Free roaming vs Verizon service (San Francisco Bay Area)

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n0spamus@yahoo.com - 28 Jul 2006 22:34 GMT

Hi all,

I am currently a SprintPCS subscriber and long out of contract. My
phone is a 5 year old single-band TP-1100, and have never had
experience with roaming in the US. (it does roam in Canada :-)

I'm considering now whether to stay with Sprint or to move to Verizon.
Verizon has a reputation for having excellent coverage in the Bay Area,
especially in the hills and inside thick buildings. However, Sprint's
plans are extremely tempting as compared to Verizon, in particular the
"Fair and Flexible" limits on overage fees.

With my single band phone, reception is reasonable in much of the urban
area, but there are quite a few spots where I have one bar and the
calls will drop. For example, near highway 280 in the Peninsula I
can't really place calls.

My questions:

1. If I stay with Sprint but get a dual or tri-band phone that is
capable of roaming on 800MHz, will my experience improve in the Bay
Area?

2. If I'm in one of the aforementioned marginal 1-bar areas, will the
phone tend to favor Sprint or use a better Verizon signal? If so, can
this be worked around by walking a few feet to a Sprint dead spot?

3. Should I still bother getting a phone that is capable of analog
roaming?

4. These days, do Verizon customers have a significantly better
experience with coverage than Sprint with roaming? I think I'm willing
to live with my call dropping when I enter an area where I must roam,
as long as I can stay on roaming after reinstating the call.

-Dan

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Thomas T. Veldhouse - 31 Jul 2006 14:33 GMT

> 1. If I stay with Sprint but get a dual or tri-band phone that is
> capable of roaming on 800MHz, will my experience improve in the Bay
> Area?

Yes. You get more coverage. How useful that is depends on where you visit.

> 2. If I'm in one of the aforementioned marginal 1-bar areas, will the
> phone tend to favor Sprint or use a better Verizon signal? If so, can
> this be worked around by walking a few feet to a Sprint dead spot?

Your phone will prefer Sprint PCS. Having said that, some phones allow you to
switch to "roaming only" and if it is a digital phone, you will likely force
the phone onto Verizon. Otherwise, walking to a dead area will work as well.
Once a call is initiated via roaming, you will stay roaming until you hang up
... even if you reenter a Sprint PCS area.

> 3. Should I still bother getting a phone that is capable of analog
> roaming?

That is up to you. I still have analog roaming, and I am asking the same
question. I am thinking that in some areas the answer is no. The mountains
of Northern California and the wilds of Northern Minnesota are often only
coverred by AMPS service, so you might find you lose some coverage if you go
through these areas.

> 4. These days, do Verizon customers have a significantly better
> experience with coverage than Sprint with roaming? I think I'm willing
> to live with my call dropping when I enter an area where I must roam,
> as long as I can stay on roaming after reinstating the call.

I think it is cheaper [and safer] to Roam with Sprint than it is with Verizon,
but I also think that Verizon has more agreements in place and perhaps more
complete coverage in the first place [via extended network agreements] to keep
you from needing to roam.

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