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Topic Review (Newest First)

  • 06-25-2007, 04:37 PM
    Kevin

    "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.


  • 06-25-2007, 11:04 AM
    SMS
    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, 09:05 AM
    stevev
    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, 12:18 AM
    SMS
    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.

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