Cellular One Northern MN

[cukoz]

Now that Cellular One in a few short weeks will be Att, I am looking into it as a new carrier. Anyone have experince with Cellular One in Northern MN? I will be all over from Duluth to Bemidji to Brainerd. I have sprint and know I can roam on RCC, which will soon be Verizon, but I am looking at the iphone. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Dogma]

What good is an iPhone when you can't use its features? My advice is "CDMA" in northern Minnesota. I just don't believe that GSM is built out well enough in Northern Minnesota to warrant spending big dollars on a phone you will struggle having service with. Just my two cents.

[cukoz]

So you don't think Cellular One's GSM coverage is built out very well? I had been hearing that it was..

[Buickman]

Form traveling this summer with people who GSM I can tell you that in the areas northeast of Brainerd (HWY 6, Crosby, Emily, Outing, Reemer) area horrible for GSM. That's about a 30 to 40 mile stretch. It overall is a bad place for phones, but at least CDMA kind of works where GSM was completely useless. Right in the Brainerd area anyones cell phone is going to work just fine, and the same goes for Duluth also. Are the any specific rural areas in between that you will need coverage?

[cukoz]

I wouldn't need it specifically in any rural area. I am most of the time on the road between Duluth, Brainerd, Walker, Bemidji. I just wonder how fast or if at all ATT will upgrade once they take over Dobson's.

[Buickman]

AT&T just launched 3G service here in the Minneapolis area in the last month or two, only about 2 1/2 years behind VZW and Sprint, so I wouldn't hold my breath while waiting for upgrades. In your case though, it sounds like you will only need service along HWY 2 and 371 along with in those larger towns you mentioned before, so except for maybe a few dead areas while on the road you would probably be fine right now if you really wanted an I-phone with AT&T.

[cukoz]

I actually stopped by the att store in St. Cloud today and talked for awhile to the rep there. They were excited about the Cellular One take over, but admitted that it will take awhile for att to update cellular one's tower equipment as some of it was 80's old. I am interested, but would like to have a 3g iphone so the times I am in those areas I can get it. Also, the second iphone will hopefully have any bugs worked out. The dilema is do I wait for that...which I see are rumors of next year, but early or end of year??

[Buickman]

You would be fine with just keeping your Sprint service for now, so unless you need a new a phone I wouldn't change anything. By the way, you seem to get around a lot up there, are you a student or do you travel a lot for work?

[RadioFoneGuy]

Originally Posted by cukoz

I actually stopped by the att store in St. Cloud today and talked for awhile to the rep there. They were excited about the Cellular One take over, but admitted that it will take awhile for att to update cellular one's tower equipment as some of it was 80's old. I am interested, but would like to have a 3g iphone so the times I am in those areas I can get it. Also, the second iphone will hopefully have any bugs worked out. The dilema is do I wait for that...which I see are rumors of next year, but early or end of year??

HUH? 80's? Dobson didnt even start service till 1990. The oldest stuff is from late 99 early 2000. and the last stuff is from 2004. No carrier is perfect in all areas and some are better in some that others but not dependant on technology.

CDMA does have a slight advantage being able to hold a call longer with a low signal strength.

[brianasker]

I regularly use all of those areas on Dobson/Cell One. I live in Bemidji, have family in Brainerd and travel to work in Duluth regularly. Since they have updated the coverage locator on the ATT website for Dobson, you will be able to see a fairly accurate picture of coverage in the area. I find the coverage works great. It is not as good or as wide as the CDMA coverage in the area on Unicel/RCC. Without the roaming partnerships that sprint has, Dobson's GSM network is much better in northern MN than sprint.

[cukoz]

Thanks. I saw the updated att coverage viewer. I wonder how much att is going to invest in improving the coverage in northern mn since it isnt all that populated..

[brianasker]

Originally Posted by cukoz

Thanks. I saw the updated att coverage viewer. I wonder how much att is going to invest in improving the coverage in northern mn since it isnt all that populated..

That is one reason I am disappointed in the buyout of RCC/Unicel by Verizon and Dobson/CellOne by at&t. Who knows how much improvements we can expect? When will they consider putting 3G here? Duluth was one of Dobson's larger markets.

[cukoz]

I wouldn't hold my breathe....although they still do have to compete against eachother....verizon vs att, albeit for a small northern MN market.

[Buickman]

Originally Posted by brianasker

Who knows how much improvements we can expect? When will they consider putting 3G here?

On the CDMA side I would expect VZW to probably put EVDO in the Brainerd area to keep up with Sprint, but as for AT&T, like I said before, we just recently got their 3G service here in the tiny little barely populated area of Minneapolis. Before everyone comes out calling me CDMA fanboy or GSM hater, that isn't the case. This part of the country is just really bad for GSM. 4 years ago CDMA sucked here and TDMA was the way to go, but most of the rural carriers here chose CDMA over GSM when the transitioned from TDMA, and that's just the way it is.

[brianasker]

Originally Posted by Buickman

On the CDMA side I would expect VZW to probably put EVDO in the Brainerd area to keep up with Sprint, but as for AT&T, like I said before, we just recently got their 3G service here in the tiny little barely populated area of Minneapolis. Before everyone comes out calling me CDMA fanboy or GSM hater, that isn't the case. This part of the country is just really bad for GSM. 4 years ago CDMA sucked here and TDMA was the way to go, but most of the rural carriers here chose CDMA over GSM when the transitioned from TDMA, and that's just the way it is.

Sprint has EVDO in Bemidji, Cloquet and Duluth as well. Verizon has coverage in Duluth but no EVDO... so I would be surprised if Brainerd got EVDO before Duluth. I agree with you on at&t not rolling out 3G anytime soon, considering how Minneapolis just got it!

[Buickman]

Originally Posted by brianasker

Verizon has coverage in Duluth but no EVDO... so I would be surprised if Brainerd got EVDO before Duluth.

Verizon has EVDO in Duluth, I think they got it 2 years ago about the same time Minneapolis got it. Their EVDO goes almost to Brainerd as it is, going up from St. Cloud, so I was just guessing that Brainerd is the next logical step. I think AT&T's next step in 3G will probably be into St. Cloud, but they have had service there since day 1 back in the 90's, so that wouldn't have anything to do with the Dobson acquisition. I wouldn't expect them to cover any other part of the state ahead of that.

[cukoz]

Well if att would at least maybe upgrade to 3g in St. Cloud, Duluth, Brainerd, and Bemidji I'd be estatic and think more seriously getting there service. They aren't anywhere close to being on par with sprint/verizon in MN. Even if att went on a tear to upgrade, they are still 3-4 years behind in upgrading their network to 3g. Sad.

In another story I got to play with a Iphone at the Minneapolis att store. Edge is so bad....I pulled out my sprint q, and evdo made the iphone almost usless. With WIFI, I would say is above most other smartphones, but with EDGE...just a door stop. What were they thinking?

[Buickman]

Originally Posted by cukoz

but with EDGE...just a door stop. What were they thinking?

Battery life, that's what. People say battery life is much worse on a GSM device that has 3G.