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Montana area - Chinook Wireless and iPhone

If the deal is anything like Verizon's acquisition of Unicel in Vermont, AT&T should be here in a matter of months.

I'm on T-Mobile in Bozeman. I roam using Cellular One towers (my iPhone displays Cellular One next to my signal bars), and it works great. EDGE is speedy and I get great reception. I can assume this would carry over to service directly from Cellular One.
 
pdpfilms said:
If the deal is anything like Verizon's acquisition of Unicel in Vermont, AT&T should be here in a matter of months.

I'm on T-Mobile in Bozeman. I roam using Cellular One towers (my iPhone displays Cellular One next to my signal bars), and it works great. EDGE is speedy and I get great reception. I can assume this would carry over to service directly from Cellular One.
Click to expand...

I certainly hope that AT&T is here in a matter of months. I'm not sure that the divested Alltel networks cover enough of the state to rollout service, but if they also finally bought Cellular One, they would be set.

Are you roaming with an iPhone 3G or the original? A previous poster who roamed from AT&T to Cellular One would only get GPRS with his iPhone 3G.
 
shahidhaque said:
As many of you probably heard, Verizon and Alltel officially merged, and as a result are being forced to divest overlapping assets in many states. Montana is actually one of the states with the most overlapping areas. As far as I know, there is no known buyer yet, but one can hope that it will be AT&T. Then we might be able to actually get official AT&T here in Montana.
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Here's what I don't get: Alltel in Montana is not GSM. Montana's only GSM carrier is Cellular One. So even if AT&T were to buy Montana's Alltel, that doesn't bring the iPhone any closer. What am I missing?
 
BRussell said:
Here's what I don't get: Alltel in Montana is not GSM. Montana's only GSM carrier is Cellular One. So even if AT&T were to buy Montana's Alltel, that doesn't bring the iPhone any closer. What am I missing?
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You're missing that Alltel WAS GSM. When the went to CDMA they didn't take down their GSM hardware because its a money maker for roaming traffic.

The reason GSM is sometimes slow as **** in Montana is because those Alltel towers are still GPRS.

Someone could come in to buy Alltel's old hardware but it wouldn't be worth too much because its very old. What AT&T or Tmobile would do is come here and have a monopoly on GSM service (such as Chinook/Cellone/Assclowns has now).


I am convinced the people running cellone have no intention of being a cell provider (evident by their lack of understanding the market, marketing, and customer service). They are just bidding their time until the buy out.
 
Alltel was never GSM here, though Western Wireless (TDMA then CDMA) offered GSM for roamers.

AT&T would update and tune the GSM network (and finish building it out on the sites without GSM) and convert the customers to GSM if they bought the Alltel network.
 
So AT&T has bought Verizon's Alltel assets in Montana. Looks like Montana will finally get the iPhone, but AT&T will need to close the deal (end of 2009), and then they need to switch the hardware to GSM (another year). iPhone rev. 5 in 2011, here we come. :rolleyes:
 
Well... I jumped gun here in Kalispell and picked up 3GS during launch (out of state). Counting on ATT completing the transaction before I get the nice form letter :D At least my partner travels a lot to the home service area, and talks a lot while traveling, which may buy some extra time. heh...

Anyways, as far as I can tell the phone roams here on combination of CellularOne and Alltel services. Voice is decent, although certainly more spotty then Verizon which we came from. Data on the other hand is quite brutal. (Thank god I'm around wifi all day. ;) ) I guess I assumed we at least had *some* decent EDGE coverage here, but really from what I've seen downtown Kalispell is basically GPRS. Oddly enough I get some EDGE services once I'm outside of town (35 heading down toward Bigfork). But it seems very spotty. Seems very odd that town wouldn't be covered, or maybe I'm not roaming properly at this point... not sure.

So bring it on ATT.. 3G would be great, hell I'd even take consistent EDGE service. It's not like Verizon's EVDO service out here is blazing fast either, but GPRS is like suicide. :eek:
 
Moonshine said:
Well... I jumped gun here in Kalispell and picked up 3GS during launch (out of state). Counting on ATT completing the transaction before I get the nice form letter :D At least my partner travels a lot to the home service area, and talks a lot while traveling, which may buy some extra time. heh...

Anyways, as far as I can tell the phone roams here on combination of CellularOne and Alltel services. Voice is decent, although certainly more spotty then Verizon which we came from. Data on the other hand is quite brutal. (Thank god I'm around wifi all day. ;) ) I guess I assumed we at least had *some* decent EDGE coverage here, but really from what I've seen downtown Kalispell is basically GPRS. Oddly enough I get some EDGE services once I'm outside of town (35 heading down toward Bigfork). But it seems very spotty. Seems very odd that town wouldn't be covered, or maybe I'm not roaming properly at this point... not sure.

So bring it on ATT.. 3G would be great, hell I'd even take consistent EDGE service. It's not like Verizon's EVDO service out here is blazing fast either, but GPRS is like suicide. :eek:
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Its strange...does Cellular One offer EDGE in Kalispell? Someone earlier in the thread said that due to some contractual issues, Cellular One doesn't allow AT&T phones to roam on their EDGE network, so you only get GPRS. I don't know if that is true or not.

It would be interesting to see what happens when you travel to Helena. We have solid EDGE data here through Cellular One. I would like to find out if your phone roams on the EDGE network.

I have been thinking about getting an AT&T iPhone and roaming here as well. I have an unlocked iPhone 3G right now, but I travel a lot for business, and I despise the expensive roaming data offered through Cellular One. It is so expensive that you simply can't use it.
 
CellularOne is EDGE. Alltel is too, but flakey, inconsistent and improperly implemented EDGE. I'm pretty sure your phone will prefer Alltel to CellularOne, thus you get better data in some out of town areas when your phone switches from Alltel to CellularOne.

Let us know if you get kicked off :)

Mark
 
shahidhaque said:
It would be interesting to see what happens when you travel to Helena. We have solid EDGE data here through Cellular One. I would like to find out if your phone roams on the EDGE network.
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I've only been to Helena once in the last decade, but my partner heads through once in a while, so I may be able to get a report for you. :)

shahidhaque said:
I have been thinking about getting an AT&T iPhone and roaming here as well. I have an unlocked iPhone 3G right now, but I travel a lot for business, and I despise the expensive roaming data offered through Cellular One. It is so expensive that you simply can't use it.
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I hear that... We were about to do the same, but roaming w/ our use out of state would have been insane. As it is we are ~50$ a month cheaper through ATT then our prior Verizon package. (and that's with ~800 more mins and unlimited messaging vs 2000)
 
markie said:
CellularOne is EDGE. Alltel is too, but flakey, inconsistent and improperly implemented EDGE. I'm pretty sure your phone will prefer Alltel to CellularOne, thus you get better data in some out of town areas when your phone switches from Alltel to CellularOne.

Let us know if you get kicked off :)

Mark
Click to expand...

That would certainly explain things. Guess I need to take down a few Alltel towers until ATT gets their act together. :) It certainly feels weird when I can get EDGE up at my house (way up in the foothills in Creston) but only GPRS right in downtown ktown. I was hoping I had incomplete routing updates or something, but alas... thank god for open wifi around town. Oh well.. the phone rocks :D
 
On a non-jailbroken phone, I don't think there is any opportunity to select your carrier, is there? On my unlocked 3G, there is -- but this is likely only due to yellowsn0w.

I am really curious how an AT&T-locked 3GS works in other cities, like Helena, Bozeman, and Missoula. Please report back!
 
Let me guess, you have a non-AT&T SIM. AT&T SIMs ask the phone not to allow manual network selection (some obey, some don't)
 
Moonshine said:
Data on the other hand is quite brutal.
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Well I guess living in Southern California does have some benefits. I must say that I really enjoy being able to take full advantage of all of the capabilities of the iPhone. I'm still amazed at how quickly downloads take place over the 3G network.

The other day I was at the local hardware store looking at a new Band Saw. I thought it would be a good idea to see if I could get a deal on a used saw, so I went to the App Store on my phone to see if Craig's List had an app for the iPhone. I found a great app - http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=293629505&mt=8 - bought it and downloaded it all while I was standing in the store. Within 5 minutes I was scrolling through ads for used saws located in my county. I ended up finding a saw for $100.00 less than what was offered at the hardware store. I love my iPhone!!

We are trying to relocate out of So. Cal. Much of this area I won't miss, but full iPhone 3Gs coverage I will.

By the way, I would love to hear of any suggestions for finding executive level sales positions (Sales Manager, Director of Sales, Vice President of Sales, etc.) in the Kalispell / Missoula region. I'm not finding much of substance in the CareerBuilder / Monster job postings.

Enjoy your slice of heaven... I'll enjoy my iPhone - for now ;).
 
Jobs are hard to come by right now in Kalispell, but if you do move up here it's beautiful! Say hi to me :) And AT&T should have coverage here around Decemberish, they're buying Alltel.
 
Moonshine, if you're still around I'm really interested in knowing if AT&T gave you the boot. I've heard of them giving at least some people the boot this summer. Given they know they'll be owning Alltel here very soon I find it so surprising...
 
@markie

We're still alive and kickn'. Actually data service improved a bit for me as well after a SIM update. Nothing blazing fast, but at least it roams on pretty stable EDGE service around most of the valley. We do have a pretty large minute package though, and travel quite a bit, so I'm not sure we are really on their radar. Yet.

The phones have been amazing though, especially now that their jailbroken and loaded up with apps/tools. There is no going back. :)
 
If you travel to AT&T areas quite a bit, then that confirms I really am probably best waiting at least till they OWN Alltel here - not sure I can wait until the network transition is complete, but they should own the network by December if the FCC keeps their 180-day timeline (which, they likely won't given the new administration is far more skeptical)
 
TheBeav said:
<<snip>>We are trying to relocate out of So. Cal. Much of this area I won't miss, but full iPhone 3Gs coverage I will.

By the way, I would love to hear of any suggestions for finding executive level sales positions (Sales Manager, Director of Sales, Vice President of Sales, etc.) in the Kalispell / Missoula region. I'm not finding much of substance in the CareerBuilder / Monster job postings.<<snip>>
Click to expand...

When I left SoCal three years ago I gave up a six fig salary and 100% insurance coverage for me and my family to live here. Essentially it was career hari-kari. Poverty never felt so great, best decision I ever made!

It's been a long wait for ATT. Had ATT when I moved here and roaming coverage was poor. You will also miss you DirecTV (no local channels), ironic since they have a huge customer support phone center here.
 
I thought I'd add here that while both my girlfriend and I started up single-line AT&T accounts on the same day, she has not yet received an excessive use warning. I got mine a few months ago and have since switched to Cell One.

We had the same minutes/data package, similar use patterns, same usage locations... I'm still not sure why she hasn't been booted.
 
pdpfilms said:
I thought I'd add here that while both my girlfriend and I started up single-line AT&T accounts on the same day, she has not yet received an excessive use warning. I got mine a few months ago and have since switched to Cell One.

We had the same minutes/data package, similar use patterns, same usage locations... I'm still not sure why she hasn't been booted.
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If only Cellular One had a data roaming package, I wouldn't even mind sticking with them. But with their ridiculous rates for roaming out of state, its really impossible to consider Cell One a serious provider...
 
moglodite said:
.... You will also miss you DirecTV (no local channels), ironic since they have a huge customer support phone center here.
Click to expand...

Ahh yes. Although if you are talking about the Flathead, we do have off-air HD NBC and CBS. Also a friend told me DTV will be offering "neighboring local" networks from Missoula to the Flathead come November 9th.

But certainly no 3G coverage :) Yet. Lots of open wifi though. :D
 
moglodite said:
When I left SoCal three years ago I gave up a six fig salary and 100% insurance coverage for me and my family to live here. Essentially it was career hari-kari. Poverty never felt so great, best decision I ever made!
Click to expand...

This is what I've heard on several occasions now. One friend who moved from Indiana to MT 13 years ago told me recently, "Don't look for what you would like to do for work, but rather what you could do for work."

Not to get too personal, but I would be interested to hear what you were doing in SoCal for work, and what you have found in MT.

Thanks for the response.
 
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