Hi, guys. I'm new to the group. Just picked up an '04 TL for my wife last night, and am now entering the wondrous world of Bluetooth. We've had Sprint for years, but I get the idea that GSM is the way to go. We live in CT, about 55 miles outside NYC. What service, and phone, works well on the East coast, in your experience? From reading here and other places I'm thinking Cingular and a SE 616 might be the way to go, but please enlighten me. I have to say I enjoy walking into a phone store about as much as going back to the car dealer after the purchase, 'though maybe Acura isn't like GM. Rant over for now. TIA,
John

 

John,

I'm from Norwalk, and I frequently drive up and down the coast and between Norwalk and Hartford. I believe at new AT&T GSM plan is the best as you can use AT&T and Cingular networks without incurring additional charges. This seems to give me the best coverage. I have a Nokia 6820, excellent phone but doesn't show the signal strength/battery strength on the MID.

Good luck.

Graham

 

I have the same setup as Graham. I live outside Philly and use the phone from Philly up to Manhattan. Very few dead spots. I'm satisfied w/the combo. I also have the Motorola BT headset.

Now I did hear that there is a firmware upgrade for that phone that may enable the MID stuff to show. But you have to have Nokia perform the upgrade. I haven't done that because frankly it works OK for now.

Good luck

 

i have been a sprint customer for the past 5 years and finally changed over to ATT. i was very reluctant cause i didn't like their service before sprint. i liked sprint alot because their coverage was very good all over the US. but they just don't offer too many bluetooth phones. i figure it will take them a year or two to come up with some new phones with blue tooth in which case i might switch back. i got the SE T637 which alot of other members have said provided good bluetooth compatibility with the TL. Like the other poster said Cingular has bought ATT wireless and their networks are one and the same so maybe service might improve because of it. i bought the phone off the web and it only cost me 29 bucks (with activation $39).

 

FYI, Cingular has NOT bought ATT Wireless... yet. Therefore, their networks are not one... yet. Furthermore, it will take months for them to combine the two networks after the merger has gone through.

 

i dunno if it makes a difference but a friend of mine has att and when she travels to different areas the phone will display either cingular or att. so one way or another the networks allow you to jump from one to another when available. there was no roaming charges or any surcharges when she made calls.

 

ATT and Cingular do have agreements with each other that allow their customers to roam on each other's networks without the customers incurring roaming charges. However, these agreeements are not unilateral. Their agreements may allow ATT customers to roam on Cingular (and vice versa) in some areas and not in other areas... they are area specific.

 

my sister goes to school in new haven ct and uses att. she gets no reception in her dorm. 1/2 bar outside. drop calls all the time, stay away from att

 

Captain,

There are no roaming charges anywhere inside the US on the AT&T GSM plan. AT&T and Cingular have a plan (along with some of their smaller companies) to offer roaming at no cost.

I've had this plan since it came out, used the phone all over the country and never incurred roaming, despite seeing a variety of network names appearing on the screen.

Graham

 

I know this. In my post I said "without incurring any roaming charges". My point was that the two companies allow each other's customer's to use the other's networks in specific places. It is not unilateral- In other words not every Cingular tower will work for an ATT customer (and vice versa), they have predetermined which ones will be "open".

 

Thanks, gents. You've given me a little better idea how GSM works around here. Now I just need to check the plans and phones avaiable.
John

 

If you would like to add your information and/or reference this thread: http://www.acura-tl.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94839 It might help a bit. Also, about the Nokia 6820. There is no way to get any additional information to show on the MID. That is the information that want to allow bluetooth to transmit.

 

just got my T637 today and it works great in the car. like i said before i have had sprint for about 5 years now and was wary of att. with sprint i never use to get signal in the basement of my house but with att the signal is great, i get all 5 bars just about anywhere in my house. i've never had a problem with sprint outdoors and i don't expect att to be worse. but its good news that indoor reception so far is very good. syncing up with the car was a super easy. the signal meter and battery meter displays in the MID. so far so good for now.