OTR Cell Coverage

Discussion in 'Swift' started by ltwombat, Jul 24, 2012.

  1. ltwombat

    ltwombat Light Load Member

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    Jun 2, 2012
    Las Vegas, NV
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    The smartphone thread made up my mind to get an I-Phone but now I have to decide on carrier. As expected, AT&T says they have the best coverage and Verizon says the same thing. Their voice/text/data plans are comparable so it boils down to REAL coverage. How do AT&T and Verizon measure up in the real world on real highways and bi-ways?

    Per the AT&T coverage map my house (93555) is covered in red, 3g, but as I type I have 1 bar of signal strength. At the Verizon store today the phone he was demoing to me had 1 bar but their coverage map shows in town as covered at 4g.. When I pointed it out he made some lame excuse about the building being metal framed so the signal was being blocked. When I asked to take the phone outside he said no because the security tag on the phone would set off the alarms. hmmmm, my guess is the signal strength was probably 1 bar outside also.
     
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  3. OpenRoadDreamer

    OpenRoadDreamer Road Train Member

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    I have Verizon. I usually have pretty good service.
     
  4. Jorihe84

    Jorihe84 Road Train Member

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    Have had at&t everywhere in the country and its never failed me
     
  5. NavigatorWife

    NavigatorWife Road Train Member

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    We have had AT&T for a long time, it has good coverage. We have the family talk plan so you can stay on the phone without worrying about running out of minutes (so far we haven't). We have 3 phone now. the main one is going to cost more and the added ones can be up to about $30.00 or so a month. We also have the added texting which my daughter uses mostly. I thought at one time it also had free calls to other AT & T at night and the weekends, but don't know if they still have that now or not.

    I believe there was one time in NE we didn't have reception and Big Island, VA.

    I am not sure of the Verizon coverage. It use to be that AT & T would jump off of whatever cell tower was in the area, don't know if the other carriers have that or not.

    My daughter has an older mobile home and the phone has to sit in the window to get reception which is a pain. We have a couple of towers here in town, one of AT & T and the other is whatever. We had service even before the buyout on the one tower.

    I also have the Internet aircard which I use from home, it is the only thing I have to worry about going over on now, and it gets pricey if you do, but it is portable.

    Good luck choosing.
     
  6. BlackLions

    BlackLions Road Train Member

    I had AT&T before with a droid and iPhone, then went OTR so I tried tmobile, sprint and finally ended up with verizon.

    Seems to me they do have the best coverage, AT&T just randomly drops calls. Although Verizon will (most of the time) drop calls when crossing state lines - weird.
     
  7. fr8monkey

    fr8monkey Road Train Member

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    Right behind you
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    AT&T has good VOICE coverage...but i just spent 5 hr stretch on hwy 287 thru colorado,ok ph and texas panhandle.....u want the internet? extremly slow connection....could chat ym to my gf.....but could barely load a frickin' page! That has been the worst i have had....along the interstate system is usually pretty good for DATA....like my internet....could care less about voice coverage...heard verizon is better data coverage....my 2cents....
     
  8. JBMN

    JBMN Bobtail Member

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    Feb 11, 2009
    St Paul, Minnesota
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    Not sure but I think they are all decent although AT-T does seem to have pretty good coverage.
    Also trying a disposable right now using Sprints network. just to test coverage..no contract but also by the minute makes it more undesireable.
    Being told that I need to also test a service (new) called TING. They use Sprints network, no contract and
    you are charged by what you use. Just looking at it and based on minutes used by me last month I can save
    60 bucks over one of the majors....the issue is some folks have not had good luck with Sprints coverage. Also NO CONTRACT
    but there are less choices of phones! Good Luck..this is a good thread
    Ting has a website--that even I was able to understand! :biggrin_25511:
     
  9. Wilma

    Wilma Light Load Member

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    Mar 21, 2012
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    Actually, he's right. I work in a metal warehouse and it will definitely block the signal on most phones regardless of the carrier. I have T-Mobile, and I am the only one that can go to any part of the building and use my phone, but that's because T-Mobile has a tower about a hundred yards up the road.
     
  10. OpenRoadDreamer

    OpenRoadDreamer Road Train Member

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    I have a 4G phone and inside the building here it drops to almost nothing. Outside and in the truck, full 4G
     
  11. Roadmedic

    Roadmedic Road Train Member

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    There are many threads on this very same subject. Hands down, the best is Verizon. But, do a search and read for yourself.

    I have had both and twice sat on the side of the road for hours with no signal with ATT. Never again.
     
    crb and fr8monkey Thank this.
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