Who offers GSM sevice in Buffalo New York?

T-Mobile offers GSM service in Buffalo, NY.

 

Hey 'Polska'

Did you figure out what you're going to do about service in Buffalo? I don't think any of those Nokia
phones you were inquiring about will work.

Piotr

 

Those Nokia phones he was inquiring about will work with T-Mobile if he gets them unlocked. I use the 8390 right now with T-Mobile.

 

I have had T-Mo service in Buffalo since about day 1 and am very pleased. I'm formerly a Sprint PCS customer.

I use a Nok 3390 Gold and a brand spanking new Sony Ericsson T300, and get great reception everywhere I need it.

I commute daily from Clarence to downtown B-lo and have uninterrupted service which is consistently four or five bars. I have had uninterrupted service from B-lo out to Palmyra, along the Thruway, down the 81 and on most of the 17 down to NYC. Southtowns coverage also good, but not as good as the flatlanded Northtowns.

The only difference is, once you're out in the boonies, there is no service because T-Mo offers no AMPS roaming. Doesn't bother me, though, because my de-activated Sprint PCS phone can still make a free 911 call if I need it to, so I have it in the glovebox as a safety net.

Also - if you get a GSM phone with no simlock, you can buy a Fido prepaid sim and swap out the T-Mo sim, and pay no roaming on Fido when in Ontario. The Fido prepaid sims are only good for a limited time, however.

 

oops..sorry about that Bob

You should think over the switch from verizon carefully. I guess it depends what you care about more: better service or nicer looking phone. You've heard it, t-mobile coverage isn't the best. That is something to consider especially during the 9 month winters in Buffalo (kidding). I can see the headlines already: 'Polish kid stuck in snow for 3 days, couldn't call out on his cell....but it's a nice looking phone.'

 

Noone said there was a problem with T-Mobile coverage, tey just stated that it's not that strong in rural areas. Please stop jumping to conclusions, and just take the post for exactly what they say.

 

Originally posted by Buffalo:

'The only difference is, once you're out in the boonies, there is no service because T-Mo offers no AMPS roaming. Doesn't bother me, though, because my de-activated Sprint PCS phone can still make a free 911 call if I need it to, so I have it in the glovebox as a safety net. '

Originally posted by Bob:

'However I am worried that since T-Mobile doesn't have analog service to cover the rural areas it will not have very good coverage in this area. '

Clearly NOT having coverage in certain areas while traveling WOULD be a PROBLEM. Maybe you ought to pay more attention to the posts! Sorry you have to be so hard-up for T-Mobile. I'm trying to show
Maz that trading a good service provider for a nicer phone might not be the best option.
I wasn't giving you any advice, although I have a couple of suggestions...peace!

 

Petenice, do you live in Buffalo? Probably not. You don't have T-Mobile anyway. Let's let user "Buffalo" answer the questions about T-Mobile service in Buffalo since he obviously can give the best answer. Hopefully he will return ans answer Maz's specific questions about the area. Thanks.

 

Good point Matt, although Buffalo has already given him a general idea of what type of coverage he should expect. He pointed out potential limitations, which is in agreement to what my two buddies in Buffalo say about the service.

The reason I even care is because I am considering T-mobile myself and would like to know both the good and the bad. User Buffalo did a nice job pointing out BOTH.

I'm close enough to Buffalo.

Question: are there customer kiosks/ stores in the Buffalo area? I didn't think I saw anything on the web, other than syracuse.

 

Bob - one source for tower informaton can be websites for your local government jurisdictions. I use the websites of Fairfax and Loudoun counties in VA, but I have to search on OmniPoint and VoiceStream to get info that is older than a month or so. Also, sometimes the tower building/leasing companies (community wireless and american tower are two near here) can be things to search for.

As for coverage, TM generally has good launches in these cities they are opening. Cleveland was launched at the same time as Buff/Roch, and there were over 300 towers in that area. Reports from Cleveland have been good so far. Hopefully the user "buffalo" will return!

IMHO, TM has expanded well in my area (DC). I'm able to identify about 4 new towers along my 15 mile commute over the last 2.5 years.

 

Bob

Seeing that you located Tmobile kiosks in Buffalo (even though they are not listed on their website), I tried the
same approach for Rochester. Turns out they have two such locations. That should save me alot of time (not having
to drive to Syracuse). Thanks.

 

Actually, Verizon is suposd to be offering 2 new Nokias towards the end of the year.