11/15   So I have AT&T wireless and the signal is far worse at my apt (in the
        LA area) than it was a year ago.  I called AT&T to ask about why
        the service is worse than before.  The representative explained
        that they are probably increasing GSM in my area.  And that because
        the GSM signals are stronger, somehow the TDMA (or whatever the old
        system is called) signals are weaker.  So I asked her if they are
        taking down the TDMA towers.  She said no, but that the GSM makes the
        TDMA weaker.  I'm not an EE guy, but that doesn't make sense to me.
        Am I missing something?  Or was she just stupid?  My thinking is
        that the signal is crappy because there are too many users for a given
        tower.
        \_ Portable Wireless Numbers are coming Nov 24th. Wait until then
           and threaten to leave to another service provider. They'll
           probabbly try to get you to stay by offering you a free GSM
           phone.
        \_ They would never take down a tower, because they are expensive to
           put up.  They might, however reallocate some spectrum that was
           formerly TDMA to GSM uses.  The more users=worse signal argument
           seems to most plausible, though.
        \_ You too?  My old tdma at&t phone isn't what it used to be either.
          \_ I called AT&T again and this time was fortunate enough to
             actually talk to someone intelligent.  He thought that the
             problem was that my phone was old.  He was very confident that
             the existence of GSM would have no affect on TDMA.  I've had
             the same phone for 5 or 6 years.  The phones aren't that
             expensive and the battery life will be much better than my old
             phone.  So I think I'll get a new phone before too long. -op
             \_ Ever heard of a 'Preferred Roaming List'?  Ask your operator
                how to do a 'PRL Update'.  This will make your phone aware of
                towers that have been added since you bought the phone.  You
                should ideally update your phone's PRL every 3-6 months.  It's
                like getting a fresh routing table.  If it's been 5-6 years I'm
                not surprised your phone can't find a tower.
             \_ When AT&T first started the GSM service, I know some people
                were frustrated that the phones would try to hang on to a
                poor GSM signal instead of switching to the stronger TDMA
                network when available.  Has anyone had good luck with the
                AT&T GSM network of late in northern CA?
                \_ I don't think GSM phones have TDMA capabilities. It
                   can't just switch off to a different mode on-the-fly.
                   If it did, that would be one damn expensive phone.
                   \_ why so?  --knows nothing about phones
                \_ The person I talked to at the time had one, it seemed
                   like the std...  Didn't get the details, though.
        \_ Verizon has the best coverage