Which cell network (if any)?

[OferNave]

My Sprint phone is useless in Grafton, but I'm out of contract, so I could switch if I wanted.  Does anyone get any reception anywhere in Grafton on any of the cellular networks?

[41mag]

Really depends on where in Grafton you are.  I'm pretty sure they all have dead areas.

[Giggan]

With Verizon I got a faint signal in some places, but nothing dependable.

[OferNave]

I'd be happy to find at least one spot in town that gets decent reception from at least one carrier, so I could sign up with that carrier and go stand on that spot when I need to make phone calls or check messages.  It would still be an improvement over what I have now. 

[Lloyd Danforth]

Someone said Tracfone.  You could PM    MTPorcupine3, he used to get a signal up on Neils Lane.

[Free libertarian]

Ofer...so that's why I couldn't call you!  Unicell works in some spots, I can show you where,  better than any others we tried.   It does not work at Ofer's though. 

I have also heard some trac phones might work, but I cannot verify this with any experiences.

[J’raxis 270145]

During Burning Porc, someone told me some services work along Route 4 near the store. I've not tested this myself.

I could get my T-Mobile phone working at the very top of the Landing Zone property, but not near the house.

[error]

T-Mobile if you can stand them. Of course the reasons T-Mobile annoys me are common to all the other wireless carriers, so it makes no difference.

[jerry]

The other day I saw a woman sitting in her car chatting on a cellphone at the corner of Iris Lane and Rte 4 so I stopped to ask her which network she was on.  Tracphone.

jerry

[Mike Barskey]

I have heard there is a device you can get that plugs into your home network that converts between cell signals and the internet (so you'd need internet access - probably higher speed than dial-up). So if you're in an area without cell reception but with internet access, you can get this device which acts like a tiny cell tower (I guess it creates a reception area roughly the size of a house). Does this exist? Would it work with any cellular carrier? If it exists, what does it actually do (does it broadcast and receive cellular signals so your phone works, and then send those signals to a special server hosted by a cellular carrier? do you need to host another of these devices in an area with cell reception so you're essentially just transporting cellular signals over the internet to a place with reception?)?

[41mag]

I know you can get a card or usb plugin that will allow you to connect to the internet via cellar service.  I've never heard of anything that will create a "micro tower" and broadcast over the internet.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

I have heard there is a device you can get that plugs into your home network that converts between cell signals and the internet (so you'd need internet access - probably higher speed than dial-up). So if you're in an area without cell reception but with internet access, you can get this device which acts like a tiny cell tower (I guess it creates a reception area roughly the size of a house). Does this exist?

Yes and no. Firstly, T-Mobile is beginning to roll out their Wifi based phone service and it does seamless handoffs between cell networks and wifi access points to save you minutes. There's also 3G+ devices which use a cellular network to create a wifi accesspoint. The problem is that you're essentially still screwed if you can't cell coverage.

[Mike Barskey]

Yes and no. Firstly, T-Mobile is beginning to roll out their Wifi based phone service and it does seamless handoffs between cell networks and wifi access points to save you minutes. There's also 3G+ devices which use a cellular network to create a wifi accesspoint. The problem is that you're essentially still screwed if you can't cell coverage.

I think the device I thought existed must not exist then. The device/service you're describing is like extended cellular service, where your phone can switch between cellular and wifi. What I thought (and hoped) existed was a device that created a small cellular area (like in your home) but converted the data and actually transferred it via internet. Bummer.

[KBCraig]

Given the option of wifi or cellular, iPhones will automatically switch to wifi mode. That means big cost saving for u sers who wander into hotspots.

[Pat McCotter]

I found this doing a google search for 'personal cellular'.

Can Personal Cellular Sites boost cell service?
By Allan Leinwand

Mobile operators are on the verge of asking you to help them solve one of their biggest problems – how to get more signal strength where you need or want it most. Their plan? Allow end users to buy personal devices that act like Wi-Fi routers, providing nearby cellular bandwidth in hard-to-reach places like offices and homes.


These next type of cell sites, named femto cellular (femto being smaller than pico, the term used by mobile operators that refers to smaller cell sites) are setting out to solve carriers' often-expensive problem of providing complete coverage. Mobile phones usually work well in metropolitan areas, but travel a few miles off the Interstate or into the country and signal bars drop rapidly. Most frustrating to many people is that the signal strength at their homes or inside offices is often unusable.

The forthcoming femto solution? Having end-users buy a small femto device, similar in concept to a Wi-Fi access point, that is a personal cellular site. The femto cellular device has a cellular antenna to boost the available signal as well as an Internet connection. The device uses your Internet connection to connect to your mobile provider's' network and route your phone calls.

There are a few limitations, or benefits, to this approach, depending how you see it. First of all, the femto device you buy will probably only connect to a single mobile provider's network. That's good if you like your mobile operator and bad if you want to switch operators on a regular basis. This approach is clearly good for the mobile operator because you buy a device that uses your Internet connection to extend their network and gives you less incentive to switch providers.

Since femto cellular devices are not available yet, there are some unknown issues – will mobile operators charge the same for minutes via femto cellular devices? Will enterprises buy femto cellular devices like Wi-Fi access points to extend cellular coverage? How do you stop your neighbors from using your femto cellular device and the associated broadband bandwidth (or do you care)? And how much are you willing to pay for a device that lets you use mobile phones in your house?