Actually, right before I left, SPCS changed it to not even being
responsible for the Activation Fee, either.

That the bought-up nature of some Verizon areas
was such that, even as a Verizon customer, you could be roaming (and
your phone would actually indicate roaming) even while using the
Verizon network.
---

Yep, that's correct.  For example, back in 2000, My Verizon phone roamed in
Linn and Benton counties on you guessed it - Verizon.  This was part of the
growing pains of combining multiple cell phone companies under one name,
each using different hardware for switching and other infostructure.  This
particular problem has long since been "fixed" at least superficially -- my
phone now shows Verizon, non-roaming.  There is a SID and NID boundry which
for whatever reasons coincide with folks dropping calls when driving through
this area.  Given that both are native Verizon, you'd think they could work
out the hand-off issues, but they never have.

One example of different hardware effecting feature availability: Eugene
Oregon has old Motorola switches which cannot adjust the amount of time (or
rings) that you hear before going to voicemail.  Portland and Salem Oregon
use Lucent switches which can adjust the amount of time, and number of rings
prior to going to voicemail.  Verizon is sometimes jokingly called "version"
wireless because features are not consistent across the country.

This situation is getting better over time, as you would expect.  For the
most part, my phone works fine anytime I'm on Verizon's native network these
days. Roaming on other CDMA carriers is somewhat frustrating as it is
anything but transparent.  When I roam, even digitally, I tend to lose voice
mail indication, SMS text messaging, data, and in some cases even lose
caller ID.  I can roam and place and receive calls, but that's the only
roaming function that is guarenteed to work.  By comparison, both AT&T TDMA,
and GSM has for years provided completely seemless roaming-- all features
work so well you don't really even need to know you're roaming. GSM folks
even get data when roaming. Maybe the CDMA carriers will someday have
seemless roaming.

-Dan

PS: Lots of things got a whole lot better in the last couple years when
Verizon converted their nationwide coverage to digital. When we had a lot of
analog areas, things got pretty iffy even for very basic service (like
receiving calls reliably).

As far as I know, with VZW it is all a matter of plans.
Local Plans: Get roaming charges outside home area.
America's Choice: No roaming in any VZW native area & Free roaming on the
Extended Network (Roaming Partners)
National Single Rate:  Same as America's Choice PLUS free roaming anywhere
in the US where your phone can get a signal.
I have found that all features work whenever in any VZW native area and
sometimes when on the Extended Network - including Internet connections thru
the phone and from my laptop.

In article <b9adncUn87moHrTcRVn-vw@lmi.net>, sjsobol@JustThe.net
says...

I've added Verizon's NG into the middle of this discussion.  I hope
they don't mind.

I can no longer locate where it is that I heard this, and I don't
*think* it was Sprint PCS while I worked there.  I seem to remember
reading somewhere, though, that this was more than just a case of
local area plans.  That the bought-up nature of some Verizon areas
was such that, even as a Verizon customer, you could be roaming (and
your phone would actually indicate roaming) even while using the
Verizon network.  It was the kind of roaming where, just to use an
example from SPCS by analogy, even the * and # codes could be
different in that roaming area.

So when I saw Sprint's claim of "and no roaming while on the Sprint
PCS network", my understanding has always been of it being a dig at
that.

Hopefully, I've made what I understand to be so more clear for you,
Steve.  And maybe someone with better knowledge of Verizon's history
can either confirm or refute my understanding of how Verizon's
network works (or, at least, how it did work at one time in the
past).

RØß Vargas wrote:

Hopefully not. It's on-topic.

OK, the only way I can see this happening is if you have a 1900MHz phone and
you travel somewhere where Verizon only has 800MHz - or (more likely) vice
versa. They're doing a lot of 1900 MHz *overlays* now, but they used to be
mostly 800 MHz, except for the former Primeco markets and the areas in Florida
where there were legacy 1900 MHz networks. For a year or two, VZW stopped
selling phones that weren't tri-mode phones, so it wasn't an issue.

As most of the regulars in the SPCS and Verizon newsgroups know, I was a
Verizon customer for almost four years; from September 2000 to August 20th of
this year (assuming Verizon has properly cancelled my account). I started with
them shortly after the company came into existence. I think I have a pretty
good recollection of what happened, but maybe others could confirm my memories?
I'm pretty sure I'm right.

If you're out of your home area, but within the scope of Verizon's
free-roaming area, you'll get one roaming indicator (it depends on the
phone), but won't be charged roaming charges.  If you're not within the
scope of Verizon's free-roaming area, you'll get a different roaming
indicator, and will be charged roaming charges.

On my phone, the difference between the two indicators is whether the
indicator is solid or it blinks.