Cingular GSM in rural

I'm looking for user experience with Cingular GSM only phones. I'm
curious how the GSM only is performing in rural areas. I have a GAIT
(tri-mode) phone and I am reluctant to give it up, but I want to go to
a GSM only PDA phone (Treo).
also I know that I can take the SIM and put it into a new GSM phone,
but i'm wondering if I activate a new GSM phone and take the new SIM,
put in into my GAIT phone, will I get the analog and TDMA coverage too
or will the new SIM only make the GAIT phone work in GSM mode?

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› See More: Cingular GSM in rural

On 13 Feb 2005 05:53:08 -0800, [email protected] wrote:

>I'm looking for user experience with Cingular GSM only phones. I'm
>curious how the GSM only is performing in rural areas. I have a GAIT
>(tri-mode) phone and I am reluctant to give it up, but I want to go to
>a GSM only PDA phone (Treo).
>also I know that I can take the SIM and put it into a new GSM phone,
>but i'm wondering if I activate a new GSM phone and take the new SIM,
>put in into my GAIT phone, will I get the analog and TDMA coverage too
>or will the new SIM only make the GAIT phone work in GSM mode?

I guess it would depend on where in America you are. I'm sure Cingular
is GREAT in Rural Middleville, USA, but in Smallville, there may be no
coverage whatsoever. Same as any carrier.
--
To reply, remove TheObvious from my e-mail address.

[email protected] wrote:
> I'm looking for user experience with Cingular GSM only phones. I'm
> curious how the GSM only is performing in rural areas.

I am interested in how Cingular's rural coverage compares with t-mo's.

I've posted a coverage map comparison a:

http://newarts.com/images/CoverageCompare.gif

Does Cingular GSM coverage even approximately cover the broad rural
areas shown in Mn, Mich, Wisc, TX, the US shore of Lake Erie, & the
Southeast? Or, is Cingular's GSM coverage pretty much clustered along
major corridors like t-mo's?

If you've experience in any of these areas I'd like to hear your
comments.

Dave

You may be able to just buy a treo 650, and and have your SIM provisioned
for TDMA/analog. You could then move the SIM to the GAIT phone as
desired/needed, but use the Treo mostly.

People have posted to newsgroups that they have done this with Cingular and
no additional fees or roaming charges.

Two bits of caution:
- I called our local AT&T/Cingular store. No one there could confirm this
information, or really even understood what I meant when asking about
TDMA/analog provisioning.
- At least one person who has a real GAIT plan claims to have lost
TDMA/analog roaming partners in his area. If they are "giving away" roaming
on TDMA/analog, they may be doing so because they are eliminating roaming
partners on that system at least in some areas.

Here in Oregon, a GAIT phone continues to be able to roam in analog on US
Cellular. That gives the user excellent rural coverage-- provided this
continues to be the case.

-Dan

PS: My Verizon phones roam digitally on US Cellular (where available).

--

=======================
Oregon and the Pacific Northwest
http://cell.uoregon.edu

--

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm looking for user experience with Cingular GSM only phones. I'm
> curious how the GSM only is performing in rural areas. I have a GAIT
> (tri-mode) phone and I am reluctant to give it up, but I want to go to
> a GSM only PDA phone (Treo).
> also I know that I can take the SIM and put it into a new GSM phone,
> but i'm wondering if I activate a new GSM phone and take the new SIM,
> put in into my GAIT phone, will I get the analog and TDMA coverage too
> or will the new SIM only make the GAIT phone work in GSM mode?
>

Every Cingular site I have been to in the past 8 or 9 months has both GSM
and TDMA. As for their advertising and press releases, they have completed
the addition of GSM to ALL of their sites.

So I would have to say that they pretty much approximate one another. I have
not been on TDMA in a long time with my GAIT phone. Other than the times
that I have forced it to TDMA for test purposes.


<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> [email protected] wrote:
>> I'm looking for user experience with Cingular GSM only phones. I'm
>> curious how the GSM only is performing in rural areas.
>
> I am interested in how Cingular's rural coverage compares with t-mo's.
>
> I've posted a coverage map comparison a:
>
> http://newarts.com/images/CoverageCompare.gif
>
> Does Cingular GSM coverage even approximately cover the broad rural
> areas shown in Mn, Mich, Wisc, TX, the US shore of Lake Erie, & the
> Southeast? Or, is Cingular's GSM coverage pretty much clustered along
> major corridors like t-mo's?
>
> If you've experience in any of these areas I'd like to hear your
> comments.
>
> Dave
>

How can one determine what mode their GAIT phone is operating in?

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> How can one determine what mode their GAIT phone is operating in?
>

When online, the softkey on the lower left of the screen says "Mute" if you
are on TDMA and "Hold" if you are on GSM. Other than that there is virtually
no way to tell.

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> How can one determine what mode their GAIT phone is operating in?
>

If you're using a T62u there is a way to turn on an icon on the display that
shows either G, T, or A for the current service.

thanks, but Nokia 6340i doesn't display this way.

Mark wrote (2/14/2005 6:03 PM):

> thanks, but Nokia 6340i doesn't display this way.
>

Yes, it does display that way, at least in New England with my 6340i,
except that the post was incorrect in that it's the right-hand softkey
that says HOLD (when on GSM) or MUTE (when on TDMA) and not the
left-hand softkey

--
RJW

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm looking for user experience with Cingular GSM only phones. I'm
> curious how the GSM only is performing in rural areas. I have a GAIT
> (tri-mode) phone and I am reluctant to give it up, but I want to go to
> a GSM only PDA phone (Treo).
> also I know that I can take the SIM and put it into a new GSM phone,
> but i'm wondering if I activate a new GSM phone and take the new SIM,
> put in into my GAIT phone, will I get the analog and TDMA coverage too
> or will the new SIM only make the GAIT phone work in GSM mode?
>
If official service is on GAIT, the SIM works in a GSM phone. If you have
GSM service officially, the SIM will not work in TDMA/AMPS mode because the
network no longer sees your ESN. Keep the GAIT phone active, buy a GSM phone
outright and use your current SIM when in GSM areas, switching to the GAIT
phone when you travel.You don't have to get a new SIM! The 32k SIM works
fine for all but load sharing (ENS).

Mark

Thanks. OK. Right. Mine does this too. I erred in that the soft key
does not change until a second or so after the call answers. Now - how
(other than the sound quality) do I know if I'm in analog? Is that
"cingular extend"?

Thanks. Can you explain "ENS" and its prevalence?

In article <[email protected]>, "Mark W.
Oots" <mark_ctc@(no spam)ameritech.net> says...
>
> >
> If you have
> GSM service officially, the SIM will not work in TDMA/AMPS mode because the
> network no longer sees your ESN. >
> Mark
>
You can add a GAIT interoperability FEATURE to a regular GSM plan in
which case you get GSM in the GSM-only phone and GSM, TDMA and AMPS when
you put the Sim in the Gait phone. Numerous posts here about the Gait
feature over the last few months.
--
Jud
Dallas TX USA

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm looking for user experience with Cingular GSM only phones. I'm
> curious how the GSM only is performing in rural areas. I have a GAIT
> (tri-mode) phone and I am reluctant to give it up, but I want to go to
> a GSM only PDA phone (Treo).
> also I know that I can take the SIM and put it into a new GSM phone,
> but i'm wondering if I activate a new GSM phone and take the new SIM,
> put in into my GAIT phone, will I get the analog and TDMA coverage too
> or will the new SIM only make the GAIT phone work in GSM mode?

Where we live the phones stopped working at our home. GSM did not work at
our home. The phones no longer worked in Northern New England. We ported
to Verizon.

T
>