Cingular vs ATT Coverage

Cingular salesperson says their GSM coverage has to be much better than AT&T
's GSM coverage everywhere because if Cingular can't find their own service
they will roam to AT&T or TMobile (with no roaming fee) but AT&T won't roam
to Cingular.

Any truth to that statement?

Live in Cleveland OH (summer) and Fort Myers FL (winter).
Which GSM service would you choose?

On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 18:44:15 GMT, "wilson" <vecchia@comcast.net>
wrote:

>Cingular salesperson says their GSM coverage has to be much better than AT&T
>'s GSM coverage everywhere because if Cingular can't find their own service
>they will roam to AT&T or TMobile (with no roaming fee) but AT&T won't roam
>to Cingular.
>
>Any truth to that statement?

i know when i had cingular i went to denver and it roamed to t-mobile,
same thing in phoenix. never went to at&t, but i had at&t for a few
months before the SINgular and it stayed on at&t wherever i went so...

"wilson" <vecchia@comcast.net> wrote in message news:<3APtb.17138$kL2.7667@fe3.columbus.rr.com>...
> Cingular salesperson says their GSM coverage has to be much better than AT&T
> 's GSM coverage everywhere because if Cingular can't find their own service
> they will roam to AT&T or TMobile (with no roaming fee) but AT&T won't roam
> to Cingular.
>
> Any truth to that statement?
>
> Live in Cleveland OH (summer) and Fort Myers FL (winter).
> Which GSM service would you choose?



Here in Missouri, the best GSM coverage is provided by Cingular. If
ATT doesn't roam on Cingular then their Missouri coverage sucks.

Tom

Steve Vai wrote:
> On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 18:44:15 GMT, "wilson" <vecchia@comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
>
>>Cingular salesperson says their GSM coverage has to be much better than AT&T
>>'s GSM coverage everywhere because if Cingular can't find their own service
>>they will roam to AT&T or TMobile (with no roaming fee) but AT&T won't roam
>>to Cingular.
>>
>>Any truth to that statement?
>
>
> i know when i had cingular i went to denver and it roamed to t-mobile,
> same thing in phoenix. never went to at&t, but i had at&t for a few
> months before the SINgular and it stayed on at&t wherever i went so...

Actually, it probably roamed on T-Mobile or Cingular or any of its other
roaming partners, but still displayed the "AT&T" banner.

AD

On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 18:44:15 GMT, "wilson" <vecchia@comcast.net>
wrote:

>AT&T won't roam
>to Cingular.

Try asking in alt.cellular.attws. They could probably tell you better
than anyone here if an AT&T phone will roam to Cingular.

Cingular and AT&T have a pretty solid roaming agreement, so I doubt
that the roaming does not reciprocate equally.

wilson wrote:
> Cingular salesperson says their GSM coverage has to be much better than AT&T
> 's GSM coverage everywhere because if Cingular can't find their own service
> they will roam to AT&T or TMobile (with no roaming fee) but AT&T won't roam
> to Cingular.
>
> Any truth to that statement?
>
> Live in Cleveland OH (summer) and Fort Myers FL (winter).
> Which GSM service would you choose?
>
>

It is possible that AT&T won't roam on GSM 850 right now...?

AD

Here's the answer... and it's somewhat confusing.

Briefly, in the 'early' days of cell, if you weren't on your provider's
system, you would roam. And, of course, you would pay extra for the
roaming. Now comes the age of PRL's and 'free' roaming. BUT - unlike the
olden days, you can only roam to a system that is on your PRL.

Recently, I tried a Cingular GSM phone. There has never been any cell
service at my house (that's now changed). Cingular brought me within a few
streets of where I live... and then nothing. I left the phone on. The
phone would switch between 0 bars and 4 bars. But, when I tried to make a
call with 4 bars, I was presented with "Emergency Only."

I was seeing a T-Mobile site, very close to me. But, there is no agreement
in place to allow Cingular to roam to that site. Cingular feels they have
coverage in this area, so they won't pay for roaming. End of story.

So, no charge for roaming is correct, but it is not the unlimited,
unfettered roaming you might expect.

--

----------------------------------------------------------
My website: http://www.geofffox.com
"wilson" <vecchia@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:3APtb.17138$kL2.7667@fe3.columbus.rr.com...
> Cingular salesperson says their GSM coverage has to be much better than
AT&T
> 's GSM coverage everywhere because if Cingular can't find their own
service
> they will roam to AT&T or TMobile (with no roaming fee) but AT&T won't
roam
> to Cingular.
>
> Any truth to that statement?
>
> Live in Cleveland OH (summer) and Fort Myers FL (winter).
> Which GSM service would you choose?
>
>

"wilson" <vecchia@comcast.net> wrote in message news:<3APtb.17138$kL2.7667@fe3.columbus.rr.com>...
> Cingular salesperson says their GSM coverage has to be much better than AT&T
> 's GSM coverage everywhere because if Cingular can't find their own service
> they will roam to AT&T or TMobile (with no roaming fee) but AT&T won't roam
> to Cingular.
>
> Any truth to that statement?
>

Not in 95% of the country, it will not roam, they do not allow it.
Sales people don't usually know much, thats why they're in Cell phone sales.

"wilson" <vecchia@comcast.net> wrote in message news:<3APtb.17138$kL2.7667@fe3.columbus.rr.com>...
> Cingular salesperson says their GSM coverage has to be much better than AT&T
> 's GSM coverage everywhere because if Cingular can't find their own service
> they will roam to AT&T or TMobile (with no roaming fee) but AT&T won't roam
> to Cingular.
>
> Any truth to that statement?
>
> Live in Cleveland OH (summer) and Fort Myers FL (winter).
> Which GSM service would you choose?

It depends on the service plan. With an AT&T GSM national plan you
can roam on Cingular, but it's marked "Additional Roaming Area" and
you will be charged roaming fees. With an AT&T Digital One Rate GSM
plan you can roam within the Cingular GSM markets without being
charged additional roaming fees.

In general, AT&T is not very generous with free roaming, their
national plans don't include anything other than native AT&T service
areas without roaming fees. Just look at the maps on their web site
and you'll see for yourself.

wilson wrote:
> Cingular salesperson says their GSM coverage has to be much better than AT&T
> 's GSM coverage everywhere because if Cingular can't find their own service
> they will roam to AT&T or TMobile (with no roaming fee) but AT&T won't roam
> to Cingular.
>
> Any truth to that statement?
>
> Live in Cleveland OH (summer) and Fort Myers FL (winter).
> Which GSM service would you choose?
>
>

When I went to portland main, last summer, my phone worked perfectly, except the carrier
rotated like this, t-mobile, attws, cinbular-extened, and it just kept going. Thought this was
odd, and since my hotel was the cell cite, it was perplexing.

Just a comment

Chip

Where do you live.

Chip

Geoff Fox wrote:
> Here's the answer... and it's somewhat confusing.
>
> Briefly, in the 'early' days of cell, if you weren't on your provider's
> system, you would roam. And, of course, you would pay extra for the
> roaming. Now comes the age of PRL's and 'free' roaming. BUT - unlike the
> olden days, you can only roam to a system that is on your PRL.
>
> Recently, I tried a Cingular GSM phone. There has never been any cell
> service at my house (that's now changed). Cingular brought me within a few
> streets of where I live... and then nothing. I left the phone on. The
> phone would switch between 0 bars and 4 bars. But, when I tried to make a
> call with 4 bars, I was presented with "Emergency Only."
>
> I was seeing a T-Mobile site, very close to me. But, there is no agreement
> in place to allow Cingular to roam to that site. Cingular feels they have
> coverage in this area, so they won't pay for roaming. End of story.
>
> So, no charge for roaming is correct, but it is not the unlimited,
> unfettered roaming you might expect.
>
> --
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> My website: http://www.geofffox.com
> "wilson" <vecchia@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:3APtb.17138$kL2.7667@fe3.columbus.rr.com...
>
>>Cingular salesperson says their GSM coverage has to be much better than
>
> AT&T
>
>>'s GSM coverage everywhere because if Cingular can't find their own
>
> service
>
>>they will roam to AT&T or TMobile (with no roaming fee) but AT&T won't
>
> roam
>
>>to Cingular.
>>
>>Any truth to that statement?
>>
>>Live in Cleveland OH (summer) and Fort Myers FL (winter).
>>Which GSM service would you choose?
>>
>>
>
>
>