Free Roaming or Paid roaming?

[Hatchetman41527]

Hi all,

Just received my phones. LG AX4750's

I took them out of the box, charged them and powered them on, and they are roaming. The system menu says home is B. I put it on B and it roams. there is a steady burn triangle and it switches between analog and digital.

I am on a wireless booster/repeater, and home only does not produce any signal here.

I am wondering if the phone is in free roam or paid roam on national freedom.

Do I need to call Alltel and have the phones activated, or do they come activated from the shipping center?

Do I need to have the PRL updated for my area? Zip 25661

thx

[UFO]

You might have the same problem that I do in which you are receiving an Appalachian Wireless signal since you are on the WV/KY border. I feel your pain as I am on the VA/KY border. Appalachian Wireless is a real pain for me and they might be for you especially since they use the same frequency as Alltel and the signal competes. If you are in fact receiving your signal from AW, it will indeed charge for roaming, however, as a WV zip code they would not sell you service, they only sell to eastern KY. The only way to know for sure who you're roaming off of is to look up the Sys ID (aka SID) on the network where you are receiving the signal. On my Motorola, I go to: Menu: Settings: Network: Current Network. If you report your "Sys ID" that should show after completing these steps someone will be able to find what system you are on.

On another note, can you receive an alltel signal without a solid triangle anywhere in your area such as in town? Try it in other areas as my phone was just shipped out fully activated.

[Ironwalt]

Originally Posted by Hatchetman41527

Hi all,

Just received my phones. LG AX4750's

I took them out of the box, charged them and powered them on, and they are roaming. The system menu says home is B. I put it on B and it roams. there is a steady burn triangle and it switches between analog and digital.

I am on a wireless booster/repeater, and home only does not produce any signal here.

I am wondering if the phone is in free roam or paid roam on national freedom.

Do I need to call Alltel and have the phones activated, or do they come activated from the shipping center?

Do I need to have the PRL updated for my area? Zip 25661

thx

I would call Alltel and ask about it. But I'm sure that Alltelwirelesstech a memeber on here will be able to help you or one of the other guys that work for Alltel.

[alltelwirelesstech]

tell me what sid you are hitting. and what your zip code is. we may be able to tweak your phone into a free roam if your not using a free roam

[budone]

Originally Posted by Hatchetman41527

Hi all,

Just received my phones. LG AX4750's

I took them out of the box, charged them and powered them on, and they are roaming. The system menu says home is B. I put it on B and it roams. there is a steady burn triangle and it switches between analog and digital.

thx

I had one phone delivered to me that was never activated, so I had the incorrect codes and all in it. One quick call and it was corrected. Out of all the online orders, only this phone was not prepped prior to shipment.

[Hatchetman41527]

ok hold on a sec

[Hatchetman41527]

Ok,

Found it.

Serving System.

CH 384

SID 1290

Zip 25661

[UFO]

Ahhh ... the old familiar SID 1290. That is indeed Appalachian Wireless. It is the exact same SID that I'm hitting. It's not a free roam. I am in the same situation as you. My zip is 24293 (northern part of the zip near the county line). I also get no signal at my house (Well not one that consistently stays) with home only but I do have an external antenna ordered. I'm not sure what advice to give, perhaps somebody here might know a little more about a useful tweak and I could really use that info to.
Edit: Info on SID 1290 from PRL Interpretations:
01290 D/A RM Appalachian Wireless
CMA451B Kentucky 9 - Elliott
CMA452B Kentucky 10 - Powell
CMA681B Virginia 1 - Lee

[Hatchetman41527]

Whadda ya think ALLTELWIRELESSTECH???

Any help for me??

I called tech support and found out my PRL is out of date. it is PRL 905

I gotta get to a home area to update it wirelessly or go to a store.

If that doesn't work, what's my next option?

Alltel has no record of SID 1290, but UFO says it is App Wireless.


thx

[alltelwirelesstech]

lets try programming your phone as the home sid 4390. then set to home only. if you get service try and make a call. make sure that you NEVER dial *228.

[Hatchetman41527]

how do I do that?

[alltelwirelesstech]

press menu then 0
sec code is 000000

press ok until you get to home sys id
type in 4390
press ok over and over again until the phone powers off
when it comes back on set it to home only

just remember when you travel to set it to automatic

see if you get a blink roam.

4390 is sprint and from what i see it covers your area. we have an agreement with them but in the prl it is set at a low priority. if this does not work.... i hate to say it...... you may need to leave us

[Hatchetman41527]

i tried it,

unfortunately, it didn't work.

Rather than leave Alltel, would it be feesable to go to the Total Freedom plan instead?

I went around town and tried to pick up the alltel tower that is local to us, and it is as if it doesn't exist. i'm gonna try it tonight at work and see.

[alltelwirelesstech]

you are about 14.7 miles from the nearest alltel tower so you are out of range. lets try one more sid 4748 and home only.

[Hatchetman41527]

that one doesn't work either.

Looks like Total Freedom for me

[alltelwirelesstech]

sorry there is one more sid to try. the phone may not even pick it up since it is negative for that area. lets try 73.

[royc]

Originally Posted by Hatchetman41527

that one doesn't work either.

Looks like Total Freedom for me

I have read that in a few circumstances, Alltel has terminated Total Freedom customers that roam on nonpreferred systems (solid roam indicator) a high percentage of the time. I think they actually lose money on your service in that situation. In your case, you don't really have much choice. Just be aware that they can terminate you if they want for heavy roaming. If part of your usage away from home would be on native Alltel towers, you'll probably get away with it.

royc

[UFO]

Sorry to hear about your situation hatchetman. I need to start an I Hate Appalachian Wireless FanClub. Seriously, I went to www.cellreception.com/towers/ and in several locations, they've built these massive, almost 100 m towers on the border of their coverage area. This would be a good thing I suppose if they didn't compete with other carriers on the same frequency. I'm picking up one of them in Clintwood, VA and I think you are too hatchetman as there is one in South Williamson, KY. It looks like they are a company that has strategically placed towers hoping they will make significant roaming charges off of other carriers in the region. And it is bad living in a fringe area. I tried your zip code in all the major carrier websites and the only other one that would even sell you service was T-Mobile and their coverage area looked very limited around your zip code.

That being said, with the total freedom plan, you might be in great shape because you will be able to utilize all those AW towers. I might actually try the total freedom plan as well but I'm hoping the external, magnetic mount antenna that I ordered will solve my problem at my house as the Alltel signal fades out so close to my home.

Does anybody know if there are rumors or a chance of Alltel negotiating a free roam on the National Freedom plan in the near future in Eastern KY with Appalachian Wireless. It does appear that is on of the largest holes that remains in the National Freedom map.

[alltelwirelesstech]

At this time there is nothing due to their demands for high cost roaming.

[Hatchetman41527]

sorry for the away period.

Had to travel a little.

I've had it with the whole cell phone thing. Cingular stinks down here. Cannot roam at all with them.

Alltel total freedom works really good for me, however someone on the board says Alltel may terminate my contract for heavy roaming, which I do a lot of.

Appalachian Wireless has employed a bunch of morons and they are hard to deal with.

Alltel signed me on with a extremely tiny deposit. AW wants a freakin fortune for the same thing. (like my credit is that bad from one place to the next)

I'm probably going back to the old reliable two-way radios. I used to work on two-way radios back in the day. I can rent two repeaters for the same price per month that I pay for cell service. The only thing is I'll have a small coverage area. (75 miles or so)

I'm truly at a loss.

[Hatchetman41527]

here's a bit of info.

I roam freakin constantly on my daily run on the following.

SID 1290 (mostly)
SID 56
SID 126 (Home)

Please ID SID 56

Would like to know who this is

[royc]

Originally Posted by Hatchetman41527

here's a bit of info.

I roam freakin constantly on my daily run on the following.

SID 1290 (mostly)
SID 56
SID 126 (Home)

Please ID SID 56

Would like to know who this is

SID 56 is Verizon at Niagara Falls, NY. You can't be getting that one in WV or KY.

Could it have been SID 65? That's Verizon's Lexington / Louisville, KY market. SID 65 (and 56) are friendly roam. Alltel won't care how many minutes you use there.

royc

[Hatchetman41527]

you are right,

it was 65 now that I remember

anyhoo

SID 65 only picks up like once in a blue moon, and I can't seem to make any calls on it either.

SID 1290 (AW) is mostly all I can receive.

I did a little research this morning and a little investigation.

There is an Alltel tower near Williamson. It is on Buffalo Mountain near a tower where we once had a repeater (few years ago).

Now, I can go up to the site (outside the main gate to all the towers) and get 6 bars on an external antenna (and off the antenna).

At the highway. (approx 500' from towers) I get 4 bars on external antenna and 2 bars on just the phone) I hope this is a technical problem. The Delbarton area has decent Alltel coverage form the buffalo mtn tower, but it is very directional. I don't know if maybe they have their array turned away from the border as to not encroach on AW or that they simply do not have powerful enough transmitter to do such a thing.

I do know this. If you look southwest from buffalo mtn, you will see williamson and the tug valley. the only obstruction is the mountain in Ky that the AW tower sits on. I realize 800 MHz is very directional and absorbed by most of the foliage, but that close to the tower and only 4 bars on an external antenna! come on......

Now the AW tower is in line of sight with everything in the valley. They are in South Williamson, Ky on the Mall Hill and on an atleast 350' tower. (it almost dwarfs the broadcast tower across the river.) AW has great coverage in the willaimson area, but I'm not paying a $750 deposit when other cell carriers do not require one from me. I think it is because I now live in WV and not in KY anymore

If Alltel has a tower on buffalo mtn, which is approx 2.5 nautical miles from Williamson, it would seem that they should be able to cover that area.

Before AW put service in, Alltel had good coverage in Wmson.

Anyhoo.

My rant is over. I'm stepping down from the soapbox

some advice would be good

[royc]

Alltel may be reducing the emitted power of their tower near the license boundary. I have seen them do this near boundaries in OH-WV-PA. I think you should just go with Total Freedom and wait for Alltel to complain about your usage. Maybe Alltel will buy Appalachian Wireless in the meantime.

royc

[Hatchetman41527]

Ya never know.

[Hatchetman41527]

Here's a little nostalgia for you.

Do you remember the old Motorola Pulsar 120 RCC phones?

I ran across 5 working complete units today at my work in their old shop. These units are VHF 25w and look like they were kept well.


I can barely remember these phones, but I wish cell phones went back to high power mobiles. Talk about coverage.

I just would not wish to talk to an operator to connect a call nor pay $1.60 per minute for service.

Just a little walk down memory lane for you radio enthusiasts.

[Hatchetman41527]

I have a stupid question.

Hoe, other than call your service provider, do you ID SID's by their number?

I have a couple more that I'd like to ID but wish there was an easy way to do it.


Any advice?

[strunke]

Originally Posted by Hatchetman41527

I have a stupid question.

Hoe, other than call your service provider, do you ID SID's by their number?

I have a couple more that I'd like to ID but wish there was an easy way to do it.


Any advice?

Go here and select a PRL then do a search in the page for the SID number...

http://www.rainyday.ca/~dialtone/

[Hatchetman41527]

Excellent info.

I did a little investigative research myself and found the following link:

http://www.mountainwireless.com/sid.html

It seemed to be very helpful too.

[strunke]

Mountain wireless is pretty good too, but their info isn't always up to date. I might be wrong though.