T-Mobile and Cingular coverage

[Caffeine_Hound]

I am with T-Mobile and have a Motorola V300. I have a friend that is with Cingular and has a V400. We can stand side-by-side and get completely different signal strengths. I only get 1 bar and his is full signal. Both of these phones are GSM only, correct? I thought that T-Mobile and Cingular were sharing towers now. What is the deal? Is my phone flakey? Is there a network setting that would help?

[Saiyan]

Your phone probably is not flakey. i know someone who has a v300 and he has no problems with his phone other than building penetration issues. Both phones are GSM-only. The v300 is tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900) and the v400 is quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900) but that difference shouldn't affect your signal. At that time, probably, there is a cingular tower nearby and not a T-mobile tower. From what i understand, if there is no t-mobile tower nearby and you have no signal, then you will roam off of Cingular, or whichever GSM carrier is nearby when you use your phone that t-mobile has roaming agreements with in that area. There is a possibility for you to force your phone to use Cingular service. Not sure how to do it or if it's possible but someone here should know how. hope this helps and hope the info is accurate.

[Matt]

TM and Cingular do not have a roaming agreement in GA.

[ComicalMoodyDan]

Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile have 2 different networks in Georgia. From what I understand Cingular has 850 Mhz GSM coverage in the Atlanta area and the network is pretty mature. That's proabely why your friend with Cingular gets better coverage then you do.

[roamer1]

Originally Posted by Matt TM and Cingular do not have a roaming agreement in GA.

For the most part this is correct.

Cingular (as does AT&T) does roam on TMO in Camden County since there's no one else to roam on there. Cingular supposedly used to roam on TMO along I-20 between Greensboro and Thomson, but last time I was out there with Cingular, Wilkes Cellular already had some limited GSM up and TMO was blocked.

-SC

[roamer1]

Originally Posted by Caffeine_Hound I thought that T-Mobile and Cingular were sharing towers now

Not in Atlanta...Cingular and TMO have completely separate networks here.

(The only places Cingular and TMO share network is in the NYC area, California, Nevada, and Mohave County AZ .)

-SC

[Matt]

Originally Posted by roamer1 For the most part this is correct. Cingular (as does AT&T) does roam on TMO in Camden County since there's no one else to roam on there. Cingular supposedly used to roam on TMO along I-20 between Greensboro and Thomson, but last time I was out there with Cingular, Wilkes Cellular already had some limited GSM up and TMO was blocked. -SC

Sorry, I meant to say TM users cannot roam on Cingular in GA.