Cingular Launches "Home-On-Home Roaming" in portions of PA/NJ

[bobolito]

I found this memo:


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Cingular Wireless Launches "Home-On-Home Roaming" in portions of the Philadelphia Market

In an effort to provide the best service to our customers, Cingular relies heavily on network coverage from numerous roaming partners throughout the U.S. and the world. In GSM, we do this by making a formal agreement with the partner, and making a formal request for them to "open their LAC" to our customers. LAC stands for Location Area Code. Essentially it is a group of cell sites in one geographic area. Every network is divided into smaller "LACs".

Traditionally, carriers have depended on coverage from other carriers in areas that their customers would "roam" - specifically in areas where one carrier did not have a license. More recently, Cingular has activated "home-on-home" roaming in various markets. This means that we ask a roaming partner to open their LAC to our customers in an area that we already serve, in an effort to fill in any gaps in service. Cingular has done this throughout the Baltimore/Washington and Boston metropolitan areas. Cingular Wireless customers will "roam" on AT&T in these metro areas in any areas where Cingular Wireless has gaps in coverage. During this "roaming", the customer will see "Cingular Extend" on their device. Minutes will NOT be charged a roaming fee. They are considered local minutes.

In the Philadelphia region, we have recently requested that AT&T open their LACs to our customers in four localized areas:

1. The southern Jersey area, including Burlington, Atlantic, Cumberland, Cape May, Salem, and Gloucester counties and Southern Camden County.

2. Mercer County, New Jersey area, including Mercer County, Middlesex County, Southern Bucks County, and Northern Burlington County

3. Southern Delaware, including Kent and Sussex Counties, specifically additional coverage and capacity and the Delaware shore points.

AT&T will be opening their LACs to our customers on Tuesday night (June 29, 2004) in these areas, thus allowing Cingular customers to access AT&T's network. Keep in mind that there are no handoffs in place to allow customers to hand from the AT&T network to the Cingular network or vice versa. If a customer places a call on the Cingular network, the call will remain on the Cingular network until the call ends. If a customer places a call on the AT&T Wireless network, the call will remain on the AT&T Wireless network until the call ends. While idle, handsets will typically rescan for the network every six minutes. So, while you may move quickly from an area where Cingular is strong to an area where AT&T is strong, it may take a few minutes for the handset to "catch up" and register on the stronger network.

We anticipate that this will be a positive change for our customers. If you encounter any negative change in service, please share your experience with the Network Sales Support team as soon as possible.

[Critic]

2. Mercer County, New Jersey area, including Mercer County, Middlesex County, Southern Bucks County, and Northern Burlington County

Really... Hmm. This may change things...

[Stupiud]

Originally Posted by Critic

Really... Hmm. This may change things...

yes indeed. must see how this works out...

[AnthroMatt]

Obviously such agreements are also in place in Columbus, OH

[warriorfootball9]

I wish T-Mobile would do something like Cingular did.

[bobolito]

Originally Posted by warriorfootball9

I wish T-Mobile would do something like Cingular did.

In your dreams!

[jones]

Originally Posted by Critic

Really... Hmm. This may change things...

Yup, there should be no dead spots. A prelude to the merger?

[Fire14]

I can tell you that AT&T customers have been roaming on Cingular's network in these part's on Jersey in the last week & coverage has improved quite a bit thanks to the 850 band, so the same thing should help Cingular customers in these area's where AWE is stronger even though they are on the 1900 band.
Glad to see they are starting to do this, since i believe they are using this to test systems & work on allowing handoffs before the merger to prevent any problems.

[bobolito]

We won't see cross-network handoffs anytime soon.

[Fire14]

I do understand, but with the merger possibly 5 Months away, they may want to start testing it, maybe in a small market so they have it ready for then.

[AnthroMatt]

Of course, AFAIK, the major CDMA carriers have offered this type of roaming in most major cities for as long as I can remember.

[RichXKU]

Not true of Verizon in PA, NJ, NY. There are no other providers in the PRL there, if you lose VZW, you can't make a call.

Of couse.. I havent lost the signal yet in those areas, so I guess thats ok

[AnthroMatt]

Originally Posted by RichXKU

Not true of Verizon in PA, NJ, NY. There are no other providers in the PRL there, if you lose VZW, you can't make a call.

Of couse.. I havent lost the signal yet in those areas, so I guess thats ok

Really? That stinks. I guess its the same in Columbus now that I think about it. Sprint is in VZW's PRL as a free roaming partner here, but at a lower priority than a non-free analog partner.

I guess that might only be true for Sprint on the F&C America plan, because they have roaming agreements almost everywhere for at least analog service.

[agentHibby]

Originally Posted by RichXKU

Not true of Verizon in PA, NJ, NY. There are no other providers in the PRL there, if you lose VZW, you can't make a call.

Of couse.. I havent lost the signal yet in those areas, so I guess thats ok

if you lose Verizon on A block if you set your phone to automatic B and finds a singnal it will work you will probably be paying for roaming. Same vice versa

[WirelessBeachBum]

Wirelessly posted (Samsung i600: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Windows CE; Smartphone; 176x220))

sounds interesting ... I'm sure they are working hard on the hand offs ...

[RichXKU]

Originally Posted by agentHibby

if you lose Verizon on A block if you set your phone to automatic B and finds a singnal it will work you will probably be paying for roaming. Same vice versa

Verizon is on B here. if you set your phone to Automatic A, and it switches to AMPS you will get Cingular, and you will not be able to place or receive calls (it will ask for a credit card if you try to call)

It's Verizon or nothing.

[AnthroMatt]

Originally Posted by RichXKU

Verizon is on B here. if you set your phone to Automatic A, and it switches to AMPS you will get Cingular, and you will not be able to place or receive calls (it will ask for a credit card if you try to call)

It's Verizon or nothing.

Have you tried forcing PCS mode? Is Sprint there? If so, you might be able to use them for free. That's how it worked in Columbus...pay roaming on Cingular AMPS wa sa higher priority than free roaming on SPCS.

[RichXKU]

Originally Posted by AnthroMatt

Have you tried forcing PCS mode? Is Sprint there? If so, you might be able to use them for free. That's how it worked in Columbus...pay roaming on Cingular AMPS wa sa higher priority than free roaming on SPCS.

Yep I've tried.... It quickly finds Sprint's signal and ignores it when forced to PCS.

The ONLY thing in the PRL for PA, NJ is Verizon. Everything else is ignored no matter what. Even on Automatic A and forced AMPS, it will still find Verizon AMPS (B). If there's no Verizon at all it will show Cingular AMPS with a solid triangle, but when you try to call you get the cingular operator telling you the user isnt recognized. As I said though, there is good reasoning for this, since I've yet to find a dead zone in my travels.

[MeatChicken]

Originally Posted by RichXKU

Yep I've tried.... It quickly finds Sprint's signal and ignores it when forced to PCS.

The ONLY thing in the PRL for PA, NJ is Verizon. Everything else is ignored no matter what. Even on Automatic A and forced AMPS, it will still find Verizon AMPS (B). If there's no Verizon at all it will show Cingular AMPS with a solid triangle, but when you try to call you get the cingular operator telling you the user isnt recognized. As I said though, there is good reasoning for this, since I've yet to find a dead zone in my travels.

The PRL overrides & has a higher priority than any A or B setting.
This is why you lock onto the "B" (Verizon") carrier , even when setting the phone to auto "A". Since Verizon is in the PRL, it is found before the phone is "offered a chance" to default scan for "A"
If you go to a known "no service" arwea for VZW, AND the "A" carrier has a signal in that spot, then the fone will lock onto "A" after exhausting the PRL list.
.. My 3586i I'm using on VZW was built for US Cellular, & has different firmware. Instead of Auto "A" or "B", it simply has 2 choices: "Automatic" or "Home Only". This Automatic setting allow the phone to search first for ANY CDMA, then Analog carrier, after exhausting PRL entries.
This firmware setting gives me the ability in a few spots to free roam onto Sprint in NY/NJ, where VZW loses signal, even though they aren't in my current PRL. Sprint is still free roam & in network in my area, however current VZW phones will never "find" Sprint due to the PRL & A/B setting......

[jones]

Originally Posted by warriorfootball9

I wish T-Mobile would do something like Cingular did.

They'd been colocating and activating a lot of cell sites lately but i don't know if it's good enough because Sprint and ATTWS have been doing the same too.

No water towers in the suburbs had been spared by these companies bcuz they're the easy ones to get on. There's like a minimum of 3 companies in these water towers. Cingular is not on them but ATTWS is already there.

If you think it's only VZW that keeps activating CELL Sites, then you may be sitting behind a sales counter and have no idea what's going on. They have been activating sites like crazy.

[jones]

There is no shortage of CELL SITE MANAGEMENT Companies.
In fact they are the easiest way to have coverage in the area. Cell companies now goes to these Tower Management Companies where they don't have to worry about maintening these SITES.

[Airb330]

Originally Posted by bobolito

I found this memo:


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3. Southern Delaware, including Kent and Sussex Counties, specifically additional coverage and capacity and the Delaware shore points.


We anticipate that this will be a positive change for our customers. If you encounter any negative change in service, please share your experience with the Network Sales Support team as soon as possible.

Sweet, though my phone hasn't roamed yet. More coverage at the beach is always welcome, however, in Kent County, there is NO place where ATT serves yet Cingular does not. There is one spot, where my friend lives, but it's one mile into New Castle County and thus...probably doesn't count.! I hope they open up New Castle County....I want that strong ATT signal in my dorm! Plus, Cingular really sucks in Wilmington, our largest city....it's pathetic. I'd venture a good 30% of the town has minimal indoor coverage. ATT can fix that.

Rich is right, Verizon or bust on the east coast. Sprint roaming would have been nice...

[cmdr_bond]

Ok,
So does that mean that I can get 1900 mhz service in these areas or am I still reduced to 850 mhz while on cingular?

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by cmdr_bond

Ok,
So does that mean that I can get 1900 mhz service in these areas or am I still reduced to 850 mhz while on cingular?

You can still get coverage on the 1900 band, the problem is that your coverage will suffer, in some case's you may not have any coverage. It is best to have a phone with both bands so you don't have problems with coverage, especially indoors.