Ah I get it now bro. You're basically thinkin of leavin the Verizon network for the Sprint network, more or less.

When you say any tower, you mean any Sprint tower?

Nope, any tower, period.

sngwrtr525 said:
Nope, any tower, period.

I never heard of anything like that. That does sound like a no brainer. That is super! Lucky

I don't believe it. There is no way they have roaming agreements with every CDMA provider in the country. Just isn't going to happen!

No, ANY tower. I can roam for free on ANY tower picking up a CDMA signal. If a Sprint tower is unavailable, it will roll over to Verizon, US Cellular, or Alltel, or any other CDMA cell within range. It almost sounds too good to be true, and I do know what they say about things that sound too good to be true. Incredible, isn't it?

So nTelos has like a roaming agreement with Verizon, Sprint, US Cellular, Alltel, and all other CDMA carriers?

Apparently, that's the case. I have to believe nTelos is going to run a huge loss on this, but may make up for it in volume. Frankly, I work for the company, and I can't figure out how they're doing it. But if they say NO ROAMING CHARGES ANYWHERE as long as you can pick up a signal, who am I to bitch? You've got to figure that in just about every major metro area, there's a CDMA network, and if you're using a tri-mode phone you can still pick up analog if necessary. I have been using their network for six months on an employee plan, and I have very little problem with it. The terrain around here in the Shenandoah Valley is very beautiful, but the mountains are natural barriers that play havoc with the radio waves, and sometimes, it's j...
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sngwrtr525 said:
Apparently, that's the case. I have to believe nTelos is going to run a huge loss on this, but may make up for it in volume. Frankly, I work for the company, and I can't figure out how they're doing it. But if they say NO ROAMING CHARGES ANYWHERE as long as you can pick up a signal, who am I to bitch? You've got to figure that in just about every major metro area, there's a CDMA network, and if you're using a tri-mode phone you can still pick up analog if necessary. I have been using their network for six months on an employee plan, and I have very little problem with it. The terrain around here in the Shenandoah Valley is very beautiful, but the mountains are natural barriers that play havoc with t

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No IN network. Good point. Doesn't VZW do something like this with Alltel? I know that when I roam on Alltel it's basically transparent to me and my bill. Isn't nTelos considered a Sprint affiliate, like Airgate PCS? Not sure. It does sound like a nice deal, though. MI think I've heard of other small regional carriers providing something similar so that they can keep local folks who travel, especially business accounts.

Yes, Verizon can roam on Alltel towers, but you still can't call Alltel customers and have it count as "IN" minutes. And I'm sure you won't be able to call Sprint or Verizon customers from an nTelos phone and have it count as "IN" minutes.

I work as a sales rep for Ntelos. The towers allowed are: Ntelos, Sprint, US Cell, Alltel & Verizon only.

We are our own independant company, and in our area, Sprint actually uses us for our towers (Lynchburg, Roanoke, SW Virgina area).

An employee should also considered the Nation plan because as an employee you would receive $10 off per line. (including if it's a $9.99 shared rate).

nTelos can order their handsets programmed to only allow roaming on CERTAIN CDMA towers. If you work for them you might want to check and see if this is the case.

Well, that was my first thought. However, the company is saying as long as you can pick up a signal, there will be no roaming charges. For these plans, a specific PRL is being programmed into the phones. I am only left to assume (yeah, I know what they say about assuming!) that the only time you won't be able to pick up a signal is when there isn't either a CDMA or AMPS tower where you are. I have to tell you, I AM looking for holes in this plan as well. I love Verizon's service and reliability, but for the first time since I moved out of the DC market (where my service is based) and relocated to Charlottesville, VA, I don't really feel the need to keep a DC number when all my friends back there, whether they have Verizon and can use th...
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Well, I found the glitch...at least, for my purposes.

Verizon treats calls to Canada as domestic long distance. nTelos won't, and my internationl calling to Scotland and South Africa would also be considerably higher, although I don't call there every day, maybe just a few times a year.

See, just like I said, no service is all things to all people. I never REALLY wanted to leave Verizon anyhow...I was just looking for a better deal if I could find one, and so far, it hasn't happened yet. So where is that Nokia 6256i?????

sngwrtr525 said:
Well, I found the glitch...at least, for my purposes.

Verizon treats calls to Canada as domestic long distance.

Really??? I always got billed for calls to Canada. I never knew it was supposed to be included in my free long distance.

Nope, never been charged toll charges. I call Toronto about once every six weeks, and I'm on the phone for ten minutes, easy. Now, when I call the UK or South Africa, I do watch it!

Canada is NOT included. I just had a customer come in the other day with a call to Cananda on his bill. I called in to check on it and Canada is not included. ONLY the US.

That's exactly how Verizon's Americas Choice works. But that's also your loophole. Sure as long as you have a signal you won't pay roaming. That little PRL you speak of will only make your phone have a signal where they want it to, on their roaming partners networks. Otherwise there will be no signal.

What I am being told is that unlike our old national plan, the new nTelos Nation plan allows you to roam without charge on any tower that's available. I have to believe it still has to be a CDMA cell, since that's what we are, right?

I still decided to stay with Verizon for other reasons, although this new national plan on nTelos is tempting. For my purposes, I'm going to stay put for at least the forseeable future.

Get a truck driver to sign up for that plan, and have him carry it around the nation for a little while, they would be able to tell you in a week or 2 if it is worth it.

The other thing that could be a dealbreaker is the unlimited minutes, I dont know how they work with that company, but, with verizon, you have unlimited n/w minutes, and unlimited m2m minutes and they work everywhere on the america's choice plan, and that is one of verizon's best selling points, you are not limited on where you can use your phone.