Cingular cell phone service - GAIT still useful in central TX

Author

GAIT still useful in central TX

Jud Hardcastle

2007-10-28, 4:33 am

Just got back from RV'ing in central Tx and thought I'd report on
cellular coverage.

Going west out of Whitney GSM started dropping out. Two phones active--a
GSM-only Motorola went no service--a Nokia 6340i switched to a usable
TDMA signal. Plugged the Motorola into the boosted roof antenna and it
got 2-3 bars--not great but usable.

By the time we climbed UP to the Meridian State Park TDMA was very weak
also--so weak the Nokia switched to analog (strong) when I entered the
trailer. Once the trailer was setup I raised the 20' flagpole/Wilson
trucker antenna and moved the Motorola and 3-watt booster to it--full
bars and no problem the rest of the stay. The Nokia continued to bounce
between TDMA and analog with no GSM. We were with a group--other than
our phones only analog phones (Verizon--two) were working. All GSM-only
phones and all CDMA-only phones had no service. The boosted phone was
showing Dobsen Cellular One--about to be snapped up by ATT if rumors are
true--probably being picked up from the Clifton area to the south.

Conclusion: GSM and CDMA still aren't full coverage in rural areas in TX
despite maps that say otherwise. I didn't think to test the GSM phone on
either external antenna without the booster--but it's safe to say when
AMPS goes dark anyone wanting service in these rural pockets had better
have at least a rooftop antenna but preferably a booster also.
--
Jud
Dallas TX USA

Chuck

2007-11-06, 4:33 am

How did you avoid cingular reprogramming your 6340i to not accept TDMA and
Analog?
Seems they all but locked out those features here.
My 6340i will lock onto any GSM signal, even when the GSM cell is overloaded
and cannot make a usable connection.
Cinguliar also locked out the over ride feature of a standard Nokia
"bricked" 6340i.
"Jud Hardcastle" < I5i5changethistodash
5rbo@xemaps.com> wrote in message
news:MPG. 218dcf442b54861c989a
1b@news.dallas.sbcglobal.net...
>
> Just got back from RV'ing in central Tx and thought I'd report on
> cellular coverage.
>
> Going west out of Whitney GSM started dropping out. Two phones active--a
> GSM-only Motorola went no service--a Nokia 6340i switched to a usable
> TDMA signal. Plugged the Motorola into the boosted roof antenna and it
> got 2-3 bars--not great but usable.
>
> By the time we climbed UP to the Meridian State Park TDMA was very weak
> also--so weak the Nokia switched to analog (strong) when I entered the
> trailer. Once the trailer was setup I raised the 20' flagpole/Wilson
> trucker antenna and moved the Motorola and 3-watt booster to it--full
> bars and no problem the rest of the stay. The Nokia continued to bounce
> between TDMA and analog with no GSM. We were with a group--other than
> our phones only analog phones (Verizon--two) were working. All GSM-only
> phones and all CDMA-only phones had no service. The boosted phone was
> showing Dobsen Cellular One--about to be snapped up by ATT if rumors are
> true--probably being picked up from the Clifton area to the south.
>
> Conclusion: GSM and CDMA still aren't full coverage in rural areas in TX
> despite maps that say otherwise. I didn't think to test the GSM phone on
> either external antenna without the booster--but it's safe to say when
> AMPS goes dark anyone wanting service in these rural pockets had better
> have at least a rooftop antenna but preferably a booster also.
> --
> Jud
> Dallas TX USA

Jud Hardcastle

2007-11-07, 10:33 am

In article <ZaWXi.995$9l1.930@newsfe20.lga>, Chuckk2nospam@cox.net
says...
> How did you avoid cingular reprogramming your 6340i to not accept TDMA and
> Analog?
> Seems they all but locked out those features here.
> My 6340i will lock onto any GSM signal, even when the GSM cell is overloaded
> and cannot make a usable connection.
> Cinguliar also locked out the over ride feature of a standard Nokia
> "bricked" 6340i.

That was one reason I swapped my sim back to the Nokia (from my gsm-only
pda phone) before leaving the DFW Cingular area. I wanted to see if it
would still switch back and forth. It did and it worked as designed.

The most likely reason is that I still have the REAL GAIT plan instead
of a GSM plan with the GAIT features added. I have never received ANY
communication from Cingular that they are dropping TDMA or analog from
the plan nor any notice about the TDMA fees others have reported. The
rules and database download for a real GAIT plan would be totally
different from the GSM+GAIT ones. It's even possible the database is not
being updated at all.

Another possible reason--the sim is normally in a GSM-only phone pda
(with the Nokia off) so any OTA programming to the Nokia other than
database downloads would fail.

I don't travel to central Tx as often as I used to and I have considered
switching to a gsm plan in order to get some features they won't add to
the old plan. As long as the external antennas and booster make gsm work
in remote areas I could make do. But I'm leaning now to hanging onto the
GAIT plan a bit longer and see what happens--if I had been in a
different car without the antenna/booster I'd have been without service
in quite a big area without at least analog. It will be interesting to
see how quickly analog is dropped, if it's dropped at all, in those
rural areas. Of course as soon as Cingular drops AMPS in their areas
they may not wait for all carriers to drop it before forcing me off the
GAIT plan.

Jud

> "Jud Hardcastle" < I5i5changethistodash
5rbo@xemaps.com> wrote in message
> news:MPG. 218dcf442b54861c989a
1b@news.dallas.sbcglobal.net...
>
>
>

LinkBot