Sprint Roaming on MetroPCS in Socal

[CellGeek]

I was in the Banana Republic store in South Coast Plaza Mall (Costa Mesa California) this weekend and attempted to place a call. The call did not go through and I got a message that said "LA 02". I dialed 611 and got "hello, hello, hello, welcome to MetroPCS".

If there was no Sprint signal in that store, why didn't my phone roam on to Verizon? Is there also no Verizon signal in the Banna Republic store in South Coast Plaza? Does MetroPCS have a cell site inside of South Coast Plaza? Is there a reason that the signal from MetroPCS in stronger than Sprint and Verizon in South Coast Plaza? My PRL is 60612 and the phone is a Blackberry 8830. It is not possible for force roaming on the Blackberry. My phone is set to "automatic roaming" mode.

Interesting!

[CellGeek]

Note that about a month ago, I had an identical experience at Ontario Mills Mall in Ontario California. It really makes me wonder if MetroPCS is setting up cell sites inside of shopping malls.

Originally Posted by jimwayda

I was in the Banana Republic store in South Coast Plaza Mall (Costa Mesa California) this weekend and attempted to place a call. The call did not go through and I got a message that said "LA 02". I dialed 611 and got "hello, hello, hello, welcome to MetroPCS".

If there was no Sprint signal in that store, why didn't my phone roam on to Verizon? Is there also no Verizon signal in the Banna Republic store in South Coast Plaza? Does MetroPCS have a cell site inside of South Coast Plaza? Is there a reason that the signal from MetroPCS in stronger than Sprint and Verizon in South Coast Plaza? My PRL is 60612 and the phone is a Blackberry 8830. It is not possible for force roaming on the Blackberry. My phone is set to "automatic roaming" mode.

Interesting!

[larry]

Interesting. I have never had any problems inside of South Coast Plaza with my phone going into roaming. I can't say for sure that I've ever been into Banana Republic there.

Does the Blackberry 8830 have 850 Mhz roaming capabilities or is it a 1900 Mhz only phone? I can't easily check online somewhere but thought you might know for sure.

[CellGeek]

From blackberry Specification:

Dual-band 900/1800 Mhz GSM/GPRS networks
Dual-band 800/1900 Mhz CDMA2000 1X Ev-DO networks

Originally Posted by larry

Interesting. I have never had any problems inside of South Coast Plaza with my phone going into roaming. I can't say for sure that I've ever been into Banana Republic there.

Does the Blackberry 8830 have 850 Mhz roaming capabilities or is it a 1900 Mhz only phone? I can't easily check online somewhere but thought you might know for sure.

[larry]

I wish I could give you an answer but I have yet to land on Metro PCS and don't even know of any spots where I could automatically go into roaming to test it out around here. When I force roaming I still get Verizon. My phone has the PRL 50511 series.

[RadioFoneGuy]

Metro and Cricket have used a ton of DAS units to cover Malls internally verus a Cell Tower outside so its possible you got into some sort of void and hopped on their network. Depends on the order of precedence in the PRL.

In my Experience just as an example, I have a PCS tower that is right across from a mall and when I get deep into the mall my phone will handoff to a 850 tower that is a couple of miles away. Having a tower next to a mall isnt always a guarentee it will completely cover the entire area.

[larry]

Originally Posted by RadioFoneGuy

Metro and Cricket have used a ton of DAS units to cover Malls internally verus a Cell Tower outside so its possible you got into some sort of void and hopped on their network. Depends on the order of precedence in the PRL.

In my Experience just as an example, I have a PCS tower that is right across from a mall and when I get deep into the mall my phone will handoff to a 850 tower that is a couple of miles away. Having a tower next to a mall isnt always a guarentee it will completely cover the entire area.

Good point. I know Sprint usually prefers to place a tower next to malls rather than to try to put up microcells inside. I guess they figure if it works in 80% to 90% of the mall inside it's good enough. As for the mall in question here (South Coast Plaza) Sprint happens to have a cell site right on the roof of one of the department stores (3333 Bristol St.) so you'd think that would be sufficient.

[spleck]

Originally Posted by RadioFoneGuy

Metro and Cricket have used a ton of DAS units to cover Malls internally verus a Cell Tower outside

Based on their consumers, that's a fitting strategy and probably helps balance their sites and congestion.

How are the DASs setup? Is it one base station with long cable runs to antennas spread out, or just an antenna system in one area aimed at each section of the mall?

[larry]

I had always heard before that it was difficult to get approval for DAS systems inside malls. Since Metro is so new here in the LA market I'm wondering how they were able to do it so quickly. Assuming that's what's happened. I know Sprint has some DAS systems or repeaters inside a few malls like one in Cerritos and one in Canoga Park but they usually prefer a traditional cell site next to the mall or on the roof of a nearby building.

[spleck]

I refuse to acknowledge being off topic when the subject is Sprint roaming on MetroPCS of all things, so I'll go ahead and post this interesting read: Atlanta Airport DAS. Fiber based DAS with 700+ antennas...

[larry]

Too bad LAX Airport doesn't have that system.