Re: [SAGE] ATT Phones

[Phil Pennock <phil.pennock@globnix.org>]

On 2004-01-06 at 22:45 +0100, Brad Knowles wrote:
> 	Have you tried Philadelphia?  I couldn't get any GSM coverage there.

I was at LISA 2002 in Philadelphia.  With one of the aforementioned
phones (Nokia 6310i).  Triband GSM.  Coverage was just fine.  I switched
back to my work SIM for that, since I wasn't on holiday.  I made and
received some calls during the conference -- life of a sysadmin.

I've no idea which telco was providing the roaming.

I76(PA)/I80(OH)/I90(IA) had solid GSM coverage except in the mountains
in PA.  Otherwise solid coverage between Philadelphia and Chicago.

It's somewhat disappointing to learn that the features of GSM _designed_
to allow free-market competition without undue restraints are not
readily available in the USA unless you have a foreign phone and are
roaming.  :^(  No wonder I couldn't find pre-pay SIMs.  Pre-pay
contracts don't cut it -- I don't want to start signing contracts in
foreign jurisdictions whilst on vacation or at a conference.  I doubt
that I'm alone here.

Indispensable call-duty feature if you might need to go onsite for
hands-on work: Bluetooth headset.  No wires, no fuss.  Summit 48i blown
out affecting a service network, need to talk to a Networks person who's
a couple of cities away whilst swapping the switches (mounted in patch
cabinet), repatching cables and doing preliminary switch config?  No
problem, no hassle.  I find that wire-based headsets have a tendency for
the wire to dislodge from the phone.  Mind, the BT headset _can_
disassociate at inconvenient moments.  Cheap headset.  :^/
-- 
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts." -- Richard P. Feynman