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  1. #1
    Nick Danger
    Guest
    I fear I might start a flame war with this ... well, actually I don't fear
    it; it might even be entertaining.

    A couple weeks ago, I finally decided it was time to move up from my two old
    AT&T TDMA phones. I also needed a third phone, so that required some sort of
    a new plan. I got three Razr phones with a Cingular family plan (550
    minutes). One handy feature that my old phones didn't have was the ability
    to sound a tone whenever it passes in or out of a no-service area. While
    driving home one day on the secondary roads, I found that I was in a
    no-service area for almost half of my 25-mile commute. During this time, I
    saw other people talking on their phones, so it appears someone was getting
    service. Also, I found that almost all of our friends had Verizon and
    claimed that they got great service everywhere. This is in Northern
    Westchester County, NY.

    Given that Verizon apparently had better coverage and we would have someone
    to talk with with our "In" minutes, I finally decided to sign up for Verizon
    and do some comparisons. I ordered three Razr phones from Verizon and they
    arrived today - V3M model. I spent a lot of time driving around the Danbury
    area and northern Westchester, and I have to report, to my surprise, that
    Cingular has had better coverage, better signal strength, and much clearer
    sound. It's difficult to tell from looking at the phones. The Cingular phone
    goes up to five bars; the Verizon phone goes up to four. Sometimes I was
    able to get a clear signal on Verizon with zero bars; other times I got a
    very staticy poor quality signal with four bars. The quality of the sound
    coming from the Cingular phone has been generally comparable to the number
    of bars. If you have zero bars, you can be quite certain that you have no
    service. In fact, it seems I rarely get a bad signal from Cingular; it's all
    or nothing.

    Verizon's 700-minute plan costs about the same as Cingular's, but I doubt
    we'll ever use that many minutes, so for us, the 550-minute plan is a better
    deal. The V3M has more features and a more refined looking user interface,
    but I'm really going to miss the ability to transfer photos and ringtones by
    Bluetooth. International roaming with GSM sounds like a nice thing to have,
    but in reality, it's entirely possible that I might never leave the USA
    during the lifetime of this phone. And even if I do, roaming is so expensive
    that I wouldn't want to do it even if I could. I do wonder how much of a
    contribution the analog towers make to Verizon's much-vaunted superior
    coverage. In rural areas, it appears much of the coverage is analog, which
    would do me no good with an all-digital phone.

    Based on what I've seen (and heard) so far, I honestly have to say that
    Cingular is winning. Could it be that Verizon's better coverage is all a
    myth, perpetuated by a well-orchestrated advertising campaign? I won't have
    time to travel around extensively to test the two thoroughly before one set
    of phones has to go back.





    See More: Comparing Verizon vs Cingular




  2. #2
    John Navas
    Guest

    Re: Comparing Verizon vs Cingular

    On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 14:48:13 -0400, "Nick Danger"
    <[email protected]> wrote in <[email protected]>:

    >I fear I might start a flame war with this ... well, actually I don't fear
    >it; it might even be entertaining.


    [sigh]

    >Given that Verizon apparently had better coverage and we would have someone
    >to talk with with our "In" minutes, I finally decided to sign up for Verizon
    >and do some comparisons. I ordered three Razr phones from Verizon and they
    >arrived today - V3M model. I spent a lot of time driving around the Danbury
    >area and northern Westchester, and I have to report, to my surprise, that
    >Cingular has had better coverage, better signal strength, and much clearer
    >sound. It's difficult to tell from looking at the phones. The Cingular phone
    >goes up to five bars; the Verizon phone goes up to four. Sometimes I was
    >able to get a clear signal on Verizon with zero bars; other times I got a
    >very staticy poor quality signal with four bars. The quality of the sound
    >coming from the Cingular phone has been generally comparable to the number
    >of bars. If you have zero bars, you can be quite certain that you have no
    >service. In fact, it seems I rarely get a bad signal from Cingular; it's all
    >or nothing.


    That's a fundamental difference of the technology: With GSM (a
    TDMA-based system), you get a dedicated time slot, so quality is
    generally consistent given a minimal or better signal. With CDMA, you
    share with other subscribers, and system performance is noise limited,
    so you can get degraded or even dropped in the course of a call. In
    practice these differences aren't usually significant, but sometimes
    they are, as you've noticed.

    >Verizon's 700-minute plan costs about the same as Cingular's, but I doubt
    >we'll ever use that many minutes, so for us, the 550-minute plan is a better
    >deal.


    Cingular Rollover is a big advantage if your usage varies from month to
    month.

    >International roaming with GSM sounds like a nice thing to have,
    >but in reality, it's entirely possible that I might never leave the USA
    >during the lifetime of this phone. And even if I do, roaming is so expensive
    >that I wouldn't want to do it even if I could.


    International calling is much more affordable with local SIMs and a
    Callback service -- see the FAQ below. You can have a quad-band phone
    "unlocked" to make this possible.

    >Based on what I've seen (and heard) so far, I honestly have to say that
    >Cingular is winning. Could it be that Verizon's better coverage is all a
    >myth, perpetuated by a well-orchestrated advertising campaign? I won't have
    >time to travel around extensively to test the two thoroughly before one set
    >of phones has to go back.


    What matters is the actual service, not the technology, and there is
    very good digital coverage in many areas for both CDMA and GSM.
    I personally don't see much benefit to analog coverage -- I used to
    carry an old D-AMPS phone in my car for emergencies (since 911 calls go
    through even on an unactivated phone), but no longer.

    The key is to go with the best combination of coverage in areas you
    actually care about, features, and value, according to your own
    particular needs, which you seem to be doing. No one service is best
    for all people, even in a given area.

    --
    Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
    John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>



  3. #3
    SMS
    Guest

    Re: Comparing Verizon vs Cingular

    Nick Danger wrote:

    > Based on what I've seen (and heard) so far, I honestly have to say that
    > Cingular is winning. Could it be that Verizon's better coverage is all a
    > myth, perpetuated by a well-orchestrated advertising campaign?


    In suburban and urban areas the coverage should be about the same. Even
    though you need more GSM towers than CDMA towers to cover a given area,
    in suburban and urban areas there will be more than the minimum in order
    to have sufficient capacity.

    I have both Cingular GSM (on an MVNO) and Verizon, in the San Francisco
    Bay Area. If I'm in a major city in the area, the Cingular coverage is
    just fine. However when I get out into some of the suburbs to visit
    friends and relatives, it's often the case that Cingular's coverage is
    aporadic. I always find it amusing, that about 2 km from Cingular's
    western regional HQ in Pleasanton, at my nephew's house, there is no
    Cingular coverage, and it's not a condo, and not up in the hills.

    The other issue with Verizon, is that if you get a tri-mode phone, then
    nationwide you have about an order of magnitude more coverage than you
    get with an all-digital phone from Cingular. Now this coverage is often
    out in the boonies, and may not matter much to you, but in my area, I
    can drive about ten minutes from my house up into the surrounding
    greenbelt, and have no GSM coverage, spotty CDMA coverage, but excellent
    analog coverage. When I drive to Lake Tahoe, via the road past one the
    largest ski resorts, there is only analog coverage for much of the way
    through the mountains. I suppose that if you have Cingular (or a Verizon
    dual band phone), any you're worried about the lack of coverage, then
    you can plan your routes such that you don't travel through the
    no-coverage areas.



  4. #4
    Lena
    Guest

    Re: Comparing Verizon vs Cingular


    Nick Danger wrote:
    > I got three Razr phones with a Cingular family plan ....While
    > driving home one day on the secondary roads, I found that I was in a
    > no-service area for almost half of my 25-mile commute.
    > I ordered three Razr phones from Verizon and they
    > arrived today - V3M model. I spent a lot of time driving around the Danbury
    > area and northern Westchester, and I have to report, to my surprise, that
    > Cingular has had better coverage, better signal strength, and much clearer
    > sound. .....Could it be that Verizon's better coverage is all a
    > myth, ...I won't have
    > time to travel around extensively to test the two thoroughly before one set
    > of phones has to go back.


    So you're basing your decision on less than one day with Verizon?
    Didn't you mention that Cingular had NO coverage for half of your 25
    mile commute?

    Both Cingular and Verizon coverage maps show solid coverage from the
    Bronx to Danbury. Make sure you are calling someone on a landline (not
    a cellphone and not VOIP) to make sure any problems are your phone and
    not their phone.

    Lena




  5. #5
    Dick
    Guest

    Re: Comparing Verizon vs Cingular

    On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 14:48:13 -0400, "Nick Danger"
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    >I fear I might start a flame war with this ... well, actually I don't fear
    >it; it might even be entertaining.


    >
    >Based on what I've seen (and heard) so far, I honestly have to say that
    >Cingular is winning. Could it be that Verizon's better coverage is all a
    >myth, perpetuated by a well-orchestrated advertising campaign? I won't have
    >time to travel around extensively to test the two thoroughly before one set
    >of phones has to go back.
    >


    It all depends upon where you live and travel. It's impossilbe to
    make a generalization about the two services. Sometimes one is
    better. Sometimes the other.

    Dick



  6. #6
    Nick Danger
    Guest

    Re: Comparing Verizon vs Cingular


    "Lena" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    news:[email protected]...
    > > So you're basing your decision on less than one day with Verizon?

    > Didn't you mention that Cingular had NO coverage for half of your 25
    > mile commute?
    >
    > Both Cingular and Verizon coverage maps show solid coverage from the
    > Bronx to Danbury. Make sure you are calling someone on a landline (not
    > a cellphone and not VOIP) to make sure any problems are your phone and
    > not their phone.


    No - I'm basing my previous post on less than one day with Verizon. I'll
    base my decision on my experience when it's time to send one set of phones
    back. Yes, it's true that Cingular had NO coverage for half of my commute.
    I'll go that route again this week and see what kind of results I get with
    Verizon. Since my last post, I made some calls from my home and Cingular
    came out way ahead - but still not a perfect signal. In one low corner of my
    yard, I got no Verizon service at all.

    The online coverage maps are pretty close to useless. The only map I've been
    able to find for Cingular is at
    http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/cel...familytalk.gif -
    which covers the whole country. Verizon has a similar map, as well as local
    maps which show a little bit more detail. T-Mobile has maps that let you
    zoom in enough to pick out the location where your house is. Their maps
    don't just show coverage/no coverage; they show how many bars you can
    expect.

    I started this experiment with a strong bias in favor of Verizon. I was
    disappointed with all the dead zones I saw with Cingular, I had testimonials
    from numerous friends that they never have a problem anywhere with Verizon,
    I've even had people tell me that they never got a signal with AT&T at my
    home, but they get a good strong signal with Verizon. I have more friends
    than I can keep track of who have Verizon service and are perfectly
    satisfied with it. I only know a couple people with Cingular, and they give
    unenthusiastic endorsements, saying that the rollover minutes are a nice
    feature. I even made time in my schedule to stop by UPS on Thursday to
    return the Cingular phones. I assumed that would be plenty of time to verify
    that Verizon is better. The results still might change with further testing,
    but it's been a big disappointment so far. I recognize that there is some
    value in getting a poor quality connection rather than no connection, but in
    too many places, I'm seeing no connection at all with Verizon.

    Even the phones themselves have produced a mixed reaction. The V3M seems
    more refined than the V3. Volume is much louder, which is a welcome
    improvement. Yet I always seem to know how and where to find what I'm
    looking for on the V3 while I have to hunt around on the V3M. But all the
    nice features and functions of the V3M require the use of a paid service,
    which I don't want to pay for.





  7. #7
    Quick
    Guest

    Re: Comparing Verizon vs Cingular

    Nick Danger wrote:
    > "Lena" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    >>> So you're basing your decision on less than one day
    >>> with Verizon?

    >> Didn't you mention that Cingular had NO coverage for
    >> half of your 25 mile commute?
    >>
    >> Both Cingular and Verizon coverage maps show solid
    >> coverage from the Bronx to Danbury. Make sure you are
    >> calling someone on a landline (not a cellphone and not
    >> VOIP) to make sure any problems are your phone and not
    >> their phone.

    >
    > No - I'm basing my previous post on less than one day
    > with Verizon. I'll base my decision on my experience when it's time to
    > send
    > one set of phones back. Yes, it's true that Cingular had NO coverage for
    > half of my commute. I'll go that route again this week and see what kind
    > of
    > results I get with Verizon. Since my last post, I made some calls from my
    > home and Cingular came out way ahead - but still not a perfect signal. In
    > one low corner of my yard, I got no Verizon service at all.
    >
    > The online coverage maps are pretty close to useless. The
    > only map I've been able to find for Cingular is at
    > http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/cel...familytalk.gif
    > - which covers the whole country. Verizon has a similar
    > map, as well as local maps which show a little bit more detail. T-Mobile
    > has
    > maps that let you zoom in enough to pick out the location where your house
    > is. Their maps don't just show coverage/no coverage; they show how many
    > bars you can expect.
    >
    > I started this experiment with a strong bias in favor of
    > Verizon. I was disappointed with all the dead zones I saw with Cingular,
    > I had testimonials from numerous friends that they never have a problem
    > anywhere with Verizon, I've even had people tell me that they never got a
    > signal
    > with AT&T at my home, but they get a good strong signal with Verizon. I
    > have more friends than I can keep track of who have Verizon service and
    > are
    > perfectly satisfied with it. I only know a couple people with
    > Cingular, and they give unenthusiastic endorsements,
    > saying that the rollover minutes are a nice feature. I even made time in
    > my schedule to stop by UPS
    > on Thursday to return the Cingular phones. I assumed that would be
    > plenty of time to verify that Verizon is better. The results still might
    > change
    > with further testing, but it's been a big disappointment so far. I
    > recognize
    > that there is some value in getting a poor quality connection rather than
    > no
    > connection, but in too many places, I'm seeing no connection at all with
    > Verizon.
    > Even the phones themselves have produced a mixed
    > reaction. The V3M seems more refined than the V3. Volume is much louder,
    > which is
    > a welcome improvement. Yet I always seem to know how and where to
    > find what I'm looking for on the V3 while I have to hunt around on the
    > V3M. But all the nice features and functions of the V3M require the use of
    > a paid service, which I don't want to pay for.


    Something else to consider if you are very tight for minutes is
    that most everybody you seem to know is on VZW and that
    would all be IN calling (unlimited). This would be one of my
    last considerations but could be a tie breaker.

    -Quick





  8. #8
    Jeffrey Kaplan
    Guest

    Re: Comparing Verizon vs Cingular

    It is alleged that Nick Danger claimed:

    > A couple weeks ago, I finally decided it was time to move up from my two old
    > AT&T TDMA phones. I also needed a third phone, so that required some sort of
    > a new plan. I got three Razr phones with a Cingular family plan (550
    > minutes). One handy feature that my old phones didn't have was the ability
    > to sound a tone whenever it passes in or out of a no-service area. While
    > driving home one day on the secondary roads, I found that I was in a
    > no-service area for almost half of my 25-mile commute. During this time, I
    > saw other people talking on their phones, so it appears someone was getting
    > service. Also, I found that almost all of our friends had Verizon and
    > claimed that they got great service everywhere. This is in Northern
    > Westchester County, NY.


    The two networks have different coverage maps, and those maps they have
    at the stores may not be 100% accurate. Note, too, that those others
    you saw on the road may have been with Alltel or Sprint, as Sprint
    roams on Alltel towers. I do not know if Alltel has service in your
    area, though.

    > Given that Verizon apparently had better coverage and we would have someone


    They may have better coverage where you are, but that does not mean
    that they have better coverage everywhere.

    > to talk with with our "In" minutes, I finally decided to sign up for Verizon
    > and do some comparisons. I ordered three Razr phones from Verizon and they
    > arrived today - V3M model. I spent a lot of time driving around the Danbury
    > area and northern Westchester, and I have to report, to my surprise, that
    > Cingular has had better coverage, better signal strength, and much clearer
    > sound. It's difficult to tell from looking at the phones. The Cingular phone


    I learned the hard way that you cannot reliably compare signal strength
    to voice quality on a CDMA network, nor strength quality between CDMA
    and GSM because of the very fundamental differences in the two
    technologies.

    CMDA works by dividing the bandwidth per user based on tower load. When
    this reaches a threshold, sound quality degrades. It is entirely
    possible to have full signal strength from a CDMA tower and still get a
    lousy connection. Just like trying to watch a high-bandwidth online
    video on a slow connection.

    OTOH, GSM works by dividing the timeslots per user based on tower load.
    The more phones connected to a tower, the fewer timeslots are available
    per phone. When this reaches a threshold, no more connections can be
    made until phones move to another tower or are turned off by their
    users. This results in retaining good voice quality even with marginal
    signal strength because the actual bandwidth per phone remains the
    same.

    > Bluetooth. International roaming with GSM sounds like a nice thing to have,
    > but in reality, it's entirely possible that I might never leave the USA
    > during the lifetime of this phone. And even if I do, roaming is so expensive
    > that I wouldn't want to do it even if I could. I do wonder how much of a
    > contribution the analog towers make to Verizon's much-vaunted superior
    > coverage. In rural areas, it appears much of the coverage is analog, which
    > would do me no good with an all-digital phone.


    My last Verizon phone, a Kyocera 7135 smartphone, never, ever made an
    analog connection, even in such marginal areas where digital service
    was poor to non-existent yet an analog tower was in range. So I
    eventually told it to not even bother trying analog.

    Then I moved 40 miles north-west of where I was, and got zero coverage
    from Verizon Wireless where I needed it most, and marginal coverage
    around the rest of the town. So I eventually switched to Cingular
    (Treo 650) and problem solved. I used to live just south of Boston,
    MA.

    Also of note, since you're in NY: When I'd drive to visit friends in
    Kingston, NY, I'd get no CDMA service at all for most of the NY
    Throughway between the MA border on Rt. 90 (Throughway exit B3) to exit
    20 (Rhinecliff Bridge) on the Throughway/Rt 87. That's about 60~70
    miles of major interstate highway with NO SERVICE!. That problem, too,
    went away when I switched to Cingular.

    > Based on what I've seen (and heard) so far, I honestly have to say that
    > Cingular is winning. Could it be that Verizon's better coverage is all a
    > myth, perpetuated by a well-orchestrated advertising campaign? I won't have
    > time to travel around extensively to test the two thoroughly before one set
    > of phones has to go back.


    As long as you have both, continue to use both for the duration of
    their respective trial periods, and make sure that you do not go over
    the prorated allotment of your airtime. IIRC, VZW has a 15 day trial
    and a 30 day billing cycle, so a prorated allotment on 15days would be
    half the total minutes, and Cingular's trial period is the full first
    billing cycle.

    Test them both as much as you can during that time frame, and when the
    first one's trial period is up, decide which to keep and which to
    cancel.

    --
    Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
    The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

    "The robot is fully armored in heat treated, triple-folded titanium. It
    can resist high-powered artillery blasts or a point-blank Senate ethics
    committee hearing." - Riff, Sluggy Freelance



  9. #9
    Quick
    Guest

    Re: Comparing Verizon vs Cingular

    Jeffrey Kaplan wrote:
    >
    > My last Verizon phone, a Kyocera 7135 smartphone, never,
    > ever made an analog connection, even in such marginal
    > areas where digital service was poor to non-existent yet
    > an analog tower was in range. So I eventually told it to
    > not even bother trying analog.


    My 7135 switches to analog quite well. 2 or 3 golf courses
    a bit out in the boonies are analog only coverage. Works
    great. Downside is that it only works for about 6 hours...
    but that's a different issue.

    I'm still in denial and refuse to start planning for my inevitable
    migration (probably to a Treo).

    -Quick





  10. #10
    Nick Danger
    Guest

    Re: Comparing Verizon vs Cingular


    "Quick" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    news:[email protected]...
    > Something else to consider if you are very tight for minutes is
    > that most everybody you seem to know is on VZW and that
    > would all be IN calling (unlimited). This would be one of my
    > last considerations but could be a tie breaker.


    It is a serious consideration. My family are not serious yakkers. We've
    gotten by just fine for the last ten years with 60 anytime minutes/month on
    our phones, so we don't expect to need a lot of minutes (but now we have a
    teenager, which could change things a bit).

    One can post either of the following questions:
    1. What good is unlimited IN airtime with all your friends if you break up
    so badly that no one can understand what you're saying?
    2. What good is a good clear signal if no one wants to talk with you because
    you're eating into their anytime minutes?





  11. #11
    Thomas T. Veldhouse
    Guest

    Re: Comparing Verizon vs Cingular

    In alt.cellular.verizon John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    > What matters is the actual service, not the technology, and there is
    > very good digital coverage in many areas for both CDMA and GSM.
    > I personally don't see much benefit to analog coverage -- I used to
    > carry an old D-AMPS phone in my car for emergencies (since 911 calls go
    > through even on an unactivated phone), but no longer.
    >
    > The key is to go with the best combination of coverage in areas you
    > actually care about, features, and value, according to your own
    > particular needs, which you seem to be doing. No one service is best
    > for all people, even in a given area.
    >


    This is EXCELLENT advice. The only thing I would differ on is that if you
    spend time out in the boonies, it is still worth having an AMPS capable phone
    in your car as there are still many holes with digital [all services] and
    murphy's law virtually assures that if you car breaks down, it will be in one
    of those holes.

    --
    Thomas T. Veldhouse
    Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1




  12. #12
    Quick
    Guest

    Re: Comparing Verizon vs Cingular

    I think everyone agrees that no carrier has coverage
    everywhere and that all carrier's coverage does not
    coincide. So one should first decide what your priorities
    are, who offers it, and if more than one carrier then
    consider price and plans.

    -Quick

    Nick Danger wrote:
    > I fear I might start a flame war with this ... well,
    > actually I don't fear it; it might even be entertaining.
    >
    > A couple weeks ago, I finally decided it was time to move
    > up from my two old AT&T TDMA phones. I also needed a
    > third phone, so that required some sort of a new plan. I
    > got three Razr phones with a Cingular family plan (550
    > minutes). One handy feature that my old phones didn't
    > have was the ability to sound a tone whenever it passes
    > in or out of a no-service area. While driving home one
    > day on the secondary roads, I found that I was in a
    > no-service area for almost half of my 25-mile commute.
    > During this time, I saw other people talking on their
    > phones, so it appears someone was getting service. Also,
    > I found that almost all of our friends had Verizon and
    > claimed that they got great service everywhere. This is
    > in Northern Westchester County, NY.
    > Given that Verizon apparently had better coverage and we
    > would have someone to talk with with our "In" minutes, I
    > finally decided to sign up for Verizon and do some
    > comparisons. I ordered three Razr phones from Verizon and
    > they arrived today - V3M model. I spent a lot of time
    > driving around the Danbury area and northern Westchester,
    > and I have to report, to my surprise, that Cingular has
    > had better coverage, better signal strength, and much
    > clearer sound. It's difficult to tell from looking at the
    > phones. The Cingular phone goes up to five bars; the
    > Verizon phone goes up to four. Sometimes I was able to
    > get a clear signal on Verizon with zero bars; other times
    > I got a very staticy poor quality signal with four bars.
    > The quality of the sound coming from the Cingular phone
    > has been generally comparable to the number of bars. If
    > you have zero bars, you can be quite certain that you
    > have no service. In fact, it seems I rarely get a bad
    > signal from Cingular; it's all or nothing.
    > Verizon's 700-minute plan costs about the same as
    > Cingular's, but I doubt we'll ever use that many minutes,
    > so for us, the 550-minute plan is a better deal. The V3M
    > has more features and a more refined looking user
    > interface, but I'm really going to miss the ability to
    > transfer photos and ringtones by Bluetooth. International
    > roaming with GSM sounds like a nice thing to have, but in
    > reality, it's entirely possible that I might never leave
    > the USA during the lifetime of this phone. And even if I
    > do, roaming is so expensive that I wouldn't want to do it
    > even if I could. I do wonder how much of a contribution
    > the analog towers make to Verizon's much-vaunted superior
    > coverage. In rural areas, it appears much of the coverage
    > is analog, which would do me no good with an all-digital
    > phone.
    > Based on what I've seen (and heard) so far, I honestly
    > have to say that Cingular is winning. Could it be that
    > Verizon's better coverage is all a myth, perpetuated by a
    > well-orchestrated advertising campaign? I won't have time
    > to travel around extensively to test the two thoroughly
    > before one set of phones has to go back.






  13. #13
    John Navas
    Guest

    Re: Comparing Verizon vs Cingular

    On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 18:19:57 -0500, "Thomas T. Veldhouse"
    <[email protected]> wrote in
    <[email protected]>:

    >In alt.cellular.verizon John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>
    >> What matters is the actual service, not the technology, and there is
    >> very good digital coverage in many areas for both CDMA and GSM.
    >> I personally don't see much benefit to analog coverage -- I used to
    >> carry an old D-AMPS phone in my car for emergencies (since 911 calls go
    >> through even on an unactivated phone), but no longer.
    >>
    >> The key is to go with the best combination of coverage in areas you
    >> actually care about, features, and value, according to your own
    >> particular needs, which you seem to be doing. No one service is best
    >> for all people, even in a given area.

    >
    >This is EXCELLENT advice. The only thing I would differ on is that if you
    >spend time out in the boonies, it is still worth having an AMPS capable phone
    >in your car as there are still many holes with digital [all services] and
    >murphy's law virtually assures that if you car breaks down, it will be in one
    >of those holes.


    If coverage in the boonies is really important, then I think you need
    either a satellite phone or a PLB -- AMPS isn't really enough, since
    there are lots of places with no AMPS service.

    --
    Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
    John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>



  14. #14
    John Navas
    Guest

    Re: Comparing Verizon vs Cingular

    On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 12:27:55 -0700, SMS <[email protected]>
    wrote in <[email protected]>:

    >Nick Danger wrote:
    >
    >> Based on what I've seen (and heard) so far, I honestly have to say that
    >> Cingular is winning. Could it be that Verizon's better coverage is all a
    >> myth, perpetuated by a well-orchestrated advertising campaign?

    >
    >In suburban and urban areas the coverage should be about the same. Even
    >though you need more GSM towers than CDMA towers to cover a given area,
    >in suburban and urban areas there will be more than the minimum in order
    >to have sufficient capacity.


    GSM and CDMA actually have comparable coverage areas.

    >I have both Cingular GSM (on an MVNO) and Verizon, in the San Francisco
    >Bay Area. If I'm in a major city in the area, the Cingular coverage is
    >just fine. However when I get out into some of the suburbs to visit
    >friends and relatives, it's often the case that Cingular's coverage is
    >aporadic. I always find it amusing, that about 2 km from Cingular's
    >western regional HQ in Pleasanton, at my nephew's house, there is no
    >Cingular coverage, and it's not a condo, and not up in the hills.


    Cingular coverage is actually better than any other carrier in that
    general area.

    >The other issue with Verizon, is that if you get a tri-mode phone, then
    >nationwide you have about an order of magnitude more coverage than you
    >get with an all-digital phone from Cingular. Now this coverage is often
    >out in the boonies, and may not matter much to you, but in my area, I
    >can drive about ten minutes from my house up into the surrounding
    >greenbelt, and have no GSM coverage, spotty CDMA coverage, but excellent
    >analog coverage. When I drive to Lake Tahoe, via the road past one the
    >largest ski resorts, there is only analog coverage for much of the way
    >through the mountains. I suppose that if you have Cingular (or a Verizon
    >dual band phone), any you're worried about the lack of coverage, then
    >you can plan your routes such that you don't travel through the
    >no-coverage areas.


    Or simply keep a dirt cheap D-AMPS phone (and lighter adapter) in the
    car, which can call 911 even if unactivated. [yawn]

    --
    Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
    John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>



  15. #15
    Thomas T. Veldhouse
    Guest

    Re: Comparing Verizon vs Cingular

    In alt.cellular.verizon Nick Danger <[email protected]> wrote:
    > 1. What good is unlimited IN airtime with all your friends if you break up
    > so badly that no one can understand what you're saying?


    Good question. Quite valid.

    > 2. What good is a good clear signal if no one wants to talk with you because
    > you're eating into their anytime minutes?
    >


    Personally, I find this question nearly irrelavent for the average user. Most
    people keep track of close friends and family and know who they use and who is
    a free call ... but a large amount of the remaining calls one makes is without
    thought as to who the carrier might be ... or even if the recipient is on a
    cell phone or a land line. The fact is, you use a cell phone to make a call
    as a matter of convenience (e.g. in your car, out in the yard, on vacation,
    business travel, etc) or to receive calls no matter where you are and no so
    much to get free calls between people you know using the same provider.

    --
    Thomas T. Veldhouse
    Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1




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