Herein is a possible word of warning for anybody using his or her TDMA cellular phone (at least Rogers AT & T) in the US boondocks.

Mrs. Fredd and I just flew to southwest Colorado where we have previously used our Rogers cell phone without a problem. We have used it many other locations while in the US.

I found out through a fluke this morning that, although my phone’s screen reads “Partner” and is at full signal strength, Rogers no longer has an agreement with the local provider (Verizon). The result? Anybody calling my cell phone will get the standard message saying that the Rogers customer is not available and, worse, I am left to assume that nobody is trying to call me.

Outgoing calls through the local provider now carry a $4 per minute credit-card surcharge, but at least there’s an advance prompt. Being able to receive incoming calls is the invaluable feature for us.

What annoys me is that Rogers says there is no way to tell if you are in a location with a provider who does not allow incoming phone calls. The screen does not read “No Service.” Yes, I can call Rogers and they will tell me if they have coverage in a given town or area, but I don’t always know where I will be, especially if I’m driving cross country rather than flying. I could also stop at a payphone, call my cell phone, and see if it rings but it all seems more than a mite inconvenient to do as I’m cruising my 600-700 daily miles on Interstate 84.

When I complained today, Rogers offered to set me up with complimentary voicemail, a nice enough gesture, but of limited value compared to the immediacy of a cell phone call.

We are leisure travellers, but if I were using the phone for business purposes and came to find out I was missing calls that I didn’t even know I was missing, I would also be annoyed.

I am not trying to knock either Rogers or US cellular providers with whom they don’t have agreements, but I would welcome better communication from these communication companies! Any suggestions would also be welcomed but I thought I would share this information which is new at least to me.


Cheers,
Fredd