Alltel USCC Verizon Bag Phone Motorola M800 Verizon Wireless and US Cellular USCC now sell the M800. Motorola M800 Digital CDMA and ANALOG Bag Phone. The power output is about 500mw Analog and 325mw Digital CDMA. This phone is only 1/2 watt, the old analog phones are 3 full watts, I bought this to use in remote areas, mostly in the Mojave desert. Performs a little bit better than a standard tri-mode handset in analog mode, not nearly as well as a full 3 watt phone. Some of the cell coverage in the Death, Panamint Valley and parts of rural Nevada are still Analog only. Verizon Wireless will no longer activate the Alltel M800, caution when buying a second hand phone! The M800 CDMA, M900 GSM are about the only phones available that support a direct connect external antenna in 2011 If you are a current Alltel customer using the M800 and you will transition to ATT and need a new phone, Check out some of my rural phone setups. New! Photos of the inside of the M800 bag phone car install phone Upgrading?? You need This adapter to connect the M800/900 to your existing antenna. |
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The Motorola bag phones hardware and software are almost identical to the V60c flip phone. |
27 dBm = .5 watts, 30 dBm = 1 watt Radio Performance:
Approximate weight - 10lbs Motorola says they offer a optional booster, Makes it 3 watts in Analog ONLY. Display is black and white with blue back light. Can be ordered from Alltel customer service. 800-alltel1 Alltel has the best coverage of rural areas in the USA. *.25watts digital Is easily usable over 40 miles form the tower, if tower is configured for extended range. A note on digital performance with the m800 or any digital phone. Most all digital tower have hard distance limits, power, antenna or phone cannot get around this. If the towers limit is 20 miles and your rural home is 22 miles from the tower, the phone will not register on and will not be usable. This is noted when the phone cannot complete a call in digital and defaults to analog. This is an issue that has been popping up more often. If you run into this, give Nextel/Boost a try. iden has much greater range. |
*Tip- If you currently are using a 3 watt analog only bag phone, don't upgrade until analog service is turned off in your area. The m800s specs and performance are about the same as most Motorola handsets like the W315 tri-mode. In my area analog service will continue through the 3rd quarter of 08 and maybe longer depending on usage. FCC Test Results (measures a little higher than Motos specs) ANALOG CDMA 800 CDMA 1900 (The M900 is a GSM version of this phone) |
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Direct connect external mag mount antenna. This antenna stuck to roof of vehicle yields 9-12db (3-4x) more signal strength than phone on passenger seat with stock antenna. External antennas drastically improved the performance of this phone, and it gets the rf radiation outside. Antenna has tnc connector, just unscrew stock antenna and connect. Get it Here |
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External Microphone Input The M800 Bag Phone offers an external microphone for use in the car environment. This is for a condenser mic, phone applies a phantom power to this mic input. Mini usb connector to connect to PC: Packet data MAX BR support 153.6 kbps 12 volt input, cigarette lighter or power supply |
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Privacy handset. The button activates voice name and number dialing. Very good sound quality, almost land line good. I cant say enough about the audio quality. Has a huge speaker and high quality mic for speaker phone. Just pick up the handset press the button and say the number. This is a no gimmicks flat out telephone. Does have a web browser. Has TNC connector for external antenna. (the m800 car install kit has a female mini uhf just as the 3 watt bag phones do) External antenna provided with phone is poor quality and sounds tinny.
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If phone is going to be out of service for more than a few days disconnect battery to prevent deep discharge! 2.3 amp 12 volt lead acid battery.
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Tethering/Data connection info. PC or MAC (I don't know if it works with MAC) The only easy to tether a Motorola phone to a MAC is using bluetooth. The M800 does not support bluetooth. The M800 works great as a remote internet connection. (digital signal required) The M800 IS NOT an EVDO high speed data capable phone. 1x (dial up speed) data only. This phone is NOT '3G' Because it can be powered by 12 volts, has a solid TNC antenna connector and mini usb port it make a perfect field service internet connection. Directional Yagi antenna and LMR-400 low loss coax significantly improve receptionCheck out some of my rural phone setups. Email: nuggettzz2000@yahoo.com |
To enter Test Mod: (for antenna aiming) ## DEBUG(33284) If it works the 4 won't show and the screen usually dims slightly very briefly. Then menu then left soft key should toggle the FTS screen on and off. Inputting the code again will disable test mode |
For a good description of test mode see: Use (FFF) Current RF RSSI in dBm for antenna aiming. The lower the number the better. |
Pattern Problems The current M800 privacy handset just doesn't hold up as well as we had hoped. Given that we're on the fifth revision of the handset, it would seem they're not holding up as well as Motorola would like either. A bad Handset can cause a variety of problems, but no matter how much of a phone issue it might seem, a Handset swap usually fixes it. |
M800 Real World Test Report and Setup Some examples: |
Q I have an Alltel Motorola M800 bag phone on AlltelU are I can't seem to get the batteries to hold a charge. How do you charge your battery-in the phone or external battery hookup? How long do you charge the battery? Where do you buy your batteries? |
A, The battery charges whenever the 12 volt supply is plugged in. The led in the phone flashes red/green when its charging and stays solid green when charged or damaged. |