SOUTH U.S. -- Verizon - South Georgia

[vernman15]

Is Verizon getting ready to turn on their PCS network in South GA? I've seen trucks driving around (waycross) that say Verizon Wireless coming soon. I've also seen a store going up... Anyone know when it will it go live if it already hasn't...?

[Quint101]

On their coverage maps, they already have this area shown as native... I saw a press release on their site stating that EVDO has been launched in most of the area. I surprised that the coverage hasn't been turned on!

[treotosh]

I thought thats the area where Verizon wireless first started like back in 96? I guess not

[Quint101]

Originally Posted by treotosh

I thought thats the area where Verizon wireless first started like back in 96? I guess not

No, Verizon has never been in that part of Georgia... They've been in northern Georgia for the longest time. They got into Macon, Columbus, Savannah and Albany around the year 2000, I think. They never had a license for Valdosta until last year.

[Quint101]

We have coverage... Stores coming soon, if not already!

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080630/nym003.html?.v=101

[Eric47]

att has a pretty strong presence down there and alltel as well i believe. verizon has a tough road ahead of them IMO espically PCS only in the boondocks.

[agentHibby]

Is building a new PCS network in Southeast GA
When VZW takes over Alltel, they already have a cellular network there

[Eric47]

they must have been working on this for quiet awhile. generally plans to build out networks are on a 1-3 year time table.

i would guess that they planned to launch a network on the existing towers, and then add more later...but because there is a pending merger, any continuous build out will probably be put on hold until they figure out exactly what the heck is going on.

still seems like a waste..

[Quint101]

LOL Verizon has been roaming on AllTel for ages and they wanted to reduce the roaming now. The merger hasn't taken place yet, so who knows what will happen? And then, they have to decide what to keep. If the merger gets ok'd, they could use the 1900 for data only, which is what's done in Atlanta. All may not be wasted LOL

They have had a license in this area for a while now, so it was only a matter of time before it got built out.

[Eric47]

it will be fun to see what happens to all the alltel roaming in the SE that att uses.

i figure either it all gets thrown to Att the biggest user of it or either Att builds up well enough to cut ties and bail on those agreements.

[Quint101]

Originally Posted by Eric47

it will be fun to see what happens to all the alltel roaming in the SE that att uses.

i figure either it all gets thrown to Att the biggest user of it or either Att builds up well enough to cut ties and bail on those agreements.

Don't forget about the agreements with Unicel as well. The Government has to process the Unicel merger before the AllTel one

[vernman15]

Does anyone know who VZW got the PCS band from in South GA? I also think it will be a huge waste of money when/if Verizon does buy out Alltel.

[agentHibby]

Most of the network they are building the airwaves were from Primeco (they got it from the 1st PCS Auction in 1995).
I think Sprint has given them some airwaves as well.
I don't think Price Communications Corp. had any PCS licenses, I think they were all Cellular.

[SoGaUser]

Originally Posted by vernman15

Does anyone know who VZW got the PCS band from in South GA? I also think it will be a huge waste of money when/if Verizon does buy out Alltel.

I believe Verizon got into south Georgia by buying out what was then CellularOne. That is when I first signed up for Verizon. I didn't know about the Verizon build-out. I know when I leave Jesup and head either north on 341 or southwest on 84 I always have roamed on Alltel for most of that travel except in Douglas or Hazelhurst.

[SoGaUser]

Originally Posted by Quint101

We have coverage... Stores coming soon, if not already!

Verizon Wireless Turns on 5,500 Square Miles of Network for South Georgians On the Go: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Well, so much for we have coverage. I just drove north west out of Jesup and as soon as I got out of Wayne county my phone went to Extended coverage. So much for all native coverage (as the Verizon map shows) in south Georgia. I have not driven toward Waycross lately to check.

[Eric47]

if its PCS only, in that part of GA i dont care how much they invest, it will not be worth it. not to mention ATT and alltel are already setup as good as it gets...

[Eric47]

does anyone know who has service in Harris City,GA? its sort of between Greenville and Manchester? ive heard att may add in Woodbury but depending on where the tower goes i can see that being iffy on helping that area.

is it alltel or verizon that offers service there?

[SoGaUser]

Originally Posted by SoGaUser

Well, so much for we have coverage. I just drove north west out of Jesup and as soon as I got out of Wayne county my phone went to Extended coverage. So much for all native coverage (as the Verizon map shows) in south Georgia. I have not driven toward Waycross lately to check.

Well I have to amend my previous post. I drove from Baxley, GA to Jacksonville, FL via US-1. And whereas Baxley is still Extended Coverage off of ALLTEL I was surprised to notice picking up native Verizon in Alma GA. I maintained Verizon thru my trip including Waycross, GA. Going home via US-1/US-301 all Verizon. I had to smile when I saw an Alltel tower that went up 2 years ago now with a second antenna unit on it. Looking at my phone's Verizon signal I knew it must be a Verizon antenna. I saw several cases of Alltel towers now supporting a second antenna unit- Verizon. I'm sure they planned this expansion way before the buyout.

[Quint101]

I have to agree as well... They've been roaming in these areas for eons! In the Florida panhandle, Verizon has been on a building spree as well... The i-10 gap in the panhandle has shrunk dramatically... I think that its just one county that's still extended network only but Verizon has sites on the coast of that county. And to top it all off, all Verizon sites are ALL EVDO rev A in Florida!!!

I see that on the maps that Thomasville has EVDO... Its about time. It was weird that Valdosta was launched with EVDO rev A and Thomasville was still stuck on 1x. I wonder how long will it take for rev A to be added to all of the Georgia sites!

[Quint101]

Originally Posted by Eric47

does anyone know who has service in Harris City,GA? its sort of between Greenville and Manchester? ive heard att may add in Woodbury but depending on where the tower goes i can see that being iffy on helping that area.

is it alltel or verizon that offers service there?

It is probably both of them in that area... Your att phone should pick up on the AllTel GSM towers up there... Hopefully, att will start their 1900 buildout and not sit on their hands while the Verizon AllTel buyout goes on.

[Eric47]

att is out there with 850, but its pretty much minimum rural coverage.

seems like att has 850 in almost all of GA except for where i live...

[Quint101]

Originally Posted by Eric47

att is out there with 850, but its pretty much minimum rural coverage.

seems like att has 850 in almost all of GA except for where i live...

LOL... Yep... 1900 only areas for att are Columbus, Albany, Augusta, and the coast, plus some islands and strips- not such a small area Although Verizon's is a lot more glaring... That big hole where AllTel and Att have 850 licenses. I don't care what's used as long as the service works for me. It would have been a little different for you Eric if PSC Wireless sold to Cingular instead of AllTel.

[Eric47]

yep...