Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Mon, 29 Apr 91 13:24 PDT From: John Higdon Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: OKI 900 Handheld Cellular Review Reply-To: John Higdon Message-ID: Organization: Green Hills and Cows Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 318, Message 7 of 11 Lines: 49 Mark Lottor writes: > BAY AREA CELLULAR SERVICE: I had to decide between the two evils of > Cellular One/PacTel and GTE. As a user of both systems, I could have told you precisely what the differences were. > In the end I picked C-1 thru PacTel. > [...] > Coverage in mountain and coastal areas is practically > zero, and hopefully they will add to those areas soon, so I can go out > to the beach with a laptop PC and OKI's RJ-11 option! GTE has perfectly acceptable coverage in the mountain and coastal areas. In fact, it has superior coverage overall, which is, I assume important to most cellular users. Cellular One has a MUCH more aggressive sales presence than GTE Mobilnet, but it is trading on the ghosts of times long past. GTE was the first system in the Bay Area and the "service" was attrocious. It was as bad as PacTel is now in Los Angeles. Coverage was terrible, calls frequently dropped, audio levels varied all over the map, plus a host of other problems. People could not wait for the "A" system to come on line. When Cellular One (PacTel/McCaw) opened for business, GTE Mobilnet customers lined up at the door. I was one of them. And it was a refreshing improvement. In the meantime, however, GTE was building and improving. It outstripped Cellular One in number of cell sites and developed one of the country's finest in-house RF engineering departments. Motorola was given a swift kick in the butt and told to fix the bugs in the EMX "or else". The result has been that GTE is clearly the technically superior system in the Bay Area. It has a wider coverage area and serves that area better than the competition. Since I have had at least one cellular account since it was available, it was no heartache to sign up for the "yearly" commitment (and get the cheaper rates). But Cellular One still has the attitude that is was entitled to in 1986. And times have changed. Since I use my phones heavily in the mountain areas, I would not dream of having Cellular One for my personal accounts. I am also not at all impressed with the "A" carrier roaming agreements, which seem to be more flaky. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !