We've been utilizing BAMS/Verizon's Express Network 1XRTT service since
June, and have generally been pleased with it, especially due to the
increasing coverage areas and generally better speed over CDPD and Nextel's
PacketStream service.

However, in the NY Metro (00022) market, one of the original BAMS (actually
ex-NYNEX) properties, there are a number of roads and corridors where
Express Network connections are dropped or reset (apparently by the switch),
despite excellent coverage and many towers in the vicinity.

I've noticed that while crossing north or south of I-287 in Westchester
County on a number of roads, such as the Sprain Brook (Taconic) near JCT
NY-100C, the Saw Mill River just south of JCT I-287, or even US-9 near the
Faragut Rd. exit to the SMP, an ACTIVE (ie, data being passed regularly,
like during a ping session or FTP transfer, etc., ie, NO idling) session
will say "Data Connection Lost - Please Retry". This also happens on
NJ/NY-440 at the Outergbridge Crossing as you drive from NJ to Staten Island
(NY).

Annoying as this is, when you try to reconnect, the Watcher dialog box (we
use Sierra 55x cards) continues to say "Data Connection Lost" after retrying
or "Data Error", and you need to wait a few minutes (even if you are
standing still) before it will let you reconnect.

This ONLY seems to happen in the NY market. It is NOT (from what I can tell)
a result of  poor coverage -- we can take the 1XRTT devices to NH/VT, and
drive up I-89, and even though there are long stretches on I-89 from central
NH to White River, VT where the 1XRTT starts bleeding in from just up the
road where Verizon's footprint kicks in again, IF we do not push a lot of
data from the laptop to Verizon (and simply receive data) the connection
will maintain and data will start pouring through once we get to an area
with decent signal strength, generally just north of White River on I-89.

We've been able to maintain data connections from the NY/NJ line down I-287
all the way to south of DC, and there are a number of poor(er) coverage
areas along the routes we've driven than at the Outerbridge or along the SMP
or Sprain.

Thus, even in very poor to no coverage areas, the "Data Connection Lost -
Please Retry" will not necessarily happen", so it seems problematic that it
should occur in the NY Metro market with its significantly better coverage.

For a while, I thought it was occurring where digital (CDMA) service
normally drops, like along I-84 from the CT/A to the NY/B systems, or along
I-95 from the CT/A to the NY/B (this may have been fixed CDMA-wise, BTW;
still need to test it), I-84 from the 00022 NY Metro to the 00486/00404
Poughkeepsie/Orange market, or similarly along the Taconic between the
00486/00404 Poughkeepsie/Orange and the 00022 NY Metro markets, and even
along the Bear Mountain Parkway (coverage issues AND the systems don't seem
to want to hand off to each other; Bear Mt/Harriman State Park is a HUGE
dead spot for the carriers even though there is a *considerable* amount of
traffic through there for lack of an alternate Interstate route). However,
after doing drive tests in the "CDMA inter-system drop" areas, while our
BAMS CDMA digital phones would generally not be able to maintain a call
along those routes, the 1XRTT worked fine, and while data may have stopped
for a few moments, the connection never reset and continued to work well as
we traversed the market boundaries.

(As an aside, for all of Verizon's "Can you hear me now?" nonsense, it's
pretty pathetic when they can't handle handoffs BETWEEN THEIR OWN MARKETS!
I've called them on this a number of times over the years, they say they
will drive test it and get back to me, and I never end up hearing from them
and the drops continue to this day. In many cases, if you drive those roads
between BAMS/Verizon states/systems, you are better off with Nextel, Sprint,
or AT&T's TDMA service since they seem to have managed to work out these
problems (but overall they are generally subject to more coverage problems
than BAMS/Verizon in other areas).

We called Verizon's (800) 308-DATA support center about this 5 weeks ago,
after it became obvious that the problem was only along certain roads in the
NY market and that it was not how the service should typically operate (ie,
poor coverage is not, it seems, a significant factor).

We opened a trouble ticket with Gene, who took our number and said they will
test it and get back to us.

Three weeks later, no response, so we called and spoke to Mark at the DATA
#, and he said there had been no progress (it takes 3 weeks to drive test
some roads and see that there is a problem?)

Finally, today, having not heard from them and still experiencing the drops,
we contact Bedminster, and heard from a manager who wasn't very clear about
the ticket but initially said "Oh, your modem was idle" (it wasn't) and "You
are on the unlimited plan; for what you are doing you may need to be on
another plan and that is why we are dropping you". After hearing this I got
a bit fed up, and said "Look, we are doing FTP, we are paying you people
$100 per month for this nonsense, and it doesn't happen anywhere else, so
come up with a better story!" At that point he began to take the issue a bit
more seriously (I mean, suggesting that we shouldn't be on the unlimited
plan since we use the service a lot -- or not even a lot -- moderately --
really is outrageous!), and asked me to e-mail him a list of the drops and
he will have them drive tested.

So we'll see...We are going to try out Sprint's 1XRTT unlimited service
(also $100 per month). While I don't expect too much coverage in Vermont, if
it is any better than BAMS/Verizon's, I will consider Verizon's NY Metro
drops (assuming they do not fix them) an area where they are not performing
as one would expect for a *mobile* data service and cancel our contract with
them and switch to Sprint.

I can't see Sprint being any better but I am hearing better things about
them all of a sudden so maybe we'll give them a chance if BAMS can't fix
these annoying problems in their NY market.

I'll post as the matter progresses.

Fight the proposed New Jersey Cellphone ban! Send a fax to Gov. McGreevey
for free!

See http://www.wirelessnotes.org/cellphone-ban-nj
       http://204.75.164.43/cellphone-ban-nj


(This post and SID list are also available at http://www.wirelessnotes.org)

Regards,

Doug

d2@interpage.net
Interpage(TM) Network Services Inc. / http://www.interpage.net