[Drillbit]

Feasible? With HTC renewing their invasion on BB's space with the Snap, shouldn't BB retaliate with a touch screen device with slider landscape QWERTY keyboard, aimed squarely at the likes of HTC's Touch Pro and G1? Nokia is already responding with a couple of slider landscape qwerty models, one on the E series side and the other on the Xpressmusic side.

[dc/dc]

I sincerely hope so!

Nice to see someone from Guam on here.

[Drillbit]

Hey, nice to see someone recognize where I am from the carrier.

[dc/dc]

Originally Posted by Drillbit

Hey, nice to see someone recognize where I am from the carrier.

;)

Have they expanded 3G to cover more than Tamuning yet?

[Drillbit]

It appears the 3G covers from Yigo to Agana now at least for EV-DO. ItE updated its EV-DO network recently, most of it is now Rev. A. I don't know what is the state of 3G for Docomo but they had theirs for even longer and should cover even more. Their GSM signal is all straight bars where ever I go from Yigo to Agana except on places so concrete walled the RF wont penetrate.

Note that NTT Docomo's FOMA phones are now roaming in the island on the hands of the Japanese tourists. Docomo must be making a killing on them.

[dc/dc]

Originally Posted by Drillbit

It appears the 3G covers from Yigo to Agana now at least for EV-DO. ItE updated its EV-DO network recently, most of it is now Rev. A. I don't know what is the state of 3G for Docomo but they had theirs for even longer and should cover even more. Their GSM signal is all straight bars where ever I go from Yigo to Agana except on places so concrete walled the RF wont penetrate.

Note that NTT Docomo's FOMA phones are now roaming in the island on the hands of the Japanese tourists. Docomo must be making a killing on them.

I didn't get 3G with DoCoMo anywhere but Tamuning when I was there in September with my 7900 Prism. Up in Yigo (NE corner of Andersen), my signal was pretty poor even on GSM with both DoCoMo and GTA.

Anyway, I'm sure the users from DoCoMo JP are probably getting a good deal on the roaming rates since it is a "home" network, and they want their customers to use their phones. I wish those of us from the mainland could get a decent roaming rate. It seems silly to me that we have to pay $1.49/min. when Guam is now Block D with regular US phone numbers like Puerto Rico and the USVI where everything is "local".

[Drillbit]

They did a number of upgrades since September of last year. I get a pretty strong signal from Guamcell/Docomo Pacific throughout the island now using GSM/EDGE, though a bit weak in some places south of the island. I don't know much about their 3G coverage. ITE's EV-DO signal range has appeared to further improve in the past few days after their end of March upgrade.

Towards Andersen, you may get interference from the military equipment.

Coming from the mainland, Verizon's and Sprint's phones would probably roam with either ITE or Docomo's legacy CDMA equipment.


Oh and we have one company that specializes in I-DEN here, with phones supporting PTT. They cater strongly to businesses, government and military.

[dc/dc]

Originally Posted by Drillbit

They did a number of upgrades since September of last year. I get a pretty strong signal from Guamcell/Docomo Pacific throughout the island now using GSM/EDGE, though a bit weak in some places south of the island. I don't know much about their 3G coverage. ITE's EV-DO signal range has appeared to further improve in the past few days after their end of March upgrade.

Towards Andersen, you may get interference from the military equipment.

Coming from the mainland, Verizon's and Sprint's phones would probably roam with either ITE or Docomo's legacy CDMA equipment.


Oh and we have one company that specializes in I-DEN here, with phones supporting PTT. They cater strongly to businesses, government and military.

I'm actually surprised someone hasn't bought IT&E. Almost no one uses them that I've met. I'm actually more surprised that some of the mainland carriers haven't stepped in like they did in PR and the VI.

As far as Andersen is concerned, I don't think it's the Military interference. My customers mostly had Guamcell/docomo Pacific CDMA handsets and got perfect signal where I was getting 1-2 bars on GSM/EDGE.

I was actually surprised how big iDEN was there. Particularly nice is their free roaming within most of the CNMI and parts of FSM.

[Drillbit]

I think some one did buy IT&E, otherwise, it won't afford all the 3G network upgrades and then be able to do a sustained advertising blitz in TV and newspaper. Right now, even one of their Mall stores are being remodeled and they even managed to rent space on some electronics stores to display their phones.

Yeah, I think they lost some market share for not being GSM and not carrying Blackberries, though the latter maybe remedied soon enough. On the other hand, they carry more touch screen phones than anyone and at a cheaper price point. They got Samsung Instinct, LG Dare, LG Voyager, HTC Touch (Alltel or Sprint), HTC Diamond (Sprint), HTC Mogul (Sprint) and I heard they mightl even bring in HTC Touch Pro, which is likely to be the Sprint version. All of them on EV-DO. They got simple and affordable data plans, and I'm sure they would gain more customers. They certainly got me. I for one believes if the Palm Pre comes out, they would be the first to get it.

Docomo's GSM signal should be much better now, and everywhere I go, they got at least four to five bars. They're the standard for everyone to beat, and they got the 3.5G HDSPA on island. But their phones are expensive, mostly centered on their eccentric collection of Blackberries, Nokias, Sony Ericssons and tons of LG Shines. They're pushing video conferencing via the phone now, although the only way I can see them do that would be via the Nokias ala E71s and N95s, or through the Sony Ericssons. If you look at their website, they're pushing the 8900 Curve. Their touchscreen line up is rather weak though, with only the Storm and the HTC Tytn II.

GTA lacks 3G, but that doesn't stop them from selling 3G phones like the Bold. They don't have a single touch screen in their selection of phones.

[dc/dc]

That's interesting. I'll have to look into IT&E's corporate info to see if they've been purchased recently.

[Drillbit]

You know, I can't really explain how IT&E are selling generic, non Sprint branded HTC Moguls.Its the Mogul alright, except unlike the Sprint version, the device is black, has no Sprint badge, has the generic Windows Mobile with the green background instead of the Sprint yellow.

[dc/dc]

Originally Posted by Drillbit

You know, I can't really explain how IT&E are selling generic, non Sprint branded HTC Moguls.Its the Mogul alright, except unlike the Sprint version, the device is black, has no Sprint badge, has the generic Windows Mobile with the green background instead of the Sprint yellow.

It's probably one of the ones HTC made for other markets that have CDMA like India and South America.