Need clarification of "Extended Network"

1) - Not sure, could be more than just 1 possible carrier.

2) - Yes, it really will.
At home indoors , in order to get "extended area" First you need to have an exteded partners signal available in that dead zone (& Some areas of the US aren't "allowed" an Exteded partner by VZW)... & Chances are if there is an exteded allowed partner system, & you are losing VZW's signal, the Roaming Partner (if any) , also has no signal in that building too.

3) If you have a current AmericasChoice Plan, all roaming is "free" & will be labled "Exteded Network" when Roaming. The fone will display the Banner "Roaming" only outside the USA, Such as in Mexico, South America or New Zealand, to indicate you are paying a fee for the call. Exteded Network IS Roaming, it's just included in your plan.

4) - In most areas, Analog is not really needed. There are exceptions, mostly in the very rural west. In 2008, Carriers will be "Allowed" per FCC rule, to shut off any analog channels, if they desire to, (not required), & chances are there will be very little analog signal left 24-48 months from now .

Read fully the 1st post of this thread for more info& answers:
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=690197

 

Oops...sorry, was trying to edit and wound up double-posting. See my next post...which would be my second!

 

Hi, this is my first post! Been lurking until now, trying to soak up all the great info from all the helpful folks in the forums. Just wanted to say that I checked the latest PRL (50687) and Alltel is the only roaming carrier listed in Manitou Beach. Also, I checked Monroe and there is no in-market roaming listed there, so that may be another reason you can't get an extended network signal there.

 

MUHillbilly, I found out about this excellent PRL site on HoFo awhile ago. It is maintained by XFF and Justalurker over there. It must have just been updated because PRL 50687 is on there as of today. XFF basically takes PRLs and decodes them so you can see what kind of service your carrier maintains in your SID (cellular, PCS, analog, or EVDO) and what carriers you're allowed to roam off of in every market. It takes awhile to get used to the layout, but it's a great source of information!

 

I had no idea that PRL Interpretations were maintained by XFF and Justalurker. Great work guys! It's a phenomenol site.

When you're on it I've found that the 'Find' feature in Internet Explorer is a huge help.

 

UFO is right--CTRL+F is a must! I used to just search for city and state names, but now I even search for SIDs, CMAs, and BTAs. I spend way too much time with this stuff! Seriously though, XFF does a great job with it. It is one way to empower yourself as a consumer, which VZW doesn't sem to care much about. Since whenever you roam all you get is "Extended Network" on your screen, checking the SID you're roaming on and cross-referencing it in a PRL interpretation is the only way to know what system it is. This is important if you don't get a good native signal and you want to know who's offering the best coverage in a given area. XFF has said he's working on alphatag software to modify your PRL so that it will actually display the system you're roaming on, which would be really super...

I'm so obsessed with knowing this that when I travel to Kentucky this Christmas I'm gonna bring a back-pocket list of all the Kentucky SIDs so I can always check to see who I'm roaming on! Everyone will look at me weird when I get it out, but at least I know you all and HoFoers will understand!