Verizon service in Eastern UP of Michigan

[Kuhbie]

I have Cingulars Nation 350 with no roaming and long distance nationwide. I feel that cingular is trying to force me into their new and smaller GSM network. I have been looking at Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile. I have a place on the St. Mary River about 45 miles SE of Sault Ste. Marie, MI. I can't figure it out they sell Verizon phones up there put they claim to have no service on their America's Choice Plan. Help, My contract runs out at cingular in 5/04. I Should I change or be content with no stylist phones (ie LG4400) to pick from that work on the Cingular TDMA Nation 350.

[BG1811]

I think you are going to find that the AC plan does not include the area you are interested in. See the post entitled: America's Choice Expands in MI

[NYCDru]

Originally posted by: Kuhbie
I have Cingulars Nation 350 with no roaming and long distance nationwide. I feel that cingular is trying to force me into their new and smaller GSM network. I have been looking at Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile. I have a place on the St. Mary River about 45 miles SE of Sault Ste. Marie, MI. I can't figure it out they sell Verizon phones up there put they claim to have no service on their America's Choice Plan. Help, My contract runs out at cingular in 5/04. I Should I change or be content with no stylist phones (ie LG4400) to pick from that work on the Cingular TDMA Nation 350.

Just tell them your friends Cingular GSM phone gets no reception in your house. And bareley gets reseption outside. They Should leave you alone after that. Start researching which carrier covers your home area best.

[mantas]

The whole UP has been changing fast tech wise, you have almost a half a year to see where it goes, by then they might be in the AC or even GSM(TMobile or Cingular). I can't wait till I can use my phone for free in the UP!

[CDMA]

You can use a Cingular GAIT phone for free in the UP.

[mantas]

Using the Cingular nation plan right, CDMA? I know my TDMA phone is $.80 a minute up there on Cingular. It's not on the Cingular network because they are using Alltell and CellularOne towers and I think the only Cingular option is their multinetwork National plan.

[CDMA]

Yes, I really don't like the GAIT phones but technically they will do that for you. The Nokia seems to take too long to scan for service after losing the signal temporarly. In other words, if you go into a basement where there is no signal and then come back outside where there is a good signal, the phone will continue to display "no service". You pretty much have to power down the phone and then power it back up to get the phone to work. It must be some kind of software flaw. Not sure about the Sony Ericson.

Alltel is the ultimate as far as a good phone to use anywhere in Michigan. Their best deals are on the local plans with outer Michigan zip codes like 49721 and area codes 231,517, since they include almost all of Michigan on their local plan etc.. If you live in the Detroit area, technically they don't cover Detroit, but you could get a Monroe 734 area code and a good deal their national plan that includes the UP, otherwise on the local plans you get the Ohio/ Monroe service area with the 734 area code. Alltel roams on Verizon in Detroit, so you get the best of both worlds. Check out their web site and put in these zip codes and look at the coverage. You will see what I mean. (www.alltel.com)

[BG1811]

I looked at the Alltel web site and it appears that the all of the UP is covered. Does anyone know why Verizon doesn't use Alltel in their AC plan in the UP?

[CaptainLoose]

CDMA, I've been checking out the Alltel local plan alternative as well but I can't determine what kind of coverage (digital vs. analog) is available in all the indicated local areas. My experience w/ analog in northern MI has been so poor that I wouldn't bother to purchase a plan if most locations are only analog. They're selling tri-mode phones so I assume they're dependent on analog. Do you know how to determine where or if digital is available?

[mathwhiz]

Originally posted by: BG1811
I looked at the Alltel web site and it appears that the all of the UP is covered. Does anyone know why Verizon doesn't use Alltel in their AC plan in the UP?

There are 2 areas of MI yet not covered by AC. Michigan-2 (Eastern end of the UP) and Michigan-4 (North East Corner of LP). Based on some info I heard, the reason they don't switch to Alltel in these areas (and become AC) has to do with legalities of roaming agreements they have with RFB cellular in those areas. I was also informed that Verizion is working on this to have these areas included in the AC plan. I have no exact details or exact dates or anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if we saw something change in the first part of 2004.

Rich

[mantas]

Are you sure about that mathwiz? I know you started a thread saying that Marquette was now covered in Michigan-1(which you should go back to that thread and tell us if it showed up on your bill), but I'm specifically looking for Delta county area between Escanaba and Manistique right in the center of the UP and you are the first person to say it is part of AC. What is the boundary for Michigan-1 and Michigan-2?

[CDMA]

I get Digital with Alltel all the way from Detroit to the Mackinaw Bridge. Last summer I had anolog in the UP but since then I have been told that Markette and Houghton now have digital. It is probably safe to say that even more areas of the UP have been converted to Digital. You might consider asking Alltel exactly which areas are still anolog. I am very happy with Alltel. All features work including mobile web even while roaming on Verizon in Detroit.

[COtech]

Originally posted by: mantas
Are you sure about that mathwiz? I know you started a thread saying that Marquette was now covered in Michigan-1(which you should go back to that thread and tell us if it showed up on your bill), but I'm specifically looking for Delta county area between Escanaba and Manistique right in the center of the UP and you are the first person to say it is part of AC. What is the boundary for Michigan-1 and Michigan-2?

Delta and Alger Counties are the western edge of RSA MI-2. Marquette and Memominee Counties are the eastern edge of MI-1.

COtech

[telecomjunkie]

hey cdma
you seem pretty knowledgable in the wireless area of the U.P. I travel up from Illinois going through Green Bay and then up to Houghton via Crystal Falls. I know coverage in general is pretty weak but how come I can't roam very effectively with my sprint sanyo 4900. I had cingular and At&t prior to this and they worked fine where there was coverage but with my sprint phone I can hardly roam in areas where I know there is coverage and even if I get coverage I drop calls frequently while driving. Do I really need a tri-mode phone or is just the way Sprint phones interact with other none CDMA networks?

[CDMA]

Sounds like SprintPCS is using a different provider for roaming compared to what you have used in the past with your other providers. Tri-mode phones are nice, but that is a hard question to answer. I am not sure who Sprint roams on around there. Anyone out there reading this know the answer. Who does SprintPCS roam on in Houghton. Is it digital or anolog?

[barto]

The reason you had trouble going to Houghton was that Sprint is CDMA and there was no CDMA carrier in the UP until recently. Now my Verizon phone is in extended network and my friends Sprink PCS phone roams up there also (digitally). The AT&T and Cingular was bassed on TDMA, so you could roam freely on Centurytel and Cellular Ones networks. I am from Marquette and now live in the Lowwer Peninsula (go to school at MSU).

Hope that helps.

[telecomjunkie]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I was just alerted by somebody else the other day that my phone does not have the 800mHz band which I forgot about. Quite possibly having a tri-mode with 800mhz will improve my reception since, from what I have heard, Verizon uses 800mhz a lot. Thanks again for the help.

[Kuhbie]

I HAVE A CABIN ON THE ST. MARY RIVER BY DETOUR, MI AND WAS WONDERING IF AND WHEN VERIZON WILL INCLUDE THIS AREA IN THE AC

[COtech]

See Mathwiz's post of December 18 about RSA MI-2, mentioning roaming with RFB. Maybe sometime soon.

COtech