Cingular 1900 in NYC?

[czwong]

Hi,

I am thinking of buying the Sony Ericsson W800i which only comes in 900/1800/1900MHz. If I am going to use it with Cingular in New York City, is it going to be a problem? From what I understand, Cingular operates 850/1900 in the city, does it mean I will get horrible coverage since I won't be able to use the full dual band??

Appreciate any input on this, thank you in advance!!

(I understand tmo might be better choice here but I can't switch carrier for another year.....)

[viewfly]

Originally Posted by czwong

Hi,

I am thinking of buying the Sony Ericsson W800i which only comes in 900/1800/1900MHz. If I am going to use it with Cingular in New York City, is it going to be a problem? From what I understand, Cingular operates 850/1900 in the city, does it mean I will get horrible coverage since I won't be able to use the full dual band??

Appreciate any input on this, thank you in advance!!

(I understand tmo might be better choice here but I can't switch carrier for another year.....)

Yes, you will have problems, maybe not horrible, but after a while you will be unhappy. tmo is not a better choice. You need a dual band,triband or quadband that has 850/1900 Mhz with Cingular. No easy way around that.

Welcome to the WA fourms. There is another thread in the Northeastern Forums on Cingular in NYC; you may wish to browse that too. But the answer is the same.

[czwong]

Originally Posted by viewfly

Yes, you will have problems, maybe not horrible, but after a while you will be unhappy. tmo is not a better choice. You need a dual band,triband or quadband that has 850/1900 Mhz with Cingular. No easy way around that.

Welcome to the WA fourms. There is another thread in the Northeastern Forums on Cingular in NYC; you may wish to browse that too. But the answer is the same.

Thanks, I will definitely check out the other thread

So basically Cingular/ATT 1900 has same coverage as Tmobile 1900 in New York City?
But if you have a 850/1900 dual band phone, then Cingular has better reception?

[Yankees368]

Originally Posted by czwong

Thanks, I will definitely check out the other thread

So basically Cingular/ATT 1900 has same coverage as Tmobile 1900 in New York City?
But if you have a 850/1900 dual band phone, then Cingular has better reception?

Absolutely, hands down, no questions asked.

[czwong]

Originally Posted by Yankees368

Absolutely, hands down, no questions asked.

Since my roommate has tmobile, I think I can tolerate that level of performance....

the thing that worries me: Can Cingular 1900 only band worse than tmo in NYC??....... If so, I might have to try smoke signalling my friends....

[viewfly]

Originally Posted by czwong

Since my roommate has tmobile, I think I can tolerate that level of performance....

the thing that worries me: Can Cingular 1900 only band worse than tmo in NYC??....... If so, I might have to try smoke signalling my friends....

It could be worse today since there have been some comments that Cingular is limiting roaming on Tmo after the merger. I don't know the whole story on this.

I believe your friends tmo is an 'unlocked' phone. So you could try placing your Cingular SIM in his/her phone to see what 1900 only Cingular will be like. I'm assuming that your roomate's phone is 1900 only, most likely if it's a tmo phone. With your SIM card in his phone, that phone is temporaily yours, with your number.

[czwong]

Originally Posted by viewfly

It could be worse today since there have been some comments that Cingular is limiting roaming on Tmo after the merger. I don't know the whole story on this.

I believe your friends tmo is an 'unlocked' phone. So you could try placing your Cingular SIM in his/her phone to see what 1900 only Cingular will be like. I'm assuming that your roomate's phone is 1900 only, most likely if it's a tmo phone. With your SIM card in his phone, that phone is temporaily yours, with your number.

Thanks guys for all the help, will give that a shot

[bobolito]

Originally Posted by viewfly

It could be worse today since there have been some comments that Cingular is limiting roaming on Tmo after the merger. I don't know the whole story on this.

I believe your friends tmo is an 'unlocked' phone. So you could try placing your Cingular SIM in his/her phone to see what 1900 only Cingular will be like. I'm assuming that your roomate's phone is 1900 only, most likely if it's a tmo phone. With your SIM card in his phone, that phone is temporaily yours, with your number.

He won't be roaming on T-Mo even if roaming is open as the phone will prefer Cingular's network.

I'd say give Cingular a try, if it doesn't work as good as T-Mo, then cancel and switch.

[viewfly]

Originally Posted by bobolito

He won't be roaming on T-Mo even if roaming is open as the phone will prefer Cingular's network.

I'd say give Cingular a try, if it doesn't work as good as T-Mo, then cancel and switch.

Even when there is no 850 in the phone? Anyway, there is your answer having 850 would be better. Since your already in a Cingular contract, I think the way to go would be having a phone with 850 too.

[bobolito]

Yeah, I agree with you. But since he's willing to try life without 850, that's the best advice I can give.

[viewfly]

Originally Posted by bobolito

Yeah, I agree with you. But since he's willing to try life without 850, that's the best advice I can give.

But if the 850 in the phone is nonfunctional, wouldn't the algorthim try for the 1900 band and roam on tmo if that is still possible in NYC?

[bobolito]

It would only roam on T-Mo if and only if BOTH of the following two conditions are satisfied:

- Cingular's native signal is completely lost.
- T-Mobile towers allow roaming in that specific spot.

[viewfly]

Originally Posted by bobolito

It would only roam on T-Mo if and only if BOTH of the following two conditions are satisfied:

- Cingular's native signal is completely lost.
- T-Mobile towers allow roaming in that specific spot.

OK this is what I thought. So if tmo allows roaming, the 1900 only phone would pick up the tmo tower.

[NYCDru]

Cingular in NYC you will NEED the 800 if you want to use your phon indoors.

[czwong]

yeah, although I really like the new SE W800i, think I just have to wait for the next big thing with both 850/1900 then. Hope Nokia N70 will be 850 ready......

If tmo continues to allow cingular users to roam on their 1900 towers in NYC, 1900 only phone would do alright with cingular....... but who knows when they decide to pull the plug.......

[NYCDru]

I wouldn't rely on that. Rember, ATT built a VERY good 800 network in NYC. I have seen Cingulr phones work in places were my VZW phone won't but I rember that the old ATT TDMA network (which I used over two years ago) worked there when I had them. ATT also built a pretty decent 1900 network too.

[bobolito]

Originally Posted by czwong

If tmo continues to allow cingular users to roam on their 1900 towers in NYC, 1900 only phone would do alright with cingular....... but who knows when they decide to pull the plug.......

You won't be missing much when T-Mo closes all its towers. There are some odd spots where by mere coincidence there's a T-Mo tower closer than a Cingular tower which may give you better reception than Cingular, but for the most part, in 99% of NYC they are both about the same in the 1900Mhz side.