AT&T Updated Coverage Viewer

[cellular_freak]

It appears AT&T has recently updated their Coverage Viewer and labeled it as updated 03/06/09. I can't really see any differences here in Michigan as far as 3G coverage or anything, but in my area of the Thumb, they have made the former Dobson towers appear as though they extend further out then they actually do. (Maybe because they're 850 and they previously showed them more like 1900 towers, even though they actually act like 1900 in terms of coverage). They also added the Dobson tower that was added in my town close to when AT&T bought them out so they never had it in their Coverage Viewer.

[Quint101]

In my neck of the woods, AT&T finally added its PCS only sites between Thomasville, GA and Dothan, AL with the money acquired from the state of Georgia

[cellular_freak]

Originally Posted by Quint101

In my neck of the woods, AT&T finally added its PCS only sites between Thomasville, GA and Dothan, AL with the money acquired from the state of Georgia

In my area, there are no PCS sites but the 850 sites act like PCS sites because they don't extend out very far. They might as well launch PCS in my area because it'd make no difference. That way they could use the 850 for 3G (that's a longshot).

[spleck]

I'm still waiting for 3G. They've got coverage from Atlanta to Chattanooga now, but haven't gone South much. Last year the rumors were "by Christmas".

I did enjoy a trip to Orlando though. 3G from coast to coast.

[RadioFoneGuy]

Originally Posted by cellular_freak

In my area, there are no PCS sites but the 850 sites act like PCS sites because they don't extend out very far. They might as well launch PCS in my area because it'd make no difference. That way they could use the 850 for 3G (that's a longshot).

850 like 1900 not likely if it was you would be in a serious world of hurt - more that you already are.

[cellular_freak]

Originally Posted by RadioFoneGuy

850 like 1900 not likely if it was you would be in a serious world of hurt - more that you already are.

Yeah, you're right, it's just frustrating that most of the sites in my area have such a short range. Sprint has a site on the AT&T tower that I use at home and my Kindle 2 seems to get pretty good signal from it. Granted, I obviously can't tell how good the voice quality is, it's pretty amazing that both the Sprint PCS site and the AT&T 850 site are extending all the way to my house but yet the AT&T signal is hardly usable.

[Bsilvertab]

Is there any ATT network people on this forum that work in Northern Michigan? After the coverage map was updated I took my prepaid tracfone up to a remote area of Manistee that has not had Cellular One/ATT coverage since the switch from TDMA to GSM, and now it magially does. I would like to know what changed, because from what I can tell no antennas have gone up recently in the area.

[cellular_freak]

Originally Posted by Bsilvertab

Is there any ATT network people on this forum that work in Northern Michigan? After the coverage map was updated I took my prepaid tracfone up to a remote area of Manistee that has not had Cellular One/ATT coverage since the switch from TDMA to GSM, and now it magially does. I would like to know what changed, because from what I can tell no antennas have gone up recently in the area.

I would imagine that Cellular One had built a new tower in the area right before the buyout with AT&T and the site just never registered on AT&T's Coverage Viewer. (That's what happened here in Caro) But with this recent update, AT&T added the tower Cellular One built in downtown Caro right before the buyout. They also made the towers look as though they expand out further than they actually do. This could have been the case there in Manistee. There could have been a tower there, just the Coverage Viewer never showed it.

[Bsilvertab]

Originally Posted by cellular_freak

I would imagine that Cellular One had built a new tower in the area right before the buyout with AT&T and the site just never registered on AT&T's Coverage Viewer. (That's what happened here in Caro) But with this recent update, AT&T added the tower Cellular One built in downtown Caro right before the buyout. They also made the towers look as though they expand out further than they actually do. This could have been the case there in Manistee. There could have been a tower there, just the Coverage Viewer never showed it.

Thanks for the response, but that was not the case. The area was completly dead after the cell one GSM switch. That is no longer the case as of about 30 days ago. The area is between Manistee and Onekama about 1 mile north of the city of Manistee.

[cellular_freak]

Originally Posted by Bsilvertab

Thanks for the response, but that was not the case. The area was completly dead after the cell one GSM switch. That is no longer the case as of about 30 days ago. The area is between Manistee and Onekama about 1 mile north of the city of Manistee.

Well, it's also very possible that AT&T installed a new antenna somewhere in the area because I knew that they wanted to make some headway in the northwestern area of Michigan, more notably the Traverse City/Cadillac areas. So, they could be filling in some dead zones while they're at it over on the west coast. I only wish they'd do that here in the thumb.

[Quint101]

Originally Posted by spleck

I'm still waiting for 3G. They've got coverage from Atlanta to Chattanooga now, but haven't gone South much. Last year the rumors were "by Christmas".

I did enjoy a trip to Orlando though. 3G from coast to coast.

It looks like they are slowly expanding the 3G into Central GA... they have 3G just NW of Forsyth (Monroe County). Perhaps Macon and major points south will be launched before too long

[Bsilvertab]

We have an ATT wireless rep assigned to where I work because we have so many other ATT services. He escalated the question up to a network engineer. They 'dual banded' the tower at the end of Scott Rd. in Manistee. To me that means that they added 850mhz coverage on that tower. That blows me away that it took them 3 years to add 850mhz coverage to that tower because during the TDMA days there was 850 on that tower, because TDMA got service in the area that was a GSM dead zone for so long. Unbelievable.

[spleck]

Originally Posted by Quint101

It looks like they are slowly expanding the 3G into Central GA... they have 3G just NW of Forsyth (Monroe County). Perhaps Macon and major points south will be launched before too long

I'm hoping. In town a new tower was built back in Oct or so, but nothing is on it--not sure if its intended for AT&T. In another part, AT&T colocated on a T-Mobile tower, but I haven't seen any signal out of it yet. The press release just said "2009" for Macon area, but I can hope for earlier than Dec 31.

[RadioFoneGuy]

Originally Posted by Bsilvertab

We have an ATT wireless rep assigned to where I work because we have so many other ATT services. He escalated the question up to a network engineer. They 'dual banded' the tower at the end of Scott Rd. in Manistee. To me that means that they added 850mhz coverage on that tower. That blows me away that it took them 3 years to add 850mhz coverage to that tower because during the TDMA days there was 850 on that tower, because TDMA got service in the area that was a GSM dead zone for so long. Unbelievable.

your rep is right. reasoning is TDMA was 850 Cellular one. Cellular One bought NPI which was on the same tower as 1900 GSM. Priorities were to put GSM where there was no signal and go back and tweak as need. Protocols, funding and politics are what holds up what seems like a quick or obvious fix. Network teams now what the network needs but the final decisions is alot higher on the food chain.

[Quint101]

Originally Posted by Quint101

It looks like they are slowly expanding the 3G into Central GA... they have 3G just NW of Forsyth (Monroe County). Perhaps Macon and major points south will be launched before too long

I rode from Tallahassee to Atlanta and after leaving Tallahassee, there was no 3G until I went past mile marker 194 on I-75... so nothing yet in Macon and Albany yet.