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Cellular forums Home > Archive > T-Mobile cellular service > June 2005 > Phila PA Area: Probems inside buildings?
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Phila PA Area: Probems inside buildings?
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| (PeteCresswell) 2005-06-04, 10:55 pm |
| I switched from Cingular TDMA to tMobile GSM some months ago.
Before switching, the concept of not having enough signal strength bars was so
foreign to me that I never even thought of it as possible.
Now zero bars are a daily occurrance. I can't even get a call out from the
first floor of my wood frame house - although the second floor is usually OK.
Today my wife found that her phone wouldn't work inside of a tour bus.
So, the question: Is there something about tMobile GSM that makes it perform so
poorly inside of structures compred to Cingular TDMA? A different freq maybe?
I recall somebody in the group observing that 900 & 1900 have different building
penetrations.
--
PeteCresswell
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| John Cummings 2005-06-05, 6:55 am |
| (PeteCresswell) wrote:
quote:
> I switched from Cingular TDMA to tMobile GSM some months ago.
>
> Before switching, the concept of not having enough signal strength
> bars was so foreign to me that I never even thought of it as possible.
>
> Now zero bars are a daily occurrance. I can't even get a call out
> from the first floor of my wood frame house - although the second
> floor is usually OK. Today my wife found that her phone wouldn't work
> inside of a tour bus.
>
> So, the question: Is there something about tMobile GSM that makes it
> perform so poorly inside of structures compred to Cingular TDMA? A
> different freq maybe? I recall somebody in the group observing that
> 900 & 1900 have different building penetrations.
Yes, the change in band from 800 to 1900 MHz is part of it. The other
part is, where are the cell sites? The older cellular carriers (800 MHz,
Verizon, Cingular) were required to cover area, and have been putting up
sites longer. The newer PCS (1900 MHz, Sprint, T-Mobile, former ATTWS)
need only cover population to meet license requirements.
You would likely find very good performance using GSM on Cingular, from
the 800 MHz cell sites that covered you so well on TDMA.
John C.
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| klugja@hotmail.com 2005-06-08, 6:55 am |
| I have firsthand experience that is much different.
TDMA (IS-136) has much better range than GSM. Near our cabin we have
only one carrier, Dobson Celluar one, which is an analog/IS-136/GSM
overlay at 800/850MHz. My wife has a SE T616 and used to have a
Siemens S56. I have a Nokia 6360. GSM falters between towers, which
can easily be seen on a drive down highways, and from calls we have
made. GSM is very susceptible to bad weather. IS-136 is much more
dependable. GSM clearly requires more towers to cover the same area
as IS-136. Since Dobson put up GSM, they have been advertising that
they have put up more towers. This is required by their new service.
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