SUNILP

I spoke to Dean about the 6230 problem. I'm just going to puke out what Dean told me and add some additional info. Nokia makes 2 versions of the 6230 phone. They are the 6230 and 6230b. The 6230 uses 900/1800/1900 bands and the 6230b uses 850/1800/1900 bands. Cingular uses 850 and hence they sell the b version of the phone. T-mobile uses 900 so they sell the 6230 phone. The 6230 works great with the UHI kit but NOT the b version. The UHI cradle does not recoginize the B version of the 6230. If you use T-mobile then you are fine. I just ordered a generic 6230 (non b version) to test in Houston. I am hoping now that the ATT and Cingular merger is over, we can make use of the ATT towers and use the regular 6230 phone. i should have my phone this week hopefully so I will let you guys know. Dean is working on a solution to this also for B version phone users.

vadim

Actually, in many markets AT&T already uses the 850MHz band; they started doing that even before the merger, AFAIK. I have an account with AT&T, and some time ago they even offered a free "upgrade" - a 850/1900 dual band phone to replace my old SE T68i (900/1800/1900).

kaneman

Sunman, I suggest you change to a phone and cradle the UHI will recognize that is quadband (Moto V600) or switch to T-mobile. Otherwise you will have a LOT of problems. AT&T even prior to the merger had many areas where they ONLY allowed roaming on 850Mhz carriers. Thus, if you've a 1900Mhz phone you're out of luck as the roaming partner for AT&T/Cingular is at 850 only.

A case in point is on US59 south of Houston. For over 40 miles from Houston to past El Campo, AT&T has no coverage and will NOT roam on T-mobile. They only roam on Cingular. They do roam on T-mobile in South Texas but I would imagine this will change as the networks are integrated.

Finally, as the networks are integrated you'll end up with spotty service. Things will only get worse as 1900Mhz UMTS comes on stream in 2005/6 (it IS coming that soon) as some or even all of the 1900Mhz spectrum will be used for UMTS.

So, if you can't get a quadband phone, port your number on over to T-mo. More and more, folks that use singleband phones on Cingular are going to be very disappointed with the quality of their service.

SUNILP

I am currently using CIngular and I am pretty happy with it. I hope dean can do something with the firmware on the 6230 phone. I really don't want to us a Moto phone. I had 2 v600 in the past and both died on me. Cingular pulled that phone in 2 months! There is a replacement v620 but I am not sure on how good that is.

dtkw

Really? I have been using the Moto unbranded V600 for almost a year now and it has never fail me. In fact, I have took it to many part of the world and it works great.

scorchie

We already have UMTS here on 1900, and our 1900 service has not suffered (and 800 has not been rolled out). We know 800 service is virtually non-existent because our 900/1800/1900 phones work just as well on 1900 as the phones that use 800. Also, there is basically only one network here ... 1900 AT&T/Cingular. T-Mobile in this area is 1900 only and uses Cingular's network here. T-Mobile users don't have problems, either. Well, no more or less than any other users.

Of course Houston might be different, but overall I don't believe it is indicative of everywhere, and to say that UMTS will kill 1900 service doesn't seem to be true.

-s-

Saprissa

Good info, SUNMAN & SCORCHIE & KANEMAN !!!

Still trying to figure out which PHONE to purchase to go with my UHI Kit.

Of the phones available / compatible with UHI cradles,
which ones other than MOTOROLA offer quadband ????

I am leaning towards CINGULAR as my new carrier, but want a phone with wide-area coverage. I live in Southern California, so the network is pretty extensive here, but I can't stand multi-carrier roaming.

Thanks !
Carlos

Saprissa@aol.com

SUNILP

Most of Cingular is 850 and 1900 so you're covered already with dual bands. Right scorchie?

scorchie

As sunman wrote, you're covered in the USA if your dual-band phone supports both 800 and 1900 (or if you want to call it 850, fine).

Quadband gives you 900 + 1800 for other parts of the world. I find that triband with 1800 works for many places, but beware that some places still use 900 only (or have very limited 1800). I now carry a 900 phone for use in these "mainly 900" countries.

In Southern California with Cingular GSM, there's no "multicarrier roaming" as now the only GSM network in SoCal is Cingular.

-s-

SUNILP

All the places I travel abroad have 900 only and no 1800 yet but for the USA, it's always 800/1900

Lexino

get the nokia 6600 or 7610 they are both very good phones i have them both and work perfect in n.america

kaneman

Keep in mind that this is a 'soft launch' so to speak and a minimum of spectrum will have been carved off for UMTS. Much as TDMA service quality tanked when AT&T and Cingular ramped up their GSM deployment and reallocated spectrum towards GSM, 2G GSM service will suffer when UMTS is widely rolled out. It's just a matter of when the balance will shift that way. But by that time, bluetooth UMTS phones and UHI cradles will be out and it won't matter what happens with GSM.

As for the 1900/800 issue... Houston is the only place in the state where AT&T has a significant 1900Mhz presence (Cingular is on the 850 non-wireline band here with no PCS spectrum). Everywhere else they are at 850 as are Cingular. AT&T (I suppose I need to call them Cingular Blue but old habits die hard) do have small slices of 1900Mhz spectrum but it never has worked all that well due to the tower spacing. So down here I consider dualband to be an absolute necessity.

In cali it's very different. Cingular has been 1900Mhz and purely GSM from the git'go back in 1996 (when it was PBMS). Not sure how the AT&T addition will fit into the mix but given the huge installed base of single band phones out there I'd say you folks in Cali are safe with singlebanded phones thanks to California and Nevada being covered well.

You will likely have issues when travelling outside that area if you travel to a Cingular market where the spectrum holdings are at 850Mhz only. Cingular probably won't allow you to roam off-network where they have a presence. Thus, you'll have no service. Just something else to think about and worry about.