| Author |
Message |
bdrennon
Posts: 1 |
 
Mon Oct 31, 2005 12:23 pm |
|
I have Suncom (in South Carolina) and would like to purchase a phone with a bunch of bells and whistles. What I'd like to know is can I buy a phone that is triband (900/1800/1900) or must it include the 850 band? I'm really interested in the Nokia 7710 but it does not include the 850 band. Also, what are there pros/cons with having or not having the 850 and 1900. I appreciate any help understanding this. Thanks.
|
 |
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
|
steva11
Posts: 1688
Phone Model:
w810i/pearl
Service Provider:
Rogers |
Tue Nov 01, 2005 1:10 am |
I am a cingular rep but I will try to give an unbiased veiw as my job is customer care and I could not watch Verizonuser82 give that info without replying. GSM is the "Global Standard for Mobile Communications" and operates in north america on the 850/1900mhz frequency. the 850 is what gives the better in-building penetration. it is more widely used globally which will come in handy if you travel internationally. other parts of the world operate on a 900/1800. a tri-mode(band) quad-band phone allows you to access these other frequencies when travelling (if that's what you were asking about tri-mode.
Some people may complain about Cingular service, but they are mainly former ATT wireless customers. The way the phones were manufactured, they sweep an area looking for the closest ATTW tower, even if the signal is worse than a cingular tower that is right beside you. this is the same with old cingular phones. the newer cingular phones (which is only what is available now) recognize both the ATTW and cingular network as one which is why Cingular now has the largest network out of ANY other provider. with sprint (i'm not sure if this is the same with others) you may incur roaming charges as nationwide calling is only available while you are on the sprint network. with cingular, you will NEVER be charged roaming as long as you are in the US.
many providers are moving, or have moved away from analog as it is old technology. after analog came TDMA which is also being phased out, if not done alerady, cingular is rolling out UMTS/HSDPA which has higher data speeds and can support both data/voice apps unlike regular GSM, but the GSM phones will work on the UMTS system. this is now employed in 15 markets, with more with verizons EV-DO (evolution data only) it does not support the simultaneous access, but they are working to upgrade that.
a number of years back, digital was the dominant technology which is the argument that digital service is wider reaching. GSM has rapidly grown, and cingulars GSM network is the largest of any wireless carrier, whether it be CDMA or GSM. plus, cingular has the largest customer base which gives greater numbers for mobile to mobile calls and access to exclusive phones when they are first released.
my suggestion would be to go to each companies web site and check the coverage maps. you will see some of them compaer to cingular, but read the fine print as some others will show the maps with roaming agreements and have extra charges. if you do know some of the zip codes to where you will be travelling, you can check on the coverage by calling the respective provider (with cingular, anyway) also cingular has a 30 day buyers remorse period, where if you do not like the phone/coverage, you can return it and the only cost to you would be the usage you've incurred. other companies are only 14 or 15 days.
|
|
elmo01
Posts: 2156
Phone Model:
Samsung SPH-M510
Service Provider:
Bell Canada |
Wed Nov 02, 2005 11:13 am |
| bdrennon wrote: | | I have Suncom (in South Carolina) and would like to purchase a phone with a bunch of bells and whistles. What I'd like to know is can I buy a phone that is triband (900/1800/1900) or must it include the 850 band? I'm really interested in the Nokia 7710 but it does not include the 850 band. Also, what are there pros/cons with having or not having the 850 and 1900. I appreciate any help understanding this. Thanks. |
the short answer... if you are in the USA or Canada you really want that 850mhz coverage... 1900 is spotty at best
|
|
TravisG
Posts: 11
Phone Model:
Sanyo 8200
Service Provider:
Sprint |
Sun Nov 06, 2005 6:54 pm |
|
Sprint is not moving to GSM. Sprint iDEN is GSM but that is in the process of changing to CDMA. If you are traveling throughout the US you need -in order- Sprint, Verizon, then US Cellular. I don't travel a lot so if I had to go with any company it would be T-Mobile, but I work for Sprint so they give me a free phone and service. If I did have to travel though I would have Sprint because they have thier own digital network and then roam off of Verizon for no extra charge.
|
|
steva11
Posts: 1688
Phone Model:
w810i/pearl
Service Provider:
Rogers |
Sun Nov 06, 2005 7:22 pm |
as far as i know, cingular (and possibly t-mobile) are the only providers with the GUARANTEE of no roaming. Sprint does have off-network roaming and states to:
"Check your service plan for the per-minute roaming rate information. Where roaming is available, roaming charges will appear on your monthly Sprint bill within 30-60 days."
and
"To prevent your phone from making and receiving roaming calls, you can change the setting on your Sprint PCS phone to "Sprint." This setting will force your phone to search only for the Nationwide Sprint PCS Network."
|
|
radioGuy
Posts: 5
Phone Model:
Samsung VI660 & LG VI-125
Service Provider:
Sprint PCS |
Sun Nov 06, 2005 11:40 pm |
Just a clarification...iDEN is NOT true GSM.....it is a proprietary Motorola system that is a "blend" of both TDMA and GSM .... I worked on the Nextel system back in its early days when Motorola called it MIRS (mobile integrated radio service). It was 6/1 on both voice and PTT - the voice quality was SO BAD that they went back to the drawing-board. They reconfiged the system to use one of the six "time slots" for PTT use; and three "time slots" for voice calls. (Each RF freq has 6 dynamic "time slots"). In summary, each RF freq will carry 6 PTT or 2 voice (cellular) calls. So, a true GSM phone will not work on the iDEN system ( at least not yet ). I went to iDEN classes in Schaumburg by Motorola......very interesting - anyone having any questions abt iDEN, feel free to ask......
radioGuy
|
|
Sir_GoAtaLoT
Posts: 404
Phone Model:
BlackBerry 8100 Pearl
Service Provider:
T-Mobile |
Mon Nov 07, 2005 2:38 pm |
Cingular & T-Mobile work together to give no roaming to there customers in the USA.
| steva11 wrote: | as far as i know, cingular (and possibly t-mobile) are the only providers with the GUARANTEE of no roaming. Sprint does have off-network roaming and states to:
"Check your service plan for the per-minute roaming rate information. Where roaming is available, roaming charges will appear on your monthly Sprint bill within 30-60 days."
and
"To prevent your phone from making and receiving roaming calls, you can change the setting on your Sprint PCS phone to "Sprint." This setting will force your phone to search only for the Nationwide Sprint PCS Network." |
|
|
TravisG
Posts: 11
Phone Model:
Sanyo 8200
Service Provider:
Sprint |
Mon Nov 07, 2005 2:43 pm |
|
New Fair and Flexible plans do not have roaming charges. If you get a free incoming plan it only cost $5 not have any roaming charges. Of course local area wide plans are going to have roaming like any other carrier.
|
|
samliberatore
Posts: 7
Phone Model:
LG VX8000
Service Provider:
Verizon Wireless |
Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:26 pm |
| Verizonuser82 wrote: | There is no question that verizon is hands down the best network. Especially the east coast where it all started. I didnt know sprint was going gsm but that will definately take a longer time than you would expect ( Atleast 2-3 years). You want clear calls. Obviously anyone would. Now let me explain the networks.
Cingular/T*Mobile= GSM 900mHz
Verizon/Sprint= CDMA 850mhz
Amp'd Mobile>>>>= Amps 850mHz
(Not yet established)
The smaller mHz the better signal the less dropped calls. So basically you want CDMA. CDMA will work better in the entire country and especially rural (Unlike GSM) GSM is still being established and things are still being developed. CDMA will provide the coverage you want. GSM is best for people who will only stay in big cities like NY Philly Boston. You will be traveling so CDMA will be good in city and rural. The motorola v325 is made to be entry level ( INEXPENSIVE) so thats why it doesnt have bluetooth. That is a good question about the trimode/bluetooth though. I think that's it. Hope it helps. |
Just to let you know Amp'd mobile does not uses AMPS. It is a MVNO and uses verizon's CDMA and EVDO network, there is no difference in coverage between the two.
|
|
McGirk
Posts: 2361
Phone Model:
AX380 Wave
Service Provider:
Alltel |
Thu Jan 11, 2007 7:59 pm |
Actually, while Amp'D may work on Verizons system, it's a Sprint MVNO.
To answer the original question asked by the guy, I'd say stick with the StarTac that you've got, it gives you digital and analog, should work in many places and if it is as old as I think it is, it was manufactured before the FCC legislated that antennae strengths be turned down in a 'pr' attempt to make them look good by preventing brain cancer from overuse. That is the most likely reason that your phone worked when your girl's phone didn't. Of course Samsung seems to favor internal antennae and that doesn't usually work as good as a full extendable one, even if it looks better cosmetically.
Consequently my first cell was analog and it did sound way better then the digital ones today, but DANG the standby time was awful, 8 hours was good for standby, then you HAD to have a car charger. Of course I was geeked to have a 14.95 a month plan with no minutes and .25 a minute for most calls. Digital doesn't need to maintain contact with the tower the whole time so the smaller batteries hold longer charges. Also why my first TDMA phone used to get a week and a half battery life, Nokia figured it would still be analog most of the time so they gave it a nice big NiMH battery and as long as it was getting a digital signal it almost never died.
|
