Cingular using 850MHz GSM in SF Bay Area?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area (Mountain View, specifically), and am
currently a Verizon subscriber. My contract just ended, and I'm trying to
decide if I want to stick with Verizon, or move to Cingular. I really
like Cingular's choice of phones, and I despise the way Verizon cripples
Bluetooth, but in the end, the most important thing for me is coverage.
And in the Bay Area, Verizon has had better coverage than Cingular for
years.

But, when AT&T and Cingular merged, there was talk about Cingular moving
all their customers to 850MHz GSM from 1900MHz which would, in theory,
greatly improve coverage. What'd I like to know is: has this migration
happened in the Bay Area? If not, is Cingular planning on doing this
switch in the near future?

I'd also appreciate hearing any general comments on how Cingular's
coverage has improved (if at all) in the Bay Area since the merged was
completed.

Thanks very much.

--
Dave Schreiber
davids@truedave.com
dks@sonic.net

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

Changing frequency would not necessarily mean an increase in coverage.
Being able to utilize both sets of antenna sites might help fill in
"holes" and might add large areas, so in that way coverage could
increase. Where they have licenses for both frequencies, they are
probably adding 800 MHz equipment to all their 1900 MHz antenna sites,
and 1900 MHz equipment to all their 800 MHz sites, there by maximizing
both coverage and capacity.


Dave Schreiber wrote:
> I live in the San Francisco Bay Area (Mountain View, specifically), and am
> currently a Verizon subscriber. My contract just ended, and I'm trying to
> decide if I want to stick with Verizon, or move to Cingular. I really
> like Cingular's choice of phones, and I despise the way Verizon cripples
> Bluetooth, but in the end, the most important thing for me is coverage.
> And in the Bay Area, Verizon has had better coverage than Cingular for
> years.
>
> But, when AT&T and Cingular merged, there was talk about Cingular moving
> all their customers to 850MHz GSM from 1900MHz which would, in theory,
> greatly improve coverage. What'd I like to know is: has this migration
> happened in the Bay Area? If not, is Cingular planning on doing this
> switch in the near future?
>
> I'd also appreciate hearing any general comments on how Cingular's
> coverage has improved (if at all) in the Bay Area since the merged was
> completed.
>
> Thanks very much.
>

 

[Miles]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

Dave Schreiber wrote:
> I live in the San Francisco Bay Area (Mountain View, specifically), and am
> currently a Verizon subscriber. My contract just ended, and I'm trying to
> decide if I want to stick with Verizon, or move to Cingular. I really
> like Cingular's choice of phones, and I despise the way Verizon cripples
> Bluetooth, but in the end, the most important thing for me is coverage.
> And in the Bay Area, Verizon has had better coverage than Cingular for
> years.
>
> But, when AT&T and Cingular merged, there was talk about Cingular moving
> all their customers to 850MHz GSM from 1900MHz which would, in theory,
> greatly improve coverage. What'd I like to know is: has this migration
> happened in the Bay Area? If not, is Cingular planning on doing this
> switch in the near future?
>
> I'd also appreciate hearing any general comments on how Cingular's
> coverage has improved (if at all) in the Bay Area since the merged was
> completed.
>
> Thanks very much.
>

Not certain what they are doing, but whatever it is it is working great!
A few days ago I asked in the Cingular store in San Rafael as to their
frequencies and speaking with two reps they didn't know! I do know that
it works fine in San Rafael, Fairfax, Woodacre, Lagunitas, Olema, Point
Reyes Station, Inverness and believe it or not even Camp Taylor. I'm
using a Nokia 6250 900/1800/1900, and I tried the same route with a moto
850 plus I don't recall, but it was not a quad band. Prior to acquiring
AT&T Cingular did not work at all west of San Anselmo. Obviously they
have now upgraded AT&T's towers, at least in this area. Best you ask a
few Cingular customers -- friends or just walk into a few stores and ask
the customers.

Incidentally, it works fine with BT, but that is Nokia -- voice dialing
via BT is a great advent for me. A few people have told me that during
peak hours they cannot make connection -- Cingular is becoming too
popular for their current abilities. One lady told me that in talking
with Cingular in San Francisco that if someone is closer to the tower
than you, you can me thrown off, and they get on!

Miles

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 06:38:32 GMT, Miles
<mileschap@REMOVEMEpacbell.net> wrote:

>Dave Schreiber wrote:
>> I live in the San Francisco Bay Area (Mountain View, specifically), and am
>> currently a Verizon subscriber. My contract just ended, and I'm trying to
>> decide if I want to stick with Verizon, or move to Cingular. I really
>> like Cingular's choice of phones, and I despise the way Verizon cripples
>> Bluetooth, but in the end, the most important thing for me is coverage.
>> And in the Bay Area, Verizon has had better coverage than Cingular for
>> years.
>>
>> But, when AT&T and Cingular merged, there was talk about Cingular moving
>> all their customers to 850MHz GSM from 1900MHz which would, in theory,
>> greatly improve coverage. What'd I like to know is: has this migration
>> happened in the Bay Area? If not, is Cingular planning on doing this
>> switch in the near future?
>>
>> I'd also appreciate hearing any general comments on how Cingular's
>> coverage has improved (if at all) in the Bay Area since the merged was
>> completed.
>>
>> Thanks very much.
>>
>
>Not certain what they are doing, but whatever it is it is working great!
>A few days ago I asked in the Cingular store in San Rafael as to their
>frequencies and speaking with two reps they didn't know! I do know that
>it works fine in San Rafael, Fairfax, Woodacre, Lagunitas, Olema, Point
>Reyes Station, Inverness and believe it or not even Camp Taylor. I'm
>using a Nokia 6250 900/1800/1900, and I tried the same route with a moto
>850 plus I don't recall, but it was not a quad band. Prior to acquiring
>AT&T Cingular did not work at all west of San Anselmo. Obviously they
>have now upgraded AT&T's towers, at least in this area. Best you ask a
>few Cingular customers -- friends or just walk into a few stores and ask
>the customers.
>
>Incidentally, it works fine with BT, but that is Nokia -- voice dialing
>via BT is a great advent for me. A few people have told me that during
>peak hours they cannot make connection -- Cingular is becoming too
>popular for their current abilities. One lady told me that in talking
>with Cingular in San Francisco that if someone is closer to the tower
>than you, you can me thrown off, and they get on!
>
>Miles

I don't think so. It's pretty much whoever is using the channel first
keeps it with GSM. Your call could drop if your call tries to move to
a tower that is busy but the only way you can get bumped is with that
newly implemented law enforcement priority I believe.

It may work differently with CDMA.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

> >Incidentally, it works fine with BT, but that is Nokia -- voice dialing
> >via BT is a great advent for me. A few people have told me that during
> >peak hours they cannot make connection -- Cingular is becoming too
> >popular for their current abilities. One lady told me that in talking
> >with Cingular in San Francisco that if someone is closer to the tower
> >than you, you can me thrown off, and they get on!
> >
> >Miles
>
> I don't think so. It's pretty much whoever is using the channel first
> keeps it with GSM. Your call could drop if your call tries to move to
> a tower that is busy but the only way you can get bumped is with that
> newly implemented law enforcement priority I believe.
>
> It may work differently with CDMA.

I think I have heard that CDMA suffers from the "shrinking cell effect", which
means when a tower reaches capacity, the people closest to the tower are the ones
the system keeps on. It would explain while I was in Chicago 2 years ago why the
Verizon phone I used would sometimes have "full" signal in one place, and minutes
later have no signal at all (Verizon was terrible overloaded when I was there.)

TH

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

On Thu, 30 Jun 2005 12:07:38 -0400, Tropical Haven <email@example.net>
wrote:

>> >Incidentally, it works fine with BT, but that is Nokia -- voice dialing
>> >via BT is a great advent for me. A few people have told me that during
>> >peak hours they cannot make connection -- Cingular is becoming too
>> >popular for their current abilities. One lady told me that in talking
>> >with Cingular in San Francisco that if someone is closer to the tower
>> >than you, you can me thrown off, and they get on!
>> >
>> >Miles
>>
>> I don't think so. It's pretty much whoever is using the channel first
>> keeps it with GSM. Your call could drop if your call tries to move to
>> a tower that is busy but the only way you can get bumped is with that
>> newly implemented law enforcement priority I believe.
>>
>> It may work differently with CDMA.
>
>I think I have heard that CDMA suffers from the "shrinking cell effect", which
>means when a tower reaches capacity, the people closest to the tower are the ones
>the system keeps on. It would explain while I was in Chicago 2 years ago why the
>Verizon phone I used would sometimes have "full" signal in one place, and minutes
>later have no signal at all (Verizon was terrible overloaded when I was there.)
>
>TH

That's it. And I think weaker users will actually get dropped.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

nospam@ptd.net wrote:

> On Thu, 30 Jun 2005 12:07:38 -0400, Tropical Haven <email@example.net>
> wrote:
>
> >> >Incidentally, it works fine with BT, but that is Nokia -- voice dialing
> >> >via BT is a great advent for me. A few people have told me that during
> >> >peak hours they cannot make connection -- Cingular is becoming too
> >> >popular for their current abilities. One lady told me that in talking
> >> >with Cingular in San Francisco that if someone is closer to the tower
> >> >than you, you can me thrown off, and they get on!
> >> >
> >> >Miles
> >>
> >> I don't think so. It's pretty much whoever is using the channel first
> >> keeps it with GSM. Your call could drop if your call tries to move to
> >> a tower that is busy but the only way you can get bumped is with that
> >> newly implemented law enforcement priority I believe.
> >>
> >> It may work differently with CDMA.
> >
> >I think I have heard that CDMA suffers from the "shrinking cell effect", which
> >means when a tower reaches capacity, the people closest to the tower are the ones
> >the system keeps on. It would explain while I was in Chicago 2 years ago why the
> >Verizon phone I used would sometimes have "full" signal in one place, and minutes
> >later have no signal at all (Verizon was terrible overloaded when I was there.)
> >
> >TH
>
> That's it. And I think weaker users will actually get dropped.

Not to mention the normal voice quality with CDMA...I don't think I will ever go back.

TH