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Could someone explain the behavior I see with the local tower (within
eye sight) ?
Most of the time, the phone shows fine signal here, and other times,
usually at night, there are long periods where NO signal is shown.

Besides my cellphone, I also have a security backup that uses the same
tower, and it has indicator lights that show when it transmits and when
it receives, as well as signal strength.

When the tower is in its "quiet" mode, this system shows that it is
"pinging" the tower every so often, but no response from the tower. It
is during this time that my cellphone shows no signal. However, if I
dial from the cellphone, it does go through, and THEN it shows good
signal.

So the question has to do with whether all towers behave like this, or
whether it is a function of the level of activity in the cell, or
whether it is more normal for the tower to more regularly send out SOME
signal ?

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In <1123858463.851502.289430@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> on 12 Aug 2005
07:54:23 -0700, "FLAcharlie" <chuck@chuckg.com> wrote:

>Could someone explain the behavior I see with the local tower (within
>eye sight) ?
>Most of the time, the phone shows fine signal here, and other times,
>usually at night, there are long periods where NO signal is shown.

How do you know that's your local tower for your carrier?
You may actually be on some other tower.

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

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this is a SMALL town, pretty sure that's the tower. In any event,
whichever tower it is, I'm still questioning its behavior.

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In <1123862555.135433.260230@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com> on 12 Aug 2005
09:02:35 -0700, "FLAcharlie" <chuck@chuckg.com> wrote:

>this is a SMALL town, pretty sure that's the tower. In any event,
>whichever tower it is, I'm still questioning its behavior.

You may actually be going back and forth between two different towers.

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

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FLAcharlie wrote:
> Could someone explain the behavior I see with the local tower (within
> eye sight) ?
> Most of the time, the phone shows fine signal here, and other times,
> usually at night, there are long periods where NO signal is shown.

Either there is something wrong with the tower, or your phone isn't
acquiring its signal from that tower. It could be that the tower may
actually belong to another cell phone carrier, or you could be a
Cingular blue customer looking at an Orange network tower, or vice-versa.

> Besides my cellphone, I also have a security backup that uses the same
> tower, and it has indicator lights that show when it transmits and when
> it receives, as well as signal strength.

A security backup as in, to an alarm system?

Also, is the system showing the same signal strength as your cell phone?
And again, are you certain it's acquiring signal from THAT tower?


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yes, an alarm system backup, whose indicator lights (transmit, receive,
signal strength) do corroborate what I see on the cellphone.
Like I say, it's pretty clear there are periods when devices "ping" the
tower and the tower doesn't respond, yet when a call request is made,
then the tower DOES respond, and with good signal, and THEN the
cellphone goes from showing NO signal to showing GOOD signal.
And this behavior has been consistent like this for at least the last
6 months. Probably 75% of the time it is behaving "normal", only about
25% of the time, usually at night, it seems to be in this "quiet" mode.

And I still don't see the relevance of WHICH tower it is.

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FLAcharlie <chuck@chuckg.com> wrote:
> And I still don't see the relevance of WHICH tower it is.

I have two towers within range. One is Cingular, offers GPRS, and is
partially shaded by a hill across the street from me, but is toward the
left side of the hill. The other tower is not Cingular, and does not offer
GPRS, but I can roam to that carrier at no charge, and often do if I go any
farther north. It is a little bit of a clearer shot, to the right of the
hill.

Without moving my phone... much ... I sometimes drop a data link to the
GPRS and find that no GPRS is available. I also note at that time that the
word "Cingular" has disappeared from my screen, in addition ot the GPRS
symbol disappearing. Moving around doesn't restore the Cingluar or GPRS,
but power cycling the phone restores Cingular and GPRS.

If I move to a higher spot on my property, where I get a clear view of both
towers, I stay connected to Cingular.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5

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dold@XReXXlocal.usenet.us.com wrote:

>FLAcharlie <chuck@chuckg.com> wrote:
>
>
>>And I still don't see the relevance of WHICH tower it is.
>>
>>
>
>I have two towers within range. One is Cingular, offers GPRS, and is
>partially shaded by a hill across the street from me, but is toward the
>left side of the hill. The other tower is not Cingular, and does not offer
>GPRS, but I can roam to that carrier at no charge, and often do if I go any
>farther north. It is a little bit of a clearer shot, to the right of the
>hill.
>
>Without moving my phone... much ... I sometimes drop a data link to the
>GPRS and find that no GPRS is available. I also note at that time that the
>word "Cingular" has disappeared from my screen, in addition ot the GPRS
>symbol disappearing. Moving around doesn't restore the Cingluar or GPRS,
>but power cycling the phone restores Cingular and GPRS.
>
>If I move to a higher spot on my property, where I get a clear view of both
>towers, I stay connected to Cingular.
>
>
>
What system is the other tower on?

TH

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Tropical Haven <email@example.net> wrote:
> dold@XReXXlocal.usenet.us.com wrote:

>>If I move to a higher spot on my property, where I get a clear view of both
>>towers, I stay connected to Cingular.

> What system is the other tower on?

http://www.edgewireless.com
Their logo says they are a member of the AT&T Wireless Network ;-)

Actually, I don't know how to identify the carrier that I've gone to,
except that it's not Cingular. http://www.cellreception.com/ shows that
Edge has a tower in the spot that I noted, to the right of the hill.

It's somewhat common knowledge that Cingular is on an antenna farm atop Mt.
St. Helena, to the left of the hill.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5

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FLAcharlie wrote:
> yes, an alarm system backup, whose indicator lights (transmit, receive,
> signal strength) do corroborate what I see on the cellphone.
> Like I say, it's pretty clear there are periods when devices "ping" the
> tower and the tower doesn't respond, yet when a call request is made,
> then the tower DOES respond, and with good signal, and THEN the
> cellphone goes from showing NO signal to showing GOOD signal.

That sounds more like a situation where you have a native tower to your
network in a faraway location, and a non-native tower nearby, the one
that you're likely looking at. OR, the tower you're seeing is handling
more traffic than the distant tower during these periods, and may even
be at capacity, forcing the devices to switch to the farther site.
Incidentally, you should never assume that during nighttime, call
traffic is at a minimum. The availability of unlimited night and
weekend minutes tends to artificially skew people's usage patterns,
particularly when those night and weekend minutes come packed with free
long distance.

In such a scenario, your phone and backup system will lock into the
faraway tower and try to use it for calls. When it doesn't respond due
to weak signal, the phone will try again with the nearby tower, which
might then have an open slot.


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