Cingular cell phone service - TDMA Service in NJ/NYC

Author

TDMA Service in NJ/NYC

Jeremy

2005-08-22, 11:48 pm

Alcoholic wrote:
> I would advise you not to move to Cingular you will drop calls everywhere. I
> work for Cingular for NE customer service and NJ is horrible.Manhattan is Ok
> but your commute is going to be downtime. I have worked for Cingular going
> on 3 years now and NJ was problem when I started and seems to be getting
> worse than better even with the acquisition of ATT.

Can you tell me why my Panasonic TDMA cannot find a signal north of
Princeton, NJ (my service is based in Philadelphia). When I travel
north on US #1 the phone just shuts off once I pass into the Extended
Area. When I turn the phone on, it takes about 2 minutes to search for
a signal, then comes up as "Roam" with full 5 bars of signal strength.
After about 10 minutes, it shuts off again.

As soon as I drive back into my home area, from Princeton on down,
everything returns to normal. This never happened when I had ATTWS.

John Navas

2005-08-22, 11:48 pm

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <X2sOe.10682$M3.1932@trnddc05> on Mon, 22 Aug 2005 22:09:59 GMT, Jeremy
<jeremy@nospam.com> wrote:

>Alcoholic wrote:
>
>Can you tell me why my Panasonic TDMA cannot find a signal north of
>Princeton, NJ (my service is based in Philadelphia). When I travel
>north on US #1 the phone just shuts off once I pass into the Extended
>Area. When I turn the phone on, it takes about 2 minutes to search for
>a signal, then comes up as "Roam" with full 5 bars of signal strength.
>After about 10 minutes, it shuts off again.
>
>As soon as I drive back into my home area, from Princeton on down,
>everything returns to normal. This never happened when I had ATTWS.

Sounds like a phone issue.

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

Jeremy

2005-08-23, 5:48 pm

John Navas wrote:
> [POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]
>
> In <X2sOe.10682$M3.1932@trnddc05> on Mon, 22 Aug 2005 22:09:59 GMT, Jeremy
> <jeremy@nospam.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> Sounds like a phone issue.
>

We have THREE lines, all with Panasonic Versio phones, and it happens on
all 3 lines. I assume that these phones are set up to conserve battery
power by shutting down in non-digital areas. It seems to have started
when Cingular took over the ATTWS network. They do not admit to
anything, but I can't help but be suspicious.

And, just as soon as I reenter my home area, everything is fine again.

Why would the phone not be able to find a signal in Central NJ, which
has Cingular towers sales offices all over the place? Why does it go
through that long search period, before finally coming up with "Extended
Area" and 5 bars of signal strength after about 2 minutes?

Did Cingular do away with the Blue network in Central NJ? Is this their
way of setting obstacles in customers' paths so they migrate to the
Orange network?

I will NEVER migrate to any Cingular plan. If my service continues to
deteriorate I'll find another carrier. My roaming consists of
travelling within a 75-mile radius of Philadelphia--there must be decent
service available to accomodate my modest requirements. I was quite
happy with ATTWS, and I regret that they were bought out by that awful
Cingular. God, I do hate Cingular!

nospam@ptd.net

2005-08-23, 11:48 pm

On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 17:00:28 GMT, Jeremy <jeremy@nospam.com> wrote:

>John Navas wrote:
>
>We have THREE lines, all with Panasonic Versio phones, and it happens on
>all 3 lines. I assume that these phones are set up to conserve battery
>power by shutting down in non-digital areas. It seems to have started
>when Cingular took over the ATTWS network. They do not admit to
>anything, but I can't help but be suspicious.
>
>And, just as soon as I reenter my home area, everything is fine again.
>
>Why would the phone not be able to find a signal in Central NJ, which
>has Cingular towers sales offices all over the place? Why does it go
>through that long search period, before finally coming up with "Extended
>Area" and 5 bars of signal strength after about 2 minutes?
>
>Did Cingular do away with the Blue network in Central NJ? Is this their
>way of setting obstacles in customers' paths so they migrate to the
>Orange network?
>
>I will NEVER migrate to any Cingular plan. If my service continues to
>deteriorate I'll find another carrier. My roaming consists of
>travelling within a 75-mile radius of Philadelphia--there must be decent
>service available to accomodate my modest requirements. I was quite
>happy with ATTWS, and I regret that they were bought out by that awful
>Cingular. God, I do hate Cingular!

That would truly be a case of cutting off your nose to spite your
face. I had ATT TDMA and it never came close to the coverage I have
now with Cingular GSM.

Maybe you will be happy with one of the others but this is the best I
found. I liked t-Mobile but they don't have the coverage, Verizon
was just a nightmare, ATTWS was good until the TDMA coverage
deteriorated. Nextel had some huge holes and dropped lots of calls.

For me, this just works better in PA/NJ/NY.

Alcoholic

2005-08-24, 5:48 pm

We do not sell Panasonic phones ;did ATT? It could be with network upgrades
it has caused some sort of issue with TDMA service. This would not cause
your phone to just power off though. I would agree with John Navas on this
one. I am assuming that you are on a Blue Legacy plan ? You may want to talk
with tech support and check your programing Home Soc may have changed or may
have better performance if you do change it. Cingular reps do not get any
info on Panasonic handsets. I am not sure about Blue reps. If you bought the
phones unlocked it may be up to you to get the settings for Cingular's
network or ATT's and program the handset yourself.
"Jeremy" <jeremy@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:X2sOe.10682$M3.1932@trnddc05...
> Alcoholic wrote:
>
> Can you tell me why my Panasonic TDMA cannot find a signal north of
> Princeton, NJ (my service is based in Philadelphia). When I travel north
> on US #1 the phone just shuts off once I pass into the Extended Area.
> When I turn the phone on, it takes about 2 minutes to search for a signal,
> then comes up as "Roam" with full 5 bars of signal strength. After about
> 10 minutes, it shuts off again.
>
> As soon as I drive back into my home area, from Princeton on down,
> everything returns to normal. This never happened when I had ATTWS.

Jeremy

2005-08-24, 5:48 pm

Alcoholic wrote:
> We do not sell Panasonic phones ;did ATT? It could be with network upgrades
> it has caused some sort of issue with TDMA service.

Yes, I got the phones through ATTWS (These were the featured TDMA phones
after ATTWS stopped pushing the Ericsson T18/T19 flip phones. These
Panasonic phones all had "AWS" part numbers--they were not designed for
another network. They always worked fine whenever I travelled north
into New Jersey. And I am on an ATTWS Digital Plan--$29.95 per line per
month, free incoming text messages, 650 anytime minutes, 7 PM N/W, Free
long distance, free Mobile-to-Mobile. I'd migrate to GSM if Cingular
would give me the same deal, but they will not.

This business of the phone shutting off is really a problem--it is like
having no phone at all. Who has the time to keep turning the phone back
on several times an hour?

Alcoholic

2005-08-25, 2:48 am

I really think you would be better of going with Verizon assuming Cingular
does not have you in a contract. NJ and NYC is so hit and miss right now
coverage wise. Cingular is not doing anything to power your phones off
however so again I do agree wit Mr Navas that you do have a phone issue or
battery failure. The programming might help but you will have to consult
Panasonic for general programming how to then get Cingular to give you the
Home Soc and other info for TDMA.
"Jeremy" <jeremy@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:2y3Pe.12583$3%1.6891@trndny08...
> Alcoholic wrote:
>
> Yes, I got the phones through ATTWS (These were the featured TDMA phones
> after ATTWS stopped pushing the Ericsson T18/T19 flip phones. These
> Panasonic phones all had "AWS" part numbers--they were not designed for
> another network. They always worked fine whenever I travelled north into
> New Jersey. And I am on an ATTWS Digital Plan--$29.95 per line per month,
> free incoming text messages, 650 anytime minutes, 7 PM N/W, Free long
> distance, free Mobile-to-Mobile. I'd migrate to GSM if Cingular would
> give me the same deal, but they will not.
>
> This business of the phone shutting off is really a problem--it is like
> having no phone at all. Who has the time to keep turning the phone back
> on several times an hour?

Isaiah Beard

2005-08-26, 5:48 pm

Jeremy wrote:

>
> We have THREE lines, all with Panasonic Versio phones, and it happens on
> all 3 lines. I assume that these phones are set up to conserve battery
> power by shutting down in non-digital areas.

The Version EB-TX320? It does dual band TDMA and AMPS, so unless
there's a setting that excludes AMPS, it should jus switch to analog.

The possibility exists that TDMA may be shut off in the northern NJ/NY
market, which was AT&T on 1900, and your phones do not know that there
may be TDMA service to look for on Cingular. Cingular was/is A-side
cellular in parts of NJ north of Princeton.

> Why would the phone not be able to find a signal in Central NJ, which
> has Cingular towers sales offices all over the place? Why does it go
> through that long search period, before finally coming up with "Extended
> Area" and 5 bars of signal strength after about 2 minutes?

Yup, looks like the AT&T network has TDMA off, and now you're "roaming"
on Cingular Orange.

> Did Cingular do away with the Blue network in Central NJ?

Definitely not for GSM, but probably for TDMA. This is just
speculation, but maybe they intend to use the Blue network to deploy
UMTS and needed room.

> I will NEVER migrate to any Cingular plan. If my service continues to
> deteriorate I'll find another carrier. My roaming consists of
> travelling within a 75-mile radius of Philadelphia--there must be decent
> service available to accomodate my modest requirements.

FWIW, Verizon definitely blows Cingular out of the water in terms of
coverage in the Philly and surrounding area. This is from personal
experience, as I just traveled along a corridor from Baltimore, to
Philly, to New York, and previously did the same stint with Cingular.

--
E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.

Jeremy

2005-08-26, 11:48 pm

Isaiah Beard wrote:
> Jeremy wrote:
>
>
>
> The Version EB-TX320? It does dual band TDMA and AMPS, so unless
> there's a setting that excludes AMPS, it should jus switch to analog.
>
> The possibility exists that TDMA may be shut off in the northern NJ/NY
> market, which was AT&T on 1900, and your phones do not know that there
> may be TDMA service to look for on Cingular. Cingular was/is A-side
> cellular in parts of NJ north of Princeton.
>
>
>
> Yup, looks like the AT&T network has TDMA off, and now you're "roaming"
> on Cingular Orange.
>
>
>
> Definitely not for GSM, but probably for TDMA. This is just
> speculation, but maybe they intend to use the Blue network to deploy
> UMTS and needed room.
>
>
>
> FWIW, Verizon definitely blows Cingular out of the water in terms of
> coverage in the Philly and surrounding area. This is from personal
> experience, as I just traveled along a corridor from Baltimore, to
> Philly, to New York, and previously did the same stint with Cingular.
>
>
>
>

I phoned Cingular last night and explained the problem to some airhead
that fancied herself a "Customer Service Rep." She kept me on hold for
15 minutes while she relayed my problem to Tech Support, then she came
back and said that they were going to issue a coverage outage report, or
some such nonsense. They would have a tech check to see if the towers
were operating properly along Rt. 1 . . .

I explained again that this was a phone programming issue--that Cingular
towere were all over the place in that part of the state, and that they
would have received NUMEROUS complaints if their towers were
malfunctioning. I calmly repeated that as soon as I returned to the
Philly area and the display changed from "Extended Area" back to
"Cingular," everything worked just fine.

"Oh," she said . . .

Can you sense my frustration at knowing that "I," who know little about
the technical end of cellular service, know MORE than the "Customer
Service Rep" that works for Cingular?

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