Cell phone

I know this is way off base but I think that this forum has alot of people from all over. Alot of you travel a good bit. I was wondering what cell phone service you prefer in the US. I dont travel overseas anymore so dont need that capability. I have Sprint now and totally dislike it.

AT&T all the way. Everything else depends on the area, but still compares itself against ATT.

Verizon if in PA MD or NJ

AT&T Wireless. Get Nationwide coverage. You can't go wrong.
AT&T Wireless

My experience with Verizon has been positive anywhere I have gone in the continental US or Hawaii. They use the CDMA rather than GSM standard.

I have used the same company (during all its acquisitions and name changes) for my cell services since about 1992.

AT&T, Cingular and T-Mobile are, I understand, GSM service providers. Here in San Diego I have heard many complain about the AT&T service. However San Diego is also the home of Qualcomm, the developer of CDMA.

... rab

I use ATT...Great coverage up and down I-65,I-40, and I-24....try it, you'll like it! David Also, thanks for the feed back yesterday.

0.01 + 0.01 = 0.02

Let me add mine to the list: AT&T, period. There ARE places
that it will not work, but, in those places, NOBODY's will
work (Eastern KY, Kern County, CA, etc.)

A question to US readers:

Regarding mobile phone, I have belived that GSM was a "world wide" system, and the only difference between Europe and America was that Europe used 900 and 1800 MHz, and America 1900.

But I saw some writing (don't know the age of it) saying that: in USA the cellular telephone system is used, that is not compatible with the GSM system. But in some areas there are now GSM support.

Is this true today?

GSM is called the 2. generation. What about GPRS (2.5 generation) and UTMS (3. generation)?

Although not an expert (or even a very knowledgeable novice) in this area. I believe that Europe has standardize on GSM where the US has competing standards ... GSM,CDMA and a proprietary standard that Nextel uses (don't remember what it's called). I don't know if Nextel is available outside of the US.

For a look at the CDMA standard, go to Qualcomm's site: http://www.qualcomm.com/cdma/index.html

... rab

Yes for the US CDMA seems to be the new standard which offers the most options at the best prices

A little info on the subject:
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/CDMA.html

http://www.cellular.co.za/cdma.htm

http://www.cdg.org/tech/tech.asp

I use Verizon, and have travelled to several places in the upper U.S. with my phone. Aside from local quirks and problems with the antenna breaking on my goofy phone (Motorola StarTAC), I've been pretty happy with it. I can almost always get service, usually digital.

I live in Milwaukee, service here is good. Some of the ritzier suburbs are a treat because the residents don't like cell towers in their neighborhoods.

In Chicago I get pretty lousy service in downtown, especially inside or around the tall buildings. But, the rest of the city is good.

I get good coverage all over Wisconsin, and northern Illinois (down to Peoria).

The U.P. is a virtual dead-zone. Analog only except in Escanaba, where I found one tower that I could make clear calls from.

Service is good along I-90 all the way to Schenectady, NY.

The west coast: Seattle, WA to Cresent City, CA was covered very well. I think I might have had better service there than I do in my home area. I was amazed at my coverage along I-5 in Oregon. I even placed calls from Crater Lake. After having to find a window to place calls in Chicago, I found that quite amusing... "Can you hear me now?"

Long story short: I think my Verizon phone does the trick, but ANY CDMA should give you comparable results. The real test is in how the provider treats its customers. I still complain about my phone when the service is less than perfect, but I'm not planning to switch.

AK

We have about 100 cell phone in our company, mostly on the East Coast. I have traveled all over the country, heading back to California on Monday, Just returned from Hawaii. Our company has jumped around to AT&T, Suncom and has been set on Verizon for the past 2 years. Service and coverage are good. We beat the hell out of our phones also. We have the free long distance plan with 3000 weekend minutes. I have used a few different providers and picked Verizon for my wife and daughter. (away at college) T-Mobile looks to be the big threat in our area as of late.

I switched to Verizon from AT&T about 6 months ago. I am glad I did - much better coverage with Verizon. I travel NC, SC, AL, TN, VA, WV, OH, PA, IL, and KY, and I have had a signal almost everywhere I've been. Even in the wilds of West Virginia!

Kalle, you are correct that the US and European phones are not compatible. For what it's worth, I just got back from Spain and the engineer I worked with there travels a lot. He has two phones - one for the US and one for Europe. He just changes his memory cartridge from one to the other when he comes over to the US. He has found that that works better than the dual mode phones he has tried.

I can't give any personal advice on this - I don't have and don't want a cell phone. I just don't want to talk to people that much! We are getting way too connected!

Ok, this means that even if I have a dualband GSM phone with 900/1900 MHz, I am not guaranteed a ”world wide” phone. Especially when it looks like US have a competing standard (CDMA) that is more popular than GSM.

We/a customer have an installation in Chile that is equiped with a 1900 MHz GSM-modem. We are able to connect us to the modem, but we can’t make a data transfer neither to the PLC nor the HMI.
Since we can connect us to the modem, there is no problem with the receiving, it must be something with the data transmission.
The modem have a norwegian data-subscription (if this is the right word), so the next step is to get a local one. Maybe that will do the trick…

I don't have and don't want a cell phone. I just don't want to talk to people that much! We are getting way too connected!

Click to expand...

Well, at least you won't experience any embarrassing episodes in airplanes, movies, theater, funeral, etc....