Detroit Metro area coverage question

Greetings

I will be moving to the Detroit Metro area (Northville) soon, and am looking
for recommendations for carrier coverage.

I will also be traveling to northern Michigan & Chicago frequently, so I am
looking at GAIT phones or GSM-only with a pre-paid TDMA/analog phone thru
e-call for back-up.

How is GSM coverage in Detroit metro? ATTWS better/worse than Cingular?
how about T-mobile?

Any experience with GAIT phone coverage in the area?

I currently have ATTWS and am satisfied with them, but I do like the
rollover minutes on Cingular. My contract has been expired for a few
months, so no cancellation fees for me.

Many thanks

Scott

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"Scott Mc." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Greetings
>
> I will be moving to the Detroit Metro area (Northville) soon, and am
looking
> for recommendations for carrier coverage.
>
> I will also be traveling to northern Michigan & Chicago frequently, so I
am
> looking at GAIT phones or GSM-only with a pre-paid TDMA/analog phone thru
> e-call for back-up.
>
> How is GSM coverage in Detroit metro? ATTWS better/worse than Cingular?
> how about T-mobile?
>
> Any experience with GAIT phone coverage in the area?
>
> I currently have ATTWS and am satisfied with them, but I do like the
> rollover minutes on Cingular. My contract has been expired for a few
> months, so no cancellation fees for me.
>
> Many thanks
>
> Scott
>
>
>
I live in the area north of Detroit about 40 miles and have a 6340i gait
phone and travel around the southern and northern parts of the state and
have had excellent coverage every where, If you get a gsm only phone don't
plan on using it up north because there isn't any gsm available. Get a gait
or plan on using a public phone.

"Scott Mc." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Greetings
>
> I will be moving to the Detroit Metro area (Northville) soon, and am
looking
> for recommendations for carrier coverage.
>
> I will also be traveling to northern Michigan & Chicago frequently, so I
am
> looking at GAIT phones or GSM-only with a pre-paid TDMA/analog phone thru
> e-call for back-up.
>
> How is GSM coverage in Detroit metro? ATTWS better/worse than Cingular?
> how about T-mobile?
>
> Any experience with GAIT phone coverage in the area?
>
> I currently have ATTWS and am satisfied with them, but I do like the
> rollover minutes on Cingular. My contract has been expired for a few
> months, so no cancellation fees for me.
>
First - welcome to Detroit! Please leave your misconceptions and media-bias
at the border and enjoy living in a great Metro area! You will love
Northville and the entire west-side suburban area. Bad timing with the
weather.... but that is why we all vacation in Florida and Mexico during
February....

As for phone coverage - ATTWS is the best I have had in the last few years.
Sprint coverage became saturated a few years ago and never really recovered.
Cingular & T-Mobile users have about equal gripes in the city. All of my
friends and family on AT&T have the same reaction after switching - I can
now use my phone in more places than I ever did before!

My parents have GSM coverage with the multi-band Siemens phone and love it.
They get coverage in mid and upper Michigan and have great reception.
Likewise, I have TDMA coverage in the Dearborn / Downriver area and it is
great! Had a few dead spots, but after asking AT&T to reprogram the phone
for the local towers the dead spots went away.

I would agree with the other poster that GSM only coverage in Michigan will
severely hamper your ability to travel around the state - coverage dies in
the Saginaw area (about 90-120 min N of Detroit) and that only gets you to
mid-Michigan. For that reason, every GSM AT&T user I know has one of the
newer multi-band phones or that older Siemens amber-screen phone.

Make sure you check the coverage map - especially along the route you may
potentially drive between your "home" and Detroit. We have had a few
transplants in my department recently, and they had some trouble using their
phones while driving to Pittsburgh and Columbus. Neither were on AT&T - and
my AT&T phone worked great down to Columbus last month... go figure

Hope this helps!

- Bryan
mahnamahna415 {AT} yahoo [DOT] com

Scott I use Sprint and T-Mobile (wife) T-mobile coverage has actually
been pretty good for us as far north as Boyne Highlands. They have an
agreement with a local GSM provider their that let's you roam for
free. Take a look at their map. ATT's GSM only coverage and Cingular's
GSM only coverage is not that great for up north. I think if coverage
is your primary concern I would look at Verizon National Plans.

Rocky

Thanks for the feedback, everyone, I appreciate the help!

Scott

"Rocky" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Scott I use Sprint and T-Mobile (wife) T-mobile coverage has actually
> been pretty good for us as far north as Boyne Highlands. They have an
> agreement with a local GSM provider their that let's you roam for
> free. Take a look at their map. ATT's GSM only coverage and Cingular's
> GSM only coverage is not that great for up north. I think if coverage
> is your primary concern I would look at Verizon National Plans.
>
> Rocky