All Digital, Non Tri Mode Phone Newbie Questions ?

Tri-mode 800 MHz (analog) 800 MHz (digital CDMA) 1900 MHz (digital CDMA)
Dual Band 800 MHz (digital CDMA) 1900 MHz (digital CDMA) "All digital"
If you go into a area where there is no CDMA or Verizon won't allow you to roam on the CDMA network then your phone will say No Service on a Dual Band phone.
There are not that many areas where you need analog, but there still are a few places out there.
In Maine US Cellular does do 800 MHz CDMA, but for some reason Verizon can only roam on analog (don't know why). So you may want to stick to a tri-mode and not a dual band phone.

 

Do you currently have a tri-mode phone or at least access to one? If so and you can make it up to where you usually vacation, you can tell by the indicator if the phone flips to analog or not. This still doesn't guarantee that you'll never be in a place that' analog only, but you should concentrate on what's important to you. As has been stated many times on these boards, use the 15 day trial and try it where you will be using it.

 

Bob,

The best thing to do is check Verizon's coverage in your area on their website. I beleive you can zoom in on the area you are interested. If Verizon has coverage in that area, I would go with the tri-mode phone and not worry about it. Plus you do have trial period with the phone. You can always switch it.

I have a tri-mode phone and quite honestly, I hate when it goes to analog mode. It eats up the battery life within a half hour tha is in stand-by mode. The tri-mode phones batteries are designed to work in digital mode.

 

In the northeast there are very few analog areas remaining. My personal preference right now is to have a tri mode phone.

As with any phone, I would strongly reccomend one with an extendable rather than stub antenna.

 

My vx6000 has a stub, and it gets good reception. Better than my Kyocera with an extendable. Besides, a lot of people don't bother extending their antenna anyway.

 

All things being equal (distance from tower etc) CDMA technology is dependent on antenna length.

While I have had the 6000 and was happy with it my wife's Motorola 270c, my old V60i and my present Audiovox 9900 run rings around the 6000 as far as reception goes. All have extendable antennas.

Look here for an explanation on antenna length and CDMA reception

http://home.san.rr.com/denbeste/antenna.html

 

If you frequent the "sticks", tri-mode is the way to go. I can give you 1st hand experience.

We camp north of Andover ME every summer. The nearest cell tower is about 10-15 miles away, but its way up on a mountain.

My trusty Nokia 3589i, known for its signal holding power, was giving me at least two bars of digital signal from U.S. Cellular SID 1317 (-95dBm). However I was not able to make a call. Forcing the phone into analog I was able to make a call. Analog operates with slightly higher wattage (0.6w vs 0.2w-0.4w IIRC), which probably explains why I could make the call in analog.

I will say the my old Startac 7868 outperforms the 3589i quite handily in analog. Next time we go camping there I am switching service to the 7868. The strongest signal in the area is Unicel, and Verizon pulled free roaming on that system (SID 1314). So it's U.S. Cellular or nothing now.

PS: To whomever can't digitally roam on U.S. Cellular, update your roaming list by dialing *228 option 2.

 

All very good information. I'm assuming my phone is optimized for 1900MHz. Maybe not the best choice for my area where VZW has at least 800MHz almost everywhere. The fact remains that many people won't extend their antenna. There are other things we could teach about cell phone use, too....