[Ansteorra] OT, Cellular coverage at event sites

Thu May 17 21:45:31 PDT 2007

Insurance is a money making proposition for the cell phone vendors.  Don't
buy it.

Btw, I disagree with Niklas, T-Mobile has great coverage, as most of our
sites *are* within cell phone range.  I have coverage at Gulf Wars.  I've
had it for almost 8 years now, and at most have hit one or two events a year
where I couldn't get signal.

However, I do agree that all of their customer services suck.  That's just
the way it is.

I personally believe that Nokia phones *still* have the best sound quality.
Motoral, LG, and Blackberry's just do not sound as good, IMO.

JP

On 5/17/07, Owen Van Meter <ovanoff57 at clearwire.net> wrote:
>
> Ask about the insurance that is suppose to cover everything with the
> providers. I have had Alltel for a while
> and the insurance was great and not that expensive until I tried to claim
> on
> it. I was told that I needed to have a "police report" to be able to claim
> about lossing it somewhere. And since I didn't have a police report the
> number would have to stay on my bill and I get charged for it just as if I
> was still using it. Other than that very seldom did I have an area I
> couldn't use - as long as I paid my bill and shut up and sat down.
>
>                                                      Griffin Van Meteren
>                                                       Emerald Keep
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Paul Gilbert" <niklas at pbgilbert.net>
> To: "Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc." <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2007 10:44 PM
> Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] OT, Cellular coverage at event sites
>
>
> > Hi....
> >
> > Being one that deals with this stuff in my job, I would suggest the
> > following....
> >
> > 1. Don't use T-Mobile.
> > Their coverage is spotty and their overall penetration of markets is
> > very poor. They do fair in metro areas, but have little coverage in the
> > rural areas or off the major highways.
> >
> > 2. Pick one of the big 3...Verizon, Sprint, Cingular (ATT).
> > I use Sprint and have the no roaming charges plan. If you use cellular
> > data, they are one of the better ones also... as you can get near T-1
> > speeds with them when you are in their data network coverage.
> >
> > Quiz the vendor very closely on the roaming charges. What some vendors
> > call roaming is you using it someplace else other than you local area
> > and will tell you there are no roaming charges.
> >
> > Roaming is when you are on another providers network cause you are out
> > of range of your providers network.
> >
> > The choice of phones is getting better also. The Sanyos are good. Stay
> > away from the Mote-Holees (Motorola). LG is another one to avoid.
> > Samsung is ok. Check Consumer Reports on the phones. They are a fair
> > source of test data.
> >
> > 3. Get 20% more minutes per month than what you think you will use.
> > If you have an overage in your plan, they will stick it to you at the
> > rate of as much as 40 cents per minute. That adds up real! fast. The 20%
> > extra per month in minutes will be a cheap buffer.
> >
> > 4. Of all the networks, ATT has by far the largest. But they are still
> > trying (and failing in many areas) to merge the ATT GSM network with the
> > Cingular GSM network. The problem is they use different infrastructures
> > and the switches do not talk to each other. This is a big issue and is
> > requiring fork-lift upgrades in a bunch of ATT's markets.
> >
> > 5. Of the technologies that are used by cellular companies, I personally
> > prefer CDMA. ATT, T-Mobile, several Mom-Pop systems use GSM (it's
> > cheaper and easier to maintain). The bit sampling rate on GSM is not as
> > good as CDMA and thus the audio is not as good. CDMA is used by Sprint
> > and Verizon, All-Tel and a few others. Ask the vendors, they should
> > know. If they don't, go else where.
> >
> > As far as customer service goes...they all suck. However, Verzion seems
> > to have (IMHO) the best, Sprint next with ATT last.
> >
> > By all means stay away from Nextel (better known in my circles as "Next
> > Try"). Their network only covers the major highways and metro areas and
> > is nearly non-existent in the rural and West Texas areas.
> >
> > Don't believe a single thing that the marketing and ad people say. They
> > all drop calls. They (all the providers) are very happy if they achieve
> > a 90% call completion rate. That means 90% of their calls go thru, ring
> > and someone answers. That does not include how long you talk or that you
> > then shortly drop the call.
> >
> > Some final words of cellular wisdom...
> >
> > Don't take the free phone. They are free for a reason...their junk.
> >
> > Get a middle tier phone. And get the insurance. If you loose the phone
> > or it gets damage where it won't work, you will have to pay at least
> > $150 for what would be for a new customer, the free phone. The
> > warranties do not cover dropping them in that ditch of water or leaving
> > them on top of your car as you drive away (or for that matter, slamming
> > the hood of a truck on a 3 day old Palm Treo 700p...hummmmm).
> >
> > For $5 to 7 a month, its worth it, especially if you get something like
> > a Treo 700 or high end phone.
> >
> > Be sure they have a 30 day test or try out period with a no cost bail
> > out clause and get it in writing. If it does not work where you want it
> > to, take it back and try another one.
> >
> > Shop around on dealers. The company stores do not always have the best
> > deals. READ! the fine print. Always remember that if the vendors mouth
> > is moving they are most likely lying.
> >
> > And most of all....preference in cellular providers is like car
> > brands.... it's a religious argument.
> >
> > In Service,
> >
> > Niklas
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Mike Gideon wrote:
> >> Greetings,
> >> I have a rather modern question. I'm considering a different cellular
> >> service. I currently only have a choice of US Cellular (which I have)
> and
> >> Cellular One/Alltell. T-Mobile is becoming available in our area and
> >> offers some interesting phones and services, but I would like some
> input
> >> on anyone currently using them and the coverage at event sites across
> the
> >> kingdom.
> >>
> >> Thanks for your input.
> >>
> >> Yours in Service,
> >> Michel mac Donnchaid
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Ansteorra mailing list
> >> Ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org
> >> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-ansteorra.org
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > Paul Gilbert, KE5ZW             H.E. Niklas Vasilevich
> > niklas at pbgilbert.net      CB,CSM,KGA,OTR,ORH,Crane,AoA
> > 512-733-3035 Cellular             Kingdom of Ansteorra
> >
> >            Society for Creative Anachronism
> >
> >     Texas Dept. Of Transportation, Radio Operations
> >      Austin, Texas                  512-506-5141
> >                pgilber at dot.state.tx.us
> >
> >                "The Eagle has landed"
> >  "Sable, a double-headed eagle, a bordure engrailed or"
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ansteorra mailing list
> > Ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org
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> >
>
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