I just moved from the 6035 to the i300. On the 6035, you were able to dictate whether or not you wanted to roam, AND THEN whether you want to roam digitally (CDMA) or in analog.

On the i300, it appears I can only choose between PCS, Automatic, or Analog - cannot dictate Digital Roam. And when I put it in Automatic and step out of PCS range, it always automatically goes into Analog Roam instead of Digital (CDMA) Roam.

Is there a fix for this? Firmware update of some sort?

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nope. thats the way it is...

once you leave the pcs area, it will search for whatever is available and use that.. unless you have roaming turned off... which id suggest doing as it save batery juice and you dont want to pay roaming fees on sprint!

im glad to see you coming to the other side, but rememebr this phone iwll not be capable of using the 3G features soming out this sumer from sprint...

PCS refers to the 1900mhz band. Sprint only utilizes 1900mhz CDMA PCS on their network and when that is not available and assuming the phone supports it, 800mhz AMPS (analog) as well. Their network does not use digital CDMA 800, the other roaming option you refer to. I'm guessing you were using the 6035 on Verizon and have now switched over to Sprint for the I300? This is one of the key differences between Sprint and Verizon. Verizon utilizes CDMA 1900 (PCS), CDMA 800, and AMPS 800. Sprint only uses CDMA 1900 and AMPS 800.

Actually not, Marty. Maybe it was a fluke, but I successfully roamed digitally on CDMA - and quite often for that matter - on the Sprint 6035 on the Sprint network. The trimode functionality of that phone worked perfectly on the Sprint network. I assumed the i300 would behave similarly......that's a real downer.

But are you sure that you were specifically using the 800mhz CDMA band and not on some other carrier's (Verizon's) 1900mhz CDMA network when you were roaming digitally with the 6035? It is possible to roam at 1900mhz CDMA on another carrier's network if Sprint does not have a signal in the area. PCS simply refers to the 1900mhz band. So you can have CDMA PCS (which means 1900mhz CDMA) and CDMA 800 (digital cellular CDMA). So as long as you are not using analog, you are using CDMA (a digital technology), whether it be in the PCS (1900mhz) or digital cellular (800mhz) range.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I beleive our i300, while it has the capabilities to do cdma 800mhz, has this mode disabled, and can only do cdma 1900mhz, and 800mhz AMPS, dual band(1900, 800)/dual mode(cdma 1900, amps 800), and not dual band tri mode

That is correct.

to sum up, analog or PCS, no 800mhz cdma roaming.

Jorge

correct!

Yes Marty, in fact I would bet on the fact that it was Verizon's frequency. But either way, in my mind, just the fact that I'm digital roaming would eliminate Sprint from the picture completely.

Is there a way to enable the i300's CDMA 800mHz capabilities - capabilities that jrosaly has eluded to?

not without some overhauling of the phone.. this is not something you can merely go into the phone prefs and change.

its never been confirmed that the phones we have include this chipset. the phone's label says it to be dual band, and IMO i believe it does not have the chipset to enable triband use.. if so, that would be a waste of money on qualcomms part since us sprint folks cant use the xtra frequency.

Thanks Marctronixx, but I'm just wondering if it might then behave as my Sprint 6035 did: digital roaming on Verizon's (or whomever's other than Sprint's) CDMA band. The 6035 did this perfectly, and offered me alot of additional digital coverage.

i understand what you mean. i think its technically possible for this to happen.. all you need is the unlock code (msl),the prl to verizons system, and someone at verizon who wil conect it for you. but you would only get to use the one frequency.

"Yes Marty, in fact I would bet on the fact that it was Verizon's frequency. But either way, in my mind, just the fact that I'm digital roaming would eliminate Sprint from the picture completely."

Ok, but what I want to know is how you knew you were on 800mhz CDMA?? The fact that you roamed "digitally" on the 6035 does not necessarily mean you are roaming on CDMA 800mhz. CDMA by itself is a "digital" technology, regardless of what frequency it operates on. So when you roam "digitally" on the 6035, you could be roaming on CDMA 1900 (PCS) or CDMA 800. Since both frequencies are using CDMA (a digital technology), both definitely qualify as "digital" roaming. I think the misunderstanding can also be illustrated in your title. PCS vs. CDMA roaming sort of doesn't make any sense (no offense):

Digital technologies= CDMA, TDMA, GSM, etc.
PCS= CDMA 1900mhz, TDMA 1900mhz, GSM 1900mhz, etc.
Digital Cellular= CDMA 800mhz, TDMA 800mhz, GSM 800mhz, etc.

original equation: PCS vs. CDMA
because PCS=CDMA 1900: CDMA 1900 vs. CDMA
because CDMA=digital: digital 1900 vs. digital

So you can't say that because you have selected to digitally roam on the 6035, that you are using CDMA 800. Since CDMA is a digital technology and is used in both PCS and Digital Cellular, roaming digitally simply means that you could be using someone else's PCS OR Digital Cellular network, not that you are exclusively using CDMA 800..you could be roaming on another carrier's CDMA 1900 (PCS) network.

No Marty....I just mis-wrote about a technology I'm not an expert at....but I'm glad you are, 'cause I'm learning alot here. My point was that I was digitally roaming on the 6035, and it wasn't on Sprint's band. And I want to know if there's a way to replicate my experience with the Sprint 6035 on the Sprint i300. Thanks for any insight that can help me here.

Yes, I understand that but I don't think I'm getting my point across to you so I'll try to be a bit more clear here. What I'm trying to point out to you is that you when you digitally roamed with the 6035, you could have been on Verizon's PCS network and as such the I300 would be able to accomplish the same thing as is. What the I300 cannot accomplish in its current state is roaming at CDMA 800 (and I have not seen any proof that a Sprint 6035 activated by Sprint can accomplish this although the phone does have the technicological capability to accomplish this). When you set the 6035 to digitally roam, it has the technical capability to do so at PCS or CDMA 800. So in essence, even though it is your belief the 6035 was operating at CDMA 800 when it was digitally roaming, it could very well have been operating in the PCS freqeuncy on Verizon's network, which the I300 can do as well with no additional changes needed. So that extra digital coverage you thought you had with the 6035 but not with the I300 you may in fact already have been using with the I300 and just not have realized it.

Cool - thanks for the clarification. And just to make sure I'm being clear....

....I can tell you that there are indeed, very clearly, many areas that my i300 has no digital service now where my 6035 did in digital roaming mode. When I lose (what appears to be) Sprint PCS service in "Sprint PCS" mode on my i300 in these same areas where I once lost (what appeared to have been) Sprint PCS service on my 6035, my options now are only either to set the i300 to "Automatic", in which case I immediately get only Analog Roaming, or set it to "Analog Roam".

It's clear to me, based on my before/after experience, that I was grabbing a band with my 6035 in digital roam that the i300 is not grabbing in either "Sprint PCS" or "Automatic" modes, and it's therefore immediately entering Analog Roam as a result - again, in areas where my 6035 would've immediately grabbed a digital signal to roam. That's what's killin' me.

Well then, strictly going off of your observations, it appears as if a Sprint 6035 activated by Sprint can in fact utilize Verizon's CDMA 800 network. Unfortunately, as Marc already mentioned, the I300 cannot accomplish this in its present form and would need some reporgramming at the minimum to add that capability to the phone. Unfortuntely, you are on your own to accomplish that task as Sprint won't be able to help you out.