New Towers in my area?

Hello,
I live in Plant City, Florida. It is about 35 miles east of Tampa, south of I-4. I live in a subdivision called Walden Lakes. Every always complaines about new towers, because they are so "unsightly" but the reception is 3 bars at best for Alltel and AT&T, with SPCS it is poor at best and Voicestream is "no signal". I personally do not know about Verizon Wireless. This is where my question begins, a new tower has been built less than one mile away from my home. I do not know if it is operational yet. I stop by today to see if any bodies name was on it. I was expecting to see a tower companies name on the build permits, but the owners name was Verizon Wireless. I would like to know if there any way to comfirm this is Verizon Wireless and to find out when this tower goes live. I would like to quess this would provide a strong signal at my home, very important for my business. This would be great if some one could answer my questions or tell me where to go find the answers.
Thank You,
James

[BillRadio]

james,
First, 3 bars is a pretty good signal. Do you have a problem with a 3-bar signal? Dropped Calls? No ring? I have ONE bar at home, and NEVER have a dropped call there.

Otherwise, it sounds like you have answered your own question. Once the tower is built and the antennas put on, another crew comes out and makes the elcetronics work. This could take days or months, depending on the crew schedule. One site near me tookk 4 months between installation and turn-on.

Friends of mine who do this for a living say they need an average 2 days to do either job. It all depends on when the second crew can show up. Keep visiting, and when you see the electric meter spinning, you know the site is live.

-Bill Radio

[larry]

I've seen a tower take anywere from 3 weeks to 6 months to become active from the time it is physically constructed. There can be various types of delays.

[IdiOTeQnoLogY]

also if the site being built belongs to verizon wireless many cell phone companies lease space on their towers for other carriers to put equipment on.....so that tower may be exclusive to Verizon or it may be used by 2 or more companies thus improving reception for more than just the owner of the tower......and yes as bill said 3 bars should be more than adequate for good cell service.

Im sorry not be clear, the reception at my house is at best 3 bars, mostlly 1 bar. Alot of times no incomming call, only voice mail notification. How do you tell if towers have more than one carrier on it. I have seen some towers with as many as three set of wing looking devices. The new tower by my house has only one at the top
James

[larry]

If it only has one then it will likely start off just being a Verizon tower. In the future other carriers might join depending on the height of the tower. Co-location usually requires at least a 50-75 ft tower.

[theyallstink]

<< Hello,
I live in Plant City, Florida. It is about 35 miles east of Tampa, south of I-4. I live in a subdivision called Walden Lakes. Every always complaines about new towers, because they are so "unsightly" but the reception is 3 bars at best for Alltel and AT&T, with SPCS it is poor at best and Voicestream is "no signal". I personally do not know about Verizon Wireless. This is where my question begins, a new tower has been built less than one mile away from my home. I do not know if it is operational yet. I stop by today to see if any bodies name was on it. I was expecting to see a tower companies name on the build permits, but the owners name was Verizon Wireless. I would like to know if there any way to comfirm this is Verizon Wireless and to find out when this tower goes live. I would like to quess this would provide a strong signal at my home, very important for my business. This would be great if some one could answer my questions or tell me where to go find the answers.
Thank You,
James >>



If you want to find out for sure who's tower it is then call the Tampa area FCC office and ask them or call Plant City building and zoning. Its quite possible that they might not want to tell you right off the bat, but it is a matter of public record since they are required to file with the FCC and zoning office for approval. Its likely a Plant City zoning hearing was conducted before the tower was approved and a record of that hearing will be available.

If the permits were pulled by Verizon, then you can bet Verizon will have antennas on that tower. Whether they will permit colocation depends on a lot of things, including tower type, need as determiend by other carriers, or possibly restriction by the zoning board or FCC due to location, etc...

[larry]

FCC registration is only needed for towers that reach 200+ feet above sea level.

[TampaTrev]

James,
You didn't say which of the three providers you mentioned (Alltel, AT&T and SPCS) you're using now. (Or are you using all three?) Are you hoping to sign up with whatever provider uses that tower because you want the best signal possible? If you're waiting to see if it's going to be Verizon, the fact is Verizon already has a good signal in that area. I live in eastern Hillsborough County (Valrico area) and had occasion to be in Plant City just this evening. Having read your post earlier this afternoon, I made note of my phone's signal strength (something I tend to do everywhere I go anyway--as do most of the forums regulars, I'm willing to bet! ) as I went down Alexander Street right by the entrance to Walden Lakes, I was getting 3 bars, which as Bill pointed out above, is considered a very good signal on most any phone. Later in the evening I was close to Walden Lakes again (along Alexander, and along the back edges of the development along Mud Lake Road, headed toward Hwy. 60) and the signal again was 3 bars, with 2 bars very briefly in a couple places. I know that closer to SR 60 the signal is predominately 4 bars, as it is just to the north, toward Interstate 4. If Verizon is planning to use that new tower, that would make it 4 bars everywhere around there probably (Icing on the cake!)

TampaTrev,
For your info, I have alltel, my wife has at&t, my kid brother has SPCS. I also have a Voicestream phone that only knows how to say "no service" once I get off I-4.
Another questoin I have is, with my brothers SPCS phone - it should be able to work with Verizon and you have a good signal- does he need a new PRL? I am not familier with any one besides alltel. With his SPCS phone ( a samsung ) he has only analog service once he comes south from I-4 until he gets close to Hwy 60. It will not work in SPCS at "Cherry's" on Alexander.
My plan is to go with Verizon if the tower is theirs. I was wondering if any one can tell me how the banner roaming indicator works I am confussed with this and some of the postings on this site. If you are on a Verizon network anywhere, you are HOME, on a partner, you are EXTENED AREA, and off the network, you are ROAM. and is this to be used only with the America's Choice Plans. I would like to know about free nights and weekends for the singal rate plan, I notice with my Alltel phone in South Florida- West Palm area there are alot of spots that Analog Roam pops up.
Sorry not to be clear, and thank you for your help
James

[Rae]

"Friends of mine who do this for a living say they need an average 2 days to do either job. It all depends on when the second crew can show up. Keep visiting, and when you see the electric meter spinning, you know the site is live."


A spinning meter only means that the site has power - not that it's on air and processing calls. A T1 can sometimes take longer to install that the tower itself - depends on available facilities in the area. I've had sites sitting construction-ready for up to a month before I could get the LEC to complete T1 installation.

[larry]

They usually sit constrcution-ready for at least a month here in Orange County, CA before the go live.

[TampaTrev]

James,
Under Verizon's America's Choice plan, a Verizon phone can use an Alltel or Sprint signal (though not necessarily in every area), but I don't know that a Sprint phone would in turn ever roam to a digital Verizon signal under any of their plans, or if updating PRL's really applies with Sprint. Perhaps some Sprint users here (Larry, maybe?) could answer that for you. As far as the Verizon roaming indicator (home/extended/roam), you had it right. Supposedly the roam indicator will blink when you're in extended. And that does indeed only apply under the America's Choice plan. With that plan there would be areas (whether or not you would ever encounter them I don't know) where your phone would have to roam and you would be charged roaming minutes. I don't think that would happen around this part of Florida, what with all the Verizon/Alltel/Sprint coverage, but I don't have that plan (at least, not yet) so I can't say for sure. Verizon IS currently offering unlimited nights and weekends on any of the America's Choice packages for $5 extra per month, but there is no night & weekend promotion of an kind with the SingleRate plans right now (but you never know, those promotions come and go!). That said, if you don't really plan on taking your phone out of Florida very often, Verizon's "Local" plans might be just the thing: The home area is the entire state, with no roaming (or no charge for roaming) anywhere in Florida, domestic long distance is included, and the current promotion is unlimited Night & Weekend minutes on top of your packaged tier of anytime minutes (and they're adding promotional anytime minutes to each tier as well). It's all on their website. Anyway, sorry for all your problems--hope SOME of this helped!

[larry]

<< but I don't know that a Sprint phone would in turn ever roam to a digital Verizon signal under any of their plans, or if updating PRL's really applies with Sprint. Perhaps some Sprint users here (Larry, maybe?) could answer that for you. >>



Sprint's phones can roam to a Verizon digital signal if:

1) You have a legit Sprint tri-mode phone.
2) Verizon has 800 Mhz digital service AND are the preferred roaming partner in the area.

[WirelessBeachBum]

If you are using a CDMA phone you may want to have your carrier check to see what setting your carrier has for Slot cycle. The Slot Cycle setting controls how often your phone communicates with the tower in Milliseconds. The default setting is 2, I have however seen phones come from some companies with settings from 0 all the way up to 9. The lower the setting the more your phone will communicate with the tower..(this also affects battery life), but you will have greater chances of receiving calls in weak areas. If you have a phone that burns up battery life but you primarly are in a good coverage area you could move the setting all the way up to nine, you will extend your battery life but may miss some calls. (Of course on some networks the tower will control this setting automatically.) Of course the average consumer does not have the software or cables to adjust this setting themselves, and if you ask most wireless sales reps about this feature you will probably get some crossed eyes and blank stares.

[larry]

Interesting. That's a new one for me. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[roamer1]

<< f you are using a CDMA phone you may want to have your carrier check to see what setting your carrier has for Slot cycle >>


SPCS uses slot cycle 2, Verizon uses slot cycle 1.

In most cases, changing slot cycle on the phone end won't do anything as the network will override what's set on the phone.

-SC

[theyallstink]

<<

<< but I don't know that a Sprint phone would in turn ever roam to a digital Verizon signal under any of their plans, or if updating PRL's really applies with Sprint. Perhaps some Sprint users here (Larry, maybe?) could answer that for you. >>



Sprint's phones can roam to a Verizon digital signal if:

1) You have a legit Sprint tri-mode phone.
2) Verizon has 800 Mhz digital service AND are the preferred roaming partner in the area. >>



I keep hearing about Sprint having digital roaming, but I've yet to see it. They don't in Florida, at least south Florida and up through Orlando regardless of your phone type. Anyway there's no 800CDMA in Florida so it doesn't matter if you have one Sprint's newer trimode models and are looking for Florida digital roaming.

Larry, I was again in LA and Seattle with a Sprint trimode Timeport (Mercedes Benz ripoff phone) and never ever, ever, ever roamed digitally. When it did roam (a few times) it went to analog on AT&T. Yes I have PRL 10015.

I phoned Sprint CC several times, speaking with CC reps, technical support reps, supervisors and finally an agent in the executive services group. None, I repeat none of them had a clue or even a remnant of a clue as to what a trimode phone was and what it could offer me (one of them thought the trimode meant 3g compatible). Even worse when I asked them about digital roaming they were still clueless. Most didn't even understand what I meant by digital roaming. Oh my, Sprint needs to educate their employees.

Ever take a look at Sprints website and try to find info on roaming or digital roaming? All I can say is morons! When I complained to the executive services group they asked me why it made a difference if I roamed digital or analog. After I finished steaming from my ears I told the clueless person that I wouldn't need to carry 3 batteries just to get through one day if they had friggin digital roaming. She still didn't get it!

Sprint, a great idea with horrible execution!

[Jackson]

I live in florida and do work in Miami, Tampa, Naples, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Tallahassee. I have Verizon, It roams well with Sprint PCS in the Sawgrass area of Sunrise, FL, by the place the hockey team plays. Also the phone roams great on Alltel in the center and western parts of the state and this is CDMA 800. I have no problem getting a digital signal most places, the only place is down by the big lake by Belle Glade.

[larry]

theyallstink,
Forget what the CC reps or anyone else at Sprint says because they are not informed of this digital roaming issue and cannot properly give you an answer. I think the reason Sprint does not want to commit to digital roaming yet is because they often change who their roaming partners are when they get a better deal. Sometimes this means going with a TDMA carrier over a CDMA carrier. If they commit to digital roaming then they would no longer be able to do that. Ask someone who really knows such as Bill from www.mountainwireless.com. or Rich Broome from www.phonescoop.com. These guys are fair and impartial and know more about phones than just about anyone. Either one will tell you that Sprint's legit tri-mode phones can and do 800 digital roam in certain areas. Just send them an e-mail and they will answer. It's possible that the only Sprint tri-mode phones capable of digital roaming are the Kyoceras. The Samsung N300 is supposed to be tri-mode but it appears like it can't roam digitally. The software could disable these digital roaming capabilities in some of the phones (don't know why) but not the Kyoceras.

You say you roamed analog on AT&T in LA? It's impossible to make or receive calls without a credit card here on AT&T. Sprint has no roaming agreements with AT&T in LA. Verizon is the preferred carrier. I just set my phone to "analog only" mode, called 611, and as always heard the Verizon message. AT&T is the preferred carrier north of Santa Barbara up to the Bay area along the coast. A tri-mode won't do you any good in the Bay area or Sacramento.

[IdiOTeQnoLogY]

if you just look at a manual for spcs phones.......my friend just got a 4700......and under the roaming section it does mention that you may roam on other cdma digital systems as well as analog.

[theyallstink]

Larry, maybe LA was on VZW for analog. I thought it was AT&T but didn't dial 611 to check. I should have checked to confirm...... Regarding Sprint changing roaming partners from time to time, if this is the case why has the PRL 10015 been current for a year or so? Maybe not a year yet, but its been a long while........I wonder if the software in these Mercedes Timeports is screwed up and not permitting digiral roaming..........Of course Mercedes will never admit to it and if you ask Mot for help they refer me to Mercedes. Never again will I allow the purchase of an OEM car phone. A rip off and joke!

Someone in my office just returned from Vancouver the other day. After going crazy to get info from Sprint on roaming in Canada, they finally told me that he would roam on Telus. I checked the Telus website and saw they were CDMA 1900. Yes, digital roaming!! Nope, he came back today and told me his phone was in analog the entire time.

Jackson, I get VZW service by the Panthers hockey arena in Sunrise. Have you upgraded your PRL and is your service set to B?

[IdiOTeQnoLogY]

when i was in ottawa and montreal i roamed with a sprint phone digital the whole time. prl 10015 has been around for about 5 months i think.