Alltel CDMA overlay of former CenturyTel TDMA Network

[DemoMan]

Does anyone have a rollout schedule that tells when overlays of the old CenturyTel network will occur. I live right on the dividing line between the two networks and some days I roam off of the old towers and sometimes I hit a Digital CDMA tower about 15 miles east of me in Jonesboro, AR.

If anyone has any info, email me or let me know on here.

Thanks,
Brad
Alltel Business Customer since 97

[chodges]

The rumor is that the overlay will be complete by the Fall of next year. They seem to be hitting highly populated areas first then building out from there. If your tower is already TDMA then there is a good chance that the upgrade will be soon. However, if you are on an analog only tower it may be one of the last (or not at all during the "rush" overlay) to be upgraded. ALLTEL does not have all CDMA coverage... there are towers in southern Alabama for example that are analog only (even along I-65).

Unfortunately there is no way to find out. ALLTEL employees don't really know about network infrastructure until the towers are online. I do know that ALLTEL has contracted out the actual tower upgrades to some engineering company... saw them working on the Tupelo, MS, tower and base station 2 weeks ago.

ALLTEL has poured alot of money, more than originally advertised to stock holders in the CenturyTel properties upgrades. With you being in Arkansas, I would expect that ALLTEL has a priority of making Arkansas all digital... speculation though.

Hope this helps.

[DemoMan]

Thanks for the info man...I am pretty sure that the towers around here are all TDMA....Might not be though....I surely hope so. I know they are spending a lot of money on the project and that they are trying really hard to get this part of AR all digital. The manager over Northeast AR supposedly works really hard to have them do work here. This area of the state was sort of left behind under previous leadership, but they are correcting that really quickly.

How different is it working for Alltel than CenturyTel?

Also, when people get CDMA phones from you guys, do they always roam because anytime I am in an area that was formerly CenturyTel, my phone flashes that it is roaming.

I have PRL 802, so I know it is the latest one.

One last question, the CDMA overlays are CDMA2000 or are they just CDMA?

Thanks,
Brad

[chodges]

Also, when people get CDMA phones from you guys, do they always roam because anytime I am in an area that was formerly CenturyTel, my phone flashes that it is roaming.

ALLTEL's PRLs have 3 categories of listings. We'll call them... "Preferred Roam", "Normal Roam", and "Forbidden". All ALLTEL SIDs are listed under preferred (as well as SIDs for the rest of the National Freedom Network, a.k.a. Sprint and Verizon). When preferred roaming the roaming indicator is on and flashing (except for Nokias where it doesn't flash). The phones, when activated have programmed in them the mobile phone number and a Home SID. When the phone is connected to a tower with the home SID, it displays "ALLTEL".

In CDMA phones one can program when a bunch of Home SIDs (25?) which make the phone display "ALLTEL" instead of Roam. Most people I believe only program in the one home SID and don't enter in any others. So when someone with a Jackson (SID=205) activated phone travels to Tupelo (SID=1375), the phone says Roaming and/or flashes the "Preferred Roam" roaming indicator even though it is in the Home area and even connected to the same switch in Jackson.

If you want the phone to not say Roaming you can go into the phones activation programming and enter additional Home SIDs. Otherwise, the phone only knows that the SID is a "Preferred Roam" and will display "Roaming".

I hope this makes since. I suspect Verizon does something a little different: I think they have their phones say "Ready" or something like that instead of Roaming but their PRL works similar.

One last question, the CDMA overlays are CDMA2000 or are they just CDMA?

All of CenturyTel is being overlayed with 1xRTT which is a 2.5G technology... new features include:
-- GPS info relaying to 911 centers
-- More bandwidth per phone: higher-speed data communications; better sound quality? (someone correct me if I'm wrong [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]
1xRTT enabled towers are compatible with regular CDMA handsets, but in order to take advantage of the new features one must have a 1xRTT handset (Motorola 120e, Audiovox 9155GPX). I'm not sure if 1xRTT is considered CDMA2000 or not. I believe this is the same technology that Verizon has upgraded all of their networks to.

How different is it working for Alltel than CenturyTel?

Well I was a CenturyTel indirect agent, but die to the local economy around here I had to close my business in Winona, MS. I mainly did computer repair and the cell phones were a side thing that was to help pay the rent. But CenturyTel in Mississippi was terrible. There are several main highway corridors and cities that had analog only coverage (with no calling features: Caller ID for example) or no coverage at all while every other cellular/PCS provider has continuous digital service (US 82 in east Montgomery County is a good example). Their calling plans were not good either. With a lot of locations in CenturyTel's Mississippi market, one could travel 30 minutes and be roaming (and be charged for it). I was very excited about ALLTEL but unfortunately they came too late to help me. I expect to see lots of good things from them.

Here in Mississippi the same people are in charge on the local level. I would guess it's the same for all CenturyTel properties. Same people except now their concerns are heard by the Corporate Gods (now in Little Rock instead of Monroe). They have funding and things are getting done! Just like the acquision of Cellular XL (Hattiesburg). ALLTEL needed more than the CenturyTel markets to be able to provide discent coverage in most areas of the state and compete with Cingular and Cellular South (which between the 2 are something like 80% of all cell phones in MS). I hope that they will acquire RCC Unicel's Mississippi properties (MS RSA #1, 3, and 4) too and soon.

[DemoMan]

I was wondering if anyone had any update to my original question about a more specific schedule?

Also, has anyone found the FCC documents telling about the Cellular XL deal? I have looked on the website several times and I still have not found anything on the matter.

Thanks,
Brad

[BarryATL]

I have been talking to the people at Cellular One. What would you like to know?

[DemoMan]

I was just curious about the change...when it will occur, how much the company is being sold for....the number of towers and such that will be sold....what major highways will be affected.....etc.

Thanks,
Brad

[BarryATL]

Cellular One has about 90 towers (I think). The amount the company was sold for has not been published and even people in the know do not know. Changes will start happening after the first of the year, but the deal will not complete until the middle of next year.

The current Cellular One towers are going to be moved off of the current switch in Hattiesburg to AllTel's (old CenturyTel) switch in Jackson, MS. The switch in Hattiesburg currently is split. It does cellular and landlines for sister company Mega Gate. Mega Gate is going to keep the switch for their CLEC (Competetive Local Exchange Carrier) services.

US 49 and I-59 will be affected. This will give AllTel almost continuas coverage across the sothern half of Mississippi.

[DemoMan]

Thanks....that info was helpful....I have several friends here in AR that are very happy because that will be converted to CDMA digital coverage and they use that route to travel to places along the gulf in the summer.

If you hear of anything else or anything interesting, reply to this.

Thanks,
Brad

[BarryATL]

You will not have trouble in those areas with TDMA. There is Cingular (and the southeast is their strongest area), AT&T, Cellular South, etc. Nobody is going to turn off their TDMA networks for a few years.

[DemoMan]

I wasn't saying that I had a problem making calls so much as my features do not work. When I roam off a TDMA network, I get an analog signal. On analog, the reception is less that great and features like caller id and voicemail notification do not work.

Brad

[BarryATL]

Oh, I'm sorry. I did not look at your providor. You want CDMA. Along the gulfcoast you can roam on Alltel, Sprint PCS, and Verizon. They all have coverage along I-10. Cellular South has brought up their CDMA network however they don't have the roaming agreements in place yet. Currently if you want a Cellular South National plan, they put you on the TDMA network.

[Apoc]

Could take about 2 months?

[chodges]

Cellular South has brought up their CDMA network however they don't have the roaming agreements in place yet.

They have as of September... ALLTEL PRL 802 uses Cellular South SID 1394 in southern Mississippi. And I verified it works with my "CenturyTel" market activated phone.

In Mississippi, ALLTEL roams on Sprint PCS (SID 4812) in central and north Mississippi as part of the National Freedom network. The only other explicitly listed provider in the PRL in Mississippi is Cell South 1394. In cases where neither covers, the phone should roam on the carrier with the same band as the home market. If you have a "B" band ALLTEL phone you should be able to roam on Cellular South 1382's CDMA network in the Delta and Oxford. Other than that you will have analog coverage only.

Calling features like voice mail notification and caller ID work on the activated phones here on Centennial and RCC Unicel (Analog). For some odd reason, last I knew for Columbus, MS activated phones, calling features didn't work on Sprint PCS 4812. Hopefully they have fixed this by now.

[DemoMan]

How do you tell what band your home market is? Just curious...also, why doesn't the phone switch bands when they cross into the other network band?

Thanks,
Brad

[DemoMan]

Does anyone have any updates on the original question.....?