Who Owns the Largest Cellular Network in the U.S.? 14
onyx00 asks: "Cellular phones are everywhere nowadays. It seems that anywhere you go almost everyone has a cellular phone. Originally the high cost of air-time hindered their success, but now even ten-year-olds can afford to have one. With the many different cellular companies however, I wonder who owns the largest segments of the cellular networks? Some companies offer nationwide service, but is this by their own network, or by use of others? Who really "owns" the cellular network? Do any companies actually use satellites to help link their cellular segments?"
Largest Digital Network (Score:1)
Sprint Claims they have the largest
There are larger networks; there are larger networks that can do digital, but not larger all digital networks. If you live near a major highway or metropolitan area, you are on their network. I have sprintPCS and i'm quite happy. They have local and national plans that beat the pants off the competition, at least for now. The most popular plans are $50/500minutes national or $75/1000. If you add $15 you can share that airtime with another phone. If you add $10 you can use the airtime for either wireless web or talking. Its great if you get stuck in a traffic jam and wonder whats goin down on slashdot while you're stuck.
I think Horizon Wireless (Nextel + Bell Atlantic merger) is an up and coming candidate.
At this time, Sprint can claim the largest
Vodafone/Airtouch/Mannesmann? (Score:1)
Here in europe though almost every network has 90%complete coverage though network sharing agreements, so you can use the same phone with the same number in about 16 countries (its quite cool the first time you get a phonecall in Germany on your British phone from an Italian person).
Verizon (Score:1)
here's a bit from there site:
more info can be found here [verizonwireless.com]
bpd
Re:Cellular Network (Score:1)
Re:Verizon (Score:1)
BA's wireless network is very strong IMHO. I used to work with CellularONE in Greenbelt, MD (the very first CellularONE infact the second company to offer Cellular to consumers waaaaay back when, I think the first was in Chicago). And I felt their product was superior's to CellularONEs digital offering in the Washington Metro area.
So given the past performance of PrimeCo and BA, chances are their network infrastructure will be reworked.
bpd
Re:Verizon (Score:1)
Re:Largest Digital Network (Score:1)
The name is incorrect, they are not Nextel & Bell Atlantic Mobile
It is PrimeCo. (Mid America)Air Touch(Scattered) and Bell Atlantic Mobile(Entire east coast and as far out as Arizona)
If you live in the NYC area and have tried Sprint, you know what crappy service is !(don't go outside of the 5 boroughs you wont get service)
P.S. - I wonder how Slashdot looks on HDML ! Get on this Rob !
They have merged and became VerisonWireless [verisonwireless.com] They have the widest coverage area of all cellular systems
I think AT&T wireless has the most subscribers (much to the detriment of thier bottom line, A LOT of people don't pay the bills due to not having credit restrictions !) Remember that when you plunk your money on the AT&T wireless stock.
- Save The Whales
Forget the biggest network (Score:1)
I did a road trip 4 weeks ago from Ontario to Florida, and was only out of signal for 1 hour out of 24, never had a problem receiving calls, voice mail worked perfectly, and the charges weren't all that bad.
While it would be nice to be on a full coverage network, it roams so well, who cares?
Cellular Network (Score:2)
Cellular networks really are owned by the provider, or at least the radios on the towers and the spectrum rights. There's a trend in the industry towards tower consolidation, where independent companies buy the towers from cellular providers and then resell tower space to other providers in the area.
No cellular company uses satellites. There is at least one satellite company (Globalstar) that sells phones that use terrestrial networks as long as you're in range and then switch to satellite service when you're not. These services are often resold under a local provider's name, but the cellular company does not own or operate the satellites.
Re:Cellular Network (Score:1)
I just moved to the SF Bay area and, ufortunately, AT&T doesn't offer local service here. I had to switch to GTE and buy all new equipment, since GTE is the only other provider who currently offers a plan like AT&T's One Rate. However, they're CDMA-based, whereas AT&T is TDMA. I don't like the CDMA phones as much (ended up with a Motorola StarTac), but it's mainly a features issue; the voice quality and coverage seems comparable, or maybe just a tad less.
With either plan you just can't beat the "no long distance" and "no roaming" versus traditional plans.
Re:Cellular Network (Score:1)
bpd
Re:Largest Digital Network (Score:1)
However, even more strange is that on a bus ride from NYC to Boston, I never went out of service at all. I don't know how important that might be to anyone else, but it's nice to know that I'll tend to have flawless service on the road. (Not when I'm driving though, that's a tad braindead.)
Also, as far as I can tell, Sprint's no worse than the other providers available. Omnipoint and AT&T have similar quality problems to Sprint, and Cellular One's service in NYC is less than ideal as well. Don't even ask about Bell Atlantic, 'tis to laugh.
Raptor
Re:Largest Digital Network (Score:1)
I haven't tried using any of their wireless web services yet.
Sprint sucks in the SF bay area (Score:1)
Coverage in the bay area is very bad. I have had dropped calls driving down a couple of city blocks in downtown Berkeley, and San Jose. Sound quality is poor, and much of the time I'd be out of range, even in a major metropolitan area. I strongly urge you to reconsider choosing Sprint if you live around here. Also, if you're going up to Tahoe/Reno then don't count on any service past Sacramento, cuz you won't get any.
Sprint's rates are great, and it's cool that you can check how many minutes you've used over the web, but actual phone service sucks! To their credit, I know people who live on the East Coast and have no problems with Sprint, except when they come out here that is.
I've also had experience in this area with GTE (super expensive, but great sound quality and coverage) and Pac Bell (great price, lots of features, great quality and coverage but doesn't work in buildings) and can recommend them both.