[Ansteorra] OT, Cellular coverage at event sites
Cisco Cividanes
engtrktwo at earthlink.net
Fri May 18 05:54:13 PDT 2007
Both I and the company I work for use US Cellular, and we have no
complaints.
I Disagree with JP, I have totaled or lost three phones in legitimate
accidents, as have a number of people at my office. The 10 or 20 dollar
deductible is worth it any day of the week, otherwise you have to buy a
new phone at full cost. if you make a habit of it, they start asking
questions, but I've never had any real problems.
I use a Motorola model, and have never had any major issues, the sound
quality is good and battery life is what I expect. As far as the OK area
is concerned, I have reception at Will rogers and Camp Cimmaron, and it
is a rare instance that I drop a call.
Whatever you do, do NOT use an LG phone. The company's quality control
plan is non-existent. I have owned four LG phones and they all went
belly up inside a year, and they all three died because the programing
was inherently bad. LG constantly bites off more than it can chew with
their features, and the phone owners always pay the price when their
phones die.
As for costumer service, I have never had a real problem with US
cellular, and as long as I am reasonable and not emotional, they are
usually willing to talk with me and at least explain the situation.
Sometimes you win some, , sometimes you loose some, but I don't really
have any major complaints.
Ivo Blackhawk
Jean Paul de Sens wrote:
> 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
>>> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-ansteorra.org
>>>
>>>
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