Survey!!! How is the GSM service in your area?

I'm in Knoxville, TN and we have OK GSM service here at best through Cingular... There are some areas around here that are really strong, as in equal or better than CDMA, (Oak Ridge, for example.. along with Kingston/Roane County).. but other areas (Anderson County, up around Clinton/Norris) are absolutely pathetic. The best term I can come up with is "spotty"... around the major roadways, it's really good, but once you venture off the beaten path, it's sketchy as hell. Cingular by far has the best phones and best features, but I would still recommend either US Cellular, Verizon, or AT&T wireless in this area, all of which offer superior signal quality, though Verizon is the only other carrier that offers wireless web besides Cingular. Needless to say, for those who stay in the downtown area, or the two areas I mentioned as being strong, I'd recommend it, otherwise, steer clear.

 

I'm about 90 miles or so up north of Cryogenic in Kingsport, TN and I use to have GSM service and I pretty much have to agree with Cryogenic. Cingular has some really good strong area's around here but they have some weak ones too, the coverage is spotty and ok. Verizon and SunCom (Triton PCS) have much better coverage up here and I recommend them around here, however if a user really wants Cingular and they stick to mainly populated area's and the interstate I would recommend them.

 

I live and work intown Atlanta, and the service is very good. There are dead spots in some residential areas, but that is common for everyone. Service does get spotty when I go to church 30 miles from where I live in the outer portions of Gwinnett county, specifically in the Suwanee area.

 

I live in the Charlotte area of NC and the Cingular GSM coverage is very strong. Sure there are dead spots. But even companies that offer trimode phones have areas with no service. For an all digital network what Cingular has done in the southeast and along the east coast is very good.

 

6-There is none. No GSM in Lake or Mendocino Counties, up here in Northern California. Cingular and Vstream both have licenses to operate here, and have had for several years, but have yet to build out their network. Other counties in California without GSM include, Humboldt, Del Norte, Siskiyou, Modoc, Sierra, Plumas, Lassen, Trinity, and Alpine.

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May the signal be with you!

 

I'm from Houston, actually NE Houston in Humble. I use my phone for business and personal. I use Voicestream, and I would have to say that there coverage is ok. My calls occur static alot and its hard for the other person to hear me sometimes. Also there is no GPRS available in my GSM area right now i think...which kinda sucks b/c that's reason I bought the T68. I hope this helps.

 

no GPRS in a VS area? I didn't think that was possible, since VS shows their GPRS map the exact same as their voice GSM map. I was always under the impression they roll them both out at the same time. Have you called VS and had them activate and provision your account for GPRS?

 

I was thinking the same thing as cryo.

 

GPRS should be available.....

 

I have a T68 and I live in Houston also. I don't have GPRS like I'm supposed to. Is this a problem with my phone or just a problem with the initial software. I've had this phone for two weeks now and still no GPRS. I've had to use Istream CSD to use wap on my cell.

 

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA- G.S.M. USER SINCE 96. SERVICE IS GREAT. WOULD DEFINATELY RECOMEND TO ANYONE IN G.S.M. COVERAGE.

 

as far as the T68 goes, I've heard there is a new software revision out for that phone now... you might wanna check on Esato for any further info on that. I believe that's a site dedicated specifically to Sony-Ericsson phones, so you might be able to find out more there. They have forums there, too, so surely someone has some sort of info about that phone in particular. On the other hand, call VS Tech support and find out what the deal is. I know Cingular has issues with putting GPRS on accounts, but not being properly activated, forcing them to manually provision customers in the switch for GPRS. I dunno if VS has the same problems, but keep calling tech support until they get it right. You're paying for it, you should be able to use it, by god.

 

Coverage with T-Mobile in Memphis is Bad. It works if I am upstairs in my house and by the bathrrom window downstairs but no place else while I'm at home. Their is a dead zone about 1/2 mile west of my house that I go through on my way to work and another about 1/2 NE of my house. Around most of the Memphis area reception is poor - you will go through dead zones on most any drive of more than 5 miles anywhere in the city. Calls are dropped often.

 

I'm in Ft Walton Beach, Florida and a T-Mobile customer (the old Digiph PCS network actually). If you had asked that question 4 months ago, I would have said "OK", but now I have to say "Great". T-M just leased antenna space on an AT&T tower not a quater mile from my house, so I now get 4 bars at my kitchen table. AT&T rolled out GSM service in this market last Summer, but it appears to be having growing pains. I occassionally do a network search, and they seem to be down 20-30 percent of the time.

I travel a lot to Lafayette, Louisiana to see one kid, to Atlanta to see another kid, and to Kingsport, Tennessee where I was raised. I have been very pleased with service on the T-M/Cingular networks during these travels ... I can even retrieve my e-mail while roaming on Cingular. The only hitch is that 70 mile shortcut through south Alabama towns like Andalusia and Opp. That's when my wife's Alltel service comes in real handy.

 

Another person on the board from Kingsport, TN eh? That happens to be where I have lived my entire life and currently am at now.

 

2(OK)-I live about 50 miles outside of Charlotte, NC. Cingular Wireless has fairly strong service in this area. Of course there are some dead spots, but that is to be expected. Recommend to others.

 

Jacksonville, Florida, area with T-Mobile: 1. Great

 

I live just outside of Charlotte, NC; and my service is great here. I encounter a few dead spots, but they are usually very small. There is great GSM coverage in the area surrounding Charlotte too, all the way up into the Greensboro/ Winston-Salem area; and down into SC to both Greenville/ Spartanburg and Columbia. Going to Asheville, NC via Shelby, NC there is an area about 20 or 30 miles long where there is no GSM service, or at least there wasn't the last time I traveled there. If you take the interstate all the way the service is pretty good, though. There is good service, but not great, around Asheville and Hendersonville, NC. If you are in the cities or near the interstates you have good coverage, but if you get away from them there is no GSM at all. Going to my hometown of Bakersville, NC which is right over the state line from Elizabethton and Unicoi, TN (Johnson City area), there is no GSM after you get about 5 to 10 miles off the interstate 40 in Marion, NC; if I go on across the state line to Unicoi or Roan Mountain, TN I pick up GSM coverage again as I approach Johnson City. Johnson City seems to have good coverage, and I keep pretty good coverage all the way to Bristol and Marion, VA. Going north on I-77, GSM coverage is pretty good until right before the VA state line, then you lose GSM coverage for good. There is no GSM coverage at all in western VA from Marion, VA up through Roanoke and Lexington, VA; and there is no GSM at all in West Virginia that I know of; there may be some coverage in the northern or eastern panhandle near Pittsburgh or Washington, DC; but I never go there, so I wouldn't know. I would recommend GSM for anyone who only uses their phone in or near urban areas or interstates, I don't think it would be a good choice for someone who spends a lot of time in rural areas. I love GSM, but it is just not built out enough yet; I think when they get the TDMA networks converted over, it will be better. I have analog backup, if I had to rely on GSM only, I would probably switch to TDMA or CDMA.