AT&T GSM Should Launch Soon in CA

<< Thanks. No thanks. I'll wait for ATT. Much bigger company with more expansive network. >>



a more expansive GSM/GPRS network? You should know better Kevin. Go find customers in Houston who switched from Voicestream to AT&T GSM and they'll tell you just how "well" (sarcasm) the overlay works as opposed to a GSM dedicated network.

And if you are talking about CA itself? Sure the Cingular Network which VS will be sharing has had capacity problems, but footprint wise, it is excellent and capacity problems will not be an issue after the upgrade is done.

90 percent of the people who posted on this thread are morons. First of all, I think the Cingular bashing is just propaganda by workers of other wireless services. I've went alll over California and have had no problems with the service. Plus speaking with a friend who works for Empower, a sercvice that provides regional solutions for wireless providers that enlist their services has stated that Cingular, by August, will be the most profeicint and one of the most well covered providers in California...
He confirmed the AT&T cell site situation, wich he said is going to Boost Cingular by 40%.
I also found out a little about Voicstream as well... They only have plans to cover mostly southern california.
Man, alot of people didnt believe any of this stuff. But as far as for certain people who talked so wholier than thou about wireless service, I guess you were wrong.
And if any idiot tells me, 'prove it', hey, you dont have to believe me, but why should anyone believe you??? The proof will be in the pudding...

<< 90 percent of the people who posted on this thread are morons. First of all, I think the Cingular bashing is just propaganda by workers of other wireless services. I've went alll over California and have had no problems with the service. Plus speaking with a friend who works for Empower, a sercvice that provides regional solutions for wireless providers that enlist their services has stated that Cingular, by August, will be the most profeicint and one of the most well covered providers in California...
He confirmed the AT&T cell site situation, wich he said is going to boost Cingular by 40%.
I also found out a little about Voicstream as well... They only have plans to cover mostly southern california.
Man, alot of people didnt believe any of this stuff. But as far as for certain people who talked so wholier than thou about wireless service, I guess you were wrong.
And if any idiot tells me, 'prove it', hey, you dont have to believe me, but why should anyone believe you??? The proof will be in the pudding... >>




You don't believe that Cingular has been bad in CA in the past year and a half???

"Last year was both exciting and challenging for us. Backed by parent companies SBC and BellSouth, Cingular introduced affordable, flexible calling plans that were so popular, demand exceeded our projections. And that placed unexpected pressure on our network capacity."

Thats from www.cingularupdates.com

here is from the SF Chronicle:
Sunday April 14 12:00am
The San Francisco Chronicle
WorldCom Wireless, considered a bit player in the cellular phone market, sparked more complaints last year than any other carrier statewide.

The California Public Utilities Commission logged more than 3,000 gripes against WorldCom Wireless in 2001, more than AT&T Wireless, Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless combined, according to a Chronicle analysis of complaints filed with the PUC.

To be fair, complaints are also skyrocketing against other industry players, as cell phone companies rush to sign up millions more customers, jamming their networks and customer service lines. Gripes rose 14 percent against AT&T Wireless, 60 percent against Sprint PCS and 80 percent against Cingular Wireless.




RIght now aand in the past Cingular Sucks, pretty much only during peak times and night time, but thats when people want to use the phone...7-10 am and 4-7pm, 15 times to my girlfriend and 15 system busy, call back later messages in a row 2 weeks ago. Wouldn't even put me through to the VM. Talking to my coworker last week, we counted 18 times the call dropped and we had to reconnect over a 25 minutes conversation. I was on a landline, she was on her Cingular.

And Voicestream does not only have plans to cover southern CA, that's wrong. The entire Cingular network as well as new sites built out by both Cingular and Voicestream will be shared. The proof on that is the thousands of press releases by both companies stating this since CIngular is doing the same thing in NYC. And I have seen the map as to where the new sites are being built and which ones are Cingular and which ones are Voicestream, but it's kind of even.


And even so, the better the Cingular network is, the better it will be for Voicestream customers also, there will be no difference in the footprint or coverage. So yeah, I hope you are right and Cingular is better after the upgrades are done (which coincidentally will be when Voicestream launches lol).

[SprintGirl]

<< Sure the Cingular Network which VS will be sharing has had capacity problems, but footprint wise, it is excellent and capacity problems will not be an issue after the upgrade is done. >>



::Clears throat:: One litttttle thing to point out - GPRS is an overlay solution to increased bandwidth - which means is lowers voice capacity per tower. It's a stop-gap measure until companies can afford the upgrade to WCDMA 3G. That means they'll be shelling out a lot of money to make the transitions, which also means they will have to find ways to recoup that money ...

Just thought I'd point that out ... ::looking innocent::

<<

<< Sure the Cingular Network which VS will be sharing has had capacity problems, but footprint wise, it is excellent and capacity problems will not be an issue after the upgrade is done. >>



::Clears throat:: One litttttle thing to point out - GPRS is an overlay solution to increased bandwidth - which means is lowers voice capacity per tower. It's a stop-gap measure until companies can afford the upgrade to WCDMA 3G. That means they'll be shelling out a lot of money to make the transitions, which also means they will have to find ways to recoup that money ...

Just thought I'd point that out ... ::looking innocent:: >>



then I guess it's a good thing that even though Voicestream is mainly sharing Cingular's network, in addition to having a few towers, that they are also going to be adding 40 mhz of spectrum, which is basically double the bandwidth of before.

Also because it is an overlay the speeds they cap the speed on GPRS at 56k, usually averaging at about 30-40k, while a completley dedicated network with no voice could run at 174k...so I think that should solve the voice capacity issue....

I am on GSM in Bakersfield, CA.. they told me all of California will be GSM by end of year.. Sac and SF covered already by end of month SD already covered and LA end of July Sept

This is my first time posting in this forum. I stopped by an AT&T Wireless store yesterday to ask about service. The bay area is not yet covered by the GPRS service, but northern/central california are. Right now the plans aren't very good, for $39.99/month you can get 700 anytime minutes, but you don't get any n/w minutes. They only have one phone right now that can switch between GPRS and TDMA, I don't remember which one it was, but the Nokia 8390 will not. He told me I should wait till they fully launch the service before buying due to the limited coverage area. He claimed that the service will launch on September 1st nationwide. Not sure how accurate that is, but I can't wait.

Also another thing the guy at AT&T mentioned was that the phone that can switch between GPRS and TDMA, will not do so seamlessly. The call will be dropped if you leave the GPRS coverage and enter TDMA.

[KevinJames]

Hello anonymous and welcome,

I am long-time resident of SF/Bay area (now in Tracy). I work mostly in the East Bay but travel to SF sometimes. I have been with ATT since 1994.

Most of your post appeared to statements rather than questions, so I don't know what you are looking for.

The phone ATT currently markets that does both TDMA & GSM is a Seimens product. As far as this "seamless" issue, I have not heard anything about it one way or the other. Speculation about many things related to this market is usually frustrating and fruitless. Time will tell.

The September date you were given is pretty much what most others are being told. It is for the "major markets" only, however. ATT has openly announced that upgrades will continue through 2003. SF/Bay is definitely a "major market."

kev

ATT's "3G" webpage (In reality, it is only 2.5G.)

By the way, none of the currently offered GSM phones has analog backup. See: http://www.attws.com/mobileinternet/equipment.jhtml

Actually, Cingular has little to do with AT&T Wireless' launches in GSM markets nationwide.

The only reason that Cingular is a major contender in the Ca market is because Pac Bell spent a better part of four years building out that network, and then Cingular came along and offered them an insane amount of money for their network. None of the perfection in Ca is due to be credited to Cingular.

[rocketgirl515]

AT&T did an overlay on their network in a few months, whereas VS has existed in Houston for years. The reason the AT&TWS network had problems initially was because the network structure for TDMA is VERY different from GSM network structure.

ONE IMPORTANT QUESTION
I just signed on to ATT for two years with 3 phones, when they switch to GSM will my Nokia 3360 still work or do i need to upgrade to take advantage of the benefits?

You will need to upgrade to a 3390 or another compatible GSM phone. TDMA and GSM are 2 different (yet slightly simmilar) technologies. My advice would be to stay with TDMA till at least January when AT&T will have the whole country rolled out. AT&T will still keep there TDMA networks up for years to come as it is still a huge part of there market share.

"The only reason that Cingular is a major contender in the Ca market is because Pac Bell spent a better part of four years building out that network, and then Cingular came along and offered them an insane amount of money for their network. None of the perfection in Ca is due to be credited to Cingular. "

The above statement is untrue... Cingular WAS Pac Bell Wireless... Still owned by the sam parental company, just a name change....

Cingular is launching the Gait handset by the mid to end of July. It will unify a tdma and Gsm market. AT&T's launch to GSM is outdated as this market is already here in california and has been for almost 10 years... As far as perfection of Gsm in ca, Cingular invested pratically in the billions back into this market by itself to improve quality of the GSM network. A benefeit that AT&T owes Cingular.