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- 06-25-2007, 12:18 AM #1SMSGuest
I just spent a week in Southern Oregon. I was very surprised at the good
quality of CDMA coverage I received in relatively remote areas. I
believe that the CDMA came from U.S. Cellular. The GSM coverage was very
poor outside the cities, and I believe it came from Edge Wireless, an
AT&T affiliate (I brought along a prepaid phone that's on Cingular and
other GSM carriers).
At Oregon Caves National Monument (42.09806, -123.40722) I had a usable
digital signal on CDMA when I was outside, nothing on GSM. Same
situation at Lake of the Woods (42.37889, -122.21111). At Crater Lake
National Park (42.93, -122.15) I had good AMPS coverage (the part of the
park with digital coverage was not yet open due to snow). The AT&T web
site shows partner coverage for Oregon Caves and Lake of the Woods, but
no GSM coverage at all for the headquarters and lodge area of Crater
Lake National Park. It was rather amusing to be outside the lodge at
Crater Lake National park, watching people trying to make calls as
probably 2/3 of them couldn't because they either had GSM, or had a CDMA
phone that was all-digital. This is the kind of area where hopefully the
carriers will keep AMPS turned on after the mandate expires, since it's
AMPS or nothing.
I'm still on the old America's Choice Plan, and the phone showed
non-included roaming (steady rather than flashing display of "Extended
Network") so I am worried about the next bill. However last time this
happened to me, I was roaming on Cingular AMPS in Florida, and I didn't
get charged even though the phone indicated that I would be charged. My
niece was with us, and she has AC2, and was able to use digital with no
problem, so presumably Verizon does partner with whatever CDMA carriers
are in the area.
My kids had their PagePlus phones with them, and they had to enter the
phone numbers they were calling twice, indicating that they were roaming
at 2x the price that they would normally pay, but at least they had
coverage. This reinforces the suggestion that many people have made that
if you have GSM as your primary service, you should carry a prepaid
CDMA/AMPS phone when leaving urban areas.
› See More: Southern Oregon Coverage on Verizon/U.S. Cellular versus AT&T/EdgeWireless
- 06-25-2007, 09:05 AM #2stevevGuest
Re: Southern Oregon Coverage on Verizon/U.S. Cellular versus AT&T/Edge Wireless
There seems to be some agreement that CDMA is a better "network", especially
in remote or rural areas. Meanwhile millions of people who live in urban
areas, where GSM works fine, will have the opportunity to use a truly
multi-functional device. I'm hoping that the iPhone is a big hit, and
Verizon is forced to respond (or lose customers). They could start by
upgrading their second-rate software and uncrippling their phones.
Isn't it ironic that Verizon seems to be taking the same approach that Apple
computer once took, by thinking that their superior product (in this case,
the network) did not have to respond to other market conditions?
"SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I just spent a week in Southern Oregon. I was very surprised at the good
>quality of CDMA coverage I received in relatively remote areas. I believe
>that the CDMA came from U.S. Cellular. The GSM coverage was very poor
>outside the cities, and I believe it came from Edge Wireless, an AT&T
>affiliate (I brought along a prepaid phone that's on Cingular and other GSM
>carriers).
>
> At Oregon Caves National Monument (42.09806, -123.40722) I had a usable
> digital signal on CDMA when I was outside, nothing on GSM. Same situation
> at Lake of the Woods (42.37889, -122.21111). At Crater Lake National Park
> (42.93, -122.15) I had good AMPS coverage (the part of the park with
> digital coverage was not yet open due to snow). The AT&T web site shows
> partner coverage for Oregon Caves and Lake of the Woods, but no GSM
> coverage at all for the headquarters and lodge area of Crater Lake
> National Park. It was rather amusing to be outside the lodge at Crater
> Lake National park, watching people trying to make calls as probably 2/3
> of them couldn't because they either had GSM, or had a CDMA phone that was
> all-digital. This is the kind of area where hopefully the carriers will
> keep AMPS turned on after the mandate expires, since it's AMPS or nothing.
>
> I'm still on the old America's Choice Plan, and the phone showed
> non-included roaming (steady rather than flashing display of "Extended
> Network") so I am worried about the next bill. However last time this
> happened to me, I was roaming on Cingular AMPS in Florida, and I didn't
> get charged even though the phone indicated that I would be charged. My
> niece was with us, and she has AC2, and was able to use digital with no
> problem, so presumably Verizon does partner with whatever CDMA carriers
> are in the area.
>
> My kids had their PagePlus phones with them, and they had to enter the
> phone numbers they were calling twice, indicating that they were roaming
> at 2x the price that they would normally pay, but at least they had
> coverage. This reinforces the suggestion that many people have made that
> if you have GSM as your primary service, you should carry a prepaid
> CDMA/AMPS phone when leaving urban areas.
- 06-25-2007, 11:04 AM #3SMSGuest
Re: Southern Oregon Coverage on Verizon/U.S. Cellular versus AT&T/EdgeWireless
stevev wrote:
> There seems to be some agreement that CDMA is a better "network", especially
> in remote or rural areas. Meanwhile millions of people who live in urban
> areas, where GSM works fine, will have the opportunity to use a truly
> multi-functional device. I'm hoping that the iPhone is a big hit, and
> Verizon is forced to respond (or lose customers). They could start by
> upgrading their second-rate software and uncrippling their phones.
In reality, the Verizon XV-6700 is a very capable device, actually more
capable than the iPhone, though not as cool. If you want to use it for
e-mail and messaging then the slide out keyboard is much nicer than a
simulated keyboard on the screen. I'm sure that HTC will have a CDMA
version of their "Touch" which is very similar to the iPhone, but more
capable.
> Isn't it ironic that Verizon seems to be taking the same approach that Apple
> computer once took, by thinking that their superior product (in this case,
> the network) did not have to respond to other market conditions?
Hopefuly the iPhone will force Verizon to change their approach. The
reasons they turned down the iPhone make sense, however the real reason
that they should have taken the iPhone when it was offered to them would
be to keep Cingular from getting it!
I'm at the point where I'd probably be happy with a prepaid phone on
CDMA/AMPS for use where the GSM network doesn't yet reach, and a quad
band, HSDPA/GSM device that is similar to the XV-6700. I wouldn't get an
iPhone due to the closed architecture, lack of expandability, and
non-user replaceable battery (these are all Apple traits, and I
understand why Apple does this, but it's not where I want to go).
- 06-25-2007, 04:37 PM #4KevinGuest
Re: Southern Oregon Coverage on Verizon/U.S. Cellular versus AT&T/Edge Wireless
"SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I just spent a week in Southern Oregon. I was very surprised at the good
>quality of CDMA coverage I received in relatively remote areas. I believe
>that the CDMA came from U.S. Cellular. The GSM coverage was very poor
>outside the cities, and I believe it came from Edge Wireless, an AT&T
>affiliate (I brought along a prepaid phone that's on Cingular and other GSM
>carriers).
>
> At Oregon Caves National Monument (42.09806, -123.40722) I had a usable
> digital signal on CDMA when I was outside, nothing on GSM. Same situation
> at Lake of the Woods (42.37889, -122.21111). At Crater Lake National Park
> (42.93, -122.15) I had good AMPS coverage (the part of the park with
> digital coverage was not yet open due to snow). The AT&T web site shows
> partner coverage for Oregon Caves and Lake of the Woods, but no GSM
> coverage at all for the headquarters and lodge area of Crater Lake
> National Park. It was rather amusing to be outside the lodge at Crater
> Lake National park, watching people trying to make calls as probably 2/3
> of them couldn't because they either had GSM, or had a CDMA phone that was
> all-digital. This is the kind of area where hopefully the carriers will
> keep AMPS turned on after the mandate expires, since it's AMPS or nothing.
>
> I'm still on the old America's Choice Plan, and the phone showed
> non-included roaming (steady rather than flashing display of "Extended
> Network") so I am worried about the next bill. However last time this
> happened to me, I was roaming on Cingular AMPS in Florida, and I didn't
> get charged even though the phone indicated that I would be charged. My
> niece was with us, and she has AC2, and was able to use digital with no
> problem, so presumably Verizon does partner with whatever CDMA carriers
> are in the area.
>
> My kids had their PagePlus phones with them, and they had to enter the
> phone numbers they were calling twice, indicating that they were roaming
> at 2x the price that they would normally pay, but at least they had
> coverage. This reinforces the suggestion that many people have made that
> if you have GSM as your primary service, you should carry a prepaid
> CDMA/AMPS phone when leaving urban areas.
I live in Southern Oregon and I'm amazed you got any kind of signal at all
at the Caves or Lake of The Woods. I'm not too surprised about coverage at
Crater Lake National Park as there are cell towers on several local ridges
and peaks around the perimeter of the park and over at Diamond Lake. I use
a Motorola V551 phone, which could certainly be much better with reception
and blue tooth clarity, but I still get generally great service all around
the Rogue Valley. But, as soon as my current contract is up, I'm getting a
different phone. Only a couple of months after I bought my V551, I was
informed that it was having reception issues and the entire line of V551
phones was being discontinued immediately. Just my luck.
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