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Is there a Gsm / Gprs Provider in Portland, Oregon? |
Cunning Man
Joined: Dec 18, 2002
Posts: 40
PM |
Hi all,
I may have to move to Portland / Lake Oswego in Oregon for work shortly; is there a service provider with good GSM/GPRS coverage there? Or should I just chuck my GSM (P800) phone?
Thanks for any info,
C |
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bigdawg
Joined: Jan 10, 2003
Posts: 0
From: New Jersey
PM |
check out AT&T wireless |
Cunning Man
Joined: Dec 18, 2002
Posts: 40
PM |
Thanks Big Dawg. If anyone else has any suggestions or feedback, please throw them in here...
C |
robertk232
Joined: Jul 26, 2002
Posts: 22
From: Portland Oregon
PM |
Where do you currently live? I live right outside of Lake Oswego, in a Portland suburb, right next to Lewis and Clarke College. GSM service by ATT is alright. It's good in the flat areas of town, but where I live in the SW hills it is crappy and often times I can't make a call or I'm afaid if I pick them up they will be dropped. But I know people with T-mobile who say it isnt any better. |
Cunning Man
Joined: Dec 18, 2002
Posts: 40
PM |
Robert,
Thanks for your very helpful info. I currently live outside the US, but may be moving to Lake Oswego soon. I'm wondering if I should just sell my P800 here and pick up a CDMA phone there. Would you start either an AT&T or TMobile GSM account if you didn't have one already?
Many thanks,
C
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highrez
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: 3
From: Seattle, WA
PM |
Grab a couple of prepaid sims from t-mob and cingular (i don't think att has prepaid gsm yet). Cingular allows you to roam onto att in washington so they may also in oregon, which if they do will give you coverage on all three networks. At a hundred bucks, this isn't the cheapest option but you'll end up with about four hours of prepaid time and if cingular allows you to roam to att, you should be able to determine which carrier is best for you.
Good luck. |
bigdawg
Joined: Jan 10, 2003
Posts: 0
From: New Jersey
PM |
Hey Cunning Man,
Well once again Highrez is in here showing everyone that he doesn't know what he is talking about. Forget his advice about getting a pre-paid SIM from Cingular because they do not offer service in the state of oregon. It would be impossible for you to get Pre-paid service with Cingular if you'll be in Oregon. Now, AT&T does not have pre-paid SIM service at all, Tmobile however does and that may be a better option for you now considering that you would need to pass a credit check with AT&T and that may night be possible since you would be just moving to America. You would most likely need a security deposit with AT&T.. Good luck with your move! I hear Oregon is beautiful.. |
Cunning Man
Joined: Dec 18, 2002
Posts: 40
PM |
Thanks all for the info. I'll let you know about OR once I get there...
C |
highrez
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: 3
From: Seattle, WA
PM |
I think you've failed to invalidate my point - but you're true colors are really showing Mr. BigDawg AT&T Wireless Stock Holder. While your first suggestion was "check out AT&T wireless" I took the stance (at least in this particular thread!) of saying 'check out all the carriers and then decide which is best for you'. Ok, cingular may not have their own network pressence in oregon - and such they may not sell service in oregon but, due to that roaming agreement cingular and att have that you ATT stockholders/employees are quick to point out, cingular customers CAN (can as in I called cingular and asked can) roam onto att in oregon - though they may be paying a higher per minute rate (i don't know this either way). Thus a cingular sim purchased for use in wa or cali would give him all the information he needs to choose which carrier works best for him.
Or yeah he could always get an ATT sim cause an ATT stockholder suggested it to him, and be locked into a contract since att doesn't offer prepaid and possibly suffer through miserable service because even though another carrier may have better coverage for him he never took the time to test them out. Really who is full of it?
You say check out att wireless, I say checkout cingular cause even if they don't have a network in oregon he will still be able to judge the quality of ATT's network (confirmed by cingular) vs. T-Mobiles without being locked into a contract.
[ This Message was edited by: highrez on 2003-01-15 04:23 ] |
bigdawg
Joined: Jan 10, 2003
Posts: 0
From: New Jersey
PM |
@highrez
Hey bright boy, did you truly understand my last posting? I'm guessing that you didn't pay attention. I advised him to try Tmobile instead because he would need to pass a credit check or need to pay a security deposit with AT&T. As for your stupid suggestion of him using Cingular pre-paid, well as I had stated in which you confirmed , Cingular does not have a Network in Oregon. Yes, Cingular GSM users could possibly roam on AT&T gsm but HOW IN THE HELL IS HE TO GET A CINGULAR PRE PAID SIM. what's is he to do, go to California or Washington to get it and then try AT&T in oregon. Does this make sense you? This is why I did recommend that he use Tmobile pre-paid. I thought you would be happy that I recommended your favorite carrier.
Pay attention next time, you might learn something! |
highrez
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: 3
From: Seattle, WA
PM |
Yeah I understood your last post. You inferred that I didn't know what I was talking about on the false premise that a cingular sim would provide no value to Cunning Man. However, since a Cingular sim would provide value in that it would allow him to judge att's network without a contract your inference was without a base. My reply was to clarify my previous statements, since you didn't seem to understand I was telling the guy to check out all of his options and draw his own conclusion as to which network WORKS BEST FOR HIM. I didn't have a problem with you telling him that an ATT contract might be a pain because he's foreign, even though you neglected to mention it in your first post - where you did recommend ATT. When I decided to give my input as to his GSM options I did not suggest any one carrier - I suggested a way for him to effectively judge which network was best for him.
As for how to get a hold of a cingular sim. This isn't really that hard, you call Cingular. Give em a credit card # and $20 bucks gone from your account and have have a SIM. Then you have to buy minutes. Of course if he were impatient he could drive to the "south sound" part of washington (an hour and a half trip each way - if that) and pick up a sim at a cingular store. Lake Oswego, like Portland is on the very north end of Oregon near the Washington border. And really that drive will be an advantage for him as many people in the Portland area, being its so close to washington tend to roam to Vancover and sometimes Seattle/Tacoma - so it'd give him a chance to see which carrier is best up and down the I5 corridor. |
Cunning Man
Joined: Dec 18, 2002
Posts: 40
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Yikes. |
bigdawg
Joined: Jan 10, 2003
Posts: 0
From: New Jersey
PM |
@ Cunning Man
Sorry about all this. Mr. Highrez would have you call Cingular and give them a credit card # but the only problem is that you may not have one since you would be new to this country and again would need to pass some type of credit check to get a credit card so this in itself would be a problem. Besides even if you did give them a credit card and did have it shipped to you there is another problem. No body will ship you an active SIM card for fear that if someone else got their hands on it they could steal and use it themselves.You would have to call Cust service and have the SIM activated once you received it. But since you would be activating a Cingular SIM you would not be able to activate it while on AT&Ts network which means you would have to drive 1 1/2 hours just to get it activated. I LOVE THE LOGIC!!!
I doubt you would really want to drive 1 1/2 one way just to pick up a pre-paid SIM card just you could test the coverage along I 15 as Highrez had suggested. Every carrier in the US covers the major highways extremely well in their service areas so this would be pointless. Again, I love the logic. Save your self the hassle and trouble, Get a TMobile pre-paid SIM. I hear they have good coverage in their areas. It would the easiest way to go. Besides think of all the money you save on gas since you wouldn't have to drive 3 hours round trip. Good luck!! LOVE THE LOGIC!!! |
gsm1
Joined: Jan 06, 2003
Posts: 49
From: USA
PM |
if you have sim from where you are now use that to test signals
This message was posted from a P800 |
highrez
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: 3
From: Seattle, WA
PM |
Hey bigdawg, you're a bit dated. There are these things called "check cards" that use the visa network "but withdraw the money right from your checking account". They show them on tv all the time, and I think infants can even get them. 
As far as not wanting to test the major highways, well thats just wrong. If I had tested 405 between Bellevue and Renton wa I would have never gotten an ATT GSM account.
I still think Cunning Man has a couple of options when it comes to purchasing a cingular sim - if thats what he wants to do. Shoot it down all you want, I'm just presenting options.
Your coment about activating the sim is off. You don't need to be on your home carriers network to "activate" the sim. If you mean "provision" the provisioning is done on the sim before it is sent to you (with cingular). I admit I'm not up on the GSM specifications, but I know for certain that you do not need to be on your home network to "activate" the sim. Have you ever seen the swisscom "easyRoam" sims that are sold all the time for international travel? These sims come unprovisioned, that is you have to call swisscom to provision the sim (get a phone number). You do NOT have to be in switzerland to do this, you can do it from anywhere in the world where they have roaming agreements.
Speaking of Swisscom, they have roaming agreements with ATT Cingular and T-Mobile America. They may be a better solution for Cunning Man or anyone else who may want to compare GSM networks in the US (or just about anywhere else in the world).
gsm1: I had thought about your suggestion previously but just testing specific areas does not give you indication of how well the network is able to switch your calls between base stations etc while driving. I like doing the old "can you hear me now?" test. Also, I don't know about the P800 but my T68 won't show me the signal level from a specific base station unless I'm able to register on it. There are some base station's (ATT at my house for example) that show up in the network search but being able to see a station in the network search and being able to register/make a call on that station are very different things. |
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Posted: 2003-01-13 09:36
