Goodbye Dobson Cell (Cell One)...Hello AT&T

[cmcgrail]

From AT&T:

Q: Aren't you legally bound to keep service up and running?
A: TDMA and analog generally share the same network. Government regulations require all wireless companies to keep their analog networks in service until a prescribed date in February of 2008. There is no such requirement for TDMA service. In markets where TDMA and analog share the same network, we currently have no plans to discontinue TDMA service before early 2008. In limited cases, particularly in these markets where there is no analog service, we are turning down TDMA sooner. Again, customers will be notified in advance and likely receive incentives to upgrade to our GSM service if they wish.

TDMA Service Sunset | AT&T Wireless Services

 

[icstephen]

Urgh I hate AT&T I have had cingular for years and when they took them over last month I only get service at my house 10% of the time...they say they didnt do anything but I had no problems before they took over.

 

[Ronald_Jeremy]

Urgh I hate AT&T I have had cingular for years and when they took them over last month I only get service at my house 10% of the time...they say they didnt do anything but I had no problems before they took over.

Last month did they force you to change phones? If so, welcome to GSM. It has also been rumored that Cingular (New AT&T) has been purposely degrading TDMA service to force people to 'upgrade' to GSM.

GSM is a failed network and is old technology that was quickly dumped by many technologically advanced Asian markets.

 

[Ronald_Jeremy]

nope it hasnt passed yet....but supposedly around Feb 08 most of TDMA will be shut down. Been reading the info here at work (AT&T) about it

You are the devil's spawn!!!!

 

[icstephen]

Last month did they force you to change phones? If so, welcome to GSM. It has also been rumored that Cingular (New AT&T) has been purposely degrading TDMA service to force people to 'upgrade' to GSM.

GSM is a failed network and is old technology that was quickly dumped by many technologically advanced Asian markets.

nope same phone...but boy did the service go down the toilet, and I'm not alone my wife and step brother had the same problem. If I was paying for my phone (company phone) I would dump them and go to another provider...not that anyone is all that good anymore.

 

[jayelem]

Happy with Sprint .............................

Started with AT&T , before they upgraded their phone service quality , had so many problems with not receiving Calls and went thru so many troubleshooting service calls where the techs knew the old systems was bad , paid month after month for crap , had they offered me some incentive to stay I would've because service improved greatly on the new phones and plans.

Went to a competitor and have been very pleased , now I don't care how good AT&T is , all because of my families experience and their bad Customer Service .

 

[navychop]

...GSM is a failed network and is old technology that was quickly dumped by many technologically advanced Asian markets.

I think you have something confused. GSM is hardly a failure. It is used exclusively in Europe and Australia and in most of Asia and Africa, and now, on different frequencies, in the U.S. Well over 75% of the mobile phones in the world use GSM. It is evolving, incorporating new technologies, such as HSDPA, to offer improved and new services.

If you think Asia dumped GSM, what did they adopt? Don't say "3G" because that is a network technology that can support many different access technologies (CDMA, etc), and simply means "third generation." Look up 3GSM.

 

[Ronald_Jeremy]

I am trying to find the article I read it in, but it very well may be the 3g you mention as they didn't mention the name of the new network. It specifically mentioned Japan as well as Asian countries.

 

[Mr Tony]

well its finally official...FCC approved it yesterday

From our documents at work
-stores will start changing name
-Dec 9th seems to be the "all stores will be AT&T stores"
-sounds like people can get AT&T stuff pretty soon in Cell One markets
-sounds like Cell One people can keep their plan until the contract ends

Obviously it will take a while for AT&T to integrate the Cell One stuff so it sounds like call centers are still BAU (Biz as usual)

 

[digiblur]

Iceberg- Not that you have to worry about this but in a very heavy usage area, GSM will fall apart. It uses slicing technology and the more users the lower the voice quality on the channel. as the fixed spectrum gets sliced smaller and smaller. I discovered the result of this during convention week in Las Vegas where the GSM phones (T-Mobile and Cingular ) would begin to suffer voice quality and worsening until the busiest time when you just could not make a call.
CDMA uses a different way to spread the spectrum using different access codes. In this case the background noise may increase but noise reduction technology added will keep that to a minimum. The net result is CDMA is a good technology that continues to work even in ever increasing call density for an area.

We have AT&T phones for work and they have decent signal coverage. The problem is you can't use it! Dropped calls, bad audio, one way audio, failed calls, you name it. I end up using my Sprint phone when I need to. Out of the whole thing I'd have to say I love the problems....the boss never asks why I seldom answer his phone calls

I'm loving the Sprint $30 SERO plan. I can't believe thats all I'm paying every month for what I get.

 

[dfergie]

I was a Cell one west customer... Alltel bought them out... better coverage here

 

[Mr Tony]

when you go tot he cell one website (Cellular One - Get The Signal) you get this

Our website is temporarily unavailable as we are performing routine maintenance. This maintenance is part of an effort to better serve your needs. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and we appreciate your understanding. Thank you for visiting Cellular One and we appreciate your patience during this maintenance period! Please check back with us soon.

 

[Mr Tony]

I was a Cell one west customer... Alltel bought them out... better coverage here

we had Cell One West about 45 minutes west of me. Kinda weird as Alltel bought BOTH the original A & B carriers in Southern/Western MN

for the uninformed, back many many moons ago when cell phones were ANALOG there were usually 2 carriers for the market. An A & B carrier. As an example, here in Minneapolis the "A" carrier was AT&T Wireless and the B carrier was Airtouch (pre-Verizon).

In southern MN the A carrier was Hickory Tech who got bought out by Cell One and the B carrier was Midwest Wireless. Alltel bought them both

 

[dfergie]

Alltel is supposed to kill analog here, I wish they wouldn't as there still are not enough towers to cover where analog did... they don't sell analog phones anymore so when my moto dies I am screwed... Sprint no good out of town, and the other provider Plateau doesn't quite have the coverage either...

 

[dfergie]

Whats funny is I still have my original uniden Cell one analog phone... when other phones won't get a signal it will show 3 bars...

 

[Mr Tony]

I have a bunch of bag phones and a few old analog phones sitting in my basement

Sad part is they all still work (ie: power up and show a signal)

 

[dfergie]

Yeah I keep that old uniden charged and take with me when I head to the hills.. I could make an emergency call on it with a card if needed...

 

[navychop]

Analog cell service ends in the United States on 2/18/08.

There are some folks still using it, but very few. It's a poor way to use spectrum.

The real problem will be alarm systems. There apparently are still many, many old alarm systems using the analog cell system for primary or backup. Some people won't find out they've lost their alarm system until it fails to report a fire, break in, etc. So if you have an alarm system, check to see if it uses the analog cell system in any way. Same for some old GPS vehicle tracking systems. And early OnStars.

 

[digiblur]

Analog cell service ends in the United States on 2/18/08.

There are some folks still using it, but very few. It's a poor way to use spectrum.

The real problem will be alarm systems. There apparently are still many, many old alarm systems using the analog cell system for primary or backup. Some people won't find out they've lost their alarm system until it fails to report a fire, break in, etc. So if you have an alarm system, check to see if it uses the analog cell system in any way. Same for some old GPS vehicle tracking systems. And early OnStars.

When they installed mine it uses a GSM module and that sucker is quick! They tell you to test the alarm you have to let it go off for 30 seconds. My wife quickly found out that even if it goes off for a split second they are calling the house before she can get to the phone.

They are a little pricey as most cell companies don't subsidize them, like the iPhone , Motorola makes some high power GSM and CDMA bag phones.