What is going on with edge wireless?

[Fathead]

All month it's been a stream of complaints, and now I get a call from an AT&T GSM cust in utah, about who has service here. Since AT&T has no license here, he asks who's signal he was using when he was here a couple of weeks ago. I explain it's Edge's signal. He says, and I quote:



"That was the most atrocious excuse for a signal I have ever had."



Is someone asleep at the wheel over there or what?

[ILUVSOCAL]

Edge is doing awesome here in Northern California, my dad has them and has had NO complaints whatsoever! They have signal in far more places than Verizon does, and are even catching up with US Cellular. I am very impressed with their personal service and very quick response time to emails and calls (sometimes within a couple of hours!). SE Idaho may be having probs, but not Northern California and Southern Oregon, Edge rocks here. Just to illustrate, on a recent (last week) trip, I spotted a brand spanking Edge tower in Williow Creek, a VERY isolated, TINY community in the Trinity Nat'l Forest Mountains east of Arcata on Hwy.299, no one else had a site anywhere nearby. Perhaps SE Idaho is just not one of their important markets, who knows. They are new too, having only been around since 1999, so you can expect them to have as extensive a coverage area as networks who have been here for decades, but I am pretty impressed with what they've done here in so short a time, they are the first carrier to actually give a hoot about this part of California, aside from US Cellular, and even USCC looks at their Lake and Mendocino Counties markets as a stepchild to Eurkea and Oregon. This market is the opposite of yours it sounds like, Edge rocks and Verizon stinks here. Have you talked to Edge about why they are having problems there? Talk to them, they are very open and responsive, I have a tech friend who works for Edge at their HQ in Bend, maybe he could find out.

[ILUVSOCAL]

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[NokiaKrazy]

Sometimes the best thing to say is nothing.

[ILUVSOCAL]

Lol true. Hey, I like your Barney Fife icon!

[NokiaKrazy]

Thanks. Your Lt. Columbo is very good also!

[ILUVSOCAL]

Thanks, Columbo is one of my all time favorite detectives, I love that guy!

[NokiaKrazy]

So why aren't you with Edge? You say that Verizon is terrible there. Never heard much about Cingular there.

[ILUVSOCAL]

Their plans aren't as good, more expensive than Cingular, and they charge for SMS and GPRS access off of their network (AT&T and T-Mobile do this too), Cingular doesn't, and with the traveling across Nor Cal that I do, that wouldn't work for me.

[ShoresGuy]

Originally posted by: ILUVSOCAL Their plans aren't as good, more expensive than Cingular, and they charge for SMS and GPRS access off of their network (AT&T and T-Mobile do this too), Cingular doesn't, and with the traveling across Nor Cal that I do, that wouldn't work for me.

So how is your reception with Cingular up in the Redwood Valley Area? Any problems due to terrain? Is it hilly or mountainous?

[ILUVSOCAL]

I get a full signal everywhere in Redwood Valley, it's awesome! Verizon and US Cellular both have poor signals in this area, it's nice to have a good, strong signal for once, and not have to drive 3 or 4 miles to be able to use my phone! This is a very mountainous and hilly area, with lots of Vineyards, Oak, Pine, Madrone and various other trees. I sit about 9 miles south of Ridgewood Summit on top of Laughlin Ridge (1950 feet, highest point on Hwy.101, and where Seabiscuit came from, and is buried, little FYI there [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] ), and 7 miles north of Ukiah, there are mountains everywhere I can see, N, S, E, and W, we are at about 900-1000 feet where I am. Here are some pics of the area, and a little bit about it [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Redwood Valley, CA

[agentHibby]

I always believe two things:
The squeaky wheel gets the oil; or
The squeaky wheel gets taken out and replaced!

My roomate gets the same thing from AT&T stores when he is in Idaho and has call problems

[ILUVSOCAL]

Verizon won't get replaced anytime soon here, they'd have to actually do some work, and I don't think they are into that [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[ShoresGuy]

Originally posted by: ILUVSOCAL I get a full signal everywhere in Redwood Valley, it's awesome! Verizon and US Cellular both have poor signals in this area, it's nice to have a good, strong signal for once, and not have to drive 3 or 4 miles to be able to use my phone! This is a very mountainous and hilly area, with lots of Vineyards, Oak, Pine, Madrone and various other trees. I sit about 9 miles south of Ridgewood Summit on top of Laughlin Ridge (1950 feet, highest point on Hwy.101, and where Seabiscuit came from, and is buried, little FYI there [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] ), and 7 miles north of Ukiah, there are mountains everywhere I can see, N, S, E, and W, we are at about 900-1000 feet where I am. Here are some pics of the area, and a little bit about it [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Redwood Valley, CA

Looks quite great [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img], I've spent some time down near Sebastopol and Healdsburg. Anything from Santa Rosa and up is green and beautiful [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img].

[ILUVSOCAL]

Yes it is, and very wet, it's pouring outside right now! lol Oh, finally, the NWP RR freight line from Schellville (where they connect with the California Northern Railway, and the outside world) near Sonoma to Willits will reopen within a few months, they finally got the 8 million from FEMA and the Sierra Railway, the new owners of the California Western Skunk line (due to reopen in May) from Willits to Fort Bragg are going to be the operators of that portion of the line, work trains are set to being rolling next week. They have BIG plans for the Skunk Line, and for the NWP line, I am so excited!! This area needs those lines open so bad, both for the freight and for the passenger and tourist business. The Sierra operates the Sierra Railway between Oakdale and Sonora, and the Yolo Shortline in the Sacramento and Woodland areas. Next, to get the line from Willits to Arcata open, but that is still a couple of years and a lot of work away, but it's coming! Also, SMART commuter trains from Cloverdale to Larkspur are on track to start up by 2008. Okay, I'll shut up now, I love to talk about trains, could you notice? lol

[Dad]

Originally posted by: Fathead All month it's been a stream of complaints, and now I get a call from an AT&T GSM cust in utah, about who has service here. Since AT&T has no license here, he asks who's signal he was using when he was here a couple of weeks ago. I explain it's Edge's signal. He says, and I quote: "That was the most atrocious excuse for a signal I have ever had." Is someone asleep at the wheel over there or what?

Where was he in S. Idaho?

[Fathead]

Poky and IF

[Dad]

Your in that area. Is the Edge coverage bad near/in the cities and major highways? I don't kjnow what they've done since fall of '00. I was PM for a time for the launch build on ID and WY, but went to OR and CA for Edge before it was lit up. I had the impression they continued to build a pretty good system, and assumed they're not in very rural areas much.

[Fathead]

Their TDMA at least had a good rep. It seems they are suffering from AT&T disease, in building up their GSM network.

[ILUVSOCAL]

Not in Northern California and Oregon, it rocks here! I mean, I have signal in the middle of nowhere in the Trinity National Forest, and in tiny, isolated places like Williow Creek, Hoopa and Weaverville.

[Dad]

I believe the GSM overlay did take resources that were previously allocated for new TDMA sites, and they may have concentrated GSM where they figured to max the MOU's. That would be N. CA. I don't have AT&T GSM for that reason. It's not deployed well enough across the US and particularly not in tier 2 and 3 market areas.

[ILUVSOCAL]

Cingular's GSM network in CA sure is good, and with no voice, ld, data, sms or mms charges on Edge with both the super home and nation plans, I get great coverage all over, even in the isolated areas I mentioned.