Roaming in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Recently I was visiting family in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, near
Marquette where Sprint has no native coverage. My Sanyo RL-7300 would
only roam on Alltel's analog network. A friend of mine who was up there
also has Sprint and has the Samsung SPH-A620 (VGA1000), and he was
able to roam digitally (not sure which network it was on). We both had
the most recent PRL updates on our phones, so I know that wasn't the
problem.

What would cause this? The fact that his is a Tri-Mode phone and mine
is only Dual-Band? If so, would the Samsung A900 Blade have the same
problems with roaming as my RL-7300? I'm looking to upgrade my phone
soon and want one that will roam digitally when visiting up that way.

Any input would help!

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› See More: Roaming in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

The RL-7300 and the A620 are both Tri-Mode (CDMA 1900, CDMA 800, analog
800) and dual-band (that's the 1900 and the 800). I do not know why the
Sanyo preferred analog 800 and the Samsung preferred CDMA 800.

However, the Samsung A900 is not Tri-Mode. It only can do CDMA 1900 and
CDMA 800. It cannot do analog. So any roaming it does will always be
digital. It will never analog roam. If the only available
Sprint-roamable signal is analog, the A900 will show "searching for
service."

On which system are you roaming?
On some phones, on the Phone Info menu (or the Display Version menu),
there's an Advanced menu item that will display the band (1900 or 800),
if it's digital or analog, and the SID (System ID) of the system you're
using. There are a few websites that list SIDs, such as
http://www.mountainwireless.com/sid.htm

Or you can dial 611 for Customer Service and the recording (or person)
will tell you whose system you're on.


[email protected] wrote:
> Recently I was visiting family in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, near
> Marquette where Sprint has no native coverage. My Sanyo RL-7300 would
> only roam on Alltel's analog network. A friend of mine who was up there
> also has Sprint and has the Samsung SPH-A620 (VGA1000), and he was
> able to roam digitally (not sure which network it was on). We both had
> the most recent PRL updates on our phones, so I know that wasn't the
> problem.
>
> What would cause this? The fact that his is a Tri-Mode phone and mine
> is only Dual-Band? If so, would the Samsung A900 Blade have the same
> problems with roaming as my RL-7300? I'm looking to upgrade my phone
> soon and want one that will roam digitally when visiting up that way.
>
> Any input would help!
>

--

Frank Harris in San Francisco with a A920