Forum Discussion
- GdetrailerExplorer III
bgum wrote:
Good grief Gdetrailer you must be far out! Were you considered a citizen in the last election?
Very Rural area, the local Borough for my postal address has a population of about 940 in .6 square miles, actually live outside that Borough in a township that covers about 24 square miles and has a population of about 2,000..
The school district typically has about 100 kids per grade level and covers 50 rural miles..
I have been even more sparse places.. Go visit VT, can drive for an hr to find cell coverage the last time I was there.
But, I will take that over any over crowded city.
My point however, folks assume that cell service is 100% equal and everywhere with all major carriers, it is not.
On edit..
I should also mention, most of the carriers own coverage maps are grossly overstated in coverage and are not a real representation of actual real coverage.
To find out if there is service, you need to goto a macro level of locating the actual cell towers the carrier owns or contracts..
If there is cell towers located within 5 miles of you you should have some coverage, further than 5 miles and you won't have coverage.
HERE is a tower locator website which has proved helpful to me.. - mileshuffExplorerIf you live where no carrier has towers then ask the carrier to give you a local hotspot tower. T-Mobile sent me one free of charge. It uses my WiFi to create a mini T-Mobile tower inside my home. Doesn't help driving around but allows my phones to work in my homes without issue.
- GdetrailerExplorer III
mileshuff wrote:
If you live where no carrier has towers then ask the carrier to give you a local hotspot tower. T-Mobile sent me one free of charge. It uses my WiFi to create a mini T-Mobile tower inside my home. Doesn't help driving around but allows my phones to work in my homes without issue.
Doesn't help when camping either.
OP is talking about switching carriers and asking what carrier is better or best (cheapest? most coverage?)..
The problem however with this question is not all carriers may be good or even available in all areas. So what I recommend may or may not work for the OP and what someone else recommends to me may or may not work for me..
Most carrier "maps" are bogus, they are made up by their marketing departments to sell service. To get to the real truth, you really need to look closer at the actual physical towers in your given location.
In my case, Verizon and ATT claims coverage in my area on their marketing maps.
However, the reality is Verizon only has one tower near me and ATT has three towers near me..
Guess which service works better for me?
ATT..
But ATT may not have as good of tower coverage for someone else.. - Dutch_12078Explorer IIWe have both AT&T and Visible (Verizon) data plans on hotspots connected to MIMO antenna sets. We've yet to land anywhere we didn't have service from one or the other, and usually both at varying levels.
- GdetrailerExplorer III
Dutch_12078 wrote:
We have both AT&T and Visible (Verizon) data plans on hotspots connected to MIMO antenna sets. We've yet to land anywhere we didn't have service from one or the other, and usually both at varying levels.
:R
Obviously you have never set foot in my area in NW PA..
Verizon might work fine in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia where the largest population is but not so much in smaller cities, towns and rural areas.
I did at one time have Verizon because they covered the route I used going to work and back but once I drove 2 miles away from the nearest city I lost all service for the next 15 miles until I got home. Verizon would only work if I walked out of my house, up the driveway 150ft but not in my house..
Ditched Verizon for Trac since the Trac service in our area offered phones that used ATT towers.. Was happy with that for quite a few yrs until DW had to replace a failing phone. The replacement phone for some odd reason would only work outside our home and she was no longer able to use her cell phone at her work which is located only 5 miles from our home..
Complained to Trac, Trac stated they the did not offer service in our area!
It was at that time we discovered that Trac and ATT had a falling out and was no longer offering the ATT tower option.. There is no mention of this on Trac website that they no longer offer ATT to new customers or customers replacing an existing phone.. You just suddenly discover you no longer have service in places that you did once have service..
Any service based off of Verizon nor Sprint towers work at my home location and ATT is the only option if you want reliability..
For that reason folks need to research what towers are available for each service as what I have found is the marketing maps do not always tell the truth. - mileshuffExplorer
Gdetrailer wrote:
Doesn't help when camping either.
True except I do not generally expect cell service when camping in remote areas. No carrier has towers in such areas around me. Too many mountains block signal and am a long ways from any civilization. - ol_Bombero-JCExplorerNo dog (ah - carrier) in the fight, but...
maybe one of the posters who claim "no bars" before whatever cell booster they have - and usable connection "after boost" could chime in?
BTW - small to medium tin cans - and lots of string might work...:@
~ - GdetrailerExplorer III
ol Bombero-JC wrote:
No dog (ah - carrier) in the fight, but...
maybe one of the posters who claim "no bars" before whatever cell booster they have - and usable connection "after boost" could chime in?
BTW - small to medium tin cans - and lots of string might work...:@
~
:B
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