Cingular 850/1900Mhz GSM, T-Mobile 1900Mhz in the Chicago area...how good and what's available?

[Warning]

I know that both T-Mobile and Cingular have coverage in Chicago, or maybe they just share networks or something, but I have a friend who is here in Chicago for school and wants to know a few things. She just bought the phone and wants to know if in this area she needs the T720 on the 850mhz or on the 1900Mhz with Cingular. Does it matter? Which network is Cingular in Chicago?

With Cingular, can she get a local Chicago phone #?

I might get T-Mobile and though I might be getting a camera by going with them, will I be losing out by not having a phone that can use the 850/1900 bands?

[ljh]

Cingular does not offer GSM service in Chicago at this time. They are still using TDMA. T-Mobile and AT&T are the only ones using GSM in the Chicago area, both at 1900mhz. I have had very few problems with the service from T-Mobile and my son has a dual network (TDMA & GSM) AT&T phone and has had no problems at all.

[med1]

Go with T-Mobile much better plans, AT&T is still being built up in Chicago and their dual plans are very expensive.

[EuRo]

If you buy a GSM phone only phone from Cingular from another market, you will currently roam on T-Mobile (1900Mhz). However, Cingular plans do include Chicago as a perferred for their Cingular Nation Prefered plans. Cingular will be launching GSM in IL sometime around spring time. They will be operating on 850 Mhz in Chicago, Central IL, and Wisconsin. If you have a GSM phone with 850 you coverage will be greater since you will be able to roam on both T-Mobile as well as Cingular. Also, 850 has better indoor reception then 1900. The coverage will be identical to the TDMA coverage from day one since the GSM radios are colocated with TDMA radios. However, it will take some time tweak the network. I expect quality to be relatively good from day one.

With Cingular, can she get a local Chicago phone #?

With Cingular, can she get a local Chicago phone #?

GSM only: NO. Not until Cingular soft launches.

GAIT: YES, Current models include the Nokia 6340i as well as the Sony Ericsson T62u.

[aiwapro]

Cingular's GSM will not be as good from day one. You said the key point, they are using the same towers as TDMA. GSM signal does not go as far, so for them to have the same identical coverage, they will have to build additional GSM towers in-between.

[CrazyCozmoGirl]

I'm not sure I would agree with that...
GSM is TDMA only it's set up differently. Now, if ALL the TDMA towers in one area were switched to the Global System (GSM), in theory the coverage areas shouldn't change. The quality of calls will be a little more clear. But, if they switch lets say a 1500 mhz TDMA tower to 1900 mhz GSM, then the signal penetration will be slightly lower. And you would probably loose about 5-10% of the radius around a tower (depending on elevation). Going to a 850 mhz GSM system would do the opposite. Coverage would increase instead of diminish. Either way, it really isn't that noticeable. The effect of the change is way over dramatized. If I were you, I wouldn't stress it. Just make a knowledged decission based on that and what's available.

[Airb330]

Aiwapro, their GSM will be as good as TDMA from day one since they are overlaying GSM 800 on their TDMA 800 sites. So coverage will be more or less equal. In those areas their coverage will be equal, they aren't doing it like ATT.

[RyanM]

850mhz gsm is nice for inside buildings.. thats about all i know [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[aiwapro]

Originally posted by: Airb330 Aiwapro, their GSM will be as good as TDMA from day one since they are overlaying GSM 800 on their TDMA 800 sites. So coverage will be more or less equal. In those areas their coverage will be equal, they aren't doing it like ATT.

Oh ok, I didn't know they were laying down 800/850 in Chicago. Thanks for the info.

[cryogenic]

Cingular is doing it that way everywhere... They're just laying down GSM on the exact same frequencies as they're already running TDMA. In areas they have 1900 TDMA, they'll be using 1900 GSM.. In TDMA 850 areas, they'll be putting down 850 GSM. AT&T seems to be going about it all wrong in that they're putting down 1900 GSM regardless of what frequency they're running TDMA on. Perhaps at some point, they'll convert the GSM1900 over to 850, but they don't seem to be offering any dual band phones right now, so I doubt that'll happen anywhere in the near future.

[mwseifert]

By what's said here, am I to assume that Wisconsin will have its Cingular GSM launch at the same time as the Chicago launch, this spring sometime? I live in Madison, WI and would love to know.

[ElNino]

I'm in Ohio on Cingular's GSM network, how do I know if I have 850MHz or 1900MHz signal? I just recently switched from TDMA.

[Jenya]

Hello.
I have a question which I am sure troubles many people [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

My dream is to get a smartphone. For now the best choice is SonyEricsson P800 (lets not fight over our cell phone preferences, this isn't about it).
This phone supports GSM 900/1800/1900. My question is, will it work in the Chicago GSM market???

I'm kind of mixed up with all the GSM frequences available worldwide. I thought there are only 3 - 900, 1800 and 1900 and any phone that supports them could be used on ANY GSM network in the world.

Am I not right?

thanks guys! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[aiwapro]

Yes, the P800 will work with Chicago GSM. T-Mobile is the GSM carrier I recommend you use the P800 with.

There did only use to be 3 frequencies, but then Cingular went out ant wanted to be different, so they made the 850 MHz frequency and are using that in some of their markets. I don't think they should have done that; Why be different. Different is a bad thing in this type of industry.

By the way, if you were looking for some where to buy the P800 from, I sell them.
You can purchase it off of my website Alien Wireless.

Please feel free to email me if you have any other questions at aiwapro@msn.com or post it here.

[ZaphodB]

Originally posted by: aiwapro Yes, the P800 will work with Chicago GSM. T-Mobile is the GSM carrier I recommend you use the P800 with. There did only use to be 3 frequencies, but then Cingular went out ant wanted to be different, so they made the 850 MHz frequency and are using that in some of their markets. I don't think they should have done that; Why be different. Different is a bad thing in this type of industry. By the way, if you were looking for some where to buy the P800 from, I sell them. You can purchase it off of my website Alien Wireless. Please feel free to email me if you have any other questions at aiwapro@msn.com or post it here.

They didn't just "make up" the frequency... I assure you that the frequencies have all been around since long before humans roamed the earth.

800 MHz service has been around for a very, very long time - all AMPS (analog) service is 800 MHz, and there is 800 MHz TDMA (AT&T, Cingular) and 800 MHz CDMA (Verizon, Alltel). 850 MHz is really 800 MHz - licenses are sold in bands, and there is not a separate 850 MHz band. Someone who cares more about the specifics than I do can give you the actual spectrum.

As I said, the U.S. Government, in the guise of the FCC, sell licenses in bands. When Cingular came into being from their composite parts (Cell One, SBC, etc.), they inherited the assets of the former companies. Since they had 800 MHz TDMA licenses in Chicagoland, they decided to overlay GSM at 800 MHz there and use their existing licenses rather than wait for an auction and try to get some 1900 MHz spectrum. Makes perfect sense to me - and 800 MHz signal penetrates buildings better than 1900 MHz anyway, so it saves them a bit of money, figuring that to match coverage from each 800 MHz tower you need three to four 1900 MHz towers (it's not two - go get a piece of paper and start drawing circles).

They were, I'll admit, the first to use 800 MHz GSM, but if they hadn't done it, AT&T would have - and is.

Oh, and please keep your advertising in the Marketplace forum... thanks.

[EuRo]

ElNino

I'm in Ohio on Cingular's GSM network, how do I know if I have 850MHz or 1900MHz signal?

Cleveland, OH 1900

Columbas, OH 850
Cincinnati, OH 850
Dayton, OH 850

[Spike78]

EuRo,

Will Cingular let my T-Mobile phone roam in their network? Just got my Samsung R225M... don't think this phone support GSM 800/850 though

Thanks

[Spike78]

Originally posted by: ElNino I'm in Ohio on Cingular's GSM network, how do I know if I have 850MHz or 1900MHz signal? I just recently switched from TDMA.

ElNino.. which part of Ohio are you from? I'm in Columbus, OH.. wondering if they begin to sell Cingular GSM here.

[EuRo]

Spike78,
The Samsung R225M does not support GSM 850. You will be able to roam on Cingulars GSM network in the Carolinas and California. In current GSM overlays from my understanding, Cingular has barred AT&T & T-Mobile subcribers temporarily until carrier to end to end carrier testing is completed. Eventually, you will be able to roam on any Cingular's 1900 Mhz markets. If you get phone that support 850, you should eventually be able to roam anywhere on Cingular. Cingular does have agreements with T-Mobile. They just need to extend the agreement to include the new overlay markets. Cingular also has agreements with AT&T TDMA markets, but they need to extend them to GSM. I don't have a time frame when this will be completed.

Samsung R 225M

[ElNino]

Originally posted by: EuRo Cleveland, OH 1900 Columbas, OH 850 Cincinnati, OH 850 Dayton, OH 850

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] Thats what I thought. It explains why parts of my town have spotty reception and indoors the signal drops quite a bit.

Spike78, I live near Akron, in the Cleveland section and we've had GSM here for about two months I believe and I switched over to GSM about a month ago. I think the Columbus/Cincy GSM was supposed to roll-out at about the same time. Cingular finally switched their website over (eventhough they still show 3000 N/W).