Best quality of service in San Diego area?

[Martin]

I'm currently a Cingular subscriber in the San Diego area. However, I've
never been fully satisfied with the service (weak signal in many places,
including near my home) or with Cingular's customer service.

Now my phone is constantly switching back and forth between "PAC BELL"
(Cingular) and "SOS calls only" (another GSM provider with stronger
signal, probably AT&T) when I'm at home. Frequently and for long periods
of time, I cannot use my phone (except to call 911).

Has anyone had experience with both Cingular and either AT&T or Verizon
Wireless in the San Diego area? How do the providers compare?

Thanks in advance.

[JTG]

I live in SD too. I've had Sprint PCS phones for years and I just
recently got a Cingular family plan as well.

So I can compare coverage between the two pretty well. Plus my friends
have Verizon, so I can see their service as well.

To me, Cingular is now the way my Sprint PCS service was about 4 or 5
years ago. I was a charter subscriber for the Sprint network here and at
the time, it was nearly worthless. Almost no matter where you went in San
Diego, you couldn't get a signal.

Now, of course, it is not bad. The Cingular phones are quite poor with
respect to reception. They claim to cover all of San Diego, and this is
what sold me on it. What they don't say is that they cover all of San
Diego but quite poorly.

In my office area in Kearny Mesa, which is the pretty much the business
middle of San Diego, reception is weak. I go inside the building and
reception is lost, even with near a window.

In fact, I can get one bar standing outside, if I hold the phone at my
waist. If I raise it up to head level, then I lose reception. This is
VERY ANNOYING since the phone will ring in my pocket, then when I raise
it to my head to talk, it dies.

So, to answer those calls, I have to drop to my knees, which makes me
look really stupid. If I am with people, I just say "It's Cingular
service, guys, don't you wish you had it too?" This is what Cingular has
done to me: literally brought me to my knees.

So now, if I am at work and I want to make a cell call, since the phone
doesn't work inside the building, I go outside, and to avoid having to
crouch down or kneel down, I just go to my car in the parking lot and sit
in it to make the call. Convenient, huh? But at least it looks normal to
sit in your car to make a call.

Since I got the phones, at least one other person in the office got fed
up with the crappy coverage and cancelled their Cingular service. I know
I will too.

In comparison, I see that my Verizon friends seem to have service
everywhere, at all times, even inside buildings where my service dies.
They claim to have no complaints abouve coverage.

I have 11 months to go on my service contract, and I'll fulfill it. But
as soon as it's over, I'm cancelling this bogus cell service and going to
Verizon.

Hope this helps,

Joe

In article <3C9C1481...@nospam.net>, NOS...@nospam.net says...

[sameer v]

I am with verizon and I know ppl who are with sprint, AT&T and cingular.
Honestly, in San Diego, verizon beats anyone else in terms of covergae
hands down. Even nationwide, I never had reception problems with verizon
and if my phone did not work at some place; no one else's did either!

Of course, verizon is not the cheapest service in the town but with new
America's choice plan they are probably very competitive to other
carriers!

Remove NOSPAM and square of 33 to reply to me

[posted via phonescoop.com - free web access to the alt.cellular groups]

[David Allen]

I don't think I've ever had a dropped call in San Diego. Once at the very
back of the neighborhood Vons, the signal got weak enough that I had to pull
out the antenna and put up with momentary cut-outs, but that's it. I see
the signal strength indicator vary from place to place, even within a small
area, but I've never lost a call.

I've been very happy with Verizon. However, they did screw up when I
initially signed up (via internet) and it took them 2 billing cycles to
clean up the mess. Finally, on the 3rd bill, they got it right. I really
dislike looking at my bill and trying to decifer it, too.

"JTG" <sp...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.17069e7c2...@news-server.san.rr.com...

[Martin]

JTG wrote:

> I live in SD too. I've had Sprint PCS phones for years and I just
> recently got a Cingular family plan as well.
>
> So I can compare coverage between the two pretty well. Plus my friends
> have Verizon, so I can see their service as well.
>
> To me, Cingular is now the way my Sprint PCS service was about 4 or 5
> years ago. I was a charter subscriber for the Sprint network here and at
> the time, it was nearly worthless. Almost no matter where you went in San
> Diego, you couldn't get a signal.

I also had Sprint PCS until about 3 years ago, and had the same
experience as you did. Also, to speak to a Sprint PCS customer service
representative, one had to wait on hold for more than half an hour.
That's why I switched to Pacific Bell (now Cingular).

>
> Now, of course, it is not bad. The Cingular phones are quite poor with
> respect to reception. They claim to cover all of San Diego, and this is
> what sold me on it. What they don't say is that they cover all of San
> Diego but quite poorly.
>
> In my office area in Kearny Mesa, which is the pretty much the business
> middle of San Diego, reception is weak. I go inside the building and
> reception is lost, even with near a window.

>
> In fact, I can get one bar standing outside, if I hold the phone at my
> waist. If I raise it up to head level, then I lose reception. This is
> VERY ANNOYING since the phone will ring in my pocket, then when I raise
> it to my head to talk, it dies.
>
> So, to answer those calls, I have to drop to my knees, which makes me
> look really stupid. If I am with people, I just say "It's Cingular
> service, guys, don't you wish you had it too?" This is what Cingular has
> done to me: literally brought me to my knees.
>
> So now, if I am at work and I want to make a cell call, since the phone
> doesn't work inside the building, I go outside, and to avoid having to
> crouch down or kneel down, I just go to my car in the parking lot and sit
> in it to make the call. Convenient, huh? But at least it looks normal to
> sit in your car to make a call.

I also have to go out of the building to use my Cingular phone.

>
> Since I got the phones, at least one other person in the office got fed
> up with the crappy coverage and cancelled their Cingular service. I know
> I will too.

I will.

>
> In comparison, I see that my Verizon friends seem to have service
> everywhere, at all times, even inside buildings where my service dies.
> They claim to have no complaints abouve coverage.
>
> I have 11 months to go on my service contract, and I'll fulfill it. But
> as soon as it's over, I'm cancelling this bogus cell service and going to
> Verizon.
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Joe

Since my Cingular phone is practically useless where I live, and
marginally useful where I work, I'm going to pay the early cancellation
fee and leave. I have about 1 1/2 years left on my contract.

I'll try AT&T first.

[Jason McGehee]

I have both Nextel for business and Cingular for personal. The Nextel is
much, better than Cingular for reception and reliability. Cingular fails to
work well indoors and in some basic spots in San Diego.

--
Jason McGehee
San Diego, California, USA
ja...@mcgeheefamily.net

"JTG" <sp...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.17069e7c2...@news-server.san.rr.com...

[SlobbyDon]

Nextel is probably the only service that beats Verizon in San Diego, but
it costs a bit more. It has a comparatively huge local MTM area (SD, LA
& LV vs SD only) and is the best for signals reaching into Mexico.

I experience dropped calls with Verizon all the time, but it is mostly
at home because I live on a south-facing hill and am subject to Mexican
interference. I have holes all over the house, but can usually avoid
them by staying close to solid walls on the south sides of rooms.
Hearing Mexican operators is very rare, but I heard them all the time in
analog days.

Because there are a lot of hills and canyons in the SD area, calls are
dropped by all carriers. I recently made a twenty-five mile trip across
town, constantly holding a VZW conference call. Because I avoided
extremely hilly areas the signal held from La Jolla to El Cajon using
I-8, avoiding I-5 in Rose Canyon. Going to Santee via SR52 has a few
holes, the worst of which is the area near I-5 where Rose and San
Clemente Canyons meet. Going over the crest of Fortuna Mt. at
full-speed will also risk a drop between Santo and Mast.

"Jason McGehee" <jasonm...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:Q%dn8.5692$pZ6.2...@twister.socal.rr.com...

[Mike]

Cingular has horrible service in san diego i had them for a year and couldnt
even use the phone at my work, there was a dead spot there...VERIZON seems to
have the best coverage in san diego and im sure others agree with me. I have
used my phone all over LA and the san diego area and not had one dead spot! ive
bene able to make and recieve calls anywhere in san diego and down across the
border in Tijuana(call verizon and ask them to enable ur phone for MX roaming)

[Proconsul]

You are correct - as one who drives across country several times a year and
has used his cell phone in more than forty states, I'll go farther and say
that nobody can compare with Verizon's coverage anywhere in the country.....

In San Diego/LA, it's always been the best.....

PC

"Mike" <rapma...@aol.comnospam> wrote in message
news:20020324164202...@mb-fo.aol.com...

[ChipState]

In article <Lebn8.5655$pZ6.2...@twister.socal.rr.com>, "David Allen"
<dallen0...@san.rr.com> writes:

>
>I've been very happy with Verizon. However, they did screw up when I
>initially signed up (via internet) and it took them 2 billing cycles to
>clean up the mess. Finally, on the 3rd bill, they got it right. I really
>dislike looking at my bill and trying to decifer it, too.

Hehehhehe. My bill has been the subject of negotiation from inception
(Dec/01) ! "There's gold in them thar bills" if you dig!

~~~ Philip ~~~
"A system is irreducibly complex when it consists
of many interacting parts that contribute to some
function, such that the removal of any one part
prevents the whole system from functioning"

[Dan Albrich]

In Oregon and Washington no cellular company has great coverage. Regardless
of your carrier you likely see "searching..." and "roaming" quite a bit.
The two best in terms of geographic coverage are AT&T and Verizon. AT&T
has more digital coverage than Verizon here, although Verizon has been
making progress converting analog areas to digital.

The local plan, and SR plan coverage of Verizon is roughly equivelent to
AT&T's. The AC plan does not include US Cellular areas, and subsequently
Verizon's AC coverage in Oregon is greatly diminished. AT&T does include
Cellular One (their coverage is similar to US Cellular here) as a preferred
roaming partner even on their network advantage plan here, so their local
coverage is Better than AC's.

There are many other comparison criteria (other than coverage), and I am a
basically happy Verizon customer, however, they do not have the best
coverage in the NW. I'd call them a close second.

-Dan

PS: On my recent train ride to Seattle, I was surprised how both have major
coverage gaps in the area north of Woodland WA, and prior to Chehalis for
both AT&T and Verizon. The rails don't follow I5 in that section, so I
understand why..

--
Eugene, Oregon -- Pacific Northwest
"Proconsul" <nos...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:Djsn8.35572$J54.2...@news1.west.cox.net...

[anonymous]

Well, I am in Los Angeles, CA and able to roam on AT&T GSM, so when my
Cingular signal goes bad my phone will automatically roam on AT&T GSM, I do
not get "NO ACCESS" or SOS Calls Only until I go to San Diego, I was able to
roam on AT&T in San Diego a few weeks ago, apparently if your LAC = Location
Area Code of your home area does not match then you can't roam on AT&T, so
Cingular customers with San Diego numbers should be able to roam on AT&T in
San Diego no problem, but can't roam on AT&T in L.A., just like how I can't
roam on AT&T in San Diego. Here at home I get 4 full bars with AT&T GSM but
with Cingular I get 1 bar, and both sites are right across the street from
each other. AT&T & Cingular formed roaming partnership so hopefully our
reception with Cingular will improve drastically, and on June 19, 02 when
Voicestream launches, Cingular will improve too for capacity reasons.
Cingular & Voicestream will be running their own switches but sharing the
same sites.

"Martin" <NOS...@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:3C9C1481...@nospam.net...

[Proconsul]

I drive up to Seattle via I-5 on occasion - and I'll stick by the original
comment(s). While there may be places in Washington and Oregon where
coverage is spotty, i.e., places where there ain't no people.....:) Along
the I-5 corridor, I've had good results. I've also had good results in
Seattle....! Verizon works for me.....:)

PC

"Dan Albrich" <f...@g.com> wrote in message
news:MJxn8.123155$uA5.1...@rwcrnsc51.ops.asp.att.net...

[Dan Albrich]

If you look at Verizon's license maps, you'll see Oregon and Washington are
weak states for them. Verizon is a good carrier, but does not have as good
of geographic coverage as AT&T in these states, and depends more heavily on
roaming agreements which will compromise quality and features available in
this area.

Since you single out I5, note that Verizon has no native coverage anywhere
south of Cottage Grove Oregon, and stretching east and west from there in
Oregon. Verizon also lacks native coverage from Woodland WA to Chehalis WA.
These areas are serviced by roaming agreements. What this means in practice
is that you will drop calls when driving through the boundry areas, and
those of us who live here probably do it more often than you.

-Dan

--
Eugene, Oregon -- Pacific Northwest
"Proconsul" <nos...@nospam.com> wrote in message

news:Yhzn8.36085$J54.2...@news1.west.cox.net...

[Proconsul]

That may all be true - but I find little or no trouble. Roaming doesn't
present a problem since I'm on a SR plan due to extensive travel. Whether or
not you're using native coverage or roaming, the salient descriptor is
whether or not the phone works where you happen to be at the time. No area
is perfect in every respect, but I've never lost a call and never had a
problem - except for an occasional drop - anywhere with Verizon. Even
Verizon is bound by the laws of physics and such things will happen.

No carrier is perfect, but in my experience, no carrier can match Verizon's
coverage anywhere.....

PC

"Dan Albrich" <f...@g.com> wrote in message

news:C4An8.106852$ZR2....@rwcrnsc52.ops.asp.att.net...

[ChipState]

In article <BRGn8.36147$J54.2...@news1.west.cox.net>, "Proconsul"
<nos...@nospam.com> writes:

> No area
>is perfect in every respect, but I've never lost a call and never had a
>problem - except for an occasional drop -

Sounds like my experience with America Online! LOL

[MARK HENDERSON]

In article <C4An8.106852$ZR2....@rwcrnsc52.ops.asp.att.net>,

Dan Albrich <f...@g.com> wrote:
>If you look at Verizon's license maps, you'll see Oregon and Washington are
>weak states for them. Verizon is a good carrier, but does not have as good
>of geographic coverage as AT&T in these states, and depends more heavily on
>roaming agreements which will compromise quality and features available in
>this area.

I'd rate the carriers in the Seattle area as follows based on
coverage, the extent of digital coverage, number of holes in
advertised coverage areas. I've used all of these within the last
year:

1. AT&T (IS-136/TDMA)
2. Verizon
3. Sprint
4. Nextel
5. Voicestream
6. Cingular

I haven't used Qwest, so can't place them in this list.

I don't care about whether I'm roaming or not when making the above
list as long as I'm not paying roaming fees, but I do care about
digital vs analogue.

Not that there aren't specific places where Voicestream (for example)
has great signal and AT&T does not.

Of course, Verizon has advantages over AT&T. Data support and better
sound quality come to mind. AT&T/GSM has data but the coverage isn't
very good.

--
Mark Henderson
"Heilir æsir. Heilar ásynjur. Heil sjá in fjölnýta fold." - Sigrdrífumál
OpenPGP/GnuPG keys available at http://www.squirrel.com/pgpkeys.asc

[Ken Moffat]

On Mon, 25 Mar 2002 19:27:47 -0800, MARK HENDERSON wrote:

> I'd rate the carriers in the Seattle area as follows based on coverage,
> the extent of digital coverage, number of holes in advertised coverage
> areas. I've used all of these within the last year:
>
> 1. AT&T (IS-136/TDMA)
> 2. Verizon
> 3. Sprint
> 4. Nextel
> 5. Voicestream
> 6. Cingular

Any eastern WA experience? I wonder about ellensburg / moses lake for
text messaging... (extended network for verizon doesn't do text msg.)

[Dan]

I'm very familiar with AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and Voicestream service
in Oregon. No Cingular here, and I don't have personal experience
with Nextel. The following comments relate to service in Oregon.

My comments (which do not disagree with yours) follow:

AT&T-- AT&T and Verizon have the best coverage given the included
analog roaming. AT&T have as much of the state of Oregon licensed
as any, and more of it than Verizon, including US 97 to Klamath Falls.
Their roaming partner using the Cellular One name in Oregon is
actually excellent, and most don't even realize they are roaming with
good digital service in most areas. Cellular One has exceptional
coverage of the coastal areas that they serve and in eastern oregon
including Willamette Pass and Ski Areas, Sun River, etc. I actually
think the reason AT&T rates 1st here is not just their larger native
coverage, but the roaming partner cellular one is actually a really
good carrier. AT&T currently offers 600 peak minutes, and 3000 NW
minutes here for $39.99/mo which is pretty good for a two state home
area, with free nationwide LD. This beats the current comparable
local plan Verizon offers. Verizon has a better national plan called
America's Choice or AC. Verizon's native geographic coverage appears
to be stronger than AT&T nationally, but the local area is a another
matter. Good customer service.

Verizon-- Similar coverage to AT&T in Oregon if you have a local plan,
or SRN but not so good for the AC users. Verizon has little native
coverage here, so this is a weak state for their AC plan. If Verizon
included US Cellular in their preferred roaming partners with the AC
plan, then their coverage would be much more extensive. US Cellular
fills in coverage nicely for them. Verizon has more analog areas than
AT&T but is catching up. US Cellular is converting their analog
areas to digital too, not that this will benefit AC users. The
reasons I prefer Verizon to AT&T follow:
- I can force analog whenever I want to.
- I can check my minute usage both from my phone and the web, even on
local or regional plans.
- Larger included mobile-to-mobile area than with AT&T
- Free (included) circuit switched data for laptops/palms/winCE/etc.
It's only 19.2Kbits/sec but it's good enough for me. Verizon will
give you a free email account with web access and actually supports
their free/included data option called Mobile office for curcuit
switched data. AT&T has no free data options (ppp/laptop), and does
not support circuit switched data.
- I have a 12 state home region instead of a 2-4 state home region
when compared to AT&T's similar plans. Unfortnately, the plan I have
is no longer offered. The new AC plan, while lacking locally, has
good national coverage instead of rural roaming so It's a great plan
if it covers the places you care about. Good customer service. The
bottom line being that even if AT&T has slightly better coverage,
Verizon's is good, and has more services included than AT&T.
- Verizon has improved redundancy by including free roaming on Sprint
networks here in the west (and in many other places). I find this
especially useful for in-building coverage when Sprint happens to have
an available signal where Verizon has none-- which is rare, but it
does occur. Adding Sprint also has the effect of improving I5
coverage south of Cottage Grove to California and out I 84 to
Pendleton etc.

- Sprint - Most of Sprint's advantages have to do with feature
consistency. I don't actually consider them to be a good option at
the moment given that Verizon has a similar nationwide plan that
appears better than theirs. They lack SMS capability in the
traditional sense, and charge you for data that verizon would give you
for free. They also charge for analog roaming so I must admit I don't
fully understand the motivation of a Sprint customer in light of AC on
Verizon. My friends who have Sprint love them, so they must be doing
some things right. I'm familar with their coverage because I force
my phone to (PCS-Only) to see where it exists. I have never been a
Sprint customer so I cannot comment on their CS. Their coverage in
Eugene Oregon is definitely inferior to Verizon's.

- Voicestream - While they have very limited coverage, and for the
most part lack analog fallback without an analog sleeve for Nokia
phones, they have great coverage where they do have coverage.
Voicestream is the only carrier that permitted me to have a single
phone conversation without dropping the call from Eugene Oregon to
Portland on I5. Each of the other carriers mentioned have small holes
along that route that makes keeping a single call there impossible.
If you don't care about a large coverage area, and just want thousands
of minutes, they can be a good choice. They offer a 3000 peak/anytime
minute plan for $49.99/mo in my area. They used to offer free 14.4
data but it is unclear if this is still available. Good Customer
Service.

All of them have different advantages and disadvantages. My
preferences to do tend to be coverage based (which is why I'd agree
with rating Sprint and Voicestream below AT&T and Verizon).

-Dan

m...@shell1.iglou.com (MARK HENDERSON) wrote in message news:<3c9fe...@news.iglou.com>...

[Dan Albrich]

The last time I was in that area I had good digital service with Verizon but
I do not recall if it was native or roaming coverage. The best maps are
here:
http://www.mountainaudio.com/

More specifically the license map:
http://www.mountainaudio.com/wireless/vznatmap.htm

Note that they do appear to be licensed for that area, so my guess would be
native Verizon coverage.

-Dan

--
Eugene, Oregon -- Pacific Northwest

"Ken Moffat" <kmo...@drizzle.com> wrote in message
news:pan.2002.03.26.16....@drizzle.com...

[JKlompas]

I could have written the above including absolutely no network in buildings or
in many hotel rooms.. I had chalked it up to an old phone (an ancient Ericsson
flip phone).

I recently switched to Verizon and a Motorola V120c have had no problems at
all. All 5 signal bars deep inside Vons and have not dropped a call.

I had read about low ear volume and the first call about pierced my eardrum, it
was so loud.