We've been utilizing BAMS/Verizon's Express Network 1XRTT service since June, and have generally been pleased with it, especially due to the increasing coverage areas and generally better speed over CDPD and Nextel's PacketStream service. However, in the NY Metro (00022) market, one of the original BAMS (actually ex-NYNEX) properties, there are a number of roads and corridors where Express Network connections are dropped or reset (apparently by the switch), despite excellent coverage and many towers in the vicinity. I've noticed that while crossing north or south of I-287 in Westchester County on a number of roads, such as the Sprain Brook (Taconic) near JCT NY-100C, the Saw Mill River just south of JCT I-287, or even US-9 near the Faragut Rd. exit to the SMP, an ACTIVE (ie, data being passed regularly, like during a ping session or FTP transfer, etc., ie, NO idling) session will say "Data Connection Lost - Please Retry". This also happens on NJ/NY-440 at the Outergbridge Crossing as you drive from NJ to Staten Island (NY). Annoying as this is, when you try to reconnect, the Watcher dialog box (we use Sierra 55x cards) continues to say "Data Connection Lost" after retrying or "Data Error", and you need to wait a few minutes (even if you are standing still) before it will let you reconnect. This ONLY seems to happen in the NY market. It is NOT (from what I can tell) a result of poor coverage -- we can take the 1XRTT devices to NH/VT, and drive up I-89, and even though there are long stretches on I-89 from central NH to White River, VT where the 1XRTT starts bleeding in from just up the road where Verizon's footprint kicks in again, IF we do not push a lot of data from the laptop to Verizon (and simply receive data) the connection will maintain and data will start pouring through once we get to an area with decent signal strength, generally just north of White River on I-89. We've been able to maintain data connections from the NY/NJ line down I-287 all the way to south of DC, and there are a number of poor(er) coverage areas along the routes we've driven than at the Outerbridge or along the SMP or Sprain. Thus, even in very poor to no coverage areas, the "Data Connection Lost - Please Retry" will not necessarily happen", so it seems problematic that it should occur in the NY Metro market with its significantly better coverage. For a while, I thought it was occurring where digital (CDMA) service normally drops, like along I-84 from the CT/A to the NY/B systems, or along I-95 from the CT/A to the NY/B (this may have been fixed CDMA-wise, BTW; still need to test it), I-84 from the 00022 NY Metro to the 00486/00404 Poughkeepsie/Orange market, or similarly along the Taconic between the 00486/00404 Poughkeepsie/Orange and the 00022 NY Metro markets, and even along the Bear Mountain Parkway (coverage issues AND the systems don't seem to want to hand off to each other; Bear Mt/Harriman State Park is a HUGE dead spot for the carriers even though there is a *considerable* amount of traffic through there for lack of an alternate Interstate route). However, after doing drive tests in the "CDMA inter-system drop" areas, while our BAMS CDMA digital phones would generally not be able to maintain a call along those routes, the 1XRTT worked fine, and while data may have stopped for a few moments, the connection never reset and continued to work well as we traversed the market boundaries. (As an aside, for all of Verizon's "Can you hear me now?" nonsense, it's pretty pathetic when they can't handle handoffs BETWEEN THEIR OWN MARKETS! I've called them on this a number of times over the years, they say they will drive test it and get back to me, and I never end up hearing from them and the drops continue to this day. In many cases, if you drive those roads between BAMS/Verizon states/systems, you are better off with Nextel, Sprint, or AT&T's TDMA service since they seem to have managed to work out these problems (but overall they are generally subject to more coverage problems than BAMS/Verizon in other areas). We called Verizon's (800) 308-DATA support center about this 5 weeks ago, after it became obvious that the problem was only along certain roads in the NY market and that it was not how the service should typically operate (ie, poor coverage is not, it seems, a significant factor). We opened a trouble ticket with Gene, who took our number and said they will test it and get back to us. Three weeks later, no response, so we called and spoke to Mark at the DATA #, and he said there had been no progress (it takes 3 weeks to drive test some roads and see that there is a problem?) Finally, today, having not heard from them and still experiencing the drops, we contact Bedminster, and heard from a manager who wasn't very clear about the ticket but initially said "Oh, your modem was idle" (it wasn't) and "You are on the unlimited plan; for what you are doing you may need to be on another plan and that is why we are dropping you". After hearing this I got a bit fed up, and said "Look, we are doing FTP, we are paying you people $100 per month for this nonsense, and it doesn't happen anywhere else, so come up with a better story!" At that point he began to take the issue a bit more seriously (I mean, suggesting that we shouldn't be on the unlimited plan since we use the service a lot -- or not even a lot -- moderately -- really is outrageous!), and asked me to e-mail him a list of the drops and he will have them drive tested. So we'll see...We are going to try out Sprint's 1XRTT unlimited service (also $100 per month). While I don't expect too much coverage in Vermont, if it is any better than BAMS/Verizon's, I will consider Verizon's NY Metro drops (assuming they do not fix them) an area where they are not performing as one would expect for a *mobile* data service and cancel our contract with them and switch to Sprint. I can't see Sprint being any better but I am hearing better things about them all of a sudden so maybe we'll give them a chance if BAMS can't fix these annoying problems in their NY market. I'll post as the matter progresses. Fight the proposed New Jersey Cellphone ban! Send a fax to Gov. McGreevey for free! See http://www.wirelessnotes.org/cellphone-ban-nj http://204.75.164.43/cellphone-ban-nj (This post and SID list are also available at http://www.wirelessnotes.org) Regards, Doug d2@interpage.net Interpage(TM) Network Services Inc. / http://www.interpage.net