EVDO with Alltel (Tampa) Using 6700 - But Connected at 1X

lawtyger · EVDO Newbie Joined: 29 Jul 2006 Posts: 1

First let me say, I believe I may have hit the jackpot for EVDO information by finding this site.

Real quick background. My wife an I have Altell and live WELL within what Alltel says is their EVDO coverage in the Tampa Bay area. She has a Motorola 815e and I just received the 6700.

Is the EVDO signal something that can come and go depending on the day (again, we live right in the coverage area) because for the last couple days we both would have the EVDO symbol on our phones. My wife doesn't use data transmission on her phone but I've seen the symbol on the screen indicating it was receiving the signal.

I access the internet via my 6700 from home and the first two days I clearly say and connected to the EVDO signal. That said, since my 6700 also has WiFi I just connected to my home system while at home when actually surfing the net. BUT, now all my phone has been showing is 1X. No sign of EVDO despite clearly having it for days and being well within the coverage area.

What I was wondering is, is this normal?

Can the system just go down for a while (ie. for maintenance)?

Do you think maybe I somehow hit a setting on my 6700 telling it to only connect at 1X? (I find this highly unlikely as I'm somewhat familiar with the connections tabs in WM5 and I would think that my wife's would still be showing some type of EVDO connection still since we haven't messed with her phone).
Again, I guess if I'm in some sort of EVDO black hole on occasion while at home it isn't a huge deal because I can just connect via WiFi. I'm more concerned that I could have turned a feature off accidently on the 6700 or that Alltel's EVDO isn't that good. Also, we were also running some errands today and when I had looked down while at a stop light even closer to Tampa, I was still only connected at 1X.

Off to learn more by reading other posts in this forum. Any advice is welcomed.

Thanks.