Roaming

**avenue** · 12-10-2011, 07:45 PM

This might have already been covered, but I thought I'd create a thread just for it.

Have any of you been able to roam? I know someone has read a report of somebody roaming, but I want to know if anybody on here (Howard Forums) has successfully been able to roam on Verizon Wireless.

If you were able to roam, did you have any problems?

It would also be nice to find a way to "force roam" on Verizon, not to abuse the service and cost Republic Wireless money, but to make it easier to use the phone in areas with weak Sprint service.

**avenue** · 12-11-2011, 07:02 PM

Well, I've noticed a few things..

1) These new Sprint MVNO's are saying they run on Sprint's network. If I remember correctly, they never used to be allowed to use the Sprint name. At least it was that way with Verizon MVNO's. They would always say on a "Nationwide Network", and not name that network.

2) Ting is offering roaming, and they say that. There have also been reports that Republic Wireless is offering roaming.

3) Ting is allowing tethering. They say you can do what you want with the service, because you're paying for it. So, if you want to use 1 GB tethering, you can, without an additional fee, because you're already paying for that data.

4) Ting is also offering 4G, which I don't remember any Sprint MVNO's doing in the past.

So, it looks like Sprint is changing some things, which is nice. I wouldn't be surprised if roaming comes to Virgin Mobile and/or Boost Mobile next.

**The Beet** · 12-11-2011, 09:34 PM

Sprint has been turning roaming off (on the device) by default when you take it out of the box, if anything they are becoming more restrictive. The republic rep did say you could roam off sprints network with their service

**avenue** · 12-12-2011, 08:04 AM

Originally Posted by The Beet

Sprint has been turning roaming off (on the device) by default when you take it out of the box, if anything they are becoming more restrictive. The republic rep did say you could roam off sprints network with their service

So, the services are offering roaming, but the customer would need to go into the phone's settings to change it to allow roaming? Is that what you're saying?

**The Beet** · 12-12-2011, 01:14 PM

More along the lines of Sprint is making it difficult to roam with their own native devices. They come loaded with roaming off and even once you do turn it on you still need to check a box indicating "There could be charges for roaming". It seems Sprint is doing some posturing for when the Alltel roaming agreement runs out.

**avenue** · 12-13-2011, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by The Beet

More along the lines of Sprint is making it difficult to roam with their own native devices. They come loaded with roaming off and even once you do turn it on you still need to check a box indicating "There could be charges for roaming". It seems Sprint is doing some posturing for when the Alltel roaming agreement runs out.

After you turn it on and check the box is it good to go from there, or do you need to do it each time?

Also, since Verizon and Alltel are together now, does that mean even after the Alltel agreement runs out there will still be coverage there since Sprint has roaming with Verizon?

**The Beet** · 12-13-2011, 08:26 PM

Yes once you get all the checkboxes checked it seems to hold, but it seems easy to miss some or if the phone gets defaulted (I have 50 business lines so it's a real pain in my hide)

I am not a expert on the roaming agreements by any means but I do remember a condition of the Alltel sale was Verizon could not kill that agreement period. The agreement was a 2 way agreement allowing Alltel customers to roam Sprint (an obvious win/win since Alltel had little big city coverage and Sprint has very little rural coverage)

The agreement runs to 2016 I think but Sprint has already been feeling the burn with the divestiture markets (Such as Wyoming) where Alltel was riding Sprint's spectrum and ATT did not want it... obviously WAY off topic at this point.

Needless to say I think we will see more and more restrictive roaming from Sprint and it's MVNO's as they try and contain costs and keep people on their network... they are OBVIOUSLY doing that already limiting roaming data to like 300mb and locking the phones out of roaming by default

**engineercarl** · 12-14-2011, 06:17 AM

I have one of RW's phones, and you can roam off of Sprint's service with the device, right out of the box, no checkmarks needed. I take it down into the Washington, DC subway with me on a daily basis, and it performs pretty much like a CDMA TracFone I have sitting right next to it.

Washngton DC's subway was wired for cellular CDMA service back in the days when Bell Atlantic was around and held a license. They (the WMATA) keeps claiming that true multi-carrier service will be available, but they have been saying that since early 2010, at least. I'll believe it when I see it.

I have found out in the last few days that it is not complete roaming access...you could make a phone call while roaming, but there was no data access. A little frustrating at rush hour when you are standing on the subway platform with 500 of your closest friends and can't see the sign for the next train arriving. Whip out your phone to check the mobile WAP site for the same information, and BANG! No data access.

Oh well...it is a Beta, after all.

Engineer Carl

**GSMinCT** · 12-14-2011, 02:37 PM

Originally Posted by engineercarl

I have one of RW's phones, and you can roam off of Sprint's service with the device, right out of the box, no checkmarks needed. I take it down into the Washington, DC subway with me on a daily basis, and it performs pretty much like a CDMA TracFone I have sitting right next to it.

Washngton DC's subway was wired for cellular CDMA service back in the days when Bell Atlantic was around and held a license. They (the WMATA) keeps claiming that true multi-carrier service will be available, but they have been saying that since early 2010, at least. I'll believe it when I see it.

I have found out in the last few days that it is not complete roaming access...you could make a phone call while roaming, but there was no data access. A little frustrating at rush hour when you are standing on the subway platform with 500 of your closest friends and can't see the sign for the next train arriving. Whip out your phone to check the mobile WAP site for the same information, and BANG! No data access.

Oh well...it is a Beta, after all.

Engineer Carl

That sounds about right... you're lucky to have in-market BAM/Cellco/VZW roaming at all. Anyone in DC who uses the Metro just has to decide if having cell service on the train is worth switching to Verizon... Can anyone confirm if out-of-market Verizon roaming has data?

It's really hard to wire tunnels since you can't wire them when trains are going... I wish that subways systems the world over would never get cellular access, it's so nice in NYC to get on the subway and no one is yakking or texting or anything else.

**engineercarl** · 12-15-2011, 06:19 AM

Originally Posted by GSMinCT

That sounds about right... you're lucky to have in-market BAM/Cellco/VZW roaming at all. Anyone in DC who uses the Metro just has to decide if having cell service on the train is worth switching to Verizon... Can anyone confirm if out-of-market Verizon roaming has data?

It's really hard to wire tunnels since you can't wire them when trains are going... I wish that subways systems the world over would never get cellular access, it's so nice in NYC to get on the subway and no one is yakking or texting or anything else.

Ever since the Fort Totten accident in 2009, WMATA has been working on infrastructure by single-tracking or outright closing sections of line on weekends. Along with that (they claim) they are laying hanging leaky cable for multi-carrier use along with some sort of platform Video TV they want to roll out. There was a press release about this some time ago, I just can't find it right now. The (new) silver line is the exception: since they are building from scratch (from West Falls Church to Dulles airport), it all goes in.

As for talking in the NYC subway: service or not, I couldn't see anyone doing it. It's freakin' LOUD down there...and hot, muggy, and leaky when it rains.

**GSMinCT** · 12-15-2011, 08:54 AM

Originally Posted by engineercarl

Ever since the Fort Totten accident in 2009, WMATA has been working on infrastructure by single-tracking or outright closing sections of line on weekends. Along with that (they claim) they are laying hanging leaky cable for multi-carrier use along with some sort of platform Video TV they want to roll out. There was a press release about this some time ago, I just can't find it right now. The (new) silver line is the exception: since they are building from scratch (from West Falls Church to Dulles airport), it all goes in.

As for talking in the NYC subway: service or not, I couldn't see anyone doing it. It's freakin' LOUD down there...and hot, muggy, and leaky when it rains.

What does the BAM installation use? A whole series of antennas as opposed to leaky coax? Has Verizon updated it at all, or is it the original antenna system with CDMA/EVDO behind it now? Have they put any 700mhz LTE gear down there? Also, is the WMATA going to do wifi with the backhaul over the leaky coax? I would think that would be a somewhat high priority, as the lease fees for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint to get onto that network are going to astronomical. The damage has probably already been done though, as far as Verizon getting a huge base of captive customers in that market.

In NYC, They are putting service in all the stations (ugh, wish they would keep it away), so some lines where there aren't curves may be able to hang on between stations. Many places it will drop and pick right back up again around the curve. I wish that they would just leave it be. The newer cars aren't that bad, although I'm not sure you could easily hold a conversation down there. The strange part is, I think they're doing GSM first, while the PSNY Hudson tunnels that NJT uses are Verizon-only, and there's a lot of cross-traffic between those two systems.