The Real issue is the type of 'tower' you are connecting to. I.e. LTE, CDMA, TDMA, GSM, AMPS, NMT-450, TACS, iDEN, HDSPA+ , etc..
so for example if you were roaming in an area that only had AMPS (analog towers) and you were using a iDEN or CDMA or GSM or TDMA or HSPA phone you would not connect. Of course some phones had 'backward compatibility' and others did not. But that was as the size of the mobile telephone was decreasing in size from fixed to mobile / portable size. In other words you could actually start moving your mobile telephone from car to car 'easier' than having to de-install it. All you had to do was unplug it from the cigarette lighter adapter. Then came the reduction from bag phone size to hand held Nokia styles in the late 1990's .... to the new tablets / slabs / wrist phones of today. But of course the issue is cost, and the amount of time one wants to put in. If you require communication, you typically always had to have multiple phones to connect to the various towers and satellites. Furthermore it is still true today, but instead of 'voice' communications, everything is moving towards 'data' thus TELCO's are changing the price plans and features to maximise revenue. This of course is much different than the old plans where one had to purchase at full price a device or depending on your carrier one could get a 'no cost' device for a five year contract. Then one had to pay a monthly fee for costs and fees relating to taxes and backhaul typically 19.99 or 29.99 as well as blocks of air time on their networks and a per minute roaming connection fee by the backhaul network if you left their networks ... their fee was 29 cents or 59 cents or 99 cents depending on your home LATA .... and the roaming fees depending on how many networks you roamed to .. from $ 1 per day plus $ 1 per minute up to $ 10 per day plus $ 5 per minute or charge to your card if you wanted to ... and it could get rather expensive .... of course Sat time was even more expensive back then think multiply by 10 or 100 .... this is still true for most satellite telephone and data networks. Today, the big four are : Iridium, Immarsat , Thuraya , GlobalStar ; and if you need to get one, Outfitter Satellite here in Donelson, http://outfittersatellite.com is a reputable shop to purchase or rent one. Their phone and address is as follows ::: Outfitter Satellite 2911 Elm Hill Pike Nashville, TN 37214 Phone +1-615-889-8833 Fax +1-615-902-0028 So it really just depends on how much you want to spend .... With Verizon/ AT+T you are going to spend around 50 to 100 to get voice, SMS, and data plus their roaming networks plus others that can allow Verizon / ATT to roam on. .. typically for 'free' or go with Virtual Carrier that can roam on Verizon/ATT networks typically Sprint /CDMA/TDMA can roam on Verizon and T-Mobile /GSM can roam on ATT MetroPCS/ Cellular South -CSPIRE had 'both' and depending on your phone' you could roam on one or the other but not both... we will have to see what happens with the T-Mobile purchase of MetroPCS but with the new LTE ... supposedly this is supposed to 'dis-appear' but then a new 'network' will appear and your 'phone' won't work on that 'new' network. of course your mileage may vary good luck on your choice. cheers from J =) Justin W Elam E-mail ::: - [email protected] ### BT $$ On Fri, Oct 5, 2012 at 12:28 PM, John F. Eldredge <[email protected]> wrote: > "Mark J. Bailey" <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> >> >> I have had Verizon for years and am getting fed up with the ever >> rising >> costs. >> >> >> >> I was wondering if any of you here with T-Mobile and/or Sprint (ie, >> NOT >> AT&T) can comment on real-life experiences regarding a) coverage >> (regardless of what the coverage sites "claim"), b) data access/speed, >> and >> c) tethering with wifi? Would be interested in knowing what >> smartphones >> you might recommend and/or warn me about too. I'm pretty much and >> Android >> kind of guy, but am always open to switching. I've spoken with the >> corporate brick-n-mortar reps, etc., but really would like some direct >> from the field opinions. Too bad I can't just take a phone from each >> for a >> day and go around doing my normal stuff and see how each does. But >> that >> would be applying logic and sense to it. >> >> >> >> Thanks! >> >> >> >> Mark >> >> > > T-Mobile used to have a reputation for very spotty coverage here in > Nashville, but I don't know how much that has been improved. Back in 2000, I > had service from T-Mobile. At that time, you had to either be downtown, or > on the top of a hill, to connect to a T-Mobile tower. I switched to Verizon > as soon as my contract ran out. > > > -- > John F. Eldredge -- [email protected] > "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to > think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "NLUG" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/nlug-talk?hl=en -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NLUG" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nlug-talk?hl=en
