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Well I finally broke down replaced the HTC rom that came on my TyTN last night with the cingular rom (1.31) and today something funny happened - I had a U when I left my house! Formerly I only had 3G when I went into the city. So I'm wondering if there's something magically new in the Cingular rom that allowed me access to differn't then the HTC or whether with the release of the 8525 tomorrow if Cingular is lighting up new towers so when people go and buy it they can all have the joy of 3G
Only problem is that aroumd my house - I have lousy 3G coverage (1 bar) but would have full coverage with GSM. Within my house fortunately the 3G signal is nonexistant so it goes over to GSM. If I remember correctly that 3G is actually CDMA and I think they use the same towers is Sprint does in the area because as I drive around - the signal strength mirrors nearly perfectly my expierence with Sprint (which is why I left them - terrible coverage in my area) It's too bad that the phone doesn't have a toggle that if you don't have at least 2 bars of 3g but there's full GSM to default over to the GSM (I know I can disable 3g altogether if it turns out to be a problem).
Well at least I can now confirm that (with the right rom?) Cingular has 3G coverage in Stamford, Darien (poor) and Norwalk CT (I haven't driven anywhere else today)
It's probably not your device/ROM. More likely you're seeing the continued buildout of Cingular's 3G network...
Yeah I just saw somebody on Howard Forums post that they just got service in CT today too. I figured that was the case but it just seemed like an extreame coincidence. - Not that there's anything wrong with that
3G is not CDMA .. it's WCDMA which is totally different than CDMA ..
I realize that CDMA and WCDMA are differnt tech, but would it lkely use the same towers as CDMA? I know that the towers (at least in my area) are not generally owned by the carrier but rather rented out to them. If they use the same towers - it would explain why their coverage mimics Sprints signal so much in this area (rather then Cingular's GSM coverage).
not know for sure but I dont think it's possible to share towers between different technologies .. one technology issues .. two why share something with competitors ..
well if it's running in the same frequencies I BELIEVE it should be able to transmit and recieve both (kinda like your laptop can do 802.11B and 802.11G) but I could be wrong on that - also, at least the towers in my area, the majority of them are independently owned and rented to the companies so from that stand point, I think it's obvious why - the more people renting their towers - the more money! Course this is mostly speculation on my part (cept the fact that I know that 6 of the 9 towers in my area are independently owned).
the actual tower is either owned by a carrier and space is leased to other carriers, or owned by a 3rd party and leased to carriers. the radio equipment located on the tower belongs to the carrier, and is not shared with other carriers. i realize there may be roaming agreements, but they are not sharing tower equipment, you are just using another carrier's tower. your provider pays the carrier you used for handling your call while roaming.
one tower might host a cingular GSM radio system, a t-mobile GSM system, a verizon CDMA system, a WCDMA (UMTS/HSDPA) system, a 800mHz iDEN system, and maybe a few local repeaters for local government.
towers are shared between competitors primarily because they are actually owned by a third party. carrier owned towers still have exceptions though, often because zoning laws limit available tower space. the carriers work together in this sense, because otherwise each might be locked out of another's coverage area due to local limits and restrictions on tower construction.
sometimes you have to work with the competition to get the job done!
Nice to have people smarter then me around
chymmylt said:
I realize that CDMA and WCDMA are differnt tech, but would it lkely use the same towers as CDMA? I know that the towers (at least in my area) are not generally owned by the carrier but rather rented out to them. If they use the same towers - it would explain why their coverage mimics Sprints signal so much in this area (rather then Cingular's GSM coverage).
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Yeah you pretty much hit it on the nose. Not many operators own their own tower, and towers aren't cheap to build. So if they're doing a rollout the most logical thing for them to do would be to put their equip on the same towers that probably everone else does (Sprint, et al). That does NOT however mean they are actually using Sprint's equipment.
-Q
EDIT: Never mind...
jamiefiedler already answered this in more detail. Sorry for not reading more
[EDIT] OOPS Virgin Mobile US targetted... sorry... [/EDIT]
My initial investigation into Virgin mobile USA turned up no charge other than minutes for calls in the US/Canada, however recently it appears that VMUSA has changed their tune and now are charging $0.10/m for callt o Canada which is ENTIRELY ridiculous FFS since they're charging MUCH less than that to freaking Mexico City(and other area/countries) and they're a FREAKING F^CKING MAJOR backbone carrier in the US?!
BEWARE of Virgin Mobile and their HIGHLY malleable terms of service. i.e. I purchased their Optimus V on the data that Canada calls were included like US(like MOST reasonable carriers), however upon eventually trying it they appear to have since turned to an ONEROUS per minute rate for calls to Canada while allowing south americans to have their cheap calls to Mexico City and elsewhere.
BEWARE of whom you chose otherwise a seemingly good deal WILL bite you on the @SS. (As much as I REALLY do HATE to say it, stay with reliable, if highly priced carriers like Verizon for coverage and overall rates or PAY the CONSEQUENCES, unfortunately!)
(Best you can do with some ****e like VMUSA is VOIP calls... and you'll be stuck with their extra crap phone offerings while, for example, VM Canada even has iPhones FFS! But lesser calling plans but still overall it's lose-lose-lose...)
[EDIT2]
Stay away from androidcentral, bunch of uselss b*stards anyways...
[/EDIT2]
[EDIT3]
They craftily phail to list Canada in their sh!tty little pamphlet(US) and they seem to have since 3w agao change ALL of their online page to reference a HORRIFIC $0.10/m charge or calls to Canada in ADDITION to YOUR minutes...
Might be better off in the North to buy a Virgin Canada phone with (MANY)MORE choices and better overall rates than subsidising something else...
[/EDIT3]
[EDIT4]
Can these guys REALLY be selling in the US?! ROFLMAO(I wish)....
...so no good REAL plans for the US unless for some reason you want to call Mexico and the US only... *giggle*
[/EDIT4]
[EDIT5]
BTW my 3G data rates have been MUCH BELOW optimal, 120kbps up/down (at various times/locations in a "good" coverage area), with ONE time in which I hit 370kbps down/ 320kbps up with speed test pretty crap overall...
This IS Virgin Mobile USA, not Sprint, etc. so your rates will/should likely be higher with those more responsible carriers even IF they have more onerous fees, however they should consequently have MUCH better service...
[/EDIT5]
Why ASUS didn't include 3G into this tablet, nowdays thats like a must thing to do... with that would be perfect tablet!
Samsung, HTC, and Motorola have existing relations with all the Wireless phone services. That may have something to do with Asus being left out. But besides the Xoom and the Apple, are there any other Wireless Tablets available for contract with wireless phone company?
nook-color said:
Samsung, HTC, and Motorola have existing relations with all the Wireless phone services. That may have something to do with Asus being left out. But besides the Xoom and the Apple, are there any other Wireless Tablets available for contract with wireless phone company?
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Couldn't they just do an unlocked 3G version without having any connection to wireless companies?
For personal use i don't think i will need 3g much. If/When i do, i have my rooted phone to tether to. So i don't see 3G as that needed a feature. And after following a lot of tech blogs and such it seems a lot of the people commenting are wanting wifi tablets only a lot too. So That could be part of it. Also until they have a shared data plan, cause who wants to pay for 2 data plans, i don't see my self paying for 3g even if it had the radio to do it.
However, for business use i would like one with 3g in it. Since i wouldn't trust people to know how to tether much less have a phone that can tether. So in this case simpler is much better. So for business use i will need to look at a different product which makes me sad. and if the treasurer for our non-profit has her way it will be a ipad ... which makes me very very sad. So a 3G model would have been awesome as well.
---------- Post added at 09:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:14 PM ----------
Smyc151 said:
Couldn't they just do an unlocked 3G version without having any connection to wireless companies?
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Correct me if i am wrong, but 3G isn't like cellular networks right? It has to be someone certain radio signal to work correctly meaning you have to work with that company ( be it at&t t-mobile version or sprint or who ever).
Like why the at&t iphone will work on t-moblie but it doesn't have t-moblies radios so you can't get 3G.
And say they just put AT&T radios in with out asking for whatever ( i don't know if you can do that or if it even matters, but just say they did) if at&T didn't want to support the device they could just block the device and not sell plans to it.
So i don't think it is just as easy as "unlocked 3G"
The dock has a USB port, so just connect a mobile data dongle to it?
dragonithe said:
The dock has a USB port, so just connect a mobile data dongle to it?
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Can android interpret the data dongle natively?(like Linux (at least it did on Linux Mint last time i tired)) or will a custom app need to be made for it to work if it works at all? (like windows). it is a interesting idea though. If it doesn't work out of the box (i doubt it but never know) someone should really make an app that will make it work. Since i already have a data dongle thing somewhere. lol
Sprint might be getting it if you look at their CES invite the folds look just like that origami screen cover!
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Charles_A said:
Correct me if i am wrong, but 3G isn't like cellular networks right? It has to be someone certain radio signal to work correctly meaning you have to work with that company ( be it at&t t-mobile version or sprint or who ever).
Like why the at&t iphone will work on t-moblie but it doesn't have t-moblies radios so you can't get 3G.
And say they just put AT&T radios in with out asking for whatever ( i don't know if you can do that or if it even matters, but just say they did) if at&T didn't want to support the device they could just block the device and not sell plans to it.
So i don't think it is just as easy as "unlocked 3G"
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I'm not the best source about this information, so please excuse me if I'm wrong. But I thought that most 3G were on similar frequencies, and therefore it would be easy to make a 3G antenna which could communicate on all of them. The reason why I ask, is that I had a T-Mobile Android phone and brought it to the UK a few months ago, and can use it on any network here (since it's unlocked), and only have to change the network operators (or something like that, I can't exactly recall) info so it connects to the right towers. And it works perfectly fine. If I can do that with a crappy old Android phone, why couldn't it be done with Transformer?
But on the whole, I agree with you. It's so much cheaper to buy a tethering plan for most phones than it would be to give it its own 3G service, that for most people just doing a wireless hotspot with their phone would make more sense. But it's still a legitimate question for some people
Charles_A said:
Can android interpret the data dongle natively?(like Linux (at least it did on Linux Mint last time i tired)) or will a custom app need to be made for it to work if it works at all? (like windows). it is a interesting idea though. If it doesn't work out of the box (i doubt it but never know) someone should really make an app that will make it work. Since i already have a data dongle thing somewhere. lol
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I know that Archos uses a dongle that slides into the tablet that is powered by USB, so it's not impossible. But I don't know if it's naively implanted.
And if not, maybe some dev's can port the software from the archos devices to the prime to get a USB dongle to work.
I will personally use a wifi modem, that way it doesn't even use the battery of the tab, and I could share the connexion with whoever I want.
I just put my phone in hotspot mode when I need a connection and Wifi is not available. But in that last 2 years I have only had to do that 3 or 4 times. I don't see any need for 3/4g, and the associated extra costs, in a tablet.
Personally I would never pay extra for a 3g version and then have to pay a monthly fee on top of that. In Canada at least the monthly fee is not that cheap.
I wonder if there are stats on how many of each of the ipad models were sold? The original and ipad2 were both released with a 3g model at launch right? It would be interesting to see how big the 3g market is
Probably just to keep costs down. And I honestly don't view 3G as a must do thing. It'll be a while before people start to see data plans attached to devices as a given. Right now, if I need internet while I'm out and about with my tablet I just set up my phone as a hotspot. It's still a bit rare when I feel the need for internet when I'm not at home (most of the time I'll be reading or watching things already stored) but it came in handy while waiting in line for Black Friday.
as the prime is already available for some, could you please test if a 3G dongle works? my interest is not so much in internet connectivity but using mobile TV which only works via 3G here and not over a wifi connection due to legal requirements..
I heard somewhere that they don't because it's not a very popular market. They are aware most people have data plans on their phones and don't want to spend extra on a separate plan for a tablet. Plus most people will just tether from there phones if they need to connect out of wifi range.
3G would be nice in theory, but I wouldn't be willing to pay for another data subscription when I already have one for my phone.
3G does indeed run on different frequencies. especially in the US, it's a giant clusterfuck of various bands that carriers use as well as completely different technologies for it.
verizon and sprint both use CDMA and different freq
tmobile and at&t both use GSM (like most of europe) at run at different freq. (it's the reason an unlocked iphone will work on tmobile, but you won't get 3g on it.)
for asus to come out with a 3g (or 4g) enabled tablet in the states, it would mean working with some provider to support and sell it, which asus being such a small player would be tough to get any of the big providers to get on board.
one solution would be to install a quad or penta band gsm radio in it (like the galaxy nexus) and let people use it however they want, but then cost comes into play.
personally, i've never seen the draw to 3g enabled tablets, as most people who have one also have a smartphone that they can probably tether to the device.
if i really wanted to get 3g and not tether in some way, i'd probably rather get a hotspot for the same price (service wise) and not use up my tablets battery powering the radio and also be able to connect multiple devices to it.
maybe i shouldn't have replied to this thread but created a new one
what i asked is whether a 3G dongle would work (similar to what archos does), but i guess not
asus could support that and not care about a 3G tablet version, only put the drivers and apps into the firmware.
3G connectivity is cheap in austria, unlimited data plan (without throttle) with 10mbit/s for 15 euros/month (or even much cheaper with throttle), but as i said, i'd only need it for mobile TV.
nook-color said:
Samsung, HTC, and Motorola have existing relations with all the Wireless phone services. That may have something to do with Asus being left out. But besides the Xoom and the Apple, are there any other Wireless Tablets available for contract with wireless phone company?
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Click to collapse
The U.S. isn't like the rest of the world. With the exception of Asus, all the manufacturers offer both 3G and Wi-Fi versions of their tablets. Some of what's available in the U.S. are adaptations of those. And data plans in a lot of countries aren't as expensive and don't lock you in to two-year contracts making 3G much more popular outside the U.S.
Asus said in the spring they'd launch a 3G version of the TF1. In November, they sent them out to reviewers. It's still not released and may never be. Apparently, Asus isn't big on 3G.
http://www.tabletbite.com/3g-asus-transformer-spotted-wild-picture-4316/
Charles_A said:
For personal use i don't think i will need 3g much. If/When i do, i have my rooted phone to tether to. So i don't see 3G as that needed a feature. And after following a lot of tech blogs and such it seems a lot of the people commenting are wanting wifi tablets only a lot too.
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I have a HSPA+ 21 UK tablet that I use on AT&T. It's $20 a month with unlimited data and MMS because it's just another non-smartphone on my account. Tethering is a pain in the ass. Get out the phone, turn on Wi-Fi sharing, connect the tablet, disconnect the tablet, turn off Wi-Fi sharing. If you forget the last thing you're phone's battery is shot. It's shot anyway becasue Wi-Fi sharing's a huge drain. Connecting a tablet after it's been offline's also a pain while you wait for everything to sync before you can start using it. With all the carriers (except Sprint) starting to throttle for excessive usage splitting data over two devices keeps each devices data usage down. I'm usually at 4-6GB a month on both my phone and tablet individually. It's great when you're traveling to be able just whip the tablet out quickly and start using it. I'm not selling anyone on the idea of 3G but it has its advantages.
And there's zero chance the Prime has a GSM radio in it. It wasn't shown in the tear down and wasn't in the sample sent to the FCC for clearance.
yea i had a xoom and phone and it was too much to pay for data so now im just goona hotspot it and not pay $40 for something i dont need.
Its more about Verizon. I'm am att customer atm and was thinking about switching over to Verizon to get the galaxy note 2. Has anyone had experience with both providers? Amy thoughts on either?
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kevinallen4325 said:
Its more about Verizon. I'm am att customer atm and was thinking about switching over to Verizon to get the galaxy note 2. Has anyone had experience with both providers? Amy thoughts on either?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app
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Verizon does many things right, but also many things wrong.
They offer great coverage and speeds. Their plans are a bit pricey, but considering what you get it isn't to be unexpected. Many of us on VZW have unlimited data plans too, which you can no longer get, so it is irrelevant, but most don't want to leave to other carriers for these 3 reasons.
Here is downside about VZW, many people have had a bad experiences in terms of customer service. I've dealt with VZW many times, such as they convinced my sister to get off her unlimited data plan and wouldn't add on some features that my dad took off 5 minutes later by accident.
They get phones late relative to other carriers and they do things that most other carriers do not do (e.g. home button branding).
kimdoocheol said:
Verizon does many things right, but also many things wrong.
They offer great coverage and speeds. Their plans are a bit pricey, but considering what you get it isn't to be unexpected. Many of us on VZW have unlimited data plans too, which you can no longer get, so it is irrelevant, but most don't want to leave to other carriers for these 3 reasons.
Here is downside about VZW, many people have had a bad experiences in terms of customer service. I've dealt with VZW many times, such as they convinced my sister to get off her unlimited data plan and wouldn't add on some features that my dad took off 5 minutes later by accident.
They get phones late relative to other carriers and they do things that most other carriers do not do (e.g. home button branding).
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Click to collapse
This really sums it up pretty well.
I've had (and still use for work) AT&T. My personal phone is Verizon.
From my experience and where I live, Verizon has much better reception and call clarity. I hate how AT&T claim they have a more robust LTE connection because they really do not.
But yes, Verizon CS sucks.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Verizon has a decent sized LTE network. It's getting to the point where if you're in any well populated area, you'll have 4G service. They are still expanding, and have a lot of work to do before their 4G coverage has the same reach as their 2G/3G network, but they're the only carrier that is even close to having a full next generation network. The price is high, but you get great service in return. Their software updates may be slow, but they also tend to have fewer issues with software updates than other carriers. T-Mobile and Sprint are the only two fast carriers when it comes to updates, and both AT&T and VZW are on the slow end for product updates and also they tend to have more preinstalled junk than other carriers as well. Customer service is hit or miss. It really depends on what you're having a problem with. Their software/hardware troubleshooting leaves a lot to be desired, but it is still better than the rest on average from what I've heard. They tend to be much better with account issues from my experiences, but I don't have any recent comparisons to another carrier for that to say if it's better or worse.
AT&T will have better battery life on their phones as they are full GSM, not a CDMA/GSM (LTE) hybrid network. The nice thing is you can unlock a phone and use it on their network, something you can't do with VZW, and this opens up a lot of possibilities for phones. They tend to be a little less controlling when it comes to devices they sell as well (branding, locking, etc.). Cost is on par with VZW, and you shouldn't have a problem with coverage as long as you aren't travelling through an unpopulated area. However, coverage isn't the same as what VZW offers, and the network can be over saturated in some areas. They have more "4G" than VZW, but most of this is HSPA+, note LTE. Speeds are comparable, but LTE has the potential for much faster speeds in the future, where HSPA+ is pretty much being maxed out.
Overall, I wouldn't say that one is significantly better than the other. Neither is a good option if you are looking to cut costs, and customer service is probably about the same for most things. A lot of customer service issues are going to really depend on who you talk to, as there are always times you get the person that doesn't know anything and doesn't care, they're just there for the paycheck, and other times you get someone that cares or knows what they're doing, and it solves your problem fast. One thing good about VZW is that all of their call centers are in the US, not sure about AT&T. I think the choice should really be, do you want to pay for the network and go through the hassle of switching carriers just for a phone.
Verizon LTE coverage is great and speed used to be great when first rolled out but it's just good now with widespread usage. The one major red flag is frequent LTE disconnects across multiple different LTE handsets such as HTC Thunderbolt, Motorola Rzr series, etc. Sometimes it goes for a few days without a hiccup then usually around midnight it starts going into a frequent LTE disconnect/reconnect, sometimes as often as several times per minute, so data is useless. This problem occurs with 4G LTE and 3G eHRPD which have the same authentication method in common. Disabling 4G LTE and forcing 3G EVDOrevA works fine but I believe it uses a different authentication method. This leads me to believe that it's a network, possibly Diameter authentication, issue. Having to live with this issue for a few months now I'm about fed up. If I hear the Galaxy Note II has the same issue I'm seriously jumping ship to Tmobile.
mi7chy said:
Verizon LTE coverage is great and speed used to be great when first rolled out but it's just good now with widespread usage. The one major red flag is frequent LTE disconnects across multiple different LTE handsets such as HTC Thunderbolt, Motorola Rzr series, etc. Sometimes it goes for a few days without a hiccup then usually around midnight it starts going into a frequent LTE disconnect/reconnect, sometimes as often as several times per minute, so data is useless. This problem occurs with 4G LTE and 3G eHRPD which have the same authentication method in common. Disabling 4G LTE and forcing 3G EVDOrevA works fine but I believe it uses a different authentication method. This leads me to believe that it's a network, possibly Diameter authentication, issue. Having to live with this issue for a few months now I'm about fed up. If I hear the Galaxy Note II has the same issue I'm seriously jumping ship to Tmobile.
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I use my phone at all hours of the day and never have issues with data just randomly disappearing unless VZW is in the middle of a nationwide problem, which hasn't happened for a little while now. I think that they finally got most of the issues they were having to cause the outages sorted, after almost 2 years.
I've somewhat recently obtained the LG G2 Mini (D620R) due to my stupid self bricking my Samsung S3. In every single way it utterly destroys the S3, despite the S3's specs being slightly better. I've recently switched to T-Mobile, since I was under the impression that T-Mobile is a GSM carrier, and my phone is GSM as far as I know and Straighttalk was no longer a viable option.
I was told I would get spotty data coverage where I live, and that is completely understandable and I knew that going in. However, I have been getting little to no voice and text service where I live, and fair service in town. Even a free cell booster did not seem to help despite getting fair signal at the window unit. I did a bit of troubleshooting and for some reason, the phone is connected to T-Mobile (WCDMA). This makes no sense as A)It's a GSM phone (afaik). B) T-Mobile is a GSM carrier. The only other options when scanning the networks in the area are AT&T (WCDMA) and AT&T (GSM). In town, there is a T-Mobile (GSM) network, but selecting it results in EDGE instead of 3G/H. The cell booster did work some at first, but it seems to have stopped helping at all. Since it is not a T-Mobile phone I can't use Wi-Fi calling/texting. Is there something I'm missing? Did I find wrong information/get lied to about T-Mobile? Did I get scammed on the phone? I'm hoping I can get some help or figure this out, I can't really afford another phone and getting a phone through T-Mobile would push my bill up way too high (and honestly, I'm considering dropping to the non-unlimited plan because of how insanely expensive it is).
A less important question, how do I bypass the tethering restrictions? Do I need to root the phone or is there a simpler method? Last time I rooted a phone...it resulted in me having to buy this one in the first place...
Also, is the S3 really that badly crippled by Touchwiz a weaker phone can utterly humiliate it?
Ok, first of all google a bit about mobile network standards, there's everything explained. I'll just introduce you with a few things:
1. WCDMA is not equal to CDMA, it actually represents 3G standard for regular (not CDMA) phones.
2. GSM equals 2G standard, and it gives EDGE data communication, while WCDMA equals 3G/3G+ standard and it gives HSPA/HSPA+ data communication.
As I said just google it, at your location you probably have stronger 2G than 3G signal, and when you go to some bigger town or city you get 3G better.
For start read the information given at this link.
Problem is, I get absolutely no EDGE at all where I live, only 3G/H and I consistently lose all service and cannot make calls. I am well within the coverage area for at least voice. I also have been having more and more troubles with data even in town. It's progressively gotten to the point where I have to constantly toggle data just to get some mobile data for a few minutes or so.
Try to select 2g only network and you should get EDGE.
If I select 2G Only, I get no service at all, it doesn't even attempt to search for a signal where I live (Red 'X' instead of spinny icon). However in town if I do this, I do immediately get switched to EDGE/2G and it's signal is slightly better.
Than it means you don't have network coverage at your place, that's all.
My booster however shows it gets 3 bars, and I was made aware at the time I would get at the very least get voice service. I did some checking and I'm about 5 miles from the nearest cell tower. My only other option at this point is AT&T, but I have a general distaste for them, can't afford a phone if they don't have a BYOP program, and they do shady things to rooted phones from what I've heard.
I do expect poor or no data service where I live, I can make do with that. What I don't expect is no voice service at all, sometimes even to the point of no E911 either.