GSM Cell Phone Service

[Stuart Robinson]

During May I went to the trouble of using a USA pre paid cell phone and an Ositech card – never again! As I has just so many problems getting a connection while out side of Oklahoma (due to the roaming issues)

While my UK mobile phone worked just great on the US networks using GPRS which is a 56k digital connection – OK reception was not good one I was in the sticks but driving to the target areas along the interstates it worked very well.

BTW on a chase trip to hurricane Ivan my UK phone connected 100% of the time in Florida and Al.

During 2005 I am going to stick to a GPRS connection.

 

[Matthew Havin]

GPRS from Cingular is good to great in many areas... and the GPRS coverage is increasing, along with investments in expanding the EDGE portion of the data network. Got $80/month? Good. You're ready to go.

 

[Scott Taylor]

Matthew,

Can you provide any additional details about the current coverage availabe for EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution)? A friend told me that AT&T had been rolling out the upgrades to their towers since mid-2003, but doesn't know the status since Cingular bought them.

I'm very interesting in EDGE for my mobile connectivity solution, that is if prices aren't going to be too high.

 

[Scott Olson]

Im currently looking to provide a more constant connection for radar and velocity data. At present I use Wifi with a very large Dbi antenna for reception. I would appreciate any ideas or feedback on what you think is the best choice/options. T-Mobile is pretty cheap for internet but the coverage for the northern plains is pretty bad. Im looking for Eastern SD, IA, MN and NE. Sprint PCS is pretty good, but bad in Iowa and like most 3g data is mostly avaliable around cities and interstates which is pretty unacceptable. So right now im looking at Verizon, there internet data package is pretty bad with terrible coverage in my area, but they have a lot of towers which means I could use a modem to dial in to the system. Aside from having a pretty slow BPS it would provide at least 80% coverage. Im curious if anyone has found a provider that offers some sort of package like this, I know I will need some sort of modem or PC card and software. The internet package for Verizon is $80 and provides the ability to dial in when the data is unavaliable. However, then the rates are ridiclouis. I am more opting for paying $50 and getting 600 minutes to use as dial-up data.

The other two I haven't ruled out is the Sprint PCS. With the addition of the Vision Plan the internet can actually be accessed with some software. The coverage is great around the cities and interstates and maybe with a good antenna can provide any area within 30 miles of a moderately sized city or interstate tower. Now when that doesn't work I could still dial-in since you have to have a general calling plan as well.

Here is my question to all of you who use mobile data, which service provides the best data network service for the northern/Central Northern Plains. Also, which network provides the best voice coverage? I notice t-mobile offers free roaming but there coverage map looked really bad. If I have to use a dial-in modem then it needs to be part of the in-network voice coverage not roaming as that could be way to much money.