whats your opinion on this?

[Analog man]

i plan to get a gophone just to have around, if there is gsm around here, good gsm too, none of the choppy stuff. most the phone that come as gophones are crappy, but a long while back, i had att. i had a Nokia 6120, back when bricks were common. whats your opinion on the 6120, is this good for recieving? i plan to dig mine back out and stick the gophone sim in it.

the picture is not of my phone but its the same model im talking about.

[Eric47]

hmm...not sure, your gonna have to make sure that it does both 1900 and 850

also...consider a Nokia 6030, they were great in fringe areas which i believe youve mentioned your in.

one last thing, consider getting the phone you want and setting it up with ATT with NO COMMITMENT. since you have your own equipment (or will have your own) your allowed to do this! you would only have to purchase your sim card for $25 dollars.

the main reason i suggest that is many time GoPhones dont work in way out areas or areas that might have roaming. typical of a prepaid

[Analog man]

yea the prepaid plans suck, but i still plan to use my verizon as my main phone. i just need this phone for when i cant get cdma, but get gsm. and yes, it does do 850 and 1900, gsm, tdma and analog!

[Eric47]

give it a try then, anything Nokia generally will be the best for GSM signals, the 6030 is just one that i know first hand works great in the booneys. good luck!

[dmapr]

Originally Posted by EricN4707

hmm...not sure, your gonna have to make sure that it does both 1900 and 850

No, the 6120 from the picture only does 850/Analog, being a TDMA phone. The 6120 Classic has quad-band GSM coverage.

[Eric47]

cool thanks bc i dont think either of us knew

[Analog man]

correction, its not a 6120, but i cant remember what the model was. it was infact a tdma, analog, gsm phone. these were originaly made for copanies like cingular who operated multiple types of networks. Im trying to stay away from small phones because the get crushed and abused. I need a big phone so i dont loose it and i could use it as a weapon if i had to, the microtac i have made a great weapon, i once used it to break someones nose and wrist when he tried to rob me.

[mframe]

You are describing the Nokia 6340i. Just an FYI, the very first models of this phone (6340) did not do GSM 850 Mhz, only TDMA/AMPS at 850 Mhz. It was quickly followed by model 6340i (with the i at the end), that did include GSM at 850 Mhz.

[Bill Clinton]

Originally Posted by Analog man

yea the prepaid plans suck, but i still plan to use my verizon as my main phone. i just need this phone for when i cant get cdma, but get gsm. and yes, it does do 850 and 1900, gsm, tdma and analog!

I would encourage you to follow Eric's suggestion about getting a plan and just going month to month. Try to talk them into making a really cheap plan for you with a low minute total. In my area, AT&T is always roaming on a small local GSM carrier so a GoPhone would be useless. I just think a plan with roaming is worth looking into.

Where are you located by the way?

[Analog man]

Rodeo CA, bunches of hills, nearest gsm tower is 8 miles away. the problem is the hills and the ocean, im on the coast, with 50ft high hills behind and besides me. i used to get analog from the otherside of the bay, now i get nothing, sometimes cdma if i go a block away

[Bill Clinton]

Have you looked into getting an amplifer and/or a nice external antenna? You might have a chance at pulling in a CDMA signal.

GSM service from a tower 8 miles away is not a problem, but if you have terrain issues it's going to ba a lot harder.

Any hopes for a new tower closer to your house?

[Analog man]

amps are good for home, but not a good idea to carry one around. i planed to modify one of my halfbroke 3 watt microtacs into a 3 watt amplifier

[Bill Clinton]

That would be a good project.

Earlier in the week I was in northern New York and my old Sanyo had Analog roaming on SID 16420 which I think Bell was blasting down from Canada.

That was the first time I was on Analog in several weeks and I felt nostalgic. I miss Analog too so I feel your pain.

[Analog man]

i realy miss analog, that was all i had....unless i walked a block up the street over a 50ft hill to get service, most the people on my street use landlines instead, but i use my landlines for data transfer and dont want to use the since every time i get a call on the landlines, my modem dies.

[Eric47]

have you checked with all carriers, even smaller ones to see if ANYONE has service at your location? its so rare that people dont have any service anymore.

[Analog man]

technally, they said they do, but im in a pothole of the coverage map.


FOR THE LAST TIME, THERE IS A 50ft HILL AROUND ME, WITH THE OCEAN TO THE LEFT OF ME! thank you for listening

before the shut off, i was able to pull service from across the bay, now, nothing.

[Eric47]

DAMN!

you thought about a pole with a yaggi and some amplifiers?

maybe then youll get a couple bars

[Analog man]

it would have to be a 300ft tall pole!
look at the pictures
the first one is the end of the road, after the little dirt mound is ocean.
the second shows what hill im talking about, solid rock! and thats only the base of the hill...it gets alot higher.

[Eric47]

wow yeaaa damn

[Bill Clinton]

So my conclusions on this case are the following:
-Ouch that hill is not helping you at all.
-Make sure you have the latest PRL.
-I think your best shot at CDMA is trying to pull it in from across the bay with an amp and an antenna.
-Try to borrow someone's GSM phone and see if you get a usable GSM signal at your house before you get a GoPhone SIM or a basic month to month plan.
-You're not going to like this but borrow a Nextel phone for a day and see if that gets service at your house.

-Lastly, clean your house up and have a huge party. Just before you tap the keg, state that your phone doesn't work and you would like to know if anyone in the room has service.

With analog gone, you don't have much to loose so try everything. It will be fun.