Roaming

[EdwardP]

Recently went on a bus trip to Montreal and used my Nokia 2285 to place calls back home from two of the rest areas in Vermont, on the Verizon network up there. The 2285 is a TracFone activated on Verizon, the home system is Boston, MA.

Being up in the mountains at that point, the 2285 displayed 5 bars on the signal strength meter (out of 7). I did not see any towers in the immediate vicinity of either rest area, but the calls were clear.

[ZaphodB]

You definitely won't see towers in Vermont unless you really, really know what to look for. There's a law about billboards that also covers cell towers, so they are very, very well disguised.

[EdwardP]

The overall roaming was a bit unusual, the phone briefly roamed on two U.S. Cellular SID's while in New Hampshire (445 - Manchester, NH and 1484 - Addison County, VT), then it strangely picked up the home SID (28 - Boston) again going into Vermont past the NH border for about two miles before it picked up Verizon SID 300 (Vermont).

[dmarkson]

Originally Posted by EdwardP

The overall roaming was a bit unusual, the phone briefly roamed on two U.S. Cellular SID's while in New Hampshire (445 - Manchester, NH and 1484 - Addison County, VT), then it strangely picked up the home SID (28 - Boston) again going into Vermont past the NH border for about two miles before it picked up Verizon SID 300 (Vermont).

Verizon's 1900 MHz system is up and running in the Lebanon NH area (now full I-89 coverage and spill over to I-91 in VT), and its running SID 28. Your phone locked on that system for a few miles. If you traveled up I-89, I'm not sure why it ever roamed over to USC.

[EdwardP]

Originally Posted by dmarkson

Verizon's 1900 MHz system is up and running in the Lebanon NH area (now full I-89 coverage and spill over to I-91 in VT), and its running SID 28. Your phone locked on that system for a few miles. If you traveled up I-89, I'm not sure why it ever roamed over to USC.

Has to be in the PRL.

[dmarkson]

Originally Posted by EdwardP

Has to be in the PRL.

But even so, Verizon is solid all the way up I-89. My Verizon phone never lost the signal all the way up.

[EdwardP]

The parts of I-89 in VT where it briefly lost the signal, if not elevation-related, could have been analog systems. The 2285 does not have an analog mode (CDMA2000 1X only, phone displays "D"). In the regional Verizon map brochure, there are a couple of small analog systems showing along I-89.

[EdwardP]

It's been mentioned elsewhere that Unicel (Rural Cellular Corporation) has turned off some of their 1900 MHz roaming network in Vermont.

Not sure if this means T-Mobile's customers will lose this roaming coverage since T-Mo's network is 1900 MHz, and there is a question on whether current phone models have the 850 MHz band disabled.

If it turns out that we are going to lose this roaming coverage, then I'm going to consider Verizon for a monthly plan (I still have my old PAYG phone), even if I have to pay more than what I'm paying now per month at T-Mobile.

[EdwardP]

Originally Posted by EdwardP

It's been mentioned elsewhere that Unicel (Rural Cellular Corporation) has turned off some of their 1900 MHz roaming network in Vermont.

Not sure if this means T-Mobile's customers will lose this roaming coverage since T-Mo's network is 1900 MHz, and there is a question on whether current phone models have the 850 MHz band disabled.

If it turns out that we are going to lose this roaming coverage, then I'm going to consider Verizon for a monthly plan (I still have my old PAYG phone), even if I have to pay more than what I'm paying now per month at T-Mobile.

Apparently, I lucked out. The T-Mobile phones I have operate in both 850 and 1900 per their web site.