Refusal of Service in Conn., not in Mass

Perhaps the area in question is using 800Mhz, & The English fone can only access 1900Mhz, while the US fone can do both??

 

Even though some devices are quadband, some carriers may modify the software to restrict certain frequency bands. That's seems to be what's going on here. I know certain areas of CT only have 850Mhz on Cingular while once you cross over to MA, both 850 and 1900 are in use, which seems to imply your device is only picking up 1900Mhz.

Another thing you may want to check is if the Treo has some setting to select which bands you want to use.

 

Usually GSM phones have 2 selections, one for 1800 and 900, and one for 850 and 1900, correct? So if he is able to pick up a 1900 signal, the phone should also be set to pick up 850 as well. But, I have no owned a GSM phone since my 1900 only Nokia 5190, so what do i know!

 

An odd problem. I have routine visitors from England and elsewhere and they have no problems...but that is more south than where you are.

You might try this. If your brother's 650 and the Cingular phone both work fine in Canaan, place your UK SIM in either of them and see what happens. Of course, those phones will need to be sim unlocked, but if they are, and it works, then it is a phone problem.

Just a thought, that you may have tried already

 

It still sounds like, for whatever reason, your fone is only allowing access on 1900 & not 800.
In some areas , the fone will pick up a 1900 GSM signal such as T-mobile, & the fone will display Emergency only or no coverage message, since Cing may not allow free roaming on the other system in that particular area. This explains why you see the fone picking up a signal, but not allowing use of it.
This is also seems to be the only explination as to why "other" fones get CING fine in the exact same locations, but not this one particular model only.
As another poster mentioned, try the SIM in another 800/1900 fone, if the "problem" moves from fone to fone with the SIM, there is something in that Sim's program that is not allowing 800Mhz.... On the other hand, if all is fine with that SIM in another fone, then the access to the 800Mhz channels problem lies in that one particular fone.

 

One final thought. Are you an Orange Pay-As-You-Go customer? If that is the case (and Orange allows international use for pay as you go), it might mean your coverage map is less than Cingular's post pay map.

It has to do with roaming partners

 

Ok. Well I'm sorry that service in our 'New England' is not as friendly as England has been to me when roaming over there.

Have a good visit.

P.S. It is possible that the problem does not reside with Cingular, but one of Cingular's local roaming partners that is not letting you in. That could be a simple accounting error. Does your phone's display always show Cingular or perhaps Tmobile, Alltel, etc.

You might visit the cingular store in
Torrington. They have a computer coverage map that will tell you if it is pure native or roaming coverage in your area.

 

This could also be a misconfigured LAC in Cingular's network prohibiting access to roamers from Orange UK. Of course, Cingular's customer service won't know about this, but it is a possibility.

If I am not mistaken, Canaan is in Litchfield County in CT which is one of the areas Cingular had to sell to Alltel after the merger with AT&T Wireless at the end of 2004. However, Cingular still has the other 850Mhz license in that area since they only sold their "AT&T Wireless" license in Litchfield which was also 850Mhz, so Cingular should have native service anyway. I don't believe there is any other GSM network in that area you can roam on except T-Mobile which I doubt has any reliable coverage there.

In addition, I've known Cingular to use only 850Mhz in rural areas, so in western MA, they are probably using 850Mhz only as well, which probably means the Orange UK Treo is picking up 850 in MA, but not in CT. So I kinda doubt this is a 850Mhz vs 1900Mhz band issue.

Now, once across the NY border from west MA, the story is different. I am not sure Cingular has native coverage in that area of NY state. It might be Dobson's area.

 

The last 2 times I landed in Paris, and turned on my Cingular phone and after it locks onto SFR, BT or OrangeF, the phone displays a short 'updating SIM' message.

Abroadwithaview, I assume your phone worked ok when you landed in JFK or Bradley airports?

What did the Torrington store tell you about native or roaming coverage at your address in Canaan?

 

When you were in Torrington you said you were able to pickup T-Mobile. How about in Canaan? Does T-Mobile have service there?

 

Perhaps, but it is always nice to have things work the way that they should!

Probably the best bet is to contact Orange and have them work it out with Cingular for future visits. I bet a data file needs to be updated, and it has to do with the confusion after the merger with ATT and then the sell off Altel in that Canaan area.

Someone has not udated the information that Cingular operates in that area and the Orange and Cingular roaming agreements apply. Bascially the same thing that bobo is saying.

 

You can access this forum back in the UK. Let us know if your Orange Treo works as you drive down to JFK!

 

I bet you it is a localized problem in the Canaan area. You could get service on the Treo back in the southern CT area and in NYC.

This issue is something I would take up to Stan directly. The office of the president at Cingular has an email address you can write and explain your situation in a nice way. Chances are an experienced representative could contact you. Usually something in writing gets more attention than a passing phone call.

stan.sigman@cingular.com

Now, they may not get this issue resolved right away, but like you said before, it might be something they could take care of for future visits.

 

See, this is where CDMA just kicks ___. It either just works, or it dosent work. None of this rejected from network crap. Even if you cant find a network with a roaming agreement, you can spend $4 a minute and make a call on the American Roaming Network.

 

Same thing can happen on CDMA or worse. If your PRL is either outdated or set to deny roaming on a carrier with no agreement it will deny roaming and you won't be able to register on that network no matter what you do. GSM doesn't need PRLs that get outdated.

At least with GSM you have the option to buy a prepaid SIM which is far cheaper than making those expensive $4/min roaming calls. With CDMA you'll have to buy a whole new prepaid phone.

 

And of course a person from England is not very likely to have a CDMA phone anyway, since GSM is the common wireless system.

 

Thanks for the interesting report. FYI,when you write, I've been on that same route from New Milford, Danbury, I684 in New York to JFK, many times.

I have nearly continuous Cingular coverage (or perhaps with roaming partners) the whole way. Clearly something is wrong with the roaming agreement database that Orange UK has with Cingular (and cingular's roaming partners).

 

Thanks for the Update,
Cingular recent PR says
Cingular customers traveling along Rte 7, as well as portions of Rte 202 and Rte 37, will benefit from two new sites in New Milford on Boardman Road and Park Road. In Harwinton, a new site on Hungerford Road improves coverage on Rte 4, as well as portions of Rtes 222 and 72. Cingular has also added a site in Thomaston on Chapel Street and on Industrial Park Road in New Hartford.


http://forums.wirelessadvisor.com/n...ew-cingular-cell-sites-litchfield-county.html