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  1. #1
    Pat Farrell
    Guest
    I just spent well over an hour in Cingular VRU hell,
    got a happy customer support person who could not help me
    at all, and got a callback from a tech support person
    who was not much more helpful.

    Its all my kid's fault. Wanted two new phones for kid and wife,
    Kid liked Cingular, I didn't care, I was happy with Spring PCS.
    got a Motorola Startac for wife and some soapbar for kid.
    Kid was happy, wife didn't like reception inside house,
    but it wasn't a big deal.

    Then the kid wanted a new phone, got a Motorola V180, and
    a couple of months later talked me into switching from Spring
    (and another ancient StarTac) to Cingular Moto V180.
    Kid was happy, V180 doesn't work well in my living room
    at all.

    Lately, I'm using the cell more and hating it.

    So Tech Support says something about finding out when
    Engineering is going to rebuild the network in my area.
    No dates given, promissed or hinted at.

    So I need some options, and first I'll ask for opinions.
    First: what is the RF reputation of the Moto V180?
    Are there other phones that are lots better?

    Second: I get two bars on the signal meter, as I am typing this.
    The phone rings and can call out, and gets and sents TxtMsgs.
    But the audio is unusable. Is two bars usually enough?

    Third, the phone works fine outside the house, often
    if I just walk outdoors. The house is frame, brick facade
    on the front, aluminum siding on sides and back. So we
    may have a bit of a Faraday cage. But there was no problem
    with Sprint (non GSM, different phone, and all that)

    Fourth: I live at the top of a big hill. I don't know,
    but I think I may have a problem of too much RF rather than
    too little. There is a major FM radio tower maybe 500 yards
    in my back yard. A mile away to the west is a major TV tower,
    and a couple of miles to the north is Tysons Corner VA,
    which has a huge number of all sorts of towers. From my
    roof, I can see Bethesda MD, which has four or five more
    TV and commercian radio towers. Plus, I'm less than
    a half mile from Interstate 66, and no more than a mile
    from Interstate 495. There are cell towers all up and
    down both I66 and I495.

    Any suggestions of fixes? different phone? cell repeater
    in the roof? different carrier?

    Thx
    --
    Pat





    See More: Wretched in home service Moto V180 and ancient StarTac




  2. #2
    chef@dennys
    Guest

    Re: Wretched in home service Moto V180 and ancient StarTac

    I live within a mile of three AM radio stations, two FM radio stations, and
    two TV broadcasters. Cingular tower is about .8 of a mile away. Always get 4
    to 5 bars in the house (vinyl siding) with my Motorola V180. Doubt if the
    problems are due to too much RF. Sounds more like the tower is too far away
    for good reception or your house siding is giving you problems. Might visit
    a company store and ask where the tower is located that services your area.
    If you get two bars inside and good reception outside, then it's probably
    close. Cingular has also been known to issue repeaters for real problem
    cases. You might also try a Nokia phone as another poster suggests and see
    if they will switch out the V180s for free.

    You'll need to keep on them else you'll always get the "we don't guarantee
    service everywhere" attitude.

    "Pat Farrell" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    newsk3Ze.88734$Zp.43284@lakeread04...

    >I just spent well over an hour in Cingular VRU hell,
    > got a happy customer support person who could not help me
    > at all, and got a callback from a tech support person
    > who was not much more helpful.






  3. #3
    John Navas
    Guest

    Re: Wretched in home service Moto V180 and ancient StarTac

    [POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

    In <Dk3Ze.88734$Zp.43284@lakeread04> on Fri, 23 Sep 2005 23:04:58 -0400, Pat
    Farrell <[email protected]> wrote:

    >First: what is the RF reputation of the Moto V180?


    Mediocre. The V180 is a bargain phone.

    >Are there other phones that are lots better?


    Higher end phones from Motorola (RAZR V3, V551), Sony Ericsson (Z500a), and
    Nokia (6682). Buy one on trial. If it works better, keep it. Otherwise
    return it.

    >Second: I get two bars on the signal meter, as I am typing this.
    >The phone rings and can call out, and gets and sents TxtMsgs.
    >But the audio is unusable. Is two bars usually enough?


    Hard to say -- there's no standard for the amount of signal per bar, which
    varies widely from model to model and brand to brand.

    >Third, the phone works fine outside the house, often
    >if I just walk outdoors. The house is frame, brick facade
    >on the front, aluminum siding on sides and back. So we
    >may have a bit of a Faraday cage. But there was no problem
    >with Sprint (non GSM, different phone, and all that)


    Different carriers have different coverage in different places. It's best to
    go with the carrier that has the best coverage in the places you care about,
    which for you seems to be Sprint.

    >Fourth: I live at the top of a big hill. I don't know,
    >but I think I may have a problem of too much RF rather than
    >too little. There is a major FM radio tower maybe 500 yards
    >in my back yard. A mile away to the west is a major TV tower,
    >and a couple of miles to the north is Tysons Corner VA,
    >which has a huge number of all sorts of towers. From my
    >roof, I can see Bethesda MD, which has four or five more
    >TV and commercian radio towers.


    Probably not too much signal -- it would take a great deal to overload your
    phone.

    >Plus, I'm less than
    >a half mile from Interstate 66, and no more than a mile
    >from Interstate 495. There are cell towers all up and
    >down both I66 and I495.


    But they may be set to cover the highway (with directional antennas), not the
    surrounding area.

    >Any suggestions of fixes? different phone?


    Perhaps.

    >cell repeater
    >in the roof?


    Expen$ive. More money than dumping Cingular.

    >different carrier?


    A better phone might help, but you may need to go back to Sprint.

    --
    Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
    John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>



  4. #4
    Pat Farrell
    Guest

    Re: Wretched in home service Moto V180 and ancient StarTac

    John Navas wrote:

    > [POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]


    > Pat Farrell <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >>First: what is the RF reputation of the Moto V180?

    > Mediocre. The V180 is a bargain phone.


    Bummer.


    >>Are there other phones that are lots better?

    >
    > Higher end phones from Motorola (RAZR V3, V551), Sony Ericsson (Z500a),
    > and Nokia (6682). Buy one on trial. If it works better, keep it.
    > Otherwise return it.


    All three of those have features that I don't want and don't want
    to pay for.

    I know that the market is moving to these fancy phone/camera/iPod/
    palm/kitchensink/laundry things, but I just want a phone. SMS is ok,
    but I don't use it except to msg to my kid.

    More than that, I can't have a camera phone
    where I work, it is a security risk.
    Flat out not allowed.

    >>may have a bit of a Faraday cage. But there was no problem
    >>with Sprint (non GSM, different phone, and all that)

    >
    > Different carriers have different coverage in different places. It's best
    > to go with the carrier that has the best coverage in the places you care
    > about, which for you seems to be Sprint.


    Doesn't this stuff change over time as the vendors change
    networks and all that stuff?

    > Probably not too much signal -- it would take a great deal to overload
    > your phone.


    I was thinking more of multipath distortions, poor rejection
    of adjacent signals, etc. But maybe this was a weak idea.


    > But they may be set to cover the highway (with directional antennas), not
    > the surrounding area.


    But they do sell it as working all over, and it does work between
    fairly and very well outside. What I haven't tried is to
    see if it is different in a neighbor's house.


    > A better phone might help, but you may need to go back to Sprint.



    Thanks


    --
    Pat





  5. #5
    John Navas
    Guest

    Re: Wretched in home service Moto V180 and ancient StarTac

    [POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

    In <[email protected]> on Sat, 24 Sep 2005
    20:35:29 -0400, "Elmo P. Shagnasty" <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Nokia 3120. Fixed all my problems that I'm having on the Cingular blue
    >side.


    It's a good phone, but the RF isn't much different from the Motorola V551, as
    can be seen when both are programmed the same way.

    >... V551--no good. Not on the blue side, anyway.
    >Superb on the orange side; I know, because I have a friend with one. On
    >the blue side, everything stinks.


    Not only doesn't that make any sense (since the V551 has the same RF
    performance on any GSM network), but also it's inconsistent with the
    experience of many others, including me: my V551 works as well as or better
    than other phones on blue as well as orange.

    >Nokia picks up the slack.


    Only if it's programmed differently (e.g., different Home network) -- there's
    just not that much difference in RF performance.

    --
    Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
    John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>



  6. #6
    John Navas
    Guest

    Re: Wretched in home service Moto V180 and ancient StarTac

    [POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

    In <XdmZe.88826$Zp.72679@lakeread04> on Sat, 24 Sep 2005 20:34:44 -0400, Pat
    Farrell <[email protected]> wrote:

    >John Navas wrote:


    >> Higher end phones from Motorola (RAZR V3, V551), Sony Ericsson (Z500a),
    >> and Nokia (6682). Buy one on trial. If it works better, keep it.
    >> Otherwise return it.

    >
    >All three of those have features that I don't want and don't want
    >to pay for.
    >
    >I know that the market is moving to these fancy phone/camera/iPod/
    >palm/kitchensink/laundry things, but I just want a phone. SMS is ok,
    >but I don't use it except to msg to my kid.
    >
    >More than that, I can't have a camera phone
    >where I work, it is a security risk.
    >Flat out not allowed.


    The Motorola V360 would meet your requirements, but it's not yet on the
    market.

    >> Different carriers have different coverage in different places. It's best
    >> to go with the carrier that has the best coverage in the places you care
    >> about, which for you seems to be Sprint.

    >
    >Doesn't this stuff change over time as the vendors change
    >networks and all that stuff?


    It does, but that kind of change tends to come slowly, and things might even
    get worse.

    >> But they may be set to cover the highway (with directional antennas), not
    >> the surrounding area.

    >
    >But they do sell it as working all over,


    Not really -- read the disclaimers.

    >and it does work between
    >fairly and very well outside. What I haven't tried is to
    >see if it is different in a neighbor's house.


    Worth trying, but this may just be a matter of insufficient signal strength.

    --
    Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
    John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>



  7. #7
    Elmo P. Shagnasty
    Guest

    Re: Wretched in home service Moto V180 and ancient StarTac

    In article <[email protected]>,
    John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:

    > >Nokia 3120. Fixed all my problems that I'm having on the Cingular blue
    > >side.

    >
    > It's a good phone, but the RF isn't much different from the Motorola V551, as
    > can be seen when both are programmed the same way.


    This is what happened: I complained to my corporate rep that my blue
    service with my V180 started sucking in early May. This was common
    across both my phone and my wife's phone, so I was sure it wasn't my
    particular piece of gear--it was either that model phone or their
    service.

    I also noticed that a colleague of mine switched to orange and got a
    V551. One day we were both in the same location, inside a building, and
    I had ZERO service while he was on a conference call for an hour and a
    half.

    Based on this, I asked my corporate rep if I could try a V551. This
    would help me determine if it's the blue service or the V180. She sent
    me the V551 ($160 they charge for that, man!), and I tried it. I knew
    within a couple of days that it wasn't performing any better than the
    V180.

    So I sent it back.

    It was clear that Cingular's service in my area suffered a severe hit on
    the blue side starting in early May. And I wasn't alone; the
    discussions at http://forums.cingular.com backed my up 100%.
    *Everybody* on the blue side, everywhere in the country, suddenly saw
    his service take a severe hit starting in early May.

    So I called back a couple of weeks later to complain again that things
    weren't getting any better. This time I just called 866-CINGULAR; based
    on my phone number, my call went to the blue FAN side of the house where
    I got a caring and knowledgeable rep. She admitted that the network was
    under construction and that blue customers would experience service
    problems like this for awhile. But she also said that in her
    experience, the external-antenna phones like the V180 tended to have
    more problems than the internal-antenna phones like Nokia. She liked
    the 3120 a lot, and sent me two of them--at no charge.

    And I am getting demonstrably better service from the Nokia than I was
    from either of the Motorolas. For example, my street is a very low
    signal area, and the bottom of my street is a black hole--at least, as
    far as the V180 was concerned. I had to wait until I was 2 miles away
    from home before I could count on being able to use the phone. But with
    the Nokia, that's not true anymore. I can see that the signal is very
    low, but even at the bottom of my street I can carry on an uninterrupted
    conversation.

    I am convinced that the Moto stuff is junk, and that I'm going to have
    Nokias.




  8. #8
    John Navas
    Guest

    Re: Wretched in home service Moto V180 and ancient StarTac

    To be clear, I'm not questioning your experience -- I'm questioning your
    conclusions. I'm doing so because you didn't run controlled tests, and
    because your conclusions are contradicted in part by what you've reported.

    That your trial V551 didn't work while the V551 of your colleague did work,
    assuming your colleague was on Cingular (not T-Mobile), should tell you (a)
    that the V551 isn't at fault and (b) that your V551 was probably Homed
    differently. Since the V551 is ENS-capable, it can be Homed OTA (over the
    air) to either "blue" or "orange". Had you asked that it be Homed to the
    other network (e.g., from "blue" to "orange"), then it might well have
    performed better.

    The bit about internal antennas performing better than external antennas is
    nonsense -- it's actually just the opposite (all other things being equal).

    What you're actually getting is demonstrably better service from the
    *combination* of Nokia *and* its programming than from the *combination* of
    Motorola *and* its programming. So if for example Nokia is Homed to "orange"
    and Motorola was Homed to "blue", then you really can't compare the phones.

    Valid comparisons between two products (independent of service factors) can
    only be drawn when both are tested under the same conditions. In the case of
    Cingular handsets, that currently means that both must be Homed on the same
    network. Otherwise, one may give better results than the other simply because
    it's Homed on the better network in that particular location, which may well
    mean that it would get worse results in certain other locations. Thus it's
    best to test both handsets with the same SIM at the same place at the same
    time, although even then the results can be different if one handset supports
    ENS and the other doesn't.

    I've run carefully controlled tests of handsets by several different
    manufacturers, including both Motorola and Nokia, and the V551 is a very good
    performer as compared to other handsets >> all other things being equal <<.
    PC Magazine agrees, rating signal quality of the V551 as "excellent" when
    awarding it an Editors' Choice.

    Bottom line: Your conclusion that Motorolas are "junk" doesn't follow either
    from the material you've presented or from other available evidence.


    In <[email protected]> on Sun, 25 Sep 2005
    12:03:27 -0400, "Elmo P. Shagnasty" <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >This is what happened: I complained to my corporate rep that my blue
    >service with my V180 started sucking in early May. This was common
    >across both my phone and my wife's phone, so I was sure it wasn't my
    >particular piece of gear--it was either that model phone or their
    >service.
    >
    >I also noticed that a colleague of mine switched to orange and got a
    >V551. One day we were both in the same location, inside a building, and
    >I had ZERO service while he was on a conference call for an hour and a
    >half.
    >
    >Based on this, I asked my corporate rep if I could try a V551. This
    >would help me determine if it's the blue service or the V180. She sent
    >me the V551 ($160 they charge for that, man!), and I tried it. I knew
    >within a couple of days that it wasn't performing any better than the
    >V180.
    >
    >So I sent it back.
    >
    >It was clear that Cingular's service in my area suffered a severe hit on
    >the blue side starting in early May. And I wasn't alone; the
    >discussions at http://forums.cingular.com backed my up 100%.
    >*Everybody* on the blue side, everywhere in the country, suddenly saw
    >his service take a severe hit starting in early May.
    >
    >So I called back a couple of weeks later to complain again that things
    >weren't getting any better. This time I just called 866-CINGULAR; based
    >on my phone number, my call went to the blue FAN side of the house where
    >I got a caring and knowledgeable rep. She admitted that the network was
    >under construction and that blue customers would experience service
    >problems like this for awhile. But she also said that in her
    >experience, the external-antenna phones like the V180 tended to have
    >more problems than the internal-antenna phones like Nokia. She liked
    >the 3120 a lot, and sent me two of them--at no charge.
    >
    >And I am getting demonstrably better service from the Nokia than I was
    >from either of the Motorolas. For example, my street is a very low
    >signal area, and the bottom of my street is a black hole--at least, as
    >far as the V180 was concerned. I had to wait until I was 2 miles away
    >from home before I could count on being able to use the phone. But with
    >the Nokia, that's not true anymore. I can see that the signal is very
    >low, but even at the bottom of my street I can carry on an uninterrupted
    >conversation.
    >
    >I am convinced that the Moto stuff is junk, and that I'm going to have
    >Nokias.


    >In article <[email protected]>,
    > John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >> >Nokia 3120. Fixed all my problems that I'm having on the Cingular blue
    >> >side.

    >>
    >> It's a good phone, but the RF isn't much different from the Motorola V551, as
    >> can be seen when both are programmed the same way.


    --
    Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
    John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>



  9. #9

    Re: Wretched in home service Moto V180 and ancient StarTac

    chef@dennys <[email protected]> wrote:
    > Might visit a company store and ask where the tower is located that
    > services your area.


    I called ATTWS in Jan 2005 when I was trying to decide if a GPRS phone
    would give me internet coverage at home. They sent a reasonable map
    of my area via email.


    --
    ---
    Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5




  10. #10
    John Navas
    Guest

    Re: Wretched in home service Moto V180 and ancient StarTac

    [POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

    In <[email protected]> on Mon, 26 Sep 2005
    05:56:45 -0400, "Elmo P. Shagnasty" <[email protected]> wrote:

    >> I hate it when somebody says "everybody" is having this problem-

    >
    >I don't make the news, I only report it.


    It's not "news" and you're greatly exaggerating it (no offense intended).

    >Head over to
    >http://forums.cingular.com and see.


    Some anecdotal complaints. All suppliers have complaints, and bigger ones
    (like Cingular) tend to have more than smaller ones.

    >> I kind of grin reading some of the old threads and listen (read) how
    >> some people say this or that is better than that or this. EVERYBODY's
    >> situation is different and comparison and good service, etc...are
    >> personalized, not generalized.

    >
    >Just head to the Cingular forums and see.


    Real news is that Cingular's churn (a real measure of overall customer
    satisfaction) is declining.

    --
    Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
    John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>



  11. #11
    John Navas
    Guest

    Re: Wretched in home service Moto V180 and ancient StarTac

    [POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

    In <[email protected]> on Mon, 26 Sep 2005 16:00:22 -0700,
    "pjohnson" <[email protected]> wrote:

    >How do you go about "homing" a phone to a different network? My
    >brother-in-law has a v180, I have a v551 and we have both been in Wisconsin
    >where we had no signal. He called Cingular and found a way to get a signal;
    >I was stonewalled and told there was no solution. He doesn't remember
    >exactly what he did.


    You can have your Home network changed if and only if you have an ENS-capable
    handset and (64K) SIM. If so, call Customer Care (611); tell the rep you have
    terrible signal quality; and ask to be transferred to Tech Support to have
    your Home network changed (from blue to orange, or from orange to blue). Once
    you get to Tech Support it should be easy. The process of changing your Home
    network OTA (over the air) may take up to a day after the order is entered by
    Tech Support, so don't expect immediate results.

    --
    Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
    John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>



  12. #12
    Pat Farrell
    Guest

    Re: Wretched in home service Moto V180 and ancient StarTac

    John Navas wrote:
    > You can have your Home network changed if and only if you have an
    > ENS-capable handset and (64K) SIM.


    As the OP of this thread, I'm intrigued by this idea.
    How do I tell if I have an ENS capable handset and/or 64K SIM?
    Its just a boring V180 bought from a Cingular storefront.

    There is some small chance that swiching from orange to blue
    would accidentally work better. Cheaper than switching carriers

    Thx

    --
    Pat





  13. #13
    John Navas
    Guest

    Re: Wretched in home service Moto V180 and ancient StarTac

    [POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

    In <hFZZe.89116$Zp.31659@lakeread04> on Mon, 26 Sep 2005 17:26:35 -0400, Pat
    Farrell <[email protected]> wrote:

    >John Navas wrote:
    >> You can have your Home network changed if and only if you have an
    >> ENS-capable handset and (64K) SIM.

    >
    >As the OP of this thread, I'm intrigued by this idea.
    >How do I tell if I have an ENS capable handset and/or 64K SIM?
    >Its just a boring V180 bought from a Cingular storefront.


    ENS-capable (64K) SIMs are marked "64K".
    Most (if not all) GSM phones sold by Cingular in 2005 are ENS-capable.

    --
    Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
    John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>



  14. #14
    pjohnson
    Guest

    Re: Wretched in home service Moto V180 and ancient StarTac

    How do you go about "homing" a phone to a different network? My
    brother-in-law has a v180, I have a v551 and we have both been in Wisconsin
    where we had no signal. He called Cingular and found a way to get a signal;
    I was stonewalled and told there was no solution. He doesn't remember
    exactly what he did.

    Thanks,

    Paul

    --


    "John Navas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    news:[email protected]...
    > To be clear, I'm not questioning your experience -- I'm questioning your
    > conclusions. I'm doing so because you didn't run controlled tests, and
    > because your conclusions are contradicted in part by what you've reported.
    >
    > That your trial V551 didn't work while the V551 of your colleague did

    work,
    > assuming your colleague was on Cingular (not T-Mobile), should tell you

    (a)
    > that the V551 isn't at fault and (b) that your V551 was probably Homed
    > differently. Since the V551 is ENS-capable, it can be Homed OTA (over the
    > air) to either "blue" or "orange". Had you asked that it be Homed to the
    > other network (e.g., from "blue" to "orange"), then it might well have
    > performed better.
    >
    > The bit about internal antennas performing better than external antennas

    is
    > nonsense -- it's actually just the opposite (all other things being

    equal).
    >
    > What you're actually getting is demonstrably better service from the
    > *combination* of Nokia *and* its programming than from the *combination*

    of
    > Motorola *and* its programming. So if for example Nokia is Homed to

    "orange"
    > and Motorola was Homed to "blue", then you really can't compare the

    phones.
    >
    > Valid comparisons between two products (independent of service factors)

    can
    > only be drawn when both are tested under the same conditions. In the case

    of
    > Cingular handsets, that currently means that both must be Homed on the

    same
    > network. Otherwise, one may give better results than the other simply

    because
    > it's Homed on the better network in that particular location, which may

    well
    > mean that it would get worse results in certain other locations. Thus

    it's
    > best to test both handsets with the same SIM at the same place at the same
    > time, although even then the results can be different if one handset

    supports
    > ENS and the other doesn't.
    >
    > I've run carefully controlled tests of handsets by several different
    > manufacturers, including both Motorola and Nokia, and the V551 is a very

    good
    > performer as compared to other handsets >> all other things being equal

    <<.
    > PC Magazine agrees, rating signal quality of the V551 as "excellent" when
    > awarding it an Editors' Choice.
    >
    > Bottom line: Your conclusion that Motorolas are "junk" doesn't follow

    either
    > from the material you've presented or from other available evidence.
    >
    >
    > In <[email protected]> on Sun, 25 Sep

    2005
    > 12:03:27 -0400, "Elmo P. Shagnasty" <[email protected]> wrote:
    > >
    > >This is what happened: I complained to my corporate rep that my blue
    > >service with my V180 started sucking in early May. This was common
    > >across both my phone and my wife's phone, so I was sure it wasn't my
    > >particular piece of gear--it was either that model phone or their
    > >service.
    > >
    > >I also noticed that a colleague of mine switched to orange and got a
    > >V551. One day we were both in the same location, inside a building, and
    > >I had ZERO service while he was on a conference call for an hour and a
    > >half.
    > >
    > >Based on this, I asked my corporate rep if I could try a V551. This
    > >would help me determine if it's the blue service or the V180. She sent
    > >me the V551 ($160 they charge for that, man!), and I tried it. I knew
    > >within a couple of days that it wasn't performing any better than the
    > >V180.
    > >
    > >So I sent it back.
    > >
    > >It was clear that Cingular's service in my area suffered a severe hit on
    > >the blue side starting in early May. And I wasn't alone; the
    > >discussions at http://forums.cingular.com backed my up 100%.
    > >*Everybody* on the blue side, everywhere in the country, suddenly saw
    > >his service take a severe hit starting in early May.
    > >
    > >So I called back a couple of weeks later to complain again that things
    > >weren't getting any better. This time I just called 866-CINGULAR; based
    > >on my phone number, my call went to the blue FAN side of the house where
    > >I got a caring and knowledgeable rep. She admitted that the network was
    > >under construction and that blue customers would experience service
    > >problems like this for awhile. But she also said that in her
    > >experience, the external-antenna phones like the V180 tended to have
    > >more problems than the internal-antenna phones like Nokia. She liked
    > >the 3120 a lot, and sent me two of them--at no charge.
    > >
    > >And I am getting demonstrably better service from the Nokia than I was
    > >from either of the Motorolas. For example, my street is a very low
    > >signal area, and the bottom of my street is a black hole--at least, as
    > >far as the V180 was concerned. I had to wait until I was 2 miles away
    > >from home before I could count on being able to use the phone. But with
    > >the Nokia, that's not true anymore. I can see that the signal is very
    > >low, but even at the bottom of my street I can carry on an uninterrupted
    > >conversation.
    > >
    > >I am convinced that the Moto stuff is junk, and that I'm going to have
    > >Nokias.

    >
    > >In article <[email protected]>,
    > > John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:
    > >
    > >> >Nokia 3120. Fixed all my problems that I'm having on the Cingular

    blue
    > >> >side.
    > >>
    > >> It's a good phone, but the RF isn't much different from the Motorola

    V551, as
    > >> can be seen when both are programmed the same way.

    >
    > --
    > Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
    > John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>






  15. #15
    Pat Farrell
    Guest

    Re: Wretched in home service Moto V180 and ancient StarTac

    John Navas wrote:
    > ENS-capable (64K) SIMs are marked "64K".
    > Most (if not all) GSM phones sold by Cingular in 2005 are ENS-capable.


    It says 64K smartchip Cingular right on the sim

    thx

    --
    Pat





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