Northern Michigan tower SID's, Cingular Coverage

[jdalzoto]

Hello, I'm a new member with a few questions.

I live in northern Michigan and have Cingular preferred nation coverage with a Motorola V60t phone. When I purchased the phone I was living in the Detroit area with a planned move to Otsego county in northern Michigan. According to the Cingular salesman I would no be charged roaming whenever I was in the orange area on their coverage map. The problem is I'm not sure how to tell if I'm actually in the area. The phone reads 'Cingular Extend' as soon as I pass the Flint area. I'm told by Cingular that 'Extend' doesn't necissarily mean I'll be charged roaming as they have agreements with some providers not to charge roaming.

Through the help of the posts on this site I learned I can check what SID I am on through my phone. During my drive to work I am on 3 different towers. At home in Elmira, MI I'm on analog on SID 1337. About a mile or 2 down the road (towards the end of Otsego county just before Antrim county) I get digital service on SID 1336. While at work in Bellaire, MI, Antrim county I get digital on SID 1335.

I'm curious if anyone can tell me who operates these towers, what their coverage is and if anyone knows if any of the 3 are considered to be on the Cingular preferred nation so I won't be charged roaming.

Also, what is the general range of a Cellular Tower? I assume Cingular programs my phone with what towers it can roam to, is there any way to specify what towers to use?

At the point the phone switches from 1336 to 1337, 1336 is still providing a good signal 1-2 miles from my house. I would think I could possibly use this tower at my home instead of the analog 1337.

Lastly, does anyone have experience with asking Cingular to change their IRDB to get specific towers, will they do it?

My goal is to keep Cingular and their preferred nation plan but avoid roaming when calling from home, work, or in between. My only other alternative until contract runs out would be to get national coverage but there goes the 3000 night and weekend minutes.

Thanks for any help!

Jack

[BillRadio]

jdal,
I can tell you SID 1336 is Alltel and 1337 is RFB Cellular. I have no idea what Cingular's agreement with either carrier is. When Cingular tells you you can roam there without charges, have them either note that on your account, or email you evidence of that. Then, if there are charges, you have an argument. but I'm going to side with Cingular that it should be included.

You might consider signing up with Alltel or RFB some day. Roaming with Alltel, you may be stuck in analog some day as they are changing their digital technology. I have no info on RFB. Also, we assume that Alltel will change it MI SID's to 244, which may cause it to disappear from your phone. They just may maintain TDMA technology for the rest of your contract period, though.

Cell sites can have a range of 1 to 30 miles. No, you cannot get a 'custom' IRDB. They are pushed to all phones automatically, so there is no way for them to know how to address just your phone.

-Bill

[jdalzoto]

Thanks for the information Bill.

Do you know who is SID 1335?

[BillRadio]

jd,
I'm not sure, but since both 1333 and 1337 are both RFB, and all Channel A carriers use odd-numbered SID's, I'm guessing it's another RFB SID. I do believe RFB is now Cellular One, who, like Alltel, is now primarily (but not necessarily, only) a CDMA carrier in MI. An even bleaker outlook for your TDMA Cingular phone.

BTW, most carriers will let you out of your contract if you move to an area they don't serve. You might press the issue if you find your service deteriorating.

-Bill

[Gonz]

If you go to say, verizon or alltel, and get a nokia 5185, you can manually switch between A/B carriers. The A Carrier in northern MI is RFB (Yes, Cellone) and the B Carrier is alltel, at least where I know of. Alltel and RFB are both CDMA carriers, primarily. It may be time for you to give up the ghost on TDMA. It's an older digital technology, and they're not bothering to put it up in places where it isn't existing already. CDMA is probably your best bet. Remember that if you want some control over which carrier you roam on, get a phone with A/B carrier selection...

[Gonz]

Also wanted to add... A/B switching is an old feature. It lets you select which of the two main carriers first took out celluler licenses in each market. This is a good thing, since older carriers tend to have better coverage. It dissapeared in many TDMA phones, but is actually making a come-back with CDMA. I would HIGHLY reccomend going with an Audiovox 91xx series phone for CDMA. It's a great phone, but still has force analog, and A/B switching.

[Kyoman]

Bill Radio - Can you tell me how to determine what tower (SID) you are on using a Kyocera phone? How do you get that info? Also is there an available listing of SIDs? Thanks, again.

[CDMA]

As I mentioned in my other post, A-B selection is a thing of the past in the Michigan market because the PRL overides the menu selection. I wish you could still do that.

[CDMA]

SID 1337 is RFB Cellular One of N.E. Mi, and no it is not part of the prefered nation plans. 1338 is Alltel of N.E. Mi. Too bad you don't have the national plan from last summer because it was the same price as the new prefered nation plans with the same minutes but it covered the whole USA. 1336 is Alltel of N.W. Michigan. 1335 is CellularOne of N.W. Michigan (TDMA Digital,caller id, voice mail alert) good for your phone, and is included in Prefered nation plans. I had one of the good nation plans from last summer and I gave it up because I hated being on anolog 1337. In the past Cingular roamed on Alltel 1338 which at the time had TDMA digital in N.E. Michigan. I an not sure about 1336 being included in Prefered Nation, it might be? By the way, I have seen (244) on my Verizon phone. Sorry for my scattered thinking, it's been a long day.

[fossil]

I have a additional question regarding my Verizon v60i. A previous post mentioned that the PRL overides the A/B switch connection. What will happen if you switch from A to B or vice versa? Currently my phone is set on A, should it be set on B?
I live in Grand Rapids and travel frequently north of Cadillac and am in roaming or "extended network".

Any additional comments / help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[Gonz]

Fossil,
I think that on the new Motorola CDMA phones, you may only be able to A/B carrier switch only when your phone doesen't detect a home system. I know the nokias do this. This feature is helpful while roaming, especially in rural areas where carriers have coverage in different areas. Try switching it in your home area. If it doesen't say roam, it probablt automatically selects verizon. If It says roam, then you can switch it anytime. You should leave it on whatever setting says verizon while you are in your home calling area to avoid roaming charges, I don't know how verizon billing works.

[CDMA]

Ok everyone, I have had cell phones for 12 years and I know all about the A/B selection. It DOESNT WORK ANYMORE. My place up north is 200 miles away from any Verizon service area, and switching that feature doesn't do anything. At my place up north there is good B carrier coverage and very poor A carrier coverage. Verizon has the A carrier programed into their phones prefered roaming list as the carrier to register on in that area. There is nothing that I can do to make the phone switch over to the B system, (the one with the signal). Switching the menu selection to B DOES NOT make it so I can use my phone. The only thing that I can think of as far as an explination for the A/B menu selection would be the possibility to make the A/B switch if the phone could not see any of the system id's that are programed into the PRL, and the odds of that happening are very slim.

[cryogenic]

CDMA, there's on notable exception to your (generally correct) rule of thumb. All Audiovox phones up to and inluding the 9100 series (I had a 130xl and messed with a 9100) allowed the selection of A or B systems along with "Standard" or "Home". When set on A-only or B-only, the phones would lock onto the A or B side carriers and ignore the PRL. Standard allowed the phone to scan based on the PRL, and "home only" restricted the phone to the home SID programmed into the phone. Also, as a side note, I saw some 9100's (with US Cellular) that didn't even have an auto selection and required you to select A or B systems manually. Kinda cool for us geeks, but not so great for people who like a "set it and forget it" phone.

[DemoMan]

I am not even sure it is possible with my phone, but how would I switch the A/B carrier on a V60i from Alltel. I am a long way from the market that you guys are speaking of, but I would think that the phone software would be standard across the Alltel network. I know how to switch the scans Automatic or Home Only....but I have not found the option to switch A/B.

If anyone has any info, let me know. I live on the border of what was the CenturyTel/Alltel line and the coverage here is weird....some days I will have a full strength digital signal (sid 208) and other days I'll have a weak analog signal b/c I am roaming off of an old CenturyTel tower (sid 1038) about 15 miles west of me. The CenturyTel tower upgrade has been pushed back a few more weeks and I am planning on travelling west into the older CenturyTel areas....Just wondered if anyone had some info.

Thanks,
Brad

[COtech]

Demoman Brad, The A/B switch won't help in this case. The two even Alltel SIDs you mention 208 and 1038 (former CenturyTel) are both on cellular-B. Switch to A and see the odd Cingular SID 215 (former SWB).

Since you've found Home Only and Auto, you are in the right place. Older phones like my Motorola 8000 Classic and M77a had choices Scan A, Scan B, Std AB, Std BA, and Home.

To chose in this case, you'll need a directional antenna. At the very least, put a reflective obstruction in the path to the system you DON'T want to use. A house with aluminum siding, a semi-trailer, etc.

COtech