels suck rocks. Especially compared to
Cingular.

As far as US coverage, that whole Sprint PCS thing is inferior to the
roaming agreements that Cingular has. Get a Cingular Nation plan.

> If I go with Cingular, their extremely limited GSM coverage isn't
> going to work for me.

So don't get a GSM plan. Get their Nation plan, the non-GSM one.

I have the old Preferred Nation, and you can have that when you pry it
from my cold, dead fingers. I can get in the car on Sunday morning and
drive 6 hours to visit my brother, get on the phone at the beginning and
never stop talking. And this is over some rather Deliverance-like
territory at times.

> Now my question is, am I going to discover areas where I can't use
> my phone due to any sort of network incompatibilty problem or weird
> lack of roaming agreement, in spite of what Cingular's nationwide
> map shows (the non-GSM map).

If the current Nation plan works at all like my Preferred Nation, their
map is correct. If you have a signal of any kind, you're on the
Cingular network by definition.

I like my Nokia 3360 for this application. It's not GSM, but I'm not
interested in GSM until it's built out quite a bit more. I'm sure at
some point Cingular will force me to give it up, but by that time the
phone choices will be much better.

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J P L - 24 Oct 2003 14:46 GMT

If you want the roll over minutes with the Nation wide plan they you need to
get the GAIT phone. With this phone you get the best of everything. No GSM
then it goes to TDMA... No TDMA or GSM then you get AMPS. I was told by a
Cingular CSR not to get GSM only for about another 6 months cuz there are no
towers up yet. I live in the Boston Market.

> > I'm considering dropping Sprint and going back to Cingular because
> > of residential build up in my area is causing me to drop calls - I'm
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
> some point Cingular will force me to give it up, but by that time the
> phone choices will be much better.

Reply to this Message

Elmo P. Shagnasty - 24 Oct 2003 16:43 GMT

> If you want the roll over minutes with the Nation wide plan they you need to
> get the GAIT phone.

Yeah, and around here they offer the rollover minutes ONLY with the GSM
nation plan.

That's a bad tradeoff. Down the road, it'll be OK--but right now, I'd
rather be able to use non-GSM networks reliably instead of have my
minutes roll over.

Reply to this Message

JRW - 25 Oct 2003 00:39 GMT

> In article <vpib7jbncqhjef@corp.supernews.com>,
> Yeah, and around here they offer the rollover minutes ONLY with the GSM
> nation plan.

Thanks for all your input. Much appreaciated.

BTW, in the Dallas market, the SuperHome package allows rollover and
your choice of either a GSM/TDMA/Analog or GSM only handset. ALSO
the Superhome plan is cheaper than the Nation plan. Go figure.

Reply to this Message

Elmo P. Shagnasty - 25 Oct 2003 01:55 GMT

> BTW, in the Dallas market, the SuperHome package allows rollover and
> your choice of either a GSM/TDMA/Analog or GSM only handset. ALSO
> the Superhome plan is cheaper than the Nation plan. Go figure.

No mystery there. It's cheaper because it's more restricted.

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JRW - 25 Oct 2003 02:17 GMT

>>BTW, in the Dallas market, the SuperHome package allows rollover and
>>your choice of either a GSM/TDMA/Analog or GSM only handset. ALSO
>>the Superhome plan is cheaper than the Nation plan. Go figure.
>
> No mystery there. It's cheaper because it's more restricted.

Hmm....In what way? Did I miss something? No, seriously.

Reply to this Message

Elmo P. Shagnasty - 25 Oct 2003 04:34 GMT

> >>BTW, in the Dallas market, the SuperHome package allows rollover and
> >>your choice of either a GSM/TDMA/Analog or GSM only handset. ALSO
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> Hmm....In what way? Did I miss something? No, seriously.

Superhome is a regional plan; if you leave that region, you're charged
for roaming. The nation plans have no roaming charges--but you pay for
that privilege. You either pay extra money per month, or you don't get
some goodies like rollover minutes, or you're restricted to GSM networks
with no access to analog, or some combination of those three.

Regional plans are *always* cheaper than nation plans, for obvious
reasons.

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JRW - 25 Oct 2003 11:55 GMT

Ok, I found out why I was confused.

> Superhome is a regional plan; if you leave that region, you're charged
> for roaming.

What was confusing me was they identical coverage maps last week for
both Texas SuperHome and Texas Statewide. Just looked at them again,
and they've been corrected.

> The nation plans have no roaming charges--but you pay for
> that privilege. You either pay extra money per month, or you don't get
> some goodies like rollover minutes, or you're restricted to GSM networks
> with no access to analog, or some combination of those three.

Yes, you can see that in the National GSM plans. They look about 30%
cheaper compared to the Nation plan when you calculate cents per minute,
but it has very limited coverage.

Since I would get reimbursed for my roaming cellphone usage, looks like
the SuperHome plans are the most cost effective for me.

Thanks for your input.

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