Cingular terrible in Waukesha County WI

Cingular seems to have a lot of problems with garbled voice quality lately- it seems to be popping up in a lot of places. This is one of the biggest reasons I have not yet given them a try; coverage is strong in many places, but call quality is just crap.

 

Hi Gonz, from my personal experience USCC is by far the best in WI and if you like their plans and their phones then that's the way to go. Infact I force my Verizon phone to roam on USCC while I am in the Racine/Mke are and I have a great improvement in the level of signal.

WI does not have nearly as extensive a GSM coverage but I am a little surprised that you are having a voice quality problem on GSM. In an area that does have GSM, the call quality is much better on either of my GSM phones than with any of my Verizon phones, and even with a brand new 7K.

Sprint has never been good for me either.

Just my 2 cents.

 

Easy decision then, stay with VZW, but force your phone to USCC whenever needed...

 

Thats a really nice ability to have (forcing the phone to NAM 2). Can you still do it on an AC2 plan? (Not like I need it. I barely ever leave NYC.)

 

If a carrier is Extended Network, you can still force NAM2 without a problem.

If a carrier is not extended network and usually blocked from roaming on I don't know, but I've heard people using NAM2 and talking for free on providers not included in AC2.

 

Hmm. I will have to look up how this can be done on my phone before I travel next.

 

I could help you figure it out if you're still using your LG.
Btw, under normal conditions/ most places you travel to, I wouldn't even worry about using NAM2 to force anything...there are some places where this can be helpful though.

 

I had garbled voice quality back when Cingular used to be TDMA in my area.

On the other hand, my voice hasn't been garbled on my Tracfone.

 

Different experience in my area- TDMA was better in the day than Verizon CDMA is today, but after they started their GSM thing things in my area went downhill.

 

I definately recommend Alltel. Although I don't have any experience with VZW. GSM is horrible if you live outside of a city, especially indoor.

 

In general you are right, GSM is not as developed yet out side the big cities as CDMA is. However, it depends on a few variables including tower placement. In my case I live 10 miles outside of a small city and Cingular GSM has the best service around there specially inside my house. USCC is the next best with Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile lagging far far behind.

In my case the 850 MHZ offered by Cingular GSM and USCC CDMA service takes precedence over the 1900 MHZ CDMA and GSM offered by the other carriers.

 

Cingular's voice quality has been rather 'average' lately. It was excellent in the Carolinas on PCS, but has been below GSM par in 850 areas. I also think my SE s710a fades in and out (on incoming only) more than my previous GSM phones. My mother's x427m sounds great besides the usual Samsung GSM background noise. I've never been to an area with CDMA and not GSM! Includes rural parts of AZ, NC, SC, MD, and PA! Obviously, it depends on where you live and travel.

 

I will have to second that one. When I used to go into the mountains here in UT I would be in VZW digital to VZW analog to AT&T (Cingular) analog. The Cingular part rarely happens anymore I usally go VZW analog to dead in UT. Still on VZW AC-1

 

I never picked up AT&T/Cingular AMPS on my tri-mode handsets and AC1 in the mountains I've been to, but I guess it's a different story up there

 

I force my phone to use the old ATT network anywhere in Columbus because calls drop a lot less and I have also noticed much better voice quality on the "Blue" side.

 

I admit i have been getting more echos latley in my area damn merger finish it already! Still not bad only gottton it twice both after merger about 3 weeks ago.. Of corse i think they using A&T towers over here and they BLOW down here..

 

How can i force my VZW Audiovox9500 on to NAM2?