Huff and Puff

Recently I met with someone who has Sprint. This person was with me in
Lynnwood. That Sprint phone rang and they had no problems talking with
someone in Fort Lewis. That's what? 50 miles south of our location?
Obviously Sprint coverage is not horrible everywhere.
I have Cingular. I have no trouble calling Fort Lewis from Everett and
have no trouble down there either.

There is another friend of mine who lives just a few miles away. In
that entire apartment complex no one can make a cell phone call- NO ONE.
Just drive off that lot and everyone gets full strength signals. Huff
and puff all you want. Some times service is not a matter of who your
provider is or even if they have any kind of coverage.

[posted via phonescoop.com]

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› See More: Huff and Puff

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (William Bray) wrote:

> Recently I met with someone who has Sprint. This person was with me in
> Lynnwood. That Sprint phone rang and they had no problems talking with
> someone in Fort Lewis. That's what? 50 miles south of our location?
> Obviously Sprint coverage is not horrible everywhere.
> I have Cingular. I have no trouble calling Fort Lewis from Everett and
> have no trouble down there either.
>
> There is another friend of mine who lives just a few miles away. In
> that entire apartment complex no one can make a cell phone call- NO ONE.
> Just drive off that lot and everyone gets full strength signals. Huff
> and puff all you want. Some times service is not a matter of who your
> provider is or even if they have any kind of coverage.


The two providers may share towers in that area. Most parts of the
country there are 5 or 6 providers, so there could me more to this story

"Phill." <[email protected]> wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
>
>
> The two providers may share towers in that area. Most parts of the
> country there are 5 or 6 providers, so there could me more to this story


Even if they do share the same physical tower, they have to have their
own equipment on the tower, which means they'd have different ranges
etc..

[posted via phonescoop.com]

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (Tech Geek) wrote:

>
>
> "Phill." <[email protected]> wrote in article
> <[email protected]>:
> >
> >
> > The two providers may share towers in that area. Most parts of the
> > country there are 5 or 6 providers, so there could me more to this story
>
>
> Even if they do share the same physical tower, they have to have their
> own equipment on the tower, which means they'd have different ranges
> etc..

But major holes would be similar.

"Phill." <[email protected]> wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] (Tech Geek) wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > "Phill." <[email protected]> wrote in article
> > <[email protected]>:
> > >
> > >
> > > The two providers may share towers in that area. Most parts of the
> > > country there are 5 or 6 providers, so there could me more to this story
> >
> >
> > Even if they do share the same physical tower, they have to have their
> > own equipment on the tower, which means they'd have different ranges
> > etc..
>
> But major holes would be similar.

Maybe if they were the same frequency, but if Sprint PCS and Cingular
were sharing a tower, with the exception of physical barriers (mountains
etc..), the coverage could still be different.

The companies can 'point' the towers in a specific direction (coverage
area generaly isn't a circle), Sprint PCS might be pointed in one way,
Cingular in another. Not only that, there has been reports that
sometimes one company's equipment negatively effects the other's
(happened with Sprint PCS a few years ago when they let Verizon on some
of their towers).

Also, lower frequency towers usualy have a larger range, as opposed to
an average of 7-10 miles (more or less), a Cingular tower at 800MHz
might have a range of 12-15 miles (more or less). Old "boomer" towers
(TDMA, I think?) had a range of 25-30 miles (but they were an eye-strain
on the terrain).

So, unless it was caused by a major obstical (power plant, mountain,
etc..) the coverage areas could still be very different if the equipment
was on the same tower.

[posted via phonescoop.com]

Tech Geek wrote:

> Also, lower frequency towers usualy have a larger range, as opposed to
> an average of 7-10 miles (more or less), a Cingular tower at 800MHz
> might have a range of 12-15 miles (more or less). Old "boomer" towers
> (TDMA, I think?) had a range of 25-30 miles (but they were an eye-strain
> on the terrain).

The old MTS/IMTS VHF (urban) stations had 20 to 30 mile range and the
UHF (metropolitan) stations 15 to 25 miles. The VHF base stations were
usually 400 foot towers, at least all the ones I climbed in central west
Texas.

Base stations were 250 watts, but after you subract 3dB duplexer loss, 3
dB coax loss and add 6 dB antenna gain, its was an effective 250 watts
ERP. Mobile units were 25 watts, but after subracting 3 dB duplexer loss
and adding 3 db antenna gain, they were 25 watts ERP.

I am confused about what you mean talk to someone at ft lewis, at 50
miles. I am no expert, but, unless the tower were on a fairly high
mountain, I don't think that would be possible (that is for a tower to
phone distance of 50 miles) could you explain further what you are
saying or asking.

[email protected] (William Bray) wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
> Recently I met with someone who has Sprint. This person was with me in
> Lynnwood. That Sprint phone rang and they had no problems talking with
> someone in Fort Lewis. That's what? 50 miles south of our location?
> Obviously Sprint coverage is not horrible everywhere.
> I have Cingular. I have no trouble calling Fort Lewis from Everett and
> have no trouble down there either.
>
> There is another friend of mine who lives just a few miles away. In
> that entire apartment complex no one can make a cell phone call- NO ONE.
> Just drive off that lot and everyone gets full strength signals. Huff
> and puff all you want. Some times service is not a matter of who your
> provider is or even if they have any kind of coverage.
>
> [posted via phonescoop.com]

[posted via phonescoop.com]

I think he meant that Sprint also had towers 50 miles away, not 1 tower
reaching 50 miles.

[email protected] (p lane) wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
> I am confused about what you mean talk to someone at ft lewis, at 50
> miles. I am no expert, but, unless the tower were on a fairly high
> mountain, I don't think that would be possible (that is for a tower to
> phone distance of 50 miles) could you explain further what you are
> saying or asking.
>
> [email protected] (William Bray) wrote in article
> <[email protected]>:
> > Recently I met with someone who has Sprint. This person was with me in
> > Lynnwood. That Sprint phone rang and they had no problems talking with
> > someone in Fort Lewis. That's what? 50 miles south of our location?
> > Obviously Sprint coverage is not horrible everywhere.
> > I have Cingular. I have no trouble calling Fort Lewis from Everett and
> > have no trouble down there either.
> >
> > There is another friend of mine who lives just a few miles away. In
> > that entire apartment complex no one can make a cell phone call- NO ONE.
> > Just drive off that lot and everyone gets full strength signals. Huff
> > and puff all you want. Some times service is not a matter of who your
> > provider is or even if they have any kind of coverage.
> >
> > [posted via phonescoop.com]
>
> [posted via phonescoop.com]

[posted via phonescoop.com]