T-Mobile / York, PA

I'm not sure but I thought T Mobile was 1900 only. You'll probably have better coverage w/ Cingular. Anyone else's thoughts?

 

I would seriously consider getting an 850/1900 phone, but you won't be using the 850 in south central PA. I have some contacts in that area, and after a few years of relative stability in the network, TM is resuming a rather large expansion in that area. They added 8 cell sites in July, and have on track another 30+ in the next 6 months. There are lots of rumors about TM 850 roaming, and there is official 850 roaming in MN and the UP of MI. However, it is in areas where TM does not provide service - it is not used as filler.

 

I really haven't experienced any dropped calls in the Northern Virginia area, Maybe this is a local network issue? We're kinda overkilled here as far as coverage because Cingular & AT&T both had pretty good native netowrks here so we have been somewhat "overbuilt" since the merger.

 

I did a thread a few weeks ago about GSM and CDM sound, please check it out, if you like. I find that GSM sound is flat; and true CDMA can be robotic, depending on the Vocoder and other factors.

I have been on calls coming from a GSM phone where the conversation falls apart. Of course a lot depends on the phone. I have been thinking
about switching too. Building penetration is another consideration for 1900. Its a toss up

 

The T-Mobile/Cingular "sharing", in the past, (not anymore) was never on the 850 Mhz band, anyway. If you want all that native and roaming 850 Mhz GSM coverage, go with Cingular. The issue with poor Cingular GSM coverage in the Philly area (due to control channels being put on 1900 Mhz only), has long since been corrected. Cingular's 850 Mhz GSM around Philly, and the former AWS 850 Mhz in the rest of PA, should be excellent.

 

I remember our conversations from before. IIRC you were AT&T TDMA at the time? Maybe not. As you've noted TM is busy up there. Check the coverage at the TM website - they have a street-level mapping option. None of the new sites from July are on there though ( know where a couple of them are in Lancaster Co.) and I know of a few others that were being worked on last week.

 

There are some area's that T-Mobile has been testing using 850 Roaming in different parts of the country within the last year, some are with Cingular, some are with Dobson, there is a thread on these forums about it. As for Cingular still using T-Mobile, I think in some area's like here in the NY/NJ area they still do use the T-Mobile network if there is no Blue network available, just Blue customers can't roam onto the T-Mobile network. I guess it all comes down to the area's of the country where coverage between the 2 networks (except in the NY/north NJ & CA area's) is good enough that Cingular doesn't feel the need to roam on T-Mobiles network.

 

I'm a long term T-Mobile customer who has lived in York PA for almost 2 years. I have been nothing but frustrated. I don't have enough signal strength to use the phone while sitting at my desk in my office, and calls drop out constantly when I'm on the road. Signal strength seems to have gotten a wee bit better lately, but it's still spotty.

I can't say anything about Cingular. I've never used them. I'm considering switching to Cingular, however, because I want a Treo 650. T-mobile's reluctance to adopt the Treo may be the thing that finally causes me to divorce them.

 

Well you need to read PA Dutchman's post at the top of this thread - he can confirm what I posted about T-Mobile doing a significant network expansion in the central PA (former PCS One) area. I travel to the area frequently, and while it's not perfect (and not as good as northen Virginia) I really don't have problems. The topography permits the signals to travel much further than here in DC metro area.

 

Um, I DID read his post. I made my comment about improved coverage to confirm that efforts to beef up the network are working - a little bit. Signal strength in many places is STILL unacceptable however. I did much better with T-Mobile in NYC.

 

MAYBE T-MOBILE NEEDs to sign roaming agreement w/ Cingular
in PA

 

Where are you seeing problems? I'll check and see if I can get an idea of the location of the 30+ towers for this year. I know of a few in Lancaster and Lebanon counties because I've asked about them, but I haven't asked about York county. The new towers, if placed correctly, should see a significant improvement.

Jones, unfortunately for our Cingular cheerleaders, the solution to T-Mobile's problems isn't always to sign a roaming agreement with Cingular.

 

Agreed, and that goes for any carrier. If they just dedicate the time & money to properly build more towers, then they can have the coverage they need instead of giving the money to another carrier. That's why Cingular is trying to eliminate the roaming with T-Mobile in the NY/NJ area, in the long run it will serve them well to kinda be forced to build a better network.

 

it makes sense to build in the cities but in rural areas
sometimes it does'nt.

 

The 650 will work on T-Mobile, but T-Mobile has never sold it. If you can get one, it will work.

 

Yeah, it will work, but I will pay 3 times as much for the phone. On the upside, I won't have to pay $20 more every month for unlimited PDA data service. So it's a wash after 2 years.

I have two options, (well - 3 if you include "upgrading" to a TREO 600) and they all suck.

 

I have found unlocked GSM TREO 650s on ebay but they are all Cingular branded. That means that if the phone turns out to be a lemon I can only return it to Cingular. If I'm not a Cingular customer, I don't think they will replace a phone I bought from a 3rd party. I can't take that chance.

 

You know where my calls ALWAYS drop out? Right in front of the T-Mobile store on North George St. and Route 30. Funny, huh?

Amen to their competitive rate structure. That's the one reason I'm reluctant to switch carriers.

 

Actually you would only be able to resell it on Ebay, and the key is to make sure it's an Unlocked version, otherwise your SIM won't work in it till you unlocked it.
Since Cingular didn't sell the phone to you, they wouldn't take it back.

 

That is a decent coverage area, but weakest right at that intersection.