Cricket coming to Savannah/Hilton Head?

[upstate31410]

The other day, I was listening to a local rock station, and they mentioned that a specialty show they do in the evenings that they produce themselves is sponsored by Cricket Wireless. Cricket is currently not in the market, and no reference is made on their website about them coming soon. Now Cricket is in Charleston, but that market is not served by this radio station (you can't even receive the radio station in Charleston!).

Anyone know if Cricket is coming to Savannah or Hilton Head?

[KyleAndMelissa22]

Yup, I believe they are taking over Hargray PCS (SID 5049),
I think I first heard about this a few weeks ago.

I was just down in the Savannah area last month,
and tested out Hargray's network with my phone (*22804) in Hilton Head, Beaufort, Savannah, Tybee Island, and along I-95.
Hargray does cover the area pretty well.
Coverage on I-95 is between Ridgeland, SC & Midway, GA.

Also, I purposely forced my phone to roam on their network for just one minute of airtime,
Alltel did charge for roaming on it, but I had them remove it.
Now Hargray's SID is neg'd in Alltel's PRL 20031, because it will be Cricket soon.

Here is Hargray's coverage map:

[upstate31410]

That makes sense. I believe Hargray sold itself to a venture capital group last last year. Those groups typically dismantle companies & sell off individual units, so a sale of Hargray's wireless unit makes sense. The question is: will Cricket tie their existing Charleston service into the current Hargray footprint (build out along US 17 & 17-A, and I-95/26), as they're so close together, geographically speaking?

And confirmation of the sale: islandpacket.com | Hargray to sell its wireless business

[Eric47]

interesting. savannah is obviously a busy bee for wireless. ATT is going 3G there from a report someone posted on here awhile back so theres alot going on it seems.

[KyleAndMelissa22]

Originally Posted by Eric47

interesting. savannah is obviously a busy bee for wireless.

Yup Savannah's available carrier choices are one of the most in the country.
I don't know of any other city where there are this many carriers with native coverage.

AT&T
Verizon
Sprint (PCS)
Nextel (iDEN)
T-Mobile
Alltel
SunCom
Southern Linc
Hargray PCS

How can they all compete, LOL.

The good news about this many carriers, is that we get alot of monopoles looking like this:
This monopole In Between Savannah / Tybee Island on US Highway 80:

[Eric47]

dear lord! ive seen plenty of 5 and 6'ers but never a 7 person poll!

[KyleAndMelissa22]

Originally Posted by Eric47

dear lord! ive seen plenty of 5 and 6'ers but never a 7 person poll!

Not to spoil it, but not too far from Savannah, in the Charleston, SC area (Folly Beach),

I had taken a picture of another 7-Loaded Monopole right near the beach last summer,

This monster had every carrier available:

AT&T
Alltel
Sprint
SunCom
Nextel
Verizon
Cricket

[Quint101]

Originally Posted by Eric47

dear lord! ive seen plenty of 5 and 6'ers but never a 7 person poll!

There aren't many poles with five carriers on it in my neck of the woods... There was one with six carriers on it near me but some of the carriers decided to build their own poles nearby or consolidate... Most of the poles/towers have 3 or 4 carriers on it though

[upstate31410]

Originally Posted by KyleAndMelissa22

The good news about this many carriers, is that we get alot of monopoles looking like this:
This monopole In Between Savannah / Tybee Island on US Highway 80:

And there's even more on that pole now since that picture was taken....

[Eric47]

heres a few that i have taken that are 4, 5, and 6'ers

note how cramped the 4 one is. crazy cramped, not to mention that the top one is actually mounted what looks lilke custom. ive never seen antennas straped to the very tip of a tower but this one. crazy.

[blsemp]

I have seen one with eight. It was in Charlotte NC. I don't know who was on the bottom.

[KyleAndMelissa22]

Originally Posted by blsemp

I have seen one with eight. It was in Charlotte NC. I don't know who was on the bottom.

Do you rembemer where in Charlotte? I'll take a picture next time I go there, which should be within a few weeks
.

[upstate31410]

So do we have a rollout date for Cricket in Savannah? No mention is being made on the cricket website, and the current (previous?) owner, Hargray Wireless is coming out with all kinds of specials.

My do wonder how customers with contracts (Hargray) will integrate into a company that doesn't have contracts. Will transplanted customers be forced to stay in a contract?

[TheNasaWildman]

Cricket Wireless. Lets see here their tower network is good in the areas they service, and for a pre-pay service I would agree they are a no frills network with means the are forward shooting company. So Congrads to Cricket

[vernman15]

Do yall think that with all of the carriers in the Savannah area the FCC/DOJ will let VZW have both A/B sides when they purchase Alltel?

[KyleAndMelissa22]

Originally Posted by vernman15

Do yall think that with all of the carriers in the Savannah area the FCC/DOJ will let VZW have both A/B sides when they purchase Alltel?

I think so, look a Jacksonville, FL, 2 hours away from Savannah.
AT&T got to keep both 850 licenses (Blue & Orange) in most all of East Florida.
So Verizon should get to keep both 850 licenses in many overlapping Alltel areas.

[spleck]

Originally Posted by vernman15

Do yall think that with all of the carriers in the Savannah area the FCC/DOJ will let VZW have both A/B sides when they purchase Alltel?

Barring any sweeping policy change once again forbidding dual cellular licenses, most likely they WILL keep both. Especially considering that VZW/Alltel have NO PCS licenses in that area (Chatham/Effingham county at least).

Either way, I don't think Cricket will be in the running for that spectrum. Even though they bought Hargray, they will most likely be putting their 1700 AWS spectrum to use also. They have 20 MHz of AWS, and are splitting the C-block with ATT (15 MHz each).