"SMS" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
news:47be127f$0$36383$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...

> Since when does stating the facts about a carrier, prepaid or otherwise,
> constitute shilling? I gain nothing if people sign up for PagePlus, or
> Verizon for that matter. I just want to get the facts out there since
> there are others that would benefit from them.

I apologize- I wasn't agreeing, I was just parrotting Navas' choice of words
back at him. In retrospect I should've encased it in quotes ("shill") to
emphasize I wasn't agreeing.

I appreciate the "shilling"- if not for you, I'd have never heard of them,
and I'm a happy customer.

>> Even assuming that AT&T and Verizon postpaid service has comparable
>> coverage,
>
> Don't assume that. The coverage maps may show comparable coverage, but in
> reality the Verizon coverage is far superior. Just check all the
> independent surveys if you have any doubts.

I was speaking to a specific audience. John will never concede Verizon has
wider coverage, so I was making the logical point that even if their
postpaid coverage was comparable, PagePlus is superior product offering
because it's a SUPERset of Verizon coverage (albeit with roaming charges in
some areas) while GoPhone is a SUBset of AT&T coverage.

>> AT&T's prepaid GoPhone coverage is decidedly lackluster.
>
> Do they not allow off-AT&T roaming? I would have thought that at least
> they were equivalent to AT&T's postpaid coverage.

Oh, Lord, no. The monthly GoPhone "hybrid" plans include a small amount of
roaming, but nothing like postpaid, and I don't believe the "pay as you go"
plans offer any. Go look at the online maps. Entire states are blank
except for a metro area or two!

>> PagePlus has better coverage that GoPhone or any AT&T prepaid MVNO (at
>> least now that Beyond Wireless TDMA is history, since it had the ability
>> to roam off-net for additional cost.)
>
> Yeah, I had Beyond Wireless TDMA for my kids' phones. Too bad they went
> over to the dark side, both in terms of coverage and cost.

I assume BW TDMA was operating under a legacy agreement with the old,
pre-merger, AT&T Wireless, who seemed far more agreeable to MVNOs (Beyond,
JusTalk, Locus' varied offerings, etc.) than Cingular was. Post merger, it
seems a middle ground was reached- they still entertain MVNOs but they seem
to offer lousier deals to them!


> I wonder about 7-11 SpeakOut GSM coverage. Their literature claims to
> allow roaming onto other GSM networks at extra cost, but
> "http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm" states "Can't Roam." Some
> users claim that there is some roaming in western states. Some claim that
> there used to be Dobson roaming in some areas but not any more.

I think the "problem" is that most of the roaming available on SpeakOut was
provided by affiliates that AT&T eventually acquired, so essentially the
very few former roam areas are now native, so SO users didn't lose much of
anything. Universal "extra cost" roaming, like BW TDMA offered and PP
currently offers, simply isn't available on any AT&T MVNO that I'm aware of.