I need some feedback about cellular service at the track.
I live in Milwaukee and have Sprint service. Even though Blackhawk and RA are part of their calling area I cannot get a signal. I have currently switched to Cingular because of the large coverage area but I would like to know if it is a problem with no service at the track. If anyone out there with Cingular can clue me in that would be wicked cool. I cant very well call everyone with the racing 411 if I cant get a signal, right?
I don't work for Cingular, but I work with the networks, actually, Cingular, T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon.
You made a good choice by choosing Cingular. Cingular just recently aquired AT&T also so you now have a larger network, but not too much larger because alot of the carriers "share" tower space. Regardless, Cingular is going to be the largest carrier in the U.S. I'm assuming you bought a GSM phone. As far as coverage is concerned, you shouldn't have a problem at most race tracks. Especially since they keep expanding the networks larger and larger. If you really wanna know exactly the amount of coverage you will have, give me the lat/long of the race track, and I'll pull up a spectrum map of that area and be able to tell you approximately how much signal gain you will have.
Sorry, can't really keep it to a yes or no, because your phone can show having a signal, but it isn't good enough to send or recieve calls. It really isn't a it works or it doesn't scenerio.
Another thing to keep in mind, when using ALL cellular, is that regardless of how much signal you have, you can pretty much always recieve and send an SMS. You may have "no bars" on your phone, and you can't make a phone call, but, as long as you see CINGULAR on the screen of your phone, you will be able to send and recieve SMS. So, short messages are a good way to go at the race track. That's what I do. If it's important enough, it shouldn't be an issue of sending an email back and forth, and it's really quick. You phone already has an email address. It's usually your phone number @mycingular.mobile.com I believe, but you should check.
If you really need dependable service at the racetrack, or anywhere you will ever go, buy a combo GSM/Sat Phone. You can slide your Cingular SIM card in it, and make regular calls, just like you do now, but when you need it, you can put up the Satellite antenna and make a satellite call for $1.00 a minute. Works well. I have one. Plus, no such thing as no service with Satellite if your outside. Satellite does not work inside buildings, you have to have a clear view of the sky. Try: www.globalstar.com or www.iridium.com Both work well. I can get you a combo GSM/Sat phone at cost if you want it. Don't pay $500 for it online. I can get it to you all day for $200.00 and you don't have to sign any contracts or anything. Just take your SIM card out of your Cingluar phone and put it in the sat phone.
;D
We use CellularOne and get a signal at Blackhawk.
Heather
I didn't read corner's full message (my eyes started to glaze over). But I think I may know what the problem may be.
If you have a phone that works off of a digital signal, your calls are clearer, but the range from the tower is not as great. Digital phones need more repeaters to carry their signal.
An analog phone, while the reception is not always clear, actually has a larger area of coverage due to the type of signal it uses. It does not need as many towers (antenna's) to carry its signal.
We have service through Cellcom and an analog phone. Service has worked for us at BFR.
I hope this helps,
Dawn :)
You have all been so helpful! Iam just so tired of call fading or not getting a signal. I got a GSM phone so by your input it should work no problem. Please, keep the info coming though, the more the better.
I thought CellularOne was out of business?
QuoteI thought CellularOne was out of business?
Not here in Michigan. My stepfather works for CellOne. Our CellOne is owned by Dobson Communications.
Heather
CellularOne was turned into us cellular in wisconsin. I have sprint and have to be in the right spot in the pits but can always make calls from the track. The key to that one is the location. However, when I had my old phone from us cellular/cell one I had the same problem.
The little phones are made for city people with towers everywhere so they save battery by lowering signal strength. If you have one of the neat little phones, you will probably have a problem. if you have one of the bigger phones your phone will have a stronger signal. For example when I go hunting I can barely get signal from a tower 20 miles away from the top of a hill but my friend's bag phone works like a land line.
BTW SMS and the cool new phone features work great when you have a tower that supports that stuff. BHF however is in the sticks and the analog/older digital towers around there generally will not allow any of the newer features.
With my Nokia 3595 GSM Phone on Cingular Service, things have been good enough to make calls at BHF, RA, and Summit No problem.
Blackhawk can be spotty. (my experience on 2 diff phones. GSM and non.)
So, walk/ride around a bit wherever you are.
I've been very happy with the Cingular coverage. Just went onto a nationwide plan, too.
Well, since you want to get into details.. ::)
Analog Cellular will only be around for a couple more years, at the most. Last summer, the FCC approved the decommissioning of the analog networks. Analog uses two different available technologies, both with are very old, and they are CDPD and Mobitex. In all reality, all cellular signals are Analog, even GSM, CDMA, TDMA, and iDEN. There is no such thing as a true digital phone, unless your talking L1 Band satellite. This is how digital works. First, the signal to and from the tower to the phone, is analog. On both ends, you have digital chipsets. You phone has a digital chip in it, and the network switch is digital, also called an HLR and the SMSC. So, you have an analog singal converted to digital by the network and the phone. This is how the company Qualcomm started. They made CDMA digital decoders, where the tower would broadcast a encoded analog signal, and the phone would decode the signal and provide "more" information and higher levels of security. Now, there are seperate channels on a cell network, both the new generation of "digital" and the old analog. They are the control channels, and the voice channels, which connect to a PBX (land line phone switch.) The control channels are the ones that send and recieve data, along with authorization for use, and the voice channels connect you to the land line systems. For instance, here is what actually happens when you hit the send button your phone:
Send Button Pressed: Phone shows "Connecting." What's actually happening is that your phone is using the control channel, to acquire authorization from the network to make a phone call. Data is being sent back and forth thru the network for billing authorization, ect. You SIM ID or ESN is being sent to the network, and once they verify you have permission to make the call, they switch you to the voice channel.
Connected: Now you are on the voice channel. You are connected in the following structure:
1. Phone to Tower
2. Tower to HLR via T1 or satellite (depending on the location of tower)
3. HLR to NOC (National Operations Center)
4. NOC to Main PBX (landline phone switch)
5. PBX to the party you are talking to.
Now, in order for all this to work, you have to be registered on the network. Registration happens when you power up the phone, and you see "Connecting" on the screen. What's happening is your phone is accessing the network.
The reverse path is the same but different. Your cell phone always sends out a "heartbeat" to tell the network which tower you are at, so when someone calls your phone, the network knows which tower to send the call to. When your phone rings, you are recieving data. The minute you answer the phone, you are switched to the voice channel.
Now, if you've ever noticed, your phone may have a signal, but shows no bars. This is because the coverage of the data/control channel is greater than the voice channel. Thus, you can send and recieve SMS, but not be able to send and recieve phone calls. This is because SMS or text messages, use the data channel. Have you ever noticed that sometimes, your phone will show you have a new voicemail, but the phone never rang? This is because you weren't able to access the voice channel due to signal loss, but since voicemail notification is a SMS over the Data Channel, you were notified of the message.
As far as coverage is concerned, damn near all carriers have the same or very close to the same coverage. Most carriers share towers. So chances are, if you have a Cingular signal, you'll have everyone elses too. There aren't that many dedicated owned towers left out there. Maybe here and there, but not usually. You'll have one tower, with antennas on it for T-Mobile, Cingular, AT&T, Nextel, Sprint, and Verizon on it. The funny part, is none of them own the tower. They lease space on it, usually from the company that owns most of them, American Tower Corp.
Now, what every carrier is doing is replacing their old Analog antennas with new GSM, CDMA, and TDMA antennas. As they are decommisioning the old stuff, the new stuff is buiding out. They aren't adding towers, they are just changing antennas. It's more of an upgrade than anything. They may add a couple towers here and there, but overall it's just a swap. In the next few years, "Digital" phones will have the same if not more covearge that analog has. They're all crap if you ask me. Wireless has too many variables to be reliable.
Want more? I can get technical ;D
QuoteWant more? I can get technical ;D
YAWN......
Dawn ;)
QuoteYAWN......
Dawn Ê ;)
:( They asked, I just gave the answer ;D A informative consumer is a smart shopper ;D
I have had US Cellular (previously CellularOne) for over a decade, I live in Rockford, Illinois right near BHF. I have a digital handheld, but it's not 1 of the super dinky ones. I can make calls just fine at BHF, RA, Gateway, and MAM. I haven't had any issues with my service to any real extent the entire time I have been with the provider. :)
Scary.
Reading corner's post... I suddenly feel like I've been transported back in time one year to my old job. I used to work for Motorola, doing software loads/upgrades/commissioning on CDMA equipment for Sprint, Verizon, and Alltel.
I have US Cellular and get full signal at BHF. But I dont use those dinky little flip phones. I have a Nokia 3585i. Even with the antennae retracted I get full signal. Only place I have problems is where we hunt. No towers in the area. Its a cellular dead zone.
QuoteScary.
Reading corner's post... I suddenly feel like I've been transported back in time one year to my old job. ÊI used to work for Motorola, doing software loads/upgrades/commissioning on CDMA equipment for Sprint, Verizon, and Alltel.
Sorry for the flashback ;D
We have problems at Summit Point and VIR using our Verizon digital phone. Must stand up at the tower at Summit and it's just impossible ... Digital in one spot and Analog 2 feet away. VIR is not as bad, but close.
Dropped calls left and right at home (with a mountain behind us). Sometimes it takes messages awhile to come in. Drives us crazy!
Have been thinking about changing but aren't sure if it the type of phone we have or our service ???!!! We have a Kyocera QCP-2035a.
QuoteI thought CellularOne was out of business?
Cell One is actually just a franchise name - just like McDonalds. For example I used to work for Airtouch - but we operated under the Cell One name. When we merged w/ some other companies and became Verizon Wireless - we dropped the Cell One name. There are Cell Ones all over the world that are actually different companies - such as Dobson Cellular, Western Wireless, etc.
Cornercamping what exactly do you do? Its good to hear there is somebody else here in the industry.
QuoteCornercamping what exactly do you do? Its good to hear there is somebody else here in the industry.
Actually, I'm not directly in the cellular industry. The company I work for is an OEM Telemetry manufacturer. We use cell and satellite networks to send data back and forth from different applications. Things like vehicle tracking, ATM's, ect. We build single board computers from the ground up. We also design some of our own modems. We are a "bulk" reseller of cell and satellite airtime, and have direct connections with the carriers NOC's for different applications. For instance, we build a module, that is used in a passanger bus (public transport). This module is an anti-espionage module. What it does, is if someone tries to hijack the bus, the drive presses a button. Once the button is pressed, it sends an SMS to the police, and then connects and streams GPS data to them via GPRS. Thru SMS and GPRS, the police can control the entire electrical system if they wanted in the bus. This application is in Mexico City, Mexico. They have a problem with people hijacking buses for ransom down there, and we use TeleCel's GSM network in Mexico, which ties into us via socket VPN.
Pretty much, we offer all kinds of telemetry applications. We monitor ATM's at rest stops via SMS, vehicle tracking, vehicle control systems, remote meter reading, ect. Pretty much, we can tie into anything that has a serial port, and control it via SMS or email. We also have web interfaces for consumer use. To give you an idea, we are the largest OEM on the globe for telematics. Thing similar to the GM OnStar system, but we get into alot hairier things. For example:
http://www.ogara-hess.com/Frameset.html
We build specialty telematics for this company. We tie into their systems, which include bomb sniffers and stuff. Pretty neat. They can start these cars, and sweep for bombs with 1 SMS, and if a bomb is found, they get a SMS saying "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" and notify the proper authorities. Pretty neat stuff 8)
My role is: Chief Technology Officer
Need a job? Check classified section ;D
and before anyone asks. NO, this is not eyespy type stuff. I can disclose it, and some of it is commercially available to consumers. Same goes for Ogara-Hess. You know they make Level VI balistic VW Jetta's that can drive over land minds and keep going, literally :o Only $400K :P
or...
You can view our websites:
www.tek-werks.com (corporate and under construction as always for the pas 5 years)
www.gpssystems.com (consumer)
If you wanna track your wife... I can help ;D ;)
Ya know, one of these days, I'm gonna donate some loaner devices to everyone so we can find out who's stealing trailers filled with bikes >:( Gotta get approval first though :-/
This is great information! I am happy that there is someone that can give me real answers rather than asking the cell company who just gives me the answers they believe are true. Every company tells you that every other company is "borrowing" their towers. Good to know that is is a load of crap and they all use the same ones. I got a GSM phone so maybe if I am lucky I will be able to make calls from BHF, that is where I NEVER got a signal with my Sprint phone. Thanks all for the input!
Well, there is a lot of misconceptions when it comes to cellular. At this time, and the future, coverage really isn't an issue when comparing one carrier to another. Pay more attention to rate plans. The coverage is damn near the same. To give you an idea, at a tower about 2 blocks from my house, you have the following carriers, all on the same tower:
Mobitex
CDPD
Verizon
Cingular
AT&T
Sprint
Nextel
SkyTel
Weblink Wireless
Arch Communications
So, as you can see, shop for rate plan deals instead of coverage. They also all have pretty much the same features on the network, like SMS, email, camera phones, ect.
Another way to save money, is to find one phone, and keep it, until you get sick of it, not because you change carriers. For instance, let's say you sign a 1 year contract with AT&T and you buy a Motorola V600 GSM phone. Now, a year goes by, and your tired of AT&T, so you want to switch to Cingular. Well, when you go into Cingular they tell you that you HAVE TO buy a new phone, and they can sell you a new V600 for Cingular because the one you bought from AT&T won't work on Cingular. That is WRONG ! You can use the V600 you bought from AT&T on Cingular, and they CAN NOT stop you. See, what happens is, that companies like Motorola, Samsung, Nokia, ect. all LOCK phones on the REQUEST of the cell companies. This way, you buy the phone from them, you can only use it on their network. Well, what they don't tell you is that as long as you own the phone, they are required by FEDERAL LAW to unlock the phone for you so you can use it as you please. For instance, here's a specific phone model:
Motorola V60
Versions:
V60i
V60L
V60C
V60W
The difference? NOTHING, other than the carrier name label on the phone and the LOCK CODE. Again, if you are the owner of the phone, Federal Law requires carriers to unlock the phone on your request. Infact, I unlock all phones the day I buy them. I have a Motorola V600 that I can slide any SIM card into and use it. The carrier doesn't matter. The way to get this done, is to send your phone back to the manufacturer, not the carrier, along with the purchase reciept and a letter saying you want the phone unlocked. This way, if you switch carriers after a year, but like the phone you already have, your not forced to buy another. If that won't work, send me the phone, and I'll unlock it for you. I have the software to do it, and it is 100% legal.
Another option is, find the phone you want, and buy an unlocked one on ebay. People sell them on their also.
;D
I'm gonna shed some more light on this, because i"ve got a few emails with questions. Here's some money saving/helpful hints when it comes to cell phones, and hey, a dollar saved, is another dollar twards saftey equipment/tires....
1. Network Types: (USA)
GSM- Cingular, AT&T, T-Mobile (all others are buying airtime from these, and rebranding it, so Cell-One, buys airtime from these companies, and resell's it.)
CDMA-Verizon and Sprint
iDEN: Nextel
2. Roaming: Use of a network other than the one you are getting billed by.
This is the biggest money maker for cell networks. See, they charge you for roaming, but it doesn't cost them anything. Not a penny. See, let's say with GSM. AT&T, Cingular, and T-Mobile have roaming agreements with each other. What they say, is that if you let us use your network, we'll let you use ours. So, they don't charge each other anything. They just agree to allow one to use the others, but yet, they charge YOU and it doesn't cost them anything. So, keep that in mind. With a plan with No roaming, you may not have coverage with your carrier, but if another has coverage, you'll be able to use it at no additional charge, and if you don't have roaming, you'll still be able to use it but it'll cost you, and alot. So, with a GSM phone, you can use Cingular, AT&T, and T-Mobile. With CDMA, you can only use Verizon and Sprint, and with iDEN you can only use Nextel. Thus, GSM is the obvious choice for service, now and in the future.
3. Free phone, or $0.01 phone/dirt cheap:
They do this by figuring the cost of the phone itself, into your plan. Nothing is free, your gonna pay for it, one way or another. For instance, notice that the longer the contract, the cheaper the phone gets? That's because they already roll the cost of the phone into the term of the contract. They are going to get full retail for the phone, one way or another. The actual cost of the phone (retail) is what the phone costs on a 1 year contract. Any more than 1 year, and the cost has been figured in the profit of your service over the entire term of agreement.
4. Contract Term/Sales:
Sales reps. get paid commision 2 ways. First, the length of contract. For instance, at one carrier, who's going to remain unnamed, a sales rep, both instore, and private (non-corporate owned store) get paid the following commision:
1 Year- $25.00
2 Year- $60.00
3 Year- $100.00
Then, to top that off, they get a commission of the phone and accessory sales. Thus, if you were a sales rep, you'd always wanna sell phones, with accessories, and 3 year contracts.
For the consumer, there is no benefit of signing a 3 year over a 1 or 2 year. Either way, your paying for it the same amount. The only difference is, the amount you pay for the phone itself upfront when you sign up.
5. Plans, Rollover minutes, Nights and Weekends, ect.:
Buy only what you need, realistically, and nothing more. Don't add nights and weekends, if you don't spend a ton of time on the phone during those hours. They bank on you not using it more than your regular plan. It's a waste of money. Same goes for unused minutes.
Cell Carriers have a thing called ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), which really means how much money they are going to make off each phone you have active a month. The plans are based around this. They are making tons of money just off the original plan. Anything you add, is just bonus money. To give you an idea, realistically, they could give you 15,000 minutes a month, for $29.99 and STILL MAKE MONEY on it.
6. Long Distance:
Here's the kicker. NO SUCH THING with a cell phone. They made up long distance. It's a money maker. Cell phones don't have to jump around on the public PBX switches like land line's do. For instance, on a land line, if your in GA calling to MI, you could use up to 4 switches, but with cellular, if you call from Alaska to NY, it's only going on 1 switch. Thus, there are no long distance toll charges. The cell companies don't pay switch charges, but charge you long distance based on the prefix your calling. Landline phone companies have to pay switch charges, cell phone companies don't.
Last but not least. It costs cell phone companies, after all the bills are paid, less than ONE CENT for 1 minute for you to make a phone call. They charge you $0.35 cents for that 1 minute. Total profit: $0.34
Are ya mad yet
;D
Forgot one: The SIM Card
On GSM, and iDEN phones, there is a SIM card. That is what differentiates one carrier from another, and nothing more. If you own a phone, and want it hooked up with a carrier, they should GIVE YOU the SIM card. Some try to charge anywhere from $10.00-$50.00 for a card. This is total BS. The actual cost of a SIM card is less than $3.00 and anything more is profit. Also, they can't force you to buy a phone to get a SIM card. If they do, ask for the manager, and threaten to call the FCC. Cingular recently got hit with a $1 Mill fine for this by the feds. If they try and charge you for a SIM card, tell them that your not interested, and the other company will give it to you for free. See how fast they change their tune. If your really having problems, send me an email, and I'll send you a SIM card, and all you owe me is a stamp. I have them for everyone, and cases of them. They give them to us at work by the thousands, for FREE. You can get a SIM card from anywhere, and use it as long as it's never been used before. A Cingular SIM card is a Cingular SIM card no matter where you bought it, or got it from.
Also, if you can't get anywhere at a store, call the sales office or main number and talk to someone in sales. Actually, the over the phone sales people have more power than instore sales.
;D