Actual coverage areas

I live in Arkansas and wanted to change from sprint to another
carrier. Well I went to the Cingular web page and the coverage areas
are lets just say a bunch of hype.
They show coverage over the entire state. Ok sprint shows the main
cities and the highways are covered, LOTS of missing areas...but
honest.
There is no way that Cingular coveres the entire area they have
colored in.

IS there a way to see what their coverage area is really like?

I have had sprint for years and I enjoy the longdistance and call from
anywhere feature .... does Cingular have these same things?

The reason I am changing, rollover minutes and no charges when you try
to swap phones....sprint hit me for $30 to move my number from my old
phone (6 months old,,that was crap) to my new phone.
$30 to move a number ???????

thanks for any help

sparks

---

› See More: Actual coverage areas

"sparks" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I live in Arkansas and wanted to change from sprint to another
> carrier. Well I went to the Cingular web page and the coverage areas
> are lets just say a bunch of hype.
> They show coverage over the entire state. Ok sprint shows the main
> cities and the highways are covered, LOTS of missing areas...but
> honest.
> There is no way that Cingular coveres the entire area they have
> colored in.
>
> IS there a way to see what their coverage area is really like?
>
> I have had sprint for years and I enjoy the longdistance and call from
> anywhere feature .... does Cingular have these same things?
>
> The reason I am changing, rollover minutes and no charges when you try
> to swap phones....sprint hit me for $30 to move my number from my old
> phone (6 months old,,that was crap) to my new phone.
> $30 to move a number ???????
>
> thanks for any help
>
> sparks

http://onlinestore.cingular.com/weba...s/home_ark.htm

I find this map to be reasonably faithful in showing Cingular's system. I've
used roads like US70 & 79, 61, 63, 64, 82, 165, and AR-1 in eastern
Arkansas. I used the Nokia 6161i (TDMA/AMPS), and now use the Nokia 6340i
(GSM/TDMA/AMPS=GAIT) with the Nation Preferred plan (home is Memphis). The
NP plan offers national coverage on Cingular systems plus some favored other
systems (some ATT, some T-Mobile, etc), included long-distance, and
roll-over minutes. GSM has been turned on it Arkansas, but GAIT phones are
still available.

Cingular is one of the two cellular carriers that your Sprint phone goes to
for roaming off the Sprint network. The other is Alltel, who uses CDMA (same
as Sprint) and AMPS. I wasn't able to get a URL to a coverage map, but you
could start here.
http://www.alltel.com/estore/wireless/

John C.

Your best bet is the Cingular Nation Plan (not the Nation GSM Plan).
Look at the map and see that almost 100% of AR is covered-no LD or
Roaming (over the whole country). Here is the map for GAIT phones
(Nokia 6340i or S-E t62u).
http://onlinestore.cingular.com/weba...ap_6_30_03.htm

They use roaming partners (ATTWS, T-Mobile, Alltell Amps sucks, etc) to
cover the whole state.

--
Chris

Please respond on Usenet or Phonescoop.com


sparks <[email protected]> wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
> I live in Arkansas and wanted to change from sprint to another
> carrier. Well I went to the Cingular web page and the coverage areas
> are lets just say a bunch of hype.
> They show coverage over the entire state. Ok sprint shows the main
> cities and the highways are covered, LOTS of missing areas...but
> honest.
> There is no way that Cingular coveres the entire area they have
> colored in.
>
> IS there a way to see what their coverage area is really like?
>
> I have had sprint for years and I enjoy the longdistance and call from
> anywhere feature .... does Cingular have these same things?
>
> The reason I am changing, rollover minutes and no charges when you try
> to swap phones....sprint hit me for $30 to move my number from my old
> phone (6 months old,,that was crap) to my new phone.
> $30 to move a number ???????
>
> thanks for any help
>
> sparks
>

[posted via phonescoop.com]

When a system has been around for a while and is on their 3rd (maybe 4th)
generation of infrastructure, coverage should be pretty good. Sprint and
T-Mobile are new kids on the block. They are both on 1900 while Cingular is
almost all 800 which started in like 1984. When Sprint has been building for
20 years, their map may look the same. BTW, In Arkansas, the one thing that
limits service is the hills. Once you get around Little Rock and south, it
gets pretty flat and coverage is easy. In Yellville or Toad Suck, the hills
get in the way a little bit but coverage is still pretty good. I spend a
lot of time around NLR/Sherwood and around Mountain Home and the lakes. In
both areas, coverage is pretty decent.(but I don't expect my phone to work
EVERYWHERE)

Mark

"sparks" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I live in Arkansas and wanted to change from sprint to another
> carrier. Well I went to the Cingular web page and the coverage areas
> are lets just say a bunch of hype.
> They show coverage over the entire state. Ok sprint shows the main
> cities and the highways are covered, LOTS of missing areas...but
> honest.
> There is no way that Cingular coveres the entire area they have
> colored in.
>
> IS there a way to see what their coverage area is really like?
>
> I have had sprint for years and I enjoy the longdistance and call from
> anywhere feature .... does Cingular have these same things?
>
> The reason I am changing, rollover minutes and no charges when you try
> to swap phones....sprint hit me for $30 to move my number from my old
> phone (6 months old,,that was crap) to my new phone.
> $30 to move a number ???????
>
> thanks for any help
>
> sparks
>

sparks <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

> Well I went to the Cingular web page and the coverage areas
> are lets just say a bunch of hype.
> They show coverage over the entire state. Ok sprint shows the main
> cities and the highways are covered, LOTS of missing areas...but
> honest.
> There is no way that Cingular coveres the entire area they have
> colored in.

I guess as a Sprint PCS customer you're just not used to having good
coverage, even off the beaten path. But while I don't know whether
this is the case in AR or not, it is very much possible to have
wall-to-wall coverage from cellular providers. That's why VZW,
Cingular, and AT&TWS are the top 3 wireless providers in the country,
and not PCS providers like Sprint PCS or T-Mobile.

XFF wrote:
>
> sparks <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>
> > Well I went to the Cingular web page and the coverage areas
> > are lets just say a bunch of hype.
> > They show coverage over the entire state. Ok sprint shows the main
> > cities and the highways are covered, LOTS of missing areas...but
> > honest.
> > There is no way that Cingular coveres the entire area they have
> > colored in.
>
> I guess as a Sprint PCS customer you're just not used to having good
> coverage, even off the beaten path. But while I don't know whether
> this is the case in AR or not, it is very much possible to have
> wall-to-wall coverage from cellular providers. That's why VZW,
> Cingular, and AT&TWS are the top 3 wireless providers in the country,
> and not PCS providers like Sprint PCS or T-Mobile.

*Every* provider has dead spots,

Larry

"Lawrence Glasser" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> XFF wrote:
> >
> > sparks <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> >
> > > Well I went to the Cingular web page and the coverage areas
> > > are lets just say a bunch of hype.
> > > They show coverage over the entire state. Ok sprint shows the main
> > > cities and the highways are covered, LOTS of missing areas...but
> > > honest.
> > > There is no way that Cingular coveres the entire area they have
> > > colored in.
> >
> > I guess as a Sprint PCS customer you're just not used to having good
> > coverage, even off the beaten path. But while I don't know whether
> > this is the case in AR or not, it is very much possible to have
> > wall-to-wall coverage from cellular providers. That's why VZW,
> > Cingular, and AT&TWS are the top 3 wireless providers in the country,
> > and not PCS providers like Sprint PCS or T-Mobile.
>
> *Every* provider has dead spots,
>
> Larry

Yes, and some of them even advertise coverage in LARGE dead spots. Large as
in 10-15 mile radiuses covering entire towns. Sprint does this and is doing
it now.

[email protected] (XFF) wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
> sparks <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>
> > Well I went to the Cingular web page and the coverage areas
> > are lets just say a bunch of hype.
> > They show coverage over the entire state. Ok sprint shows the main
> > cities and the highways are covered, LOTS of missing areas...but
> > honest.
> > There is no way that Cingular coveres the entire area they have
> > colored in.
>
> I guess as a Sprint PCS customer you're just not used to having good
> coverage, even off the beaten path. But while I don't know whether
> this is the case in AR or not, it is very much possible to have
> wall-to-wall coverage from cellular providers. That's why VZW,
> Cingular, and AT&TWS are the top 3 wireless providers in the country,
> and not PCS providers like Sprint PCS or T-Mobile.

Not true at all. The reason the other 3 are the top is because of
mergers and acquistions. I'm surprised at all of the misconception that
exists on this issue.

[posted via phonescoop.com]

"Larry Thomas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
>
> [email protected] (XFF) wrote in article
> <[email protected]>:
> > sparks <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> >
> > > Well I went to the Cingular web page and the coverage areas
> > > are lets just say a bunch of hype.
> > > They show coverage over the entire state. Ok sprint shows the main
> > > cities and the highways are covered, LOTS of missing areas...but
> > > honest.
> > > There is no way that Cingular coveres the entire area they have
> > > colored in.
> >
> > I guess as a Sprint PCS customer you're just not used to having good
> > coverage, even off the beaten path. But while I don't know whether
> > this is the case in AR or not, it is very much possible to have
> > wall-to-wall coverage from cellular providers. That's why VZW,
> > Cingular, and AT&TWS are the top 3 wireless providers in the country,
> > and not PCS providers like Sprint PCS or T-Mobile.
>
> Not true at all. The reason the other 3 are the top is because of
> mergers and acquistions. I'm surprised at all of the misconception that
> exists on this issue.
>
> [posted via phonescoop.com]

Well, regardless of how anyone gets to the top, I know that Sprint
advertises coverage in areas where there is none. They also ranked lowest
in customer service and have a higher churn rate than the other providers.
When I was with Voicestream, their map was really accurate, within a mile or
two. I probably had 3 dropped calls with Voicestream in the two years I was
with them. I've had no dropped calls with AT&T to date.

It's also a matter of network maintenance, which, of the four carriers I've
tried, Sprint has been the only one that advertised service in an area and I
couldn't use the phone.

Maybe if they can't play with the big boys, they should try something else.
Maybe Sprint and LG could go into the paperweight manufacturing business
together.

boy you must be smokin' sump'n the indians use to believe those maps. Our
daughter drives from Indiana to the west coast each summer both north-south
and easr-west using her cingular, that is 'when' she can find coverage. You
need to talk to more users.

"Justin" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> "Larry Thomas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> >
> > [email protected] (XFF) wrote in article
> > <[email protected]>:
> > > sparks <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:<[email protected]>...
> > >
> > > > Well I went to the Cingular web page and the coverage areas
> > > > are lets just say a bunch of hype.
> > > > They show coverage over the entire state. Ok sprint shows the main
> > > > cities and the highways are covered, LOTS of missing areas...but
> > > > honest.
> > > > There is no way that Cingular coveres the entire area they have
> > > > colored in.
> > >
> > > I guess as a Sprint PCS customer you're just not used to having good
> > > coverage, even off the beaten path. But while I don't know whether
> > > this is the case in AR or not, it is very much possible to have
> > > wall-to-wall coverage from cellular providers. That's why VZW,
> > > Cingular, and AT&TWS are the top 3 wireless providers in the country,
> > > and not PCS providers like Sprint PCS or T-Mobile.
> >
> > Not true at all. The reason the other 3 are the top is because of
> > mergers and acquistions. I'm surprised at all of the misconception that
> > exists on this issue.
> >
> > [posted via phonescoop.com]
>
> Well, regardless of how anyone gets to the top, I know that Sprint
> advertises coverage in areas where there is none. They also ranked lowest
> in customer service and have a higher churn rate than the other providers.
> When I was with Voicestream, their map was really accurate, within a mile or
> two. I probably had 3 dropped calls with Voicestream in the two years I was
> with them. I've had no dropped calls with AT&T to date.
>
> It's also a matter of network maintenance, which, of the four carriers I've
> tried, Sprint has been the only one that advertised service in an area and I
> couldn't use the phone.
>
> Maybe if they can't play with the big boys, they should try something else.
> Maybe Sprint and LG could go into the paperweight manufacturing business
> together.
Guess you don't look at others maps to closely. The "biggest boy"
shows coverage in an area of Montana where the only service is by
satellite phone!. Also, Voicestream showed areas where THEY didn't
have coverage. Looks like you are in an area where SprintPCS has weak
coverage. What I have found is ALL carriers, INCLUDING THE BIG BOYS,
have problem spots, with AT&T having been found to have the most (as
has been stated in numerous independant studies, not surveys!).

I have both sprint and verizon service, and here in east tn, the
veriizon map is solid red--this is definitely an optimistic map, because
there certainly are areas, that without a 3 watt analog unit, there
would be no coverage, and I'm sure there are areas whre even it won't
work--however, I am relatively happy, in that coverage has improved so
much in the last few years. on the other side, I have sprint service in
areas that show no service--so much for maps

[email protected] (Ric) wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
> "Justin" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> > "Larry Thomas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> > >
> > >
> > > [email protected] (XFF) wrote in article
> > > <[email protected]>:
> > > > sparks <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:<[email protected]>...
> > > >
> > > > > Well I went to the Cingular web page and the coverage areas
> > > > > are lets just say a bunch of hype.
> > > > > They show coverage over the entire state. Ok sprint shows the main
> > > > > cities and the highways are covered, LOTS of missing areas...but
> > > > > honest.
> > > > > There is no way that Cingular coveres the entire area they have
> > > > > colored in.
> > > >
> > > > I guess as a Sprint PCS customer you're just not used to having good
> > > > coverage, even off the beaten path. But while I don't know whether
> > > > this is the case in AR or not, it is very much possible to have
> > > > wall-to-wall coverage from cellular providers. That's why VZW,
> > > > Cingular, and AT&TWS are the top 3 wireless providers in the country,
> > > > and not PCS providers like Sprint PCS or T-Mobile.
> > >
> > > Not true at all. The reason the other 3 are the top is because of
> > > mergers and acquistions. I'm surprised at all of the misconception that
> > > exists on this issue.
> > >
> > > [posted via phonescoop.com]
> >
> > Well, regardless of how anyone gets to the top, I know that Sprint
> > advertises coverage in areas where there is none. They also ranked lowest
> > in customer service and have a higher churn rate than the other providers.
> > When I was with Voicestream, their map was really accurate, within a mile or
> > two. I probably had 3 dropped calls with Voicestream in the two years I was
> > with them. I've had no dropped calls with AT&T to date.
> >
> > It's also a matter of network maintenance, which, of the four carriers I've
> > tried, Sprint has been the only one that advertised service in an area and I
> > couldn't use the phone.
> >
> > Maybe if they can't play with the big boys, they should try something else.
> > Maybe Sprint and LG could go into the paperweight manufacturing business
> > together.
> Guess you don't look at others maps to closely. The "biggest boy"
> shows coverage in an area of Montana where the only service is by
> satellite phone!. Also, Voicestream showed areas where THEY didn't
> have coverage. Looks like you are in an area where SprintPCS has weak
> coverage. What I have found is ALL carriers, INCLUDING THE BIG BOYS,
> have problem spots, with AT&T having been found to have the most (as
> has been stated in numerous independant studies, not surveys!).

[posted via phonescoop.com]

[email protected] (Larry Thomas) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> [email protected] (XFF) wrote in article
> <[email protected]>:
>
> > I guess as a Sprint PCS customer you're just not used to having good
> > coverage, even off the beaten path. But while I don't know whether
> > this is the case in AR or not, it is very much possible to have
> > wall-to-wall coverage from cellular providers. That's why VZW,
> > Cingular, and AT&TWS are the top 3 wireless providers in the country,
> > and not PCS providers like Sprint PCS or T-Mobile.
>
> Not true at all. The reason the other 3 are the top is because of
> mergers and acquistions. I'm surprised at all of the misconception that
> exists on this issue.

There's no misconception on my part, thank you! Look at the coverage
map for a rural service area (take CMA666 [Texas 15 - Concho]) for
example) from Sprint PCS or T-Mobile and then compare to that of the
two cellular providers in that area. Now you tell me if one doesn't
look like Swiss Cheese and the other one like wall-to-wall carpeting.

Yes, I know some providers lie about their true service area. Yes, I
know Sprint PCS has only been building out for a few years vs. the
cellular providers since the mid-80's. Yes I understand the economics
and consequences of covering low-density population areas.

All of this doesn't change the facts. For good rural coverage, the
PCS providers cannot compete against incumbant cellular providers.

Recently Sprint service improved in down town Seattle. As for coverage
maps- look at advanced feature maps and you will see a lot of
questionable areas. Those different shades of color mean a lot when it
comes to what you really get. Much of the colored in areas depends on
AMPS- which both CDMA and TDMA providers use. A true GSM map will look
like a bowl of spilled spaghetti.
With time, everything changes.

sparks <[email protected]> wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
> I live in Arkansas and wanted to change from sprint to another
> carrier. Well I went to the Cingular web page and the coverage areas
> are lets just say a bunch of hype.
> They show coverage over the entire state. Ok sprint shows the main
> cities and the highways are covered, LOTS of missing areas...but
> honest.
> There is no way that Cingular coveres the entire area they have
> colored in.
>
> IS there a way to see what their coverage area is really like?
>
> I have had sprint for years and I enjoy the longdistance and call from
> anywhere feature .... does Cingular have these same things?
>
> The reason I am changing, rollover minutes and no charges when you try
> to swap phones....sprint hit me for $30 to move my number from my old
> phone (6 months old,,that was crap) to my new phone.
> $30 to move a number ???????
>
> thanks for any help
>
> sparks
>

[posted via phonescoop.com]

"Justin" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Well, regardless of how anyone gets to the top, I know that Sprint
> advertises coverage in areas where there is none. They also ranked lowest
> in customer service and have a higher churn rate than the other providers.

Actually T-Mobile has a slightly higher churn rate than Sprint PCS.
But you're correct in that it really doesn't matter how a provider
achieves good coverage, whether it's through mergers, acquisitions,
roaming agreements, etc. or building a network from scratch.

> It's also a matter of network maintenance, which, of the four carriers
I've
> tried, Sprint has been the only one that advertised service in an area and
I
> couldn't use the phone.

The Sprint maps are quite amusing. They show coverage (roaming) even
where the FCC maps of AMPS show no coverage.

> Maybe if they can't play with the big boys, they should try something
else.
> Maybe Sprint and LG could go into the paperweight manufacturing business
> together.

More likely that Sprint PCS will merge with another carrier.

I don't know why the LG phones in the U.S. have so many problems.
In Korea, LG has great products, including phones. Perhaps it has to
do with the excellent coverage in Korea, where a phone does not have
to deal with a poor quality network.