AT&T Coverage Help?

[Darrin Rasberry]

I am cursed with AT&T coverage (for cell phones) for at least the next year, and I unfortunately shelled out for an otherwise-nice Blackberry Curve 8300. I didn't find out about the relatively poor coverage out in the chasing boonies until this month, when my chase partner's Sprint always worked and my AT&T either barely or never worked - at some point even Sprint's wireless internet worked when my AT&T would not!

My question is, is there anything that can be purchased to take along with me on a chase without my usual partner, so that I can have the use of the BB (especially in the case of emergencies)? I've heard about an antenna I can get for my car for it, but the effectivity of it has been second-guessed by a few people I've spoken with.

Breaking my contract with AT&T (or simply pointing out that its use at my home is at times shaky, which may let me get out of it free) is a viable option ONLY if there's some other network that can fit the same size SIM cards as AT&T does - doubtful I take it, but there may be one like U.S. Cellular.

Another option would be to see if I can set my phone to pick up roaming charges by hopping off of a Sprint tower, since it will not do that now.

Any help would be appreciated ...

 

[Gordon Spencer]

Because the Blackberries have No RF port you pretty well have no choice but a wireless amplifier suystem such as our IVWA819 . Quite a few chasers are using it. Just Click on our banner ad or on my signature. You could also try a direct connect amplifier with an induction adapter . But just hooking up to an antenna is not an option as the folks at RIM in all thier wisdom do not put external antenna ports on thier devices. If they did that you would be able to try just an antenna . Induction adapters do not work with just an antenna.

I am cursed with AT&T coverage (for cell phones) for at least the next year, and I unfortunately shelled out for an otherwise-nice Blackberry Curve 8300. I didn't find out about the relatively poor coverage out in the chasing boonies until this month, when my chase partner's Sprint always worked and my AT&T either barely or never worked - at some point even Sprint's wireless internet worked when my AT&T would not!

My question is, is there anything that can be purchased to take along with me on a chase without my usual partner, so that I can have the use of the BB (especially in the case of emergencies)? I've heard about an antenna I can get for my car for it, but the effectivity of it has been second-guessed by a few people I've spoken with.

Breaking my contract with AT&T (or simply pointing out that its use at my home is at times shaky, which may let me get out of it free) is a viable option ONLY if there's some other network that can fit the same size SIM cards as AT&T does - doubtful I take it, but there may be one like U.S. Cellular.

Another option would be to see if I can set my phone to pick up roaming charges by hopping off of a Sprint tower, since it will not do that now.

Any help would be appreciated ...

 

[John Erwin]

While I agree with Gordon that having an amp/antenna would improve things somewhat I think the real issue for you is that GSM coverage (ie AT&T, T-mobile) quite frankly sucks on many parts of the plain, especially rural areas. CDMA seems to be the current ruler of the boonies (ie. Sprint, Alltel, Verizon, U.S. Cellular).

Soo... you might find yourself waiting that year out and switching providers. You might want to see if you can make your current plan as cheap as possible and just use it for voice; then get a dedicated data card with someone like Sprint.

If you do go with the wireless amp above the good thing is that it would work with either type of system out there (GSM or CDMA) so you would be protected that way. In addition no matter what provider you have having the amp/antenna is a good addition to any setup.

BTW Darrin; CDMA devices do not use SIM cards.. only GSM phones. Too bad, I think that type of setup works well since you can easily swap phones around easier with SIM cards.

 

[J Kinkaid]

Well in the next couple of years once LTE rolls out Verizion and Alltel will require sim cards I can't wait ! Sprint if they are still around will be the last CDMA carrier