service near the south rim of the grand canyon

I will be travelling to the south rim (and staying overnite in the
park), what type of service can I expect (i am on ac1 w/a treo700p)
evdo? something? anything? just curious thanks

A year ago, it was bad to non-existent. Some weak analog was all I could
pick up. Hopefully it is better now.

"prk60091" <prk60091@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1156808868.907761.145440@p79g2000cwp.googlegr oups.com...
>I will be travelling to the south rim (and staying overnite in the
> park), what type of service can I expect (i am on ac1 w/a treo700p)
> evdo? something? anything? just curious thanks
>

DonR. wrote:
> A year ago, it was bad to non-existent. Some weak analog was all I could
> pick up. Hopefully it is better now.
>

I am a heavy cell phone user but I hope it stays non-existent. Some
places just don't need beeping, ringtones and speakerphones.

If you can still switch systems on your phone, you can hit an alltel
tower by switching to system 'A'...strong signal.


Dave Rudisill wrote:
> >"prk60091" <prk60091@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >I will be travelling to the south rim (and staying overnite in the
> >park), what type of service can I expect (i am on ac1 w/a treo700p)
> >evdo? something? anything? just curious thanks
>
> We were there in April.
>
> At the rim, there was no Verizon service. In Williams, there was a
> strong National Access signal.
>
> I found an unsecured WiFi network at the employees' dorm near the RV
> park (Grand Canyonb Trailer Village).
>
> --
> Dave

prk60091 wrote:
> I will be travelling to the south rim (and staying overnite in the
> park), what type of service can I expect (i am on ac1 w/a treo700p)
> evdo? something? anything? just curious thanks

There's an Alltel site on the South Rim. Not sure if it's AMPS-only, or
CDMA and AMPS. With AC1 you'd need a tri-mode phone to use AMPS though.
Maybe you should pick up a tri-mode for this trip, since AMPS will give
you much better coverage.

Dave Rudisill wrote:
> What does "switch systems" mean? My phone is a tri-mode and has always
> worked in analog areas in the past. At the South Rim, I had a big "No
> service" displayed on the phone.

Switching systems means switching from the B side AMPS carrier to the A
side AMPS carrier.

On my Verizon phone, it's set to the B side for AMPS. Sometimes you have
to change it to the A side if the AMPS carrier in the area that you're
in uses the A side.

On the Motorola tri-mode phones it's under Settings>Network Options>Set
Mode.

If you have AC (not AC2) then you should be able to get AMPS at the
Grand Canyon by switching to the A side. Even on AC2 you may be able to
call 911, but off-network AMPS roaming on AC2 doesn't seem to exist. On
AC, you may be charged for roaming onto non-Verizon AMPS.

SMS wrote:
> prk60091 wrote:
>
>> I will be travelling to the south rim (and staying overnite in the
>> park), what type of service can I expect (i am on ac1 w/a treo700p)
>> evdo? something? anything? just curious thanks
>
> There's an Alltel site on the South Rim. Not sure if it's AMPS-only, or
> CDMA and AMPS. With AC1 you'd need a tri-mode phone to use AMPS though.
> Maybe you should pick up a tri-mode for this trip, since AMPS will give
> you much better coverage.

The Alltel system at the South Rim is not in the Verizon roam list. On
earlier America's Choice plans, you could set "Auto A" mode on your
phone and pick it up, and I believe you would pay the $.69/min roaming
charge. The newer America's Choice plans do not let you use systems not
in the PRL, and you will see "No Service" instead (unless you dial 911,
where the phone will magically start showing a signal and put the call
through if it can).

I believe the Alltel signal is CDMA, but whether it is AMPS or CDMA has
nothing to do with whether you are paying roaming. What counts is what
system you are using, not whether they are using CDMA or AMPS. The "AMPS
= roaming" is a fallacy perpetuated by SprintPCS, who for many years
(but no longer) did not let you roam in CDMA mode, even if there was a
perfectly good CDMA signal from one of their roaming partners (like
Verizon Wireless); they instead forced you use the partner's AMPS signal.

CharlesH wrote:

> I believe the Alltel signal is CDMA, but whether it is AMPS or CDMA has
> nothing to do with whether you are paying roaming. What counts is what
> system you are using, not whether they are using CDMA or AMPS. The "AMPS
> = roaming" is a fallacy perpetuated by SprintPCS, who for many years
> (but no longer) did not let you roam in CDMA mode, even if there was a
> perfectly good CDMA signal from one of their roaming partners (like
> Verizon Wireless); they instead forced you use the partner's AMPS signal.

I thought that ut the A or B side selection in the phone was related
only to AMPS networks.

Yes, as I noted earlier, you need the original AC plan, not AC2, in
order to be able to roam in many areas. But AC2 has CDMA roaming just
about everywhere there is a non-Verizon CDMA system where there is also
no Verizon coverage. It's the loss of AMPS coverage that makes AC2
unacceptable. So if the Grand Canyon site of Alltel was CDMA, I think
that AC2 would work.

SMS wrote:
> CharlesH wrote:
>
>> I believe the Alltel signal is CDMA, but whether it is AMPS or CDMA
>> has nothing to do with whether you are paying roaming. What counts is
>> what system you are using, not whether they are using CDMA or AMPS.
>> The "AMPS = roaming" is a fallacy perpetuated by SprintPCS, who for
>> many years (but no longer) did not let you roam in CDMA mode, even if
>> there was a perfectly good CDMA signal from one of their roaming
>> partners (like Verizon Wireless); they instead forced you use the
>> partner's AMPS signal.
>
> I thought that ut the A or B side selection in the phone was related
> only to AMPS networks.
>
> Yes, as I noted earlier, you need the original AC plan, not AC2, in
> order to be able to roam in many areas. But AC2 has CDMA roaming just
> about everywhere there is a non-Verizon CDMA system where there is also
> no Verizon coverage. It's the loss of AMPS coverage that makes AC2
> unacceptable. So if the Grand Canyon site of Alltel was CDMA, I think
> that AC2 would work.

A/B applies to both CDMA and AMPS, but the A/B fallback only applies
after the search in the PRL fails, and the AC-2 PRL has a flag that
tells the phone to not do this fallback. Now, the new AC-2 PRLs may
disallow AMPS roaming (the individual PRL entries specify AMPS or CDMA
along with the system id), but that is a separate matter.

The problem at the Grand Canyon is that Alltel uses the same SID there
that it uses in several Arizona cities where VZW DOES have coverage, and
VZW wants to disallow "in system" roaming (roaming in an area which VZW
believes that it has its own coverage). So at the Grand Canyon, where
VZW does NOT have coverage, you are SOL.

The A/B stuff is what phones used before they had PRLs. The first CDMA
phone I had (a Motorola SC725) in fact did not support a PRL.

In article <wr3Kg.23125$gY6.19520@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com> , CharlesH wrote:

> The problem at the Grand Canyon is that Alltel uses the same SID there
> that it uses in several Arizona cities where VZW DOES have coverage, and
> VZW wants to disallow "in system" roaming (roaming in an area which VZW
> believes that it has its own coverage). So at the Grand Canyon, where
> VZW does NOT have coverage, you are SOL.
>
> The A/B stuff is what phones used before they had PRLs. The first CDMA
> phone I had (a Motorola SC725) in fact did not support a PRL.

BTW: Alltel is CDMA everywhere.

--
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