On Wed, 25 Jun 2003 00:36:20 -0400, andylevy@yahoo.com (andy levy)
wrote:
>
>Michael Maskalans wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Tuesday, Jun 24, 2003, at 09:40 America/New_York, Josh Battles wrote:
>>
>>> really? I've never had a problem with my cell service... even in the
>>> underground parkinglots of downtown chicago. I've got
>>> nextel...they're practically everywhere. :-)
>>>
>> what I think is really interesting is how my work phone, a Nextel, has
>> signal all over campus, even underground in places where my Verizon
>> phone doesn't have a prayer. but here at home I need to be outside for
>> the Nextel to even think about a green blink while my Verizon phone has
>> a bar in the basement.
>>
>> the Nextel is a Motorola i1000 plus and the Verizon is a Kyocera
>> SmartPhone 6035
>
>In my old apartment I used an analog Cingular phone (Nokia 918) and had
>no trouble. Switched to digital (Nokia 5120) and my calls went to crap.
> But my work phone, a StarTac on Verizon, was crystal clear and also
>digital.
>
>Lesson: If you're in the market for a cell phone/service, ask your
>friends with various services to come with you to the places you'll be
>needign the phone and see what you get.
Yep, the coverage is very different in different areas. What's nice
about a lot of the Motorola phones is that they've got a way to lock
the phone into analog mode so that if you're in a "fringe" area, you
can prevent it from giving you a crappy digital dignal over a decent
analog signal.
In my area (Northern CA), Nextel coverage is pretty poor when you get
outside of the cities and away from the freeways. Sprint PCS is even
worse. Cingular is very good in the heavily populated areas, but
quickly fades when you get into the more rural areas where Verizon and
AT&T dominate.
Travel a couple hundred miles away and the whole situation can be
completely reversed. A lot of the signal penetration in concrete
buildings and such has to do with the different technologies and how
well they deal with different types of signal obstacles.
-Bill
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