AT&T fills hole in Dobson coverage

[joelliot]

@ least one good thing I've noticed from the AT&T buyout of Dobson. There used to be a very annoying coverage hole on I-90 between Albany & the last NY tolls -- actually a lot of the distance between the tolls. @ each end AT&T owned the license & in the the middle was Dobson territory. For some reason Dobson never covered the extreme corner of their territory even though it is a major freeway.

Anyway, I drove through the area tonight & held a call the entire distance. I don't travel much in other former Dobson areas, but hopefully there are other problem areas that are being addressed as well.

[clock3687]

Originally Posted by joelliot

@ least one good thing I've noticed from the AT&T buyout of Dobson. There used to be a very annoying coverage hole on I-90 between Albany & the last NY tolls -- actually a lot of the distance between the tolls. @ each end AT&T owned the license & in the the middle was Dobson territory. For some reason Dobson never covered the extreme corner of their territory even though it is a major freeway.

Anyway, I drove through the area tonight & held a call the entire distance. I don't travel much in other former Dobson areas, but hopefully there are other problem areas that are being addressed as well.

Interesting, I have never had any issues driving through that area w/ t-mobile, (you mean the area between west stockbridge and the new canaan tool booths right.?) and I drive that stretch of I-90 fairly often. It's good that AT&T has finally wised up and built out that stretch, I would hate to have an emergency and not have cell service in that area.

[joelliot]

Originally Posted by clock3687

Interesting, I have never had any issues driving through that area w/ t-mobile, (you mean the area between west stockbridge and the new canaan tool booths right.?) and I drive that stretch of I-90 fairly often. It's good that AT&T has finally wised up and built out that stretch, I would hate to have an emergency and not have cell service in that area.

I'm not sure if it is the same area. I think you might be talking about the MA toll @ Stockbridge MA & the NY toll. This gap used to exist on the stretch of I-90 in Columbia county which I believe was Dobson country. This is a couple miles west of where I think you are mentioned, but I might be splitting hairs.

I found a map @ Columbia County, NY - list of towns, real estate list. Also, the AT&T coverage map hasn't been updated with the new coverage so you can still see the old hole @ AT&T Coverage Viewer if you look around Chatam.

I always assumed that no GSM carrier had coverage in the area since my phone didn't say emergency service, but I haver had a t-mobile phone. I thought I you would always be able to call 911 on either t-mobile or AT&T?

Anyway, the coverage hole on a freeway is gone which is great news.

[n2jtx]

About one year before the AT&T buyout of Dobson, Dobson finally started filling in the holes on NY-17/I-86. I am TMO customer and it was amazing to drive on that highway and in some places (Parksville, NY comes to mind) there was zero GSM coverage, not even 911 capability. There were plenty of towers on the route but they were Verizon (originally NY Telephone) towers. Finally Dobson filled in the holes and there is coverage from northern Orange County to Deposit in Delaware County. From that point on West it was AT&T (Cingular) coverage through Damascus out to Binghamton where T-Mobile picked up again. There was no TMO roaming from Deposit to Binghamton on AT&T. Now that AT&T owns the coverage from Binghamton to Orange County, it will be interesting to see what kind of coverage I get when I go up to Toronto that way this summer. I suspect there will still be no roaming west of Deposit and only in the formerly Dobson areas.

Has AT&T changed the MNC-NNC on the Dobson towers yet?

[clock3687]

Originally Posted by n2jtx

Has AT&T changed the MNC-NNC on the Dobson towers yet?

As of 2 weeks ago when I passed through the same area as joelliot, no they haven't changed the MNC yet.

[cellular_freak]

Nope. The MNC here in Michigan is still 310-680. I kinda can't believe that it's taking so long. It's causing a lot of issues with people who have AT&T phones and they will try to latch onto a far away 310-410 signal that's unusable instead of taking the 310-680 signal that's closer.

Also, it'd be nice if AT&T will fill holes in their coverage around here, in former Dobson territory, because there are A TON of holes!

[Alienware_51]

I hear that Dobson area's will be converted over to at&t by the end of Q3 this year.

[RadioFoneGuy]

Not the network its the way the SIM card is set up. There about 4 SIM profiles the first batch they put out right after the buyout had some issues.

AT&T stated the networks to be done around JUNE or JULY. They have to make sure the Dobson network has the capacity and EDGE speeds to handle more customers and Iphones.

[cellular_freak]

Originally Posted by RadioFoneGuy

Not the network its the way the SIM card is set up. There about 4 SIM profiles the first batch they put out right after the buyout had some issues.

AT&T stated the networks to be done around JUNE or JULY. They have to make sure the Dobson network has the capacity and EDGE speeds to handle more customers and Iphones.

Really? I though all the SIMs were the same. So even if the SIM looks the same as another, it can still have different MNC orders?

Well, that date sounds really good. That's when I hope the 3G iPhone comes out, so that'll be when I switch to AT&T. So hopefully the whole network is integrated by then and hopefully they get the EDGE speeds boosted up at that same time to make them the same as AT&T's "Project Fine EDGE" initiative.

This whole integration thing is just upsetting to a lot of people because the Thumb is surrounded completely by AT&T's 310-410 MNC, so whenever you get close to those areas, the phone will pick up that signal over a nearby Dobson tower.

[RadioFoneGuy]

I understand your anxiousness as I feel the same but the truth is alot of the waiting is AT&T waiting on Contractors to install additional Backhauls (T-1) or adding more radios and antennas to towers.

Technically you could just flip a switch and customers could use either network but if you did with out adding some backhauls and equipment especially in some of the overlap areas with you have a ton of Blocked calls or Network Busy indicators on your phone.

Yes there are multiple SIM profiles the original one has 410 as the home network and 680 as a sort of Back up but if in a Dobson area it will cause the phone to scan approx every 8 mins and shorten the battery lift. There are also some issues with having locking on to distant towers instead of ones your next to etc.

I know it sucks but be patient I think the upgrades in progress are pretty impressive as well as the way the border areas will get integrated.

[Eric47]

Originally Posted by RadioFoneGuy

I understand your anxiousness as I feel the same but the truth is alot of the waiting is AT&T waiting on Contractors to install additional Backhauls (T-1) or adding more radios and antennas to towers.

Technically you could just flip a switch and customers could use either network but if you did with out adding some backhauls and equipment especially in some of the overlap areas with you have a ton of Blocked calls or Network Busy indicators on your phone.

Yes there are multiple SIM profiles the original one has 410 as the home network and 680 as a sort of Back up but if in a Dobson area it will cause the phone to scan approx every 8 mins and shorten the battery lift. There are also some issues with having locking on to distant towers instead of ones your next to etc.

I know it sucks but be patient I think the upgrades in progress are pretty impressive as well as the way the border areas will get integrated.

3G while they are at it huh?

[cellular_freak]

Originally Posted by RadioFoneGuy

I understand your anxiousness as I feel the same but the truth is alot of the waiting is AT&T waiting on Contractors to install additional Backhauls (T-1) or adding more radios and antennas to towers.

Technically you could just flip a switch and customers could use either network but if you did with out adding some backhauls and equipment especially in some of the overlap areas with you have a ton of Blocked calls or Network Busy indicators on your phone.

Yes there are multiple SIM profiles the original one has 410 as the home network and 680 as a sort of Back up but if in a Dobson area it will cause the phone to scan approx every 8 mins and shorten the battery lift. There are also some issues with having locking on to distant towers instead of ones your next to etc.

I know it sucks but be patient I think the upgrades in progress are pretty impressive as well as the way the border areas will get integrated.

So basically, they have to add more capacity to the towers? Well hopefully while they're at it, they upgrade the EDGE and everything too. Maybe they'll even add 3G?

They also need to add some more towers in some former Dobson areas too, because the coverage around where I live severely lacks.

So you're saying that they'll convert the towers closest to AT&T or the towers that actually are in AT&T areas?