USVI wireless

I asked at Radio Shack recently about GSM coverage, because I want to get a bluetooth enabled phone to use down here and most bluetooth phones operate on GSM. They said that Sprint (my provider) was planning to have GSM service operating by the end of August and that Cingular was working on it too. Maybe by this winter both will have it up and running. I'll check in with them again in a few weeks. I believe Sprint is also opening up a real Sprint PCS store down here (not sure where, Havensight maybe?) so once that's open they would know the deal, at least for the Sprint network.

I seriously doubt that Sprint will be running GSM. They had a GSM system in Washington and converted it to CDMA to match the rest of their network. In general I've found Radio Shack sales people to be a fairly clueless lot. Maybe your's are better than most but in my experience they are mostly a source of disinformation. I'm pretty sure that Cingular will be "working on" GSM since that is their announced nationwide plan. Did Cingular just show up in USVI or did some other carrier (e.g. Vitelco cellular) turn into Cingular? I was not able to find any cellular or PCS licenses issued to any company that recognize as "Cingular".

Don Newcomb

It may well have been misinformation, I don't think very highly of Radio Shack either. I know parts of Cingular's stateside network support GSM so you're right, they'd be most likely be the first to have it down here. In most people's opinions Cingular has better coverage down here. I have Sprint and I don't get service at home or at work, so the phone is essentially useless. I want to get the Nokia 3650 with Cingular when it becomes available down here.

Cellular One is the business that became Cingular Wireless...

--Islander

Cingular is converting to GSM as part of their nationwide network in the VI. This has been a TDMA network since inception. Single band TDMA handsets have not been sold in the VI for nearly a year. Currently dual mode hybird handsets are sold GSM/TDMA. The plan is to have full GSM coverage by the end of September 2003. Sprint is not a GSM carrier. They are CDMA, Nationwide. Their network and handsets won't see a GSM signal. AT&T has never been a player in the VI. I suspect that unless roaming agreements are in place or worked out with Cingular this will continue to be a "roaming" service area for AT&T. I agree Cingular currently does have better coverage in St.Thomas. Having said that, it has taken them 10 years to get where they are with coverage. On the other hand they are struggling with a network which is trying to provide service beyond it's current capacity, while TDMA is being phased out there is no plan to expand existing circuts. Sprint has been in this market for just over 14 months. Yes, Sprint does have a store open in Havensight which handles customer service and sales. Sprint should close some coverage holes by the end of August as the 4th tower on St.Thomas will be comming online. By the way, there are 3 different GSM frequencys used in current handsets. Just because you have a GSM phone don't assume that it will work in other GSM markets.

Thanks Jeff.
I understand that AT&T has not been a "player" in USVI but they have the "A-block" PCS license in the PR/VI MTA (market) and have rolled out GSM service in PR. From what I've read elsewhere, there is indeed an AT&T PCS signal in St. Thomas, both TDMA & GSM. They may not be selling in USVI but the do seem to be providing a signal for their customers and roamers.

Last time I checked on USVI wireless you had Vitel and CTI(?). Where did Cellular One come from to become Cingular? I'm curious if they intend to run GSM 850 or 1900 or both?

Since some of the C&W markets in the Caribbean intend to implement GSM 850, the well equipped world traveller will soon have to have a quad-band GSM phone (850/900/1800/1900), rather than the current tri-band phones.

Don Newcomb

I live on St. John and I get the SPRINT signal the Westin, where I work.
Basically, as long as the west shoreline towards redhook STT isnt blocked.
I know a lot of people who have sprint on STJ. I dont get the sprint signal where I live but I live in between two large hills.

ARE there any signal boosters or antennas that you can mount at home, your car or on your phone to help strengthen or gain new signals that you werent getting before?
If not, what is the BEST phone for picking up signals for sprint?
With all the bells and wistles, I just want a phone that can sniff out the signals.

Thanks for all the good info, Jeff. Do you know where the fourth Sprint tower will be located and what area it will cover? I live in the shadow of Flag Hill and can't get a signal. I tried one of those $10 stick-on signal boosters for a while but I'm not sure it did any good.

I also have quite an old Sprint phone, the Sanyo SCP-4000 (I think), and have been wondering if a new handset might work better. Back when I bought my phone, knowledgable Sprint people said the Sanyo models were more sturdy and better signal sniffers than the Samsungs, although consumers bought lots of Samsungs because of the clamshell design.

I know of the Sprint office in Havensight that's been there for at least a year (in the eastern-most white building with the medical offices, visible as you're coming down the hill into Havensight), but they didn't used to do sales. So is there a new store or is that it?

Okay, I'm illiterate! I don't get this whole GSM, TDMA, CDMA thing. For the goof ball who doesn't understand can you break it down in kidspeak? Who has overall better coverage on STT or are they both (sprint and cingular) about the same and lose service in the same basic areas? Thanks from a gal who still resides in the previous millenium.

Without going into too much detail, they are all digital wireless standards. TDMA and CDMA are used mostly in N. America. GSM was developed in Europe and is found all over the world. People who travel in N. America tend to prefer TDMA or CDMA and those who travel around the world prefer GSM. The two largest TDMA carriers in the US, AT&T and Cingular, are starting to transition to GSM, while keeping TDMA operating. The reason that they are going to GSM is that TDMA does not support the high speed data that the new "gee wizz" wireless toys demand. The two largest CDMA carriers are Verizon and Sprint.

My interest in the question was that USVI had no GSM service until recently when AT&T rolled out some coverage as an extension of their Puerto Rico operation. This will give visitors from outside N. America and the many GSM customers in N. America a way to use thier wireless phones in USVI.

In a small area like USVI they should all work reasonably well. I understand that AT&T's coverage is very limited and they have no agents or stores in USVI. In general the two older "cellular" carriers will have better coverage. I'm not sure which those are in USVI.

Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

Ohhhh. Light goes on. Thanks for explaining! See, I learned something new today!:-)

My interest in all of this relates to Bluetooth, because my PDA and laptop both have it, and I would like to get a Bluetooth phone to use as a wireless modem for those devices.

I did some research on the net, and although Sprint announced plans to rollout a Bluetooth phone at the beginning of the year (the Sony Ericsson T 608), that phone hasn't appeared on the market yet. In fact, I read one report that said Sony Ericsson had halted production on the phone because they've cut ties with Sprint. I read further specualtion that Sprint is shunning Bluetooth because they plan to employ a similar technology being developed by Samsung.

Donald -- the high speed data technology you're referring to is GPRS, right? Since Sprint has no immediate plans to go the GSM/GPRS route, that would mean my Bluetooth phone, which I hope to use as a wireless modem, would be stuck with CDMA data transfer speeds, which I gather are faster than TDMA but much slower than GPRS. So even if Sprint made a Bluetooth phone it wouldn't be great for my needs.

Locals (Jeff) -- of the hybrid GSM/TDMA phones available from Cingular VI, do any support Bluetooth? On the national Cingular website it appears that the only Bluetooth capable phones are solely GSM, no TDMA support. I will inquire at the Cingular store tomorrow and post what I find.

>Donald -- the high speed data technology you're referring to is GPRS, right?

GPRS is the GSM side of "high speed" data. CDMA has a different name for it. One thing I understand about Sprint's data services is that they don't like you using it as an ISP.

Before someone asks, Bluetooth is a short range wireless networking technology to permit devices to speak with each other. It is used for things like cord-free headsets and connections between phones and PCs. IMHO, it's a great technology, much better than IrDA. My GSM phone (an Ericsson R520) implements both IrDA and Bluetooth.

I don't beleive any of the current TDMA/GSM phones have BT.

Here are my findings from today...

Cingular offers the following handsets down here:

Nokia 1261
Nokia 2260
Nokia 3560
Nokia 6340i - GSM/TDMA, no BT
Nokia 8265i

Motorola V60ti

Sony Ericsson T62u - GSM/TDMA, no BT

The other five made no reference to GSM so I'm assuming they're TDMA only, though that would contradict what Jeff said. In any case they would not have BT because they're the older, cheaper models.

No sign of the Nokia 3600s or the Sony Ericsson T616, which do support BT.

I've just read a bit about the new CDMA2000 1xRTT network, and it appears to offer faster speeds than GPRS (at least for now). It also sounds like Sprint has upgraded their entire network to CDMA2000 1xRTT. So with a Sprint PCS Vision phone one could do email and web browsing faster than with a GPRS handset. Sounds like that might be the best option for users in the VI, because those PCS Vision phones are available now. Maybe Sprint doesn't want you using the phone as a wireless modem/ISP for other devices, but if GPRS is only running between 19-38 kbps it wouldn't be a good choice to replace my dial up ISP anyways.

Another thought, with these new high speed cellular data networks, could one listen to streaming internet audio on their phone? Then maybe connect an FM transmitter so you could listen over your car stereo? It will be a great day for me when I can listen to Red Sox games while driving around in the VI!

The uses of "unlimited" mobile data plans have yet to be fully discovered. Some people are looking for ways to turn unlimited data to unlimited calling. There is one site that converts data capability to Push To Talk (PTT) service. The one thing I wouldn't count on is getting a constant high speed thruput. It may tend to be "bursty" with data taking a back seat to voice calls in the priority scheme of the switch. In other words, everything could work fine and then a crusie ship shows up and no more data until it sails.