Alton cell tower

[upthesaukee]

In a PM with Den65, he told me that the tower is ATT only right now, and that Verizon hopes to be up by the end of this month. He also informed me that Att and Verizon do not have a roaming agreement in this area.

As I stood at the end of Lakewood, at the intersection of Rte 11, looking at the tower across the bay, I had one bar of 3G on my Verizon Droid.

Coverage at the Merrymeeting is off of Prospect Mt. Tower.

Not trying to cause an argument, and maybe Den65 will jump back in and explain further what is going on with the new Alton Tower.

I will be very happy to see the tower functional with Verizon.

[Legionnaire70]

Originally Posted by upthesaukee

In a PM with Den65, he told me that the tower is ATT only right now, and that Verizon hopes to be up by the end of this month. He also informed me that Att and Verizon do not have a roaming agreement in this area.

As I stood at the end of Lakewood, at the intersection of Rte 11, looking at the tower across the bay, I had one bar of 3G on my Verizon Droid.

Coverage at the Merrymeeting is off of Prospect Mt. Tower.

Not trying to cause an argument, and maybe Den65 will jump back in and explain further what is going on with the new Alton Tower.

I will be very happy to see the tower functional with Verizon.

Interesting, maybe my phone was just having a good day and all the stars were aligned... I had 3 bars of 3G at the west Alton marina entrance, that never happens!

[upthesaukee]

Originally Posted by Legionnaire70

Interesting, maybe my phone was just having a good day and all the stars were aligned... I had 3 bars of 3G at the west Alton marina entrance, that never happens!

I had dropped my car off in Laconia for some servicing, and so my wife was driving. I thought about your post on the way home, and had just gone past the west end of 11D heading to Alton. I held my phone in my hand, and watched the bars. I too had 3 to 4 bars, which I think may have been from the Roberts Cove Campground tower.

After the scenic views, and getting onto the long straightaway to the east end of 11D, I was down to my standard 1, sometimes, 2 bars of 3G. Went by Rand Hill Rd, past Precious Gardens, and turned onto Lakewood, all with just 1 bar.

I just hope that Den65 was given good info about Verizon. Since this whole debacle about the tower started, through the long overdue agreement, it seemed that everyone was in a rush to get the tower up and running. Since the agreement, and the start of construction, it has been one delay after the next, and the consumer is the one to suffer.

Hopefully, at the start of the new year, we can "clink" our Androids together and toast each other with a text on how great our signal in Alton Bay has finally come to fruition. Or maybe just a good stein of libation!

[Den65]

Originally Posted by upthesaukee

In a PM with Den65, he told me that the tower is ATT only right now, and that Verizon hopes to be up by the end of this month. He also informed me that Att and Verizon do not have a roaming agreement in this area.

As I stood at the end of Lakewood, at the intersection of Rte 11, looking at the tower across the bay, I had one bar of 3G on my Verizon Droid.

Coverage at the Merrymeeting is off of Prospect Mt. Tower.

Not trying to cause an argument, and maybe Den65 will jump back in and explain further what is going on with the new Alton Tower.

I will be very happy to see the tower functional with Verizon.

All the issues have been resolved and the at&t site is on the air now. Verizon is up on prospect mt (if that is where they grow the blueberries) and on overcast days rf signals seem to work better also Verizon is 800 MHz up here which gives them better signal. So some days you may work better than others.

[Merrymeeting]

Originally Posted by Den65

All the issues have been resolved and the at&t site is on the air now. Verizon is up on prospect mt (if that is where they grow the blueberries) and on overcast days rf signals seem to work better also Verizon is 800 MHz up here which gives them better signal. So some days you may work better than others.

Thanks for the continued updates. Is AT&T on with all protocols, or still just CDMA?

[Slickcraft]

Originally Posted by Merrymeeting

Thanks for the continued updates. Is AT&T on with all protocols, or still just CDMA?

I was not aware that AT&T used Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). I thought that they were wed to GSM which is a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) structure.

[Merrymeeting]

Originally Posted by Slickcraft

I was not aware that AT&T used Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). I thought that they were wed to GSM which is a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) structure.

Now that you mention this, it makes sense to me. I originally went with AT&T because I was traveling a lot overseas and GSM was more universal than Verizon/CDMA.

I was keying off the earlier statement by Den65 that is was turned on for CDMA only.

[playinghooky]

DEN65, you mentioned that Verizon is up on Prospect Mountain. Does that mean they will not be using the new Alton Cell tower and what we got is what we'll get?

[AmantiDelLago]

I would think verizon would almost have to put sites up on the new tower just to try and "clean up" the area around the bay up to west Alton. Let's hope so with the prices verizon is charging.

[upthesaukee]

Originally Posted by playinghooky

DEN65, you mentioned that Verizon is up on Prospect Mountain. Does that mean they will not be using the new Alton Cell tower and what we got is what we'll get?

The new tower is scheduled to have ATT (up already), Verizon, Sprint, and TMobile.

[Den65]

Originally Posted by Merrymeeting

Now that you mention this, it makes sense to me. I originally went with AT&T because I was traveling a lot overseas and GSM was more universal than Verizon/CDMA.

I was keying off the earlier statement by Den65 that is was turned on for CDMA only.

The only system that is there is 3G which is WCDMA which is wide band CDMA there is no GSM there, we are not installing GSM at any new sites, just UMTS(3G) and LTE (4G).

[Knockers]

AT&T GSM PHONE HELP: Copy from their site. UMTS (WCDMA) outperforms any other cellular technology planned for global deployment. AT&T UMTS service provides average speeds of 220-320 Kbps with burst speeds up to 384 Kbps. The international standards body designed UMTS to complement and co-exist with GSM networks.

[playinghooky]

So now that AT&T is hooked up on the Alton tower do AT&T users in this area see a big improvement in signal strength? I have Verizon now and am thinking of making a change to Consumer Cellular which uses the AT&T network. So I am wondering how the service will be. Does anybody use Consumer Cellular and what do you think of it?

[upthesaukee]

You show that you are in Alton Bay. If you are on the West side between the end of the bay and say Rte 11D west end, you should have great coverage.

On the east side, should be better than now. It will depend on where you are.

My sister in law has Consumer Cellular. Basic flip phone. Has it only for emergencies. Was out of power one day, called her son to let him know and they talked for about 20 minutes, at 25 cents a minute, I believe. She freaked out when she got her normal $10+ charge that was was $5 or more higher.

I looked at it because we do have Verizon. Wife and I now both have smartphones. Looking at the coverage almost everywhere for Verizon vs ATT, we still were curious about Consumer Cellular. After comparing apples with apples, we decided we were good with Verizon on there Share Plan...Unlimited Talk and Text with a Gig of Data. The closest we came to using a gig was while we were on a trip and away from wireless a lot of the time.

Consumer Cellular looks ok for the casual user...don't think I would recommend it for someone who uses their cell a lot. I also didn't like their choices of smartphones.

Not sure I am helping...Wish you luck.

[Merrymeeting]

No improvement with AT&T at our home near Copple Crown/Kings Highway. Marginal, if any improvement when driving around the roads in the area.

I did have a good signal while having breakfast at the Olde Bay Diner last week. Used to be there was no signal there.

So, some improvement, but nowhere near what I had been hoping for or expecting. Still hoping it's because they don't have full power or services enabled yet.

[magicrobotmonkey]

I just bought a Nexus 5 and my wife a Moto X for $350 each and I'm in the process of moving us from Verizon to StraightTalk with AT&T sims. I've been very happy with the reception. We will have two smartphones with unlimited text, talk, and data for $25 less per month than we had one smart phone and one feature phone on Verizon. It's worth looking in to...

[AmantiDelLago]

Does anyone know if Verizon is up and running on the new cell tower? Driving thru the bay the other day I had better service than I have in the past but not full service which is what I thought I would have so close to the new site.

[upthesaukee]

Originally Posted by AmantiDelLago

Does anyone know if Verizon is up and running on the new cell tower? Driving thru the bay the other day I had better service than I have in the past but not full service which is what I thought I would have so close to the new site.

My daughter and son in law were up on Christmas day and they have ATT. Full bars of 4G, so I know I will have good coverage at my house here just off Alton Bay above Keewaydin, or just outside Sandy Point.

As we speak, no change in my 3G / 1G 1 bar coverage. So much for being up by the end of the month...last month. Come on Verizon, get with it!!!!!

I feel better now that Verizon knows how I feel. They do read this thread, right?

[Merrymeeting]

It definitely helps in the bay, but I've been somewhat surprised how limited the improvements have been elsewhere. Though I probably shouldn't be. The hills, mountains, and granite have a great impact on the signals so this area will always be challenging.

The Rt 28 stretch from Wolfeboro to Alton has always been marginal, with more lengths without a signal than with. Unfortunately, it is still the same.

[upthesaukee]

Originally Posted by Merrymeeting

It definitely helps in the bay, but I've been somewhat surprised how limited the improvements have been elsewhere. Though I probably shouldn't be. The hills, mountains, and granite have a great impact on the signals so this area will always be challenging.

The Rt 28 stretch from Wolfeboro to Alton has always been marginal, with more lengths without a signal than with. Unfortunately, it is still the same.

Merrymeeting, who is your carrier?

I don't think the tower is going to help much over toward Merrymeeting Lake. As you say, the hills there will be sheltering you from the tower, but I may be wrong (I hope for your sake.)

Given the fact that Verizon's territory was Belknap Co, not Stafford, they would be more likely to improve the signal over in Belknap. The new tower will fill in the areas that are shielded from the Prospect Mt tower as you go out the bay. Once you get out the bay, you can pick up the Roberts Knoll Campground Tower off of Rte 28. quite well. Still no help like in West Alton. nature of the beast, I guess.

[Merrymeeting]

Originally Posted by upthesaukee

Merrymeeting, who is your carrier?

I thought of posting but since I had mentioned it in a few prior posts, didn't bother...AT&T. So any benefit I should be seeing already.

[upthesaukee]

Originally Posted by Merrymeeting

I thought of posting but since I had mentioned it in a few prior posts, didn't bother...AT&T. So any benefit I should be seeing already.

Sorry, MM, I probably missed it.

I know that my family were psyched about how good the coverage at our house is now, but then again we are across the bay from the tower.

Not sure how much justification ATT can have to get a tower put up in the middle of the Farmington - Middleton - New Durham area. Not the middle of a thriving metropolis, unfortunately.

I thought there was an ATT (formerly Cell One) tower up on the ridge where there is a large farm on Governor's Rd running from Milton to Middleton. I haven't looked for it from rte 11 in quite a while. It would give you a pretty good signal from in the area where Prospect Mt. is blocked as you head into Farmington.

Anyway, sorry that the new tower doesn't help any in New Durham, but perhaps you will be able to really enjoy it when you are over on our side of the ridge .