DROID sucks in Alaska

[hbar]

Or, that was my experience. We were on the 'Extended Network', which is not roaming, and adds no extra costs. However, my Droid worked only as a phone, but no data reception. My wife's BB worked fine, just like at home. What's up with that?

I have a love...hate/hate relationship with cell phones. I hated my Storm, for various reasons, but, at least, it worked worldwide, changing sim cards as we travelled. When I bought the Droid, the salesgirl told me I woul have to contact Verizon to unlock the phone, like the Storm. Of course, I waited about 3 weeks, past the return it if you don't want it time limit, to try that. That's when I found out the Droid is not multi band, and will not work in Europe, Russia, etc.

I hate cell phones.

 

[Backnblack]

Droid was never marketed as a world phone....

 

[Serialkilla]

Sales reps will tell you what you wanna hear, to make a sale. Whether she knew or not(most likely not) that it wasn't a world phone, she was selling you that phone. Just doin' her job - sorry to say.

 

[Vulcan1600]

First of all, you have 30 days to return the phone or exchange it. Alaska is pretty sparce for the most part, so the fact there isn't much data unless you're in a fairly populated area isn't surprising. If your wife's BB was working with data, then yours should have too. You should have contacted VZW to see why. There could have been a provision issue. When you got your Droid, did you look to see if it had a SIM card like your BB Storm had? If a world phone is what you were looking for, then you needed to investigate further before you purchased a Droid.

 

[hbar]

Yes, I should have done more research. I saw my firend's Droid, so I went and bought it. However, I can't imagine a new phone like this being a local phone. My bad. Yes, she was selling phones. Probably didn't know any more than I did, or outright lied. Anyway, I've spent more and got less. This too shall pass. Very quickly.

 

[fenriswolf039]

There is a Droid "world phone"...

It's called the Milestone. Same phone, quad band GSM. Unlocked they're about $500 on Amazon.

 

[hbar]

Interesting. Thanks.
..
$489 and no warranty. Yeah, I see that happening. I would, at least, want to see the sim card slot, as the non-US version is otherwise same as, only different band, no sim, just microSD, like mine.

I gave my Storm to my DIL. Guess I will trade with her, as she doesn't travel outside the US. Oh, well.

 

[Sam]

Interesting. Thanks.
..
$489 and no warranty. Yeah, I see that happening. I would, at least, want to see the sim card slot, as the non-US version is otherwise same as, only different band, no sim, just microSD, like mine.

I gave my Storm to my DIL. Guess I will trade with her, as she doesn't travel outside the US. Oh, well.

the milestone is actually quite different.. both the hardware and software. but it's definitely a GSM phone, lots of folks on here have them

 

[Fault]

Alaska network=fail

 

[gotta have that funk]

alaska sucks period. we're supposed to feel sorry for you that you couldnt get coverage in the middle of a frozen desert? come on..stop being ridiculous.

 

[greyghost04]

You have to know that the rest of the world is GSM. VRZ is CDMA. Leave the USA and your phone is not going to work. Works pretty cool here though.

 

[jsh1120]

Uh, it is perhaps worth noting that Alaska is not a foreign country, despite some of us believing that the actions of its former governor should be grounds for making it so.

 

[hbar]

alaska sucks period. we're supposed to feel sorry for you that you couldnt get coverage in the middle of a frozen desert? come on..stop being ridiculous.

If you read what I said, you will see your post is irrelevent.

You have to know that the rest of the world is GSM. VRZ is CDMA. Leave the USA and your phone is not going to work. Works pretty cool here though.

I'm aware of GSM. I used my BB in Russia, and throughout Europe. Needing such, I will replace the Droid before we go back to Russia at Thanksgiving.

Otoh, we have had GSM phones for the last 8 years. We have 6 or 8, to be relatively exact. We pass them out to team mwmbers when we take groups on our travels.

 

[Barkleyfan]

Gonna have to search on world phones. And even then, nothing is guaranteed. Sprint went WiMax, T-Mo with HSPA+, and both Verizon and ATT are going LTE for their next generation network. Other countries are not yet committed to the route they wish to take. I believe there is one Russian network that went WiMax, but others could go a different route. It doesn't matter what you buy, you will find regions that don't support it. And just to further mess things up, Apple has gone to micro-sim, so even if the new network supports the bands you're on, they also need to support the new sim card structure.

 

[Navalynt]

There's more coverage in Alaska then many of you realize. I work for GCI Wireless which also owns Alaska Digitel so we have both GSM (EDGE) and CDMA (EVDO Rev.A) networks. Unfortunately Verizon roams off one of our competitors so I couldn't be much help.

I personally bought a Droid A855 and re-programmed it to use our network and it works GREAT! A little hex editing of the NV items to change the data usernames was all it took.