Northern Arizona coverage (short)

[AnthroMatt]

I drove up to Page from Phoenix today. I had native Sprint until north of Flagstaff, where I first roamed on Verizon (SID 1026) and then as I got closer to Page, I went over to Alltel, which is what I am on up here (no Sprint in these parts).

What I find odd is that the Alltel SID up here is 53, which is the same SID as down in Phoenix. Yet Alltel has a SID for Coconino County (1025). I am not sure if the 1025 is inaccurate or if my phone is giving an odd reading or if there is some other reason the Phoenix SID is being used up here...maybe it covers a lot more land than do other carriers' SID for the Phoenix area?

Anyway, Alltel is great up here. They even have EVDO service, which surprised me. Sprint still hasn't put EVDO in Flagstaff (former affiliate market) yet, but Alltel has it up here. Good for them.

Tomorrow I am heading up (by plane) to Bullfrog Marina in Utah...I have no clue if anything will work up there or not.

P.S., my GoPhone from ATT no worky up here. I am not sure who the GSM carrier is up here? Dobson/CellOne? I thought ATT bought them though?

[Eric47]

Originally Posted by AnthroMatt

P.S., my GoPhone from ATT no worky up here. I am not sure who the GSM carrier is up here? Dobson/CellOne? I thought ATT bought them though?

its a go phone, the service area is much smaller.

[AnthroMatt]

I know it is. regular ATT users work up here on "partner coverage' which is why I asked who the provider here is. I looked and it says ATT and TMobile are licensed here, the ATT coverage map shows this area as partner coverage...so what does that mean?

BTW, I don't care that GoPhone has a smaller coverage area since it isn't my primary phone, but I think it is lame that if ATT (or any company, I don't want to seem like I am picking on ATT) offers a service somewhere, the exclude their prepay customers from using it. What purpose does that serve? I can understand not permitting roaming or charging hefty fees for it (like Alltel does with their prepay phones) but to deny the actual native network seems puzzling.

[Eric47]

ah lol sorry i was confused. i did a look up of where you mean.

id guess old Alltel GSM networks is who they roam on there probably.

also the reason they dont give you the full network capability is to intise people to move up to post paid plans, but generally from the maps the go-phones look like 75% network, pick your plans look like 98% and post paid full. its just a part of business strategy for cell company's i suppose.

[AnthroMatt]

I figured that was the case, but I wouldn't be enticed to switch to AT&T if I brought my prepaid phone here, it didn't work, and so I concluded AT&T doesn't work up here.

[Eric47]

Originally Posted by AnthroMatt

I figured that was the case, but I wouldn't be enticed to switch to AT&T if I brought my prepaid phone here, it didn't work, and so I concluded AT&T doesn't work up here.

i can see what you mean. thats definetly a roaming area, but post paid you wouldnt notice.

[Charlyee]

Originally Posted by AnthroMatt

P.S., my GoPhone from ATT no worky up here. I am not sure who the GSM carrier is up here? Dobson/CellOne? I thought ATT bought them though?

Interesting, at&t must have made some changes since I was there just about a year back. Page was one of the 3 places that had "410".

I had my Verizon phone with me, and roamed on Alltel in Page also, did not note the SID.

At the risk of being wrong again , I am going to say I am positive there is no native at&t coverage in Bull Frog Marina.


Good report btw.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Charlyee

Interesting, at&t must have made some changes since I was there just about a year back. Page was one of the 3 places that had "410".

I had my Verizon phone with me, and roamed on Alltel in Page also, did not note the SID.

At the risk of being wrong again , I am going to say I am positive there is no native at&t coverage in Bull Frog Marina.


Good report btw.

Verizon actually has two cell sites near Page in Arizona, and one outside of Big Water, UT and another one on Navajo Mountain so I am surprised to hear that you were needing to use ALLTEL in Page.
In the summer of 2006 there was no Cingular native service in Page, and there was no native at&t service in Page there a few months ago when I went there for the day.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by AnthroMatt

I drove up to Page from Phoenix today. I had native Sprint until north of Flagstaff, where I first roamed on Verizon (SID 1026) and then as I got closer to Page, I went over to Alltel, which is what I am on up here (no Sprint in these parts).

What I find odd is that the Alltel SID up here is 53, which is the same SID as down in Phoenix. Yet Alltel has a SID for Coconino County (1025). I am not sure if the 1025 is inaccurate or if my phone is giving an odd reading or if there is some other reason the Phoenix SID is being used up here...maybe it covers a lot more land than do other carriers' SID for the Phoenix area?

Anyway, Alltel is great up here. They even have EVDO service, which surprised me. Sprint still hasn't put EVDO in Flagstaff (former affiliate market) yet, but Alltel has it up here. Good for them.

Tomorrow I am heading up (by plane) to Bullfrog Marina in Utah...I have no clue if anything will work up there or not.

P.S., my GoPhone from ATT no worky up here. I am not sure who the GSM carrier is up here? Dobson/CellOne? I thought ATT bought them though?

ALLTEL does use SID 53 in Page. Both Verizon and ALLTEL have EVDO service in Page. I have not seen, nor used SID 1025 anywhere I've been to in Coconino County on ALLTEL.

Bullfrog Marina you will get service from Verizon's and ALLTEL's cell sites located on Navajo Mountain and Commnet Wireless has a tiny installation at Bullfrog Marina as well (not sure if Sprint allows roaming on them). Enjoy your stay there, it's beautiful.

[Charlyee]

Originally Posted by Andy

Verizon actually has two cell sites near Page in Arizona, and one outside of Big Water, UT and another one on Navajo Mountain so I am surprised to hear that you were needing to use ALLTEL in Page.
In the summer of 2006 there was no Cingular native service in Page, and there was no native at&t service in Page there a few months ago when I went there for the day.

I was on Alltel because I recall a forumite friend giving me deatiled instructions on how to force my phone to Alltel and recommending I leave it on Alltel in UT and AZ.

About at&t, I wonder if I noted that wrong then, I have 310-410 writen down for Moab, Kayenata, & Page.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Charlyee

I was on Alltel because I recall a forumite friend giving me deatiled instructions on how to force my phone to Alltel and recommending I leave it on Alltel in UT and AZ.

About at&t, I wonder if I noted that wrong then, I have 310-410 writen down for Moab, Kayenata, & Page.

I wonder who that forumite may have been.

To be honest with you, as far as I know Moab is the only 410 "hot spot." Kayenta is roaming on Cellular ONE of NE AZ and Page and the Lake Powell area roams mainly on ALLTEL's GSM roamer network.

[Charlyee]

Originally Posted by Andy

To be honest with you, as far as I know Moab is the only 410 "hot spot." Kayenta is roaming on Cellular ONE of NE AZ and Page and the Lake Powell area roams mainly on ALLTEL's GSM roamer network.

So I got 1 out of 3 right? Geez, what can I say, my mind must have been on vacation also.

Here is what else I I had noted down:

Lincoln & Kearney, NE 310-450..................Viaero Wireless

Leadville, CO, 310-590..................................Western Wireless

Pagosa Springs, Cortez, CO 311-040..........Commet Wireless (The only one that was "EDGE" btw)

4 Corners, Chinle, 310-320............................Cellular One of NE AZ

Zion & Bryce, UT, 310-590..............................Western Wireless

I do remember being on Alltel GSM sometime and the reception was very poor. The reception at Moab & Pager were both very good.

How do these compare with your experience?


PS: Sorry Mr. Big Meanie, didn't mean to hijack your thread on coverage report.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Charlyee

So I got 1 out of 3 right? Geez, what can I say, my mind must have been on vacation also.

Here is what else I I had noted down:

Lincoln & Kearney, NE 310-450..................Viaero Wireless

Leadville, CO, 310-590..................................Western Wireless

Pagosa Springs, Cortez, CO 311-040..........Commet Wireless (The only one that was "EDGE" btw)

4 Corners, Chinle, 310-320............................Cellular One of NE AZ

Zion & Bryce, UT, 310-590..............................Western Wireless

I do remember being on Alltel GSM sometime and the reception was very poor. The reception at Moab & Pager were both very good.

How do these compare with your experience?


PS: Sorry Mr. Big Meanie, didn't mean to hijack your thread on coverage report.

Personally I have not used GSM in most areas you've mentioned. I would assume that Commnet's GSM network was pretty good in the areas you used it.

As for Cellular One of NE AZ I have heard pretty good things and at&t pays quite a bit per minute to roam on them. I don't think T-Mobile even allows roaming on them.

It does not surprise me that your experiences with ALLTEL GSM in Southern Utah were not the best, their GSM network is simply put up for roaming revenue and they don't care how it sounds. I've had a GSM phone with me on a lot of my travels through ALLTEL GSM roaming areas and had issues with voice quality and connecting calls.

Moab, as well as Highway 191 connecting Moab to Interstate 70 have at&t native service, which is the smart thing to do, considering the thousands of people who go to Moab every weekend and at&t probably got sick of paying roaming.

Commnet has GSM at Wahweap Marina(before this Commnet site GSM was dead at Wahweap) and I *think* Commnet even has GSM in Page itself, so you may either have been on ALLTEL or Commnet and Cellular One has native service in Page as well I think. I know that even last time I was in that area, no at&t service anywhere close, but I didn't pay attention who they were roaming on.

[AnthroMatt]

Originally Posted by Andy

ALLTEL does use SID 53 in Page. Both Verizon and ALLTEL have EVDO service in Page. I have not seen, nor used SID 1025 anywhere I've been to in Coconino County on ALLTEL.

Bullfrog Marina you will get service from Verizon's and ALLTEL's cell sites located on Navajo Mountain and Commnet Wireless has a tiny installation at Bullfrog Marina as well (not sure if Sprint allows roaming on them). Enjoy your stay there, it's beautiful.

Just back from my brief excursion to Bullfrog. My phone roamed on Commnet (SID 3002) up there.

No data services whatsoever, SMS and voicemail notifications worked fine, calling out worked, but based upon the messages that people left me, every single incoming call went straight to VM.

Charlyee...I didn't even bother to bring my ATT phone.

[Charlyee]

Wirelessly posted (Treo 750: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.6) UP.Link/6.3.1.17.0)

Originally Posted by AnthroMatt

Charlyee...I didn't even bother to bring my ATT phone.

That's too bad, you missed an opportunity for a genuine "at&t sux" post

[Mobile Mike]

Good report Anthro.

Also. good to see you back Andy!

[RJB]

Originally Posted by AnthroMatt

Just back from my brief excursion to Bullfrog. My phone roamed on Commnet (SID 3002) up there.

No data services whatsoever, SMS and voicemail notifications worked fine, calling out worked, but based upon the messages that people left me, every single incoming call went straight to VM.

Charlyee...I didn't even bother to bring my ATT phone.

Yeah it seemed like your sms was fine. Do you think comnet just does not have data period or does not allow data roaming?

[mframe]

Originally Posted by AnthroMatt

I can understand not permitting roaming or charging hefty fees for it (like Alltel does with their prepay phones) but to deny the actual native network seems puzzling.

Actually, I think AlltelU is quite generous with free roaming (on Verizon, Sprint, US Cellular, etc). I was looking at the AlltelU coverage map just the other day, and it is showing even more free roaming than it used to. From that map, it almost looks like the only (very little) extra charge roaming areas would be about the same few spots where even National plan postpaid would pay extra.