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As a start, below are comments first appearing on cornishconnect and then at cornishnh.net:
VERIZON WIRELESS ISSUES
I wondered what other former Unicel customers are experiencing with Verizon. While the Unicel signal around Cornish and Plainfield was marginal, it mostly worked. Even though Verizon took over Unicel's facilities and presumably use the same towers that Unicel had, it seems to us that Verizon is nearly useless around here. There's either no signal at all or it's so weak that the calls are so broken up no one can communicate over them. In addition, the battery life is terrible. All our batteries need charging at least every day, if not twice a day. Verizon tells me this is because the phones are straining so hard for a usable signal.
What are other former Unicel customers doing? Are you sticking with Verizon? Is it usable for you? Does AT&T or Sprint work better than Verizon in Cornish & Plainfield?
Thanks for any info & tips you can share.
brian bmeyette@gmail.com
UNICEL, VERIZON, CELL PHONES & more (from Ray Gentle)
Everything depends. Bear with me as this gets rather long....
There are 2 primary types of cell phones on the market: CDMA [the type of
network used by Verizon (including Alltel now), Sprint and US Cellular] and
GSM [the type of network used by AT&T and TMobile]. Both networks are well supported in major metropolitan areas, but in "rural areas" [as we are
commonly referred to by the cell carriers] Where you use your phone most
often will determine which providers are better for you. Many of the
pre-paid providers [Tracfone, Net10, etc.] sell both type of phones,
although they don't make it easy to distinquish which is which or which will
work best in your area or situation.
Before Unicel sold out to Verizon, as part of the analog to digital
mandatory cell phone conversion, Unicel transitioned from CDMA to GSM. When Unicel told us we had to "upgrade" our old CDMA cell phones [to GSM, their choice not ours], they promised we'd have better service than we had in the past. NOT SO, at least for us! They hadn't even completed converting their towers over to GSM capability at the time. As we travel a lot from
Claremont, through Newport and on out to Sunapee, we lost service in many
places where we had it on a CDMA phone. While we kept the Unicel GSM
phones, I went out and bought a CDMA Tracfone. It seemed like I ALWAYS had service because when one phone said "No Service" the other one worked. When Verizon took over, my wife stayed with Verizon, is now back on a CDMA phone and has service again in places she didn't with the Unicel GSM phone. I kept my CDMA Tracfone and cancelled my Unicel GSM account.
Because CDMA is an older technology, and many cell towers are shared by
various providers, I have found that a CDMA phone works best for the
traveling I do in this area. That may not be the case for you or others
that travel in other directions. It sounds like from your description, you
were probably getting better coverage from the GSM network Unicel had, but that's just a guess. If I'm right, an AT&T or TMobile phone might work
better for you.
As part of the Unicel sale to Verizon, over time, I'd expect Verizon will
use old Unicel tower locations to upgrade their network where coverage is
weak or non-existant [based on service complaints they get from their "new"customers]. In Vermont, Unicel was sold to AT&T, who is busily upgrading the GSM system there under pressure from the state to provide "full"statewide coverage. This should help with GSM coverage in the Upper Valley. Unfortunately, the state of New Hampshire has not been as forceful about requiring cell coverage or high speed internet access for their
constituents. And the local governments are just as responsible for not
requiring at least one CDMA carrier and one GSM carrier on EVERY cell tower that gets siting approval within their town boundaries.
As for battery life, Verizon's description is accurate. The harder your
phone has to work to keep a signal, the more it will drain your batteries.
I experience this when I go to my son's house who has limited cell coverage
at best. My Tracfone won't last a day there but I can go 2 or 3 days in
most other locations, including here, without a recharge.
Hope this provides some education and helps with your decision.
As an aside, I've also been framing remarks for these lists about how I got
Comcast to install cable in our area of Claremont [near the Cornish line]
but I'll save that for another time. Suffice it to say, Comcast's contract
is up for renegotiation in Cornish and Claremont this year and, unless
people speak up by letting their elected officials know they want high speed
internet service, you'll probably be bypassed again. You have power at the
local level to make high speed internet service available, because your
local officials have to sign off on the cable contract, not so with DSL and
the phone company. Speak up and be heard! I'll be glad to lend my
experience to any efforts in Cornish.
Ray Gentle
REPLY TO Ray Gentle's discussion of cell phone coverage --
Ray - you're a treasure -- do you think that you could see your way clear to advising the Town Select Board on the run up to the Contract Renewal
I am sure that if I were one of the Selectbboard I would welcome the assistance of an informed citizen such as yourself.
I am also concerned about the lack of coverage of broad band in Cornish.
I think it is outrageous that we can go year after year without the slightest effort to bring broadband to others than those on main thouroughfares in the Town (and the tributaries thereof -- I realize that lower Dingleton Hill from
the TownHouse Rd up to (some?) houses seems to have been accomplished most recently -- I could be wrong - but I haven't heard of any other
advances in this field of activity since.
John Dryfhout
Cornish
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One other note on cell phones:
Update your phones regularly (at least once a month)
For Verizon
Dial *228
Option 1 - Updates your phone programming
Option 2 - Updates your roaming capabilities
It will tell you when it is complete and if it was successful and your phone will normal reset (power down and back up)
Option 2 is important when traveling to new areas as well or you phone may not get the coverage(all towers) of a new area.
At Least that is what I have been told.
-Kevin Labore
While researching 2 old photographs showing the church and grange hall in Cornish, I found your site. One photo has a scrap of paper attached that reads: "Church & Grange Hall, Cornish, N.H. E. R. Harrington". No markings on back; if not for scrap of paper, I would have had no idea of locale. The photos can be seen on my blog at http://heirloomsreunited.blogspot.com/2010/07/antique-photographs-of-church-grange.html
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