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Old 02-15-2003, 9:50 AM    #1
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Hello,
My name is James Powell. I use Nextel as my only cell phone, it is through my work. I am looking to find a plan that I can use as a personal phone to call home at night and on the weekends. I travel five to six months of the year. I am based out of the greater West Plam Beach area of Florida, and am in St. Joseph, MI for 3 months and in Southwest Georgia for 1 1/2 months at two differnet times of the year. We are usally in Moltrie, GA, but we may be in Tifton, GA this year. What is important to me is to have a phone that is "in coverage area" for all three places with a Florida phone number. I know I like the Roll over min from Cingular, but alot of Southwest Georgia is Cingular Extened. Is there a Nationwide single rate with Night and Weekends that work anywhere- not only in my home area, or will I need to go with a AC or Preferred Nation type plan. Also I would like to have the ability to move the plan up and down in useage with out penalty. For the 6 months I am in Florida I would not use the phone very much. I am looking for a carrier that will have coverage everywhere. I do not like T-Mobile, Nextel, and others like ATT-GSM with limited coverage. I like the Cingular GIAT phones or next generation CDMA. I also like the style of the Nokia 6300 series and the hands free kit that nokia offers.
Thank you for any help you can give.
James Powell
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Old 02-15-2003, 10:06 AM    #2

 
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Well...first things first. Get rid of Nextel.

Now...about your own personal phone that will work in all 3 areas? It really depends on how much you are really willing to pay. As you said before, AT&T's GSM does have limited coverage, and I am familiar with that. But don't get it wrong, it has TDMA coverage too! It comes with the digital-one rate plan, which would really help you since it is exactly what you described that you wanted.

As for Cingular's GAIT phones, I'm not very knowledgeable about those. But I am familiar that GSM/TDMA/AMPS will give you a good signal. If Cingular gives you extended coverage in the areas that you are talking about, it may be a risk to take it. You can easily roam out of the area, and on most of their plans, Cingular will charge 80 cents for roaming. Not fun at all.

As for CDMA, I don't use it. To get more info on it, you should really ask a friend or someone on this site how it works in the areas you mentioned.

Hope this post helped (well...I guess it was semi-informative).
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Old 02-15-2003, 12:35 PM    #3

 
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I am not sure if Alltel is available in your area, but it might be a choice for CDMA....They own markets in FL, GA and MI.....You can go to www.alltel.com and check out their plans.....they are fairly reasonable.....Verizon is just as good....they roam off of each other's network....

I would say that you probably will want to get a CDMA or TDMA phone if you are going to be in a more rural area b/c GSM may not be fully deployed. If you get a next generation CDMA phone from Alltel or Verizon, you will be able to use it anywhere that has Analog or CDMA signal b/c it is backward compatable. GAIT phones are good too, but the friends that I have using them aren't really that happy with them.

Good Luck,
Brad
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Old 02-15-2003, 1:23 PM    #4
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if ur looking for cdma, then have you looked at verizon wireless? I know coverage with sprint pcs is spotty if you're looking to go cdma, but i don't have too many problems with my verizon in the florida area, ask around with ppl you know if verizon does well in georgia, otherwise sprint is your other option for nationwide cdma! good luck!
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Old 02-15-2003, 2:23 PM    #5
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You may want to check out Sprint's coverage. They recently started offering a $10 roaming feature that allows you to use your peak and off peak minutes on or off Sprint's network. Their plans include unlimited nights and weekends and nationwide long distance, along with the basic features such as caller ID and voice mail. Just anther option the consider. Hope this was helpful.
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Old 02-15-2003, 2:47 PM    #6

 
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If you want a West Palm phone number, then your options are limited to AT&T, Cingular, Sprint and Verizon.

Tifton GA is covered by Cingular...therefore you COULD go with the Cingular Preferred Nation plan which includes free nights and weekends....however...getting to Tifton will be a problem....Cingular's coverage ends after Gainesville and doesn't pick up until Valdosta...and even then its only good along I-75.

If you want a true...no roaming no long distance anywhere plan and still have free nights and weekends...then AT&T will probably be your only option. Verizon and Cingular used to offer the option on their Cingular Nation and National SingleRate plans respectively....but I don't know if its still available. While AT&T doesn't publicize it, the nights and weekends option is available on Digital One for $9.99/mo and gives you 1000 min good anywhere in the USA.

Much of SW Georgia is covered by US Cellular. These US Cellular Markets have not yet begun the conversion to CDMA and are still using TDMA. As an AT&T roamer, virtually all your "digital features" will work when you are there. Your caller ID, voicemail and message waiting indicator WILL work. The only feature that doesn't work...at this point...is mobile originated text messaging. In other words, you can receive text messages, but you can't send.
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Old 02-15-2003, 7:21 PM    #7
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Cingular = bad choice, period -- too much extended on NP plans in south GA, no N&W or wknd option on Cingular Nation (not NP)

VZW = good choice -- America's Choice has unlimited N&W at most price points and covers all areas where you need coverage, and 1000 weekend mins (NO nights) are available on National SingleRate for $10/mo (they don't publicize NSR much -- you may have problems signing up for NSR at a store -- and don't seem to publicize the weekend option at all anymore, but the weekend minutes option is still in the billing system, at least for here in Atlanta.)

AT&T = good choice -- but you have pretty much one choice of plan: TDMA Digital One Rate. (There are too many areas where AT&T GSM+TDMA phones won't work in south GA for me to recommend AT&T GSM; Tifton and Moultrie are OK, though, thanks to Cingular and US Cellular.) 1000 N&W mins are available on DOR for $9.99/mo.

-SC
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Old 02-15-2003, 8:47 PM    #8

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Verizon's America's Choice would be the best bet. Cingular has too many roaming issues and they have limited coverage (even on the national plans) in the southeast. ATT's OneRate is good but it is pricey. ATT"s "on-network" plan doesn't include very much. For the best balance between cost and coverage, go with Verizon's America's Choice network. It should serve you pretty well.
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Old 02-17-2003, 1:05 PM Original Poster Original Poster    #9
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I have look on roamer1's website and noticed the maps with the A & B side carriers. I looks like Alltel is large in this area, but roamer1 states this area is a "stepchild" market of alltel network. This leads me to the piont of price vs. quality. I have looked into the AC from Verizon and the National freedom from Alltel. What bothers me is the plans that are priced the same have a big difference in anytime mins. For $49.95 (about the most I want to spend) AC is 400 plus 100 bonus mins with Unlimited N&W mins, but alltel is 400 plus 400 bonus min with 3000 N&W mins. getting an alltel account would give me a phone number other than my home, but I think I can live with that. Also Alltels Map looks more filled than the AC on the web.If anyone has anything else to say about Alltel in these areas please let me know. I do know alltel is new in MI. But I do not know what this means.

Thanks,
James
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Old 02-17-2003, 1:34 PM    #10
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Re my "stepchild" comment -- ALLTEL isn't bad at all in the Moultrie and Tifton areas (IIRC, ALLTEL even has digital in those areas now); ALLTEL's coverage *is* poor in rural areas to the east of I-75 (especially in the former Cellular Plus area that extends from Dublin south to Douglas), and north/west of Albany (but both of those are areas VZW now covers and is converting to CDMA; Price/CellOne, which VZW bought, has always had better coverage than ALLTEL in those specific areas.)

-SC
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Old 02-17-2003, 1:55 PM Original Poster Original Poster    #11
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SC,
Would it be worth going with Alltel with the extra min's or as you say going with Verizon for the more solid coverage in some week alltel areas. I also have seen some Nokia 6385 on ebay, could either Alltel or VZW hook this phone up.
Thank you,
James
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Old 02-17-2003, 3:12 PM Original Poster Original Poster    #12
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Just to note the phone was used on Cellular South in Vicksburg, MS
-James
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Old 02-17-2003, 3:53 PM Original Poster Original Poster    #13
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This is James again,
I have been offered a 6385 from US Cellular. It is a new phone, never used. The person told me it is flashed? with US Cellular PRL, is this something I can have Alltel or Verizon reflash or use this phone on there system.
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Old 02-17-2003, 4:54 PM    #14

 
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The US Cellular phone looked nice, didn't have a chance to look at the other one you mentioned.....Alltel does have a Nokia that it offers, but it is pretty scaled down....I have a V60i....I really like it...works great everywhere I go and it also has an external antenna port in case I come up on an area where the service is a little weak....my antenna boosts the signal back up to full strength or nearly full. Be careful on the Cellular South phone....make sure that it is a CDMA phone and not TDMA.....wouldn't help ya much if you picked up one that someone was selling b/c they upgraded to a CDMA phone ;-)

You might also check with Alltel and/or Verizon before buying the phone that was made for US Cellular...They should be able to flash it with their own PRL, but there may be a network issue or bug in the software that they are trying to work out before they sell it....or it could be like the Motorola 720...might just be exclusive to US Cellular for a few months.....if that is the case then they should be able to activate it with now problem.

Good luck,
Brad
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Old 02-17-2003, 5:12 PM Original Poster Original Poster    #15
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I have also found the 6385 from 3 rivers wireless out of Montana. I am going to call Alltel and Verizon to see if they can flash it. Would it be alot of difference from the 5185 that Alltel and Verizon both offers.
--James
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Old 02-17-2003, 5:29 PM    #16

 
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The 6385 is CDMA 1x ready....The phone that is offered by Alltel and Verizon is not. You can go to the nokia website and check out the differences. If you plan on using the phone for data, get the 6385...but if you doubt that you'll ever need data service, the cheap one from Alltel and Verizon would be fine....Like I said, I always prefer Motorola phones on CDMA networks....but I guess that is personal taste. If it were me and I had it narrowed down to the two Nokia phones, I'd prob. get the 6385 if they would agree to activate the phone on the Alltel or Verizon network. You never know what you might need in the future...data might be something you would want down the road.

Brad
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Old 02-17-2003, 10:45 PM    #17
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I would recommend VZW over ALLTEL unless the Mobile AL and/or New Orleans areas are critical to you (ALLTEL has better coverage than VZW in those two areas.)

As for phones, assuming it isn't locked (and AFAIK, USCC never locks phones -- cryogenic, please confirm [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] ), there's no reason ALLTEL or VZW shouldn'be able to to update the PRL...the same programming tool used for the 6185 and 3285 should handle the 6385 as well (and with VZW, you don't even have to bother going to a store, you can just dial *228 to update your PRL!)

-SC
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Old 02-18-2003, 4:59 AM    #18
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Pepper:

I concur with the advice that roamer gave you. If you choose VZW, go with the America's Choice PP, and for phone, choose either the V60i or the LG 4400, as those are in my opinion our best phones. Stay away from the Moto T 720 by all means.
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Old 02-18-2003, 7:36 AM Original Poster Original Poster    #19
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SC,
Do you know if 3 rivers wireless locks the phones. I can get a new on for $100.00 plus shipping from them. I can get a USCC for $175.00. I would like to find out before I purchase a phone
Thanks,
James
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Old 02-20-2003, 1:19 AM    #20
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More than likely, yes (and since you wouldn't be using the phone on their service in Montana it's unlikely they'd sell you a phone anyway.)

-SC
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Old 02-20-2003, 11:10 AM Original Poster Original Poster    #21
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SC,
I bought the 6385 over the phone on Tuesday, It is enroute from Montana and I had to pay $150.00 to get it with out a contract.
Thanks,
James
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