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Cellular forums Home > Archive > Cellular phones topics > November 2005 > Alaska
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| Ralph5407 2005-11-01, 5:48 pm |
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I'm shortly coming over from the UK to Alaska and wondered if anyone can
tell me if there are roaming agreements with UK phone providers,
Vodafone and T- Mobile. Their customer services say all the US is
covered but a friend who was in Alaska in July said that was incorrect,
he could not get any roaming connection.
--
Ralph5407
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| Cyrus Afzali 2005-11-01, 5:48 pm |
| On Tue, 1 Nov 2005 12:04:31 +0000, Ralph5407
<Ralph5407.1xtpic@mobile-forum.co.uk> wrote:
>
>I'm shortly coming over from the UK to Alaska and wondered if anyone can
>tell me if there are roaming agreements with UK phone providers,
>Vodafone and T- Mobile. Their customer services say all the US is
>covered but a friend who was in Alaska in July said that was incorrect,
>he could not get any roaming connection.
Are you sure your friend had an international plan and/or
international phone? It's hard for someone in the U.S. to say how
Vodafone lets its customers roam, obviously. However, T-Mobile USA
customers can roam on Vodafone networks in Europe, so I would imagine
you should be able to roam here too, if you have an international plan
and phone.
Alternatively, if your phone is unlocked, you could pick up a T-Mobile
SIM here in the U.S. when you arrive and use that. Although obviously
going that route would mean you would have a different phone number
when you're here.
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| Donald Newcomb 2005-11-01, 5:48 pm |
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"Ralph5407" <Ralph5407.1xtpic@mobile-forum.co.uk> wrote in message
news:Ralph5407.1xtpic@mobile-forum.co.uk...
>
> I'm shortly coming over from the UK to Alaska and wondered if anyone can
> tell me if there are roaming agreements with UK phone providers,
> Vodafone and T- Mobile.
Yes, Vodafone can roam on T-Mobile but that may not be of much help in
Alaska. Think of Alaska as being like The Isle of Man or one of the other
peculiar places attached to but not part of the UK. Yes, Alaska is a US
State but the US FCC awards licenses on a regional basis (like India does)
and the carriers were no in a big rush to try to cover Alaska. There are a
few smaller regional GSM carriers in Alaska but they may not have roaming
agreements with non-US carriers. Have you looked at gsmworld.com and seen
how many GSM carriers their are in the US? Check out compass.t-mobile.com to
see where T-Mobile US actually has service. Note the difference in color
between native coverage and domestic roaming? I only see roaming coverage in
Alaska. I believe that the GSM coverage there is provided by Alaska Digitel.
Finally, there may be GSM service but it may require a phone with the 850
MHz band.
--
Donald R. Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net
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| Dogfart 2005-11-01, 5:48 pm |
| On Tue, 01 Nov 2005, at 10:10:29 [GMT -0500] (02:10:29 Wednesday, 2 November
2005 where I live) "Cyrus Afzali" wrote:
> Alternatively, if your phone is unlocked, you could pick up a T-Mobile
> SIM here in the U.S. when you arrive and use that. Although obviously
> going that route would mean you would have a different phone number
> when you're here.
According to http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc=us&net=we T-Mobile
have no coverage themselves in Alaska, but as stated might have roaming
agreements, which ~might~ allow others roaming on T-Mobile to piggy back, so
to speak.
I have a Tel$tra Australia sim; in California I roam on Cingular (and
previously AT&T as well). I went to Arizona and was roaming on a local
carrier not even listed as a Tel$stra roaming partner; probably a similar
set up as described above?
Why not double check with Voda in UK first? You will also need a tri band
or quad band phone, and roaming enabled.
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| Cyrus Afzali 2005-11-01, 5:48 pm |
| On Wed, 2 Nov 2005 07:16:50 +1100,
Dogfart< flatulantdingo@deads
pam.com> wrote:
>On Tue, 01 Nov 2005, at 10:10:29 [GMT -0500] (02:10:29 Wednesday, 2 November
>2005 where I live) "Cyrus Afzali" wrote:
>
>
>According to http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc=us&net=we T-Mobile
>have no coverage themselves in Alaska, but as stated might have roaming
>agreements, which ~might~ allow others roaming on T-Mobile to piggy back, so
>to speak.
A quick check of the coverage map supplied by T-Mobile shows they have
roaming partner coverage in Alaska.
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| Ralph5407 wrote:
> I'm shortly coming over from the UK to Alaska and wondered if anyone can
> tell me if there are roaming agreements with UK phone providers,
> Vodafone and T- Mobile. Their customer services say all the US is
> covered but a friend who was in Alaska in July said that was incorrect,
> he could not get any roaming connection.
Alaska has very little GSM. There are beginning to be some TDMA to GSM
conversions, but it's slow because much of Alaska is covered only by
AMPS and there are very few, if any, GSM/AMPS handsets available so
Alaskans are reluctant to move to GSM because they'll have no coverage
at all in much of the state.
The CDMA coverage is good in the cities, and many CDMA/AMPS handsets are
available, but TDMA still reigns supreme.
You're better off getting a pre-paid TDMA/AMPS phone for use in Alaska.
They are very cheap, and will work well in Alaska, though you'll be at
the higher (roaming) rate.
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| Joseph 2005-11-01, 11:48 pm |
| On Tue, 01 Nov 2005 10:10:29 -0500, Cyrus Afzali <pnsmnyv@lnubb.pbz>
wrote:
>On Tue, 1 Nov 2005 12:04:31 +0000, Ralph5407
><Ralph5407.1xtpic@mobile-forum.co.uk> wrote:
>
>
>Are you sure your friend had an international plan and/or
>international phone? It's hard for someone in the U.S. to say how
>Vodafone lets its customers roam, obviously. However, T-Mobile USA
>customers can roam on Vodafone networks in Europe, so I would imagine
>you should be able to roam here too, if you have an international plan
>and phone.
>
>Alternatively, if your phone is unlocked, you could pick up a T-Mobile
>SIM here in the U.S. when you arrive and use that. Although obviously
>going that route would mean you would have a different phone number
>when you're here.
According to gsmworld.com neither GSM operator in Alaska either Alaska
Digitel or Alaska Wireless Communications has any roaming agreements
in affect.
- -
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| Joseph 2005-11-01, 11:48 pm |
| On Tue, 1 Nov 2005 12:53:14 -0600, "Donald Newcomb"
<DRNewcomb@NOT.attglobal.net> wrote:
>I believe that the GSM coverage there is provided by Alaska Digitel.
According to gsmworld Alaska Digitel has no roaming agreements.
Neither does Alaska Wireless Communications. gsmworld can be out of
date so that may not be the end of it.
- -
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| Cyrus Afzali 2005-11-02, 5:48 pm |
| On Tue, 01 Nov 2005 18:31:59 -0800, Joseph <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com>
wrote:
>On Tue, 01 Nov 2005 10:10:29 -0500, Cyrus Afzali <pnsmnyv@lnubb.pbz>
>wrote:
>
>
>According to gsmworld.com neither GSM operator in Alaska either Alaska
>Digitel or Alaska Wireless Communications has any roaming agreements
>in affect.
>
T-Mobile's coverage maps indicate there is roaming available in
Alaska, so they apparently have a roaming agreement with somebody.
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| Ralph5407 2005-11-02, 11:48 pm |
|
SMS Wrote:
> Ralph5407 wrote:
> I'm shortly coming over from the UK to Alaska and wondered if anyone
> can
> tell me if there are roaming agreements with UK phone providers,
> Vodafone and T- Mobile. Their customer services say all the US is
> covered but a friend who was in Alaska in July said that was
> incorrect,
> he could not get any roaming connection.
>
>
Thanks guys for you input, I'll probably do without and rely on emails
to keep in touch.
--
Ralph5407
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| Donald Newcomb 2005-11-02, 11:48 pm |
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"Joseph" <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:8c9gm1dmprdo8im
li5q942s6frv01d412k@
4ax.com...
> According to gsmworld Alaska Digitel has no roaming agreements.
> Neither does Alaska Wireless Communications. gsmworld can be out of
> date so that may not be the end of it.
Exactly. GSMWorld is a nice site but the information there is based on what
the carriers report to them. But it would surprise me if Alaska Digitel had
much in the way of roaming with carriers outside the US & Canada.
--
Donald R. Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net
| |
|
| Donald Newcomb wrote:
> "Joseph" <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:8c9gm1dmprdo8im
li5q942s6frv01d412k@
4ax.com...
>
>
>
> Exactly. GSMWorld is a nice site but the information there is based on what
> the carriers report to them. But it would surprise me if Alaska Digitel had
> much in the way of roaming with carriers outside the US & Canada.
Alaska Digitel appears to be CDMA/AMPS.
"Alaska DigiTel Wireless Communications has the most complete,
all-digital, advanced CDMA wireless network in Alaska."
There was one small GSM network in Alaska, that wasn't in the major cities.
Cellular One is rolling out GSM in Alaska.
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| Steve Sobol 2005-11-04, 2:48 am |
| Cyrus Afzali wrote:
> A quick check of the coverage map supplied by T-Mobile shows they have
> roaming partner coverage in Alaska.
Probably Cingular. AT&T Wireless used to be the only major carrier up there.
--
Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Company website: http://JustThe.net/
Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/
E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307
| |
|
| Steve Sobol wrote:
> Cyrus Afzali wrote:
>
>
>
> Probably Cingular. AT&T Wireless used to be the only major carrier up
> there.
Cingular does not have operations in Alaska. The main GSM carrier in
Alaska is Dobson, dba Cellular One.
Go to http://cellularone.com/ and use ZIP code 99513 (Anchorage).
The problem is that there is still a lot of analog in AK, which you
don't get to use with GSM, i.e. see
http://alaskadigitel.com/postpaid.htm" go to the map.
But the original poster should be fine in the big cities with GSM,
provided he gets a prepaid SIM that allows roaming onto the Dobson network.
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| CharlesH 2005-11-05, 5:48 pm |
| SMS wrote:
> Cellular One is rolling out GSM in Alaska.
Just a nit, but "Cellular One" is not a company, it is a branding label
that local, independent, companies can buy the right to use. This was
more relevant in the "old days" when there were no national wireless
companies, and regional companies wanted to give the impression that
they were national, without actually merging. It is always "<some local
company> d.b.a. (doing business as) CellularOne". In this case, it is
Dobson Cellular System.
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