Cell Phone Help

**YWORRYDOG** · 01-09-2005, 04:01 PM

It is time to find a new cell phone plan. We had A&TT and used a gate phone that would roam to the digital as well as use GSM. Now that they are Cingular, the "gate" is closed. That means we have no service other than GSM. Often now when traveling we have no service unless we are on a main e-way. Who has what and is happy with it?

01-09-2005, 10:49 PM

Well, the other "biggie" is Verison. I've been a customer since the GTE days, and am reasonably happy with them. We presently have nationwide service, but may be cutting that back to Western States since we have limited our travels in the past year.

If you get to far off the "main highways" cell service can be difficult to come by. That was disapppointing to us in a trip 2 years ago the the "right" coast. We prefer the "back roads" to the main highways, and often had to settle for service when we got to the cities.

The other disappointment is that, since we now live in a rural mountain area, we do not have service at our home. We do have service on most of the roads around here and in beautiful downtown Chester and Susanville (CA). Other services are about the same, according to our friends.

RockyMtnRay · 01-10-2005, 10:19 AM

I've had Verizon for about 3 years and am very happy with the service and coverage. My phone (a Motorola V60) is a CDMA triband and readily switches into analog mode when I'm not in some carrier's CDMA coverage. I got Verizon's un-advertised Western States all-inclusive (no roaming charges, free LD) plan that lets my phone work anywhere any carrier (e.g. Sprint) has either CDMA digital or analog coverage. As a boondock camper I'm usually pretty far from population centers and travel some pretty isolated highways here in Colorado yet seldomly am not in someone's coverage area.

As a self-employed software developer, it's very important that I be able to provide voice tech support to my clients even when I'm on a camping trip. It's also pretty important that I can use my cellphone as a wireless modem for my laptop so that I check on my database servers. The nice thing about Verizon's CDMA digital system is that data calls come out of the total pool of minutes and are not a separate very high priced option...though the max modem speed is a not-very-fast 14.4K.

Because I'm often very far from a cell tower I bought a Smoothtalker amplifier/antenna . This thing really works...I've been able to get good digital connectivity even when I've been as much as 30 miles from the closest cell tower.

**YWORRYDOG** · 01-12-2005, 05:36 PM

Thanks Paul, and Ray, I was leaning toward Verizon. Thanks, Ray; I would have probably gotten the wrong phone. (triband)

01-13-2005, 05:57 PM

We have Verizon, too and are very happy with our service.
There is rarely a time that I don't have a signal or a call drops.

**YWORRYDOG** · 01-14-2005, 06:34 AM

Well after thanking all, I was going to make the change near the end of the month. But......... last night my SIemens died, and I received no answere from their web site....Ran to the Verizon store in the morning, and got the same deal that I had decided on at there website....They were very nice and helpfull. Thanks again for the sugestions.

**fcatwo** · 01-15-2005, 02:25 PM

We have Verizon with the internet option and I'm using it at the moment. It's pretty neat to use the internet while blowing down the hwy.

01-16-2005, 09:53 AM

During the 2 years during which I suffered whenever placing a cellular call via Verizon, I encountered a great deal of static, echoing and frequent disconnections - during one 20 minute conversation, for example, I was disconnected 3 or 4 times. Perhaps Verizon's poor service is unique to our Central Valley of California. Since switching to A.T.&T. a little over a year ago, I've had clear and uninterrupted calls. However, I've found it difficult to input numbers into the memory of my freebie Erickson phone. Recently when asking for a new phone at our local Cingular-A.T.&T. office, I was told that A.T.&T. no longer makes new phones available every year for its customers. Only the Cingular side does for customers with Cingular plans. Of course, it would cost me an additional $40 a month for Cingular to provide me with the same number of minutes that A.T.&T. currently does! I haven't done any traveling since Cingular took over A.T.&T. wireless so am unaware if the latter's out-of-area service has deteriorated - as YWORRYDOG stated. I'm currently weighing my options: stick with A.T.&T. Wireless and purchase another phone (through eBay or a used phone dealer) that is A.T.&T. compatible or is "unlocked" (whatever this means?) or try to break my contract with A.T.&T. if I can find some clause they've violated as a result of the takeover.

**Bill** · 01-16-2005, 11:10 AM

Larry -

Beware of eBay phones. Though I have no personal experience, I have read (was it on this board?) that if a phone is sold while there is a balance owed on the associated account, the phone company may be unwilling to activate the phone - even though you have no connection to the delinquent account holder.

Bill

**YWORRYDOG** · 01-16-2005, 12:06 PM

Larry what I ment by the service area not a good any more....When They came out with the big news of no more roaming charges with At&T/Cingular..I found that my gate phone (Siemens S-46)

( http://www.icm.siemens.com/mobile_ph...h.html?content )

was no longer able to use other companys. (Verison, Voice Stream, etc.) It would receive a singnal, but when I tryed to use it I always got a recording that it was not reconized by their system. If you would like my phone,(free) with charger, and car charger e-mail me. You would need to use your sim card, and send it in to Siemans, They did tell me to send it in for repair, but I have no idea what the cost would be. Also I could not be with out a phone for any time. It is out of contract so that is not a worry, The phone is about 1 1/2 years old. I had a 2 year contract, but changed phones during that time.