CENTRAL U.S. -- AT&T + Centennial?

[the1337n00b]

Hello!
I'm new to WA and this seems like a great form to post around in!


I'm an AT&T and iPhone 3Gs User and my coverage is horrible. (imagine that!)

I live in Rockford, Michigan and there's a cell tower right down the street from me, but unfortunately, it's not AT&T's signal. I live near the high school and you can't even get more than 2 bars in most places around here!

I've talked to AT&T many times about this and the best advice I get is "wait for us to get Centennial's signals."
So I'm hoping the tower near me is a Centennial tower and I can use that signal once they acquire their signals. Both AT&T and Centennial's sites say that my area is FULL 3G coverage, but I barely get 2 bars of Edge here.

So my question for you guys is,
Do you know ANY sort of estimate when Centennial may give out AT&T signals?
I'd love any information you guys have. My phone is pretty important to me and i want to be able to use a service I pay for!

Thanks in advance!

[Mobile Mike]

It may be a while as AT&T's merger with Centennial is still not approved by the FCC, as AT&T had to agree to additional divestitures.

It's hard to say if, once the merger goes through, if an immediate effect will be felt. It could take several months (or likely longer) for things to be fully integrated, which would include you having access to present-Centennial towers for better service.

As of yet, I haven't heard any more about the merger being complete, so unfortunately it's still in a holding pattern.

[the1337n00b]

I heard that the merger was approved and everything should be going fine..
Thanks for your reply, Mike

Much appreciated.

[Shizam76]

Originally Posted by the1337n00b

Hello!
I'm new to WA and this seems like a great form to post around in!


I'm an AT&T and iPhone 3Gs User and my coverage is horrible. (imagine that!)

I live in Rockford, Michigan and there's a cell tower right down the street from me, but unfortunately, it's not AT&T's signal. I live near the high school and you can't even get more than 2 bars in most places around here!

I've talked to AT&T many times about this and the best advice I get is "wait for us to get Centennial's signals."
So I'm hoping the tower near me is a Centennial tower and I can use that signal once they acquire their signals. Both AT&T and Centennial's sites say that my area is FULL 3G coverage, but I barely get 2 bars of Edge here.

So my question for you guys is,
Do you know ANY sort of estimate when Centennial may give out AT&T signals?
I'd love any information you guys have. My phone is pretty important to me and i want to be able to use a service I pay for!

Thanks in advance!

I just looked at the maps for Rockford/Kent County, and it is solid blue all over. You should be getting 3G on your phone, not just EDGE. That's really weird. You don't get 3G at all...not even a few minutes here and there?

[the1337n00b]

Originally Posted by Shizam76

I just looked at the maps for Rockford/Kent County, and it is solid blue all over. You should be getting 3G on your phone, not just EDGE. That's really weird. You don't get 3G at all...not even a few minutes here and there?

At no where around my house or neighborhood do I get more than 2/5 bars of Edge network. If I leave my phone in the corner of my house and don't move it, I'll get 3 bars of 3G and when I move it, I get nothing. No signal.
My mom tried AT&T and she couldn't handle 2 bars and dropping calls and my friends at school don't get signals either. So I know it's not my phone...

Thanks for your reply. Is there anything I can do? AT&T doesn't seem to care and I can't afford a $300 signal booster.

[Shizam76]

Originally Posted by the1337n00b

At no where around my house or neighborhood do I get more than 2/5 bars of Edge network. If I leave my phone in the corner of my house and don't move it, I'll get 3 bars of 3G and when I move it, I get nothing. No signal.
My mom tried AT&T and she couldn't handle 2 bars and dropping calls and my friends at school don't get signals either. So I know it's not my phone...

Thanks for your reply. Is there anything I can do? AT&T doesn't seem to care and I can't afford a $300 signal booster.

Try them, they might work with you if you are getting poor signal. Tell them you are supposed to get 3G but don't. Do you ALL have the iphone? Your mom, your friends reporting bad signals? Or were they different phones? iPhones have been known to have reception problems. They have also been known to not have the best RF, displaying a low amount of "bars" compared to other phones in the same area/room, and having cut outs and drops etc. Having 3 bars of 3G that vanish to nothing just moving the phone, is a problem. That should not happen.

Even taking the 3G overlay off the maps, EDGE coverage looks good for that whole area too. Things shouldn't be that bad there. That is something else you should bring up to at&t if you call them to complain.

Anyone else out there have an iPhone, know if you can lock it to EDGE only...or 3G only?

[hme83]

I'm pretty certain the iPhone is one of the few at&t phones that you can readily turn off 3G network access. However, since I don't have an iPhone, I'll have to defer to someone else re: how to do so.

[the1337n00b]

Originally Posted by Shizam76

Try them, they might work with you if you are getting poor signal. Tell them you are supposed to get 3G but don't. Do you ALL have the iphone? Your mom, your friends reporting bad signals? Or were they different phones? iPhones have been known to have reception problems. They have also been known to not have the best RF, displaying a low amount of "bars" compared to other phones in the same area/room, and having cut outs and drops etc. Having 3 bars of 3G that vanish to nothing just moving the phone, is a problem. That should not happen.

Even taking the 3G overlay off the maps, EDGE coverage looks good for that whole area too. Things shouldn't be that bad there. That is something else you should bring up to at&t if you call them to complain.

Anyone else out there have an iPhone, know if you can lock it to EDGE only...or 3G only?

Hi, thank you for replying

I have talked to AT&T many times, 4 e-mails, two in person visits to the store and honestly, the answer I get to my problem is "We don't care. Wait and see if it gets better, but when don't know when it's possible that you'll get better service."
Of course, they don't put it that way, but I can tell I'm not of any importance to them.

My mom tried two different AT&T phones before she gave up and both had 2 bars.
I had an iPhone 3G then switched to the 3GS and both have 2 bars of signal, so I know that it's not a device issue. I know one other person with an iPhone (3G) and they have bad reception around my house and school too. What really makes me mad is that there's a tower literally down the street from me (which is new) and it's not even an AT&T Signal!
In most parts of my house I have 2 bars of EDGE and when I'm lucky, it's 3 bars of 3G. Some places I have no service.
I'm so happy to be paying for services like minutes and data that I can't use!

I've tried disabling the 3G option, and that only weakens the signal, then it returns to 2 bars of EDGE.
As for the maps thing, I looked on the mapping coverage and it said I'm in a full 3G and EDGE zone, but I got to my house the day I bought it only to be very disappointed.
I called and complained and visited them and the week later I checked the map, somehow it updated to I believe "fair" coverage instead of "Best" or "great" and now it's back to the full blue sea of 3G that doesn't exist..

[Shizam76]

Originally Posted by the1337n00b

Hi, thank you for replying

I have talked to AT&T many times, 4 e-mails, two in person visits to the store and honestly, the answer I get to my problem is "We don't care. Wait and see if it gets better, but when don't know when it's possible that you'll get better service."
Of course, they don't put it that way, but I can tell I'm not of any importance to them.

My mom tried two different AT&T phones before she gave up and both had 2 bars.
I had an iPhone 3G then switched to the 3GS and both have 2 bars of signal, so I know that it's not a device issue. I know one other person with an iPhone (3G) and they have bad reception around my house and school too. What really makes me mad is that there's a tower literally down the street from me (which is new) and it's not even an AT&T Signal!
In most parts of my house I have 2 bars of EDGE and when I'm lucky, it's 3 bars of 3G. Some places I have no service.
I'm so happy to be paying for services like minutes and data that I can't use!

I've tried disabling the 3G option, and that only weakens the signal, then it returns to 2 bars of EDGE.
As for the maps thing, I looked on the mapping coverage and it said I'm in a full 3G and EDGE zone, but I got to my house the day I bought it only to be very disappointed.
I called and complained and visited them and the week later I checked the map, somehow it updated to I believe "fair" coverage instead of "Best" or "great" and now it's back to the full blue sea of 3G that doesn't exist..

Instead of disabling 3G, can you lock your iPhone on 3G only? I notice better quality and stability on 3G. I can't hold a conversation in my house on EDGE. Lots of break ups, drop outs, people on the other end saying "What? What? What?" I have my Treo 750 locked to 3G only, and I have no problems. My wife's new Samsung however, we cannot lock onto 3G. So inside the house it bounces from E to 3G.

[Mobile Mike]

Originally Posted by Shizam76

My wife's new Samsung however, we cannot lock onto 3G. So inside the house it bounces from E to 3G.

That's Samsung for you...(I couldn't resist)

[strunke]

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/4.2.14912/812; U; en) Presto/2.2.0)

Your only hope is to wait until they get the networks merged. As far as the maps, most carriers are too generous, especially AT&T.



Either that or switch carriers.

[RadioFoneGuy]

Originally Posted by strunke

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/4.2.14912/812; U; en) Presto/2.2.0)

Your only hope is to wait until they get the networks merged. As far as the maps, most carriers are too generous, especially AT&T.



Either that or switch carriers.

ATT isnt that bad with the coverage maps its mathmatical formulas based on tower heights, radio power, antenna type and terrain. Every market is responsible for maintaining their maps and submitting them to national to be updated. If a market is good they will verify with actual drive test.

All carriers have inflated coverage maps because its based off perfect conditions and modeled by software.

The verizon maps arent too bad but there not really any better than AT&Ts maps. I have been in some full coverage parts of their maps and had nothing.

[Yankees368]

AT&T Completes Centennial Acquisition (Phone Scoop)

Today AT&T announced that it has fully acquired Centennial Communications. By purchasing the rural wireless provider, AT&T has bolstered its coverage footprint in the Midwest and Southeast United States (specifically, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio and Texas), and in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. AT&T will integrate Centennial's products and services into its own, and will begin transitioning Centennial retail outlets to AT&T outlets as soon as possible. AT&T said that it will be providing 3G coverage in approximately 200 of Centennial's markets, and Centennial's subscribers will be able to take advantage of AT&T's services immediately. In order to gain approval for the transaction, AT&T had to agree to divest eight markets (five of them to Verizon Wireless). The total cost of the transaction is valued at $2.7 billion.

[viewfly]

You can lock the iPhone to 2G/EDGE. However you cannot lock it to 3G. They give that option so that battery life can be spared; 2G uses less power on all phones.

Whatever problems the iPhone has had for some with dropped calls, etc was or is in 3G. In 2G it is a pretty darn good RF performer, equal to any Nokia that I have tested side by side (in dBm mode).

It seems that you are in a week ATT area, if you only get 2 bars in 2G/Edge mode. Some protective cases for phone can act as RF shields. Be certain to try the phone without any case on.

Lastly, have or find a friend with some other ATT phone and see how good the coverage or signal is. It is possible that you have a 'bum' phone. But if you have 2, the chances are pretty small.

Rockford, Mi is a very flat area, not far from Grand Rapids. I assume the signal improves as you move towards Grand Rapids?