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  1. #1
    *
    Guest
    I was speaking with a local brick and mortar agent the other day, and he
    told me something I don't think makes sense. He said that Sprint roams on
    all of the local Verizon towers. Being a current Verizon customer who has
    been searching for more dependable coverage, and having personally spent a
    good deal of time researching the local tower issue, this doesn't make sense
    to me. 4 years ago, Verizon customers were allowed to roam on the only local
    Sprint tower (yes, there's only one), and at some point that was closed to
    us. That's when signal got a lot worse at the house since the Sprint tower
    is closer to us than any of the Verizon towers. Currently I'm searching for
    a better solution, since Verizon seems to be like swiss cheese here. Can you
    confirm or deny this claim? I'm in Dutchess County, NY.







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  2. #2
    Steve Sobol
    Guest

    Re: Sprint roaming on Verizon towers - a myth?

    * wrote:
    > I was speaking with a local brick and mortar agent the other day, and he
    > told me something I don't think makes sense. He said that Sprint roams on
    > all of the local Verizon towers.


    I don't think that's necessarily incorrect. Sprint uses Verizon for roaming in
    many areas. If your area is one of them, then yes, the agent was right.

    But what he didn't say is that it's more likely to be analog roaming than CDMA
    roaming.

    You can pay a flat fee of $5/month for off-network access, and not have to pay
    the roaming charges, but with the $5/month addon you're limited to 50% or less
    of your monthly usage* being off-network and if you go over that, Sprint
    reserves the right to remove the $5 addon from your account.

    FYI.

    **SJS


    *50% of your monthly minutes...

    > to me. 4 years ago, Verizon customers were allowed to roam on the only local
    > Sprint tower (yes, there's only one),


    If there's only one Sprint tower in your area, perhaps you might be better off
    using Cingular or T-Mobile.

    I strongly suggest checking out all of the carriers, and taking full advantage
    of their trial periods to determine which one is the best for you.

    --
    JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638)
    Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / [email protected] / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED

    "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free"
    --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle"



  3. #3
    *
    Guest

    Re: Sprint roaming on Verizon towers - a myth?


    "Steve Sobol" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    news:[email protected]...
    >* wrote:
    >> I was speaking with a local brick and mortar agent the other day, and
    >> he told me something I don't think makes sense. He said that Sprint roams
    >> on all of the local Verizon towers.

    >
    > I don't think that's necessarily incorrect. Sprint uses Verizon for
    > roaming in many areas. If your area is one of them, then yes, the agent
    > was right.
    >
    > But what he didn't say is that it's more likely to be analog roaming than
    > CDMA roaming.
    >
    > You can pay a flat fee of $5/month for off-network access, and not have to
    > pay the roaming charges, but with the $5/month addon you're limited to 50%
    > or less of your monthly usage* being off-network and if you go over that,
    > Sprint reserves the right to remove the $5 addon from your account.
    >
    > FYI.
    >
    > **SJS
    >
    >
    > *50% of your monthly minutes...
    >
    >> to me. 4 years ago, Verizon customers were allowed to roam on the only
    >> local Sprint tower (yes, there's only one),

    >
    > If there's only one Sprint tower in your area, perhaps you might be better
    > off using Cingular or T-Mobile.
    >
    > I strongly suggest checking out all of the carriers, and taking full
    > advantage of their trial periods to determine which one is the best for
    > you.
    >
    > --
    > JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638)
    > Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / [email protected] / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
    >
    > "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free"
    > --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle"




    As a matter of fact, i've been doing just that. This agent sells all three.
    T-mobile is useless where I need it. I checked the street level coverage
    map on their site. And someone on the Cingular forum looked up the 4 zip
    codes nearby where I really need it. The 2 most important came back as
    'partner coverage'. I'm still trying to get a clear answer as to what that
    means. The 2 less important ones came back as moderate coverage. Do you
    know what 'partner coverage' means? I'm afraid that it would be roaming on
    T-mobile, which has no signal at all. Could Cingular roam on Dobson Cell
    One, cause we have that here too, altough I can't get a read on signal
    levels.





  4. #4
    AL
    Guest

    Re: Sprint roaming on Verizon towers - a myth?

    I know in Louisville KY in the VA Hospital, Verizon roams on Sprint, as
    Sprint PCS has antennas on all four corners of the hospital. So I'm sure
    there is somewhere in the area where Sprint users roam on Verizon. That is
    the cheapest and easier was to make trade offs in coverage and not directly
    compete.

    AL


    "*" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    news:[email protected]...
    > I was speaking with a local brick and mortar agent the other day, and

    he
    > told me something I don't think makes sense. He said that Sprint roams on
    > all of the local Verizon towers. Being a current Verizon customer who has
    > been searching for more dependable coverage, and having personally spent a
    > good deal of time researching the local tower issue, this doesn't make

    sense
    > to me. 4 years ago, Verizon customers were allowed to roam on the only

    local
    > Sprint tower (yes, there's only one), and at some point that was closed to
    > us. That's when signal got a lot worse at the house since the Sprint tower
    > is closer to us than any of the Verizon towers. Currently I'm searching

    for
    > a better solution, since Verizon seems to be like swiss cheese here. Can

    you
    > confirm or deny this claim? I'm in Dutchess County, NY.
    >
    >
    >








  5. #5
    Steve Sobol
    Guest

    Re: Sprint roaming on Verizon towers - a myth?

    * wrote:

    > Could Cingular roam on Dobson Cell
    > One, cause we have that here too, altough I can't get a read on signal
    > levels.


    Yes, Cingular and Dobson CellularONE both started out as TDMA and migrated to
    GSM. Other CellularONE properties might not be compatible... keep in mind that
    C1 is a *franchise*. For example, Western Wireless C1 (now Alltel) is not
    GSM/TDMA, they're CDMA. But Dobson is GSM/TDMA.

    --
    JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638)
    Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / [email protected] / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED

    "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free"
    --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle"



  6. #6
    Isaiah Beard
    Guest

    Re: Sprint roaming on Verizon towers - a myth?

    * wrote:
    > I was speaking with a local brick and mortar agent the other day, and he
    > told me something I don't think makes sense. He said that Sprint roams on
    > all of the local Verizon towers. Being a current Verizon customer who has
    > been searching for more dependable coverage, and having personally spent a
    > good deal of time researching the local tower issue, this doesn't make sense
    > to me. 4 years ago, Verizon customers were allowed to roam on the only local
    > Sprint tower (yes, there's only one), and at some point that was closed to
    > us. That's when signal got a lot worse at the house since the Sprint tower
    > is closer to us than any of the Verizon towers. Currently I'm searching for
    > a better solution, since Verizon seems to be like swiss cheese here. Can you
    > confirm or deny this claim? I'm in Dutchess County, NY.


    It's hard to tell what he means. First off, does that one Sprint tower
    cover the area well? If it boradcast a particularly strong signal and
    blankets the area, then chances are roaming isn't necessary.

    But if it doesn't, then it IS possible to get a Sprint plan add-on that
    lets you use up to have of your minutes roaming, without any extra
    charges. It's called Free & Clear America (or Fair & Flexible America,
    depending on what plan type you're on), and in corporate markets, the
    add-on is available for $5.

    So in that case, yes, you CAN roam off the Verizon towers. You just
    have to make sure that for every minute you roam, you've used up at
    least as many minutes on the Sprint network.

    --
    E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
    Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.



  7. #7
    John S
    Guest

    Re: Sprint roaming on Verizon towers - a myth?


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

    > Yes, Cingular and Dobson CellularONE both started out as TDMA and migrated
    > to GSM. Other CellularONE properties might not be compatible... keep in
    > mind that C1 is a *franchise*. For example, Western Wireless C1 (now
    > Alltel) is not GSM/TDMA, they're CDMA. But Dobson is GSM/TDMA.


    Actually, depending on where Western Wireless is they might be TDMA/GSM or
    CDMA. They basically tried to be the "roam to" carrier for many of the
    nationwide carriers.

    I am sure that this is going to standardize now they the Alltell merger is
    going to take place.





  8. #8
    Steve Sobol
    Guest

    Re: Sprint roaming on Verizon towers - a myth?

    John S wrote:

    > Actually, depending on where Western Wireless is they might be TDMA/GSM or
    > CDMA. They basically tried to be the "roam to" carrier for many of the
    > nationwide carriers.


    *Actually*

    Western Wireless migrated to CDMA 1x but maintains TDMA/GSM for roamers. If
    you're a customer, you're on CDMA.

    As I understand it, anyhow.

    > I am sure that this is going to standardize now they the Alltell merger is
    > going to take place.


    I'm not. I'd be surprised if Alltel dropped TDMA/GSM roaming. Roaming fees can
    bring a lot of money into the company. Alltel's *customers* are CDMA... but...


    --
    JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638)
    Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / [email protected] / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED

    "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free"
    --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle"



  9. #9

    Re: Sprint roaming on Verizon towers - a myth?

    At the time AC was introduced (around 4 years ago), Sprint and Verizon
    signed an intercarrier roaming agreement for their entire network.
    Sprint could roam on verizon (but roaming would be charged), and
    Verizon could roam on Sprint as regular minutes.

    Within a year, Verizon probably realized it was losing tons of money on
    the deal, since the package pricing caused verizon users to roam (while
    verizon ate the cost) a lot more often than sprint users roamed on
    Verizon. Verizon began slowly removing Sprint roaming areas from their
    PRLs, and eventually shut off roaming in some areas for those who kept
    old PRLs.

    >From what I hear, this was not a two-way shutoff, as Sprint and Verizon

    had no financial incentive to shut off roaming to sprint users since
    costs were passed on to the customers. I also heard of new sprint
    free-roaming plans, so your agent may be correct. You may be able to
    better confirm on alt.cellular.sprintpcs

    -MVL




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