How good is T-Mobile service in Washington DC area?

[DudeWashDC]

I currently use T-Mobile in roaming mode (I have a SIM card from overseas operator) and pondering about switching completely to T-Mobile. So far revieving and sending SMS worked fine for me, but I haven't had a chance to test the service placing and recieving phone calls. Is anybody living in Washington DC area can say anyting good or bad about the coverage (besides what you can see on t-mobile's web site) and quality of the service? Primarily I'm interested in areas as Washington DC, Nothern Virginia (Sterling, Chantilly, Herndon), Mantgomery County of Maryland (Rockville, Bethesda).

(sighing...) So far Verizon Wireless worked fine for me... but too bad they are not planning on introducing GSM network and bunch of my friends are switching to GSM (we all travel to Europe, Caribbean and need GSM phones).

[GoodmanR]

I used TMobile for more than a year in DC and found them to be excellent. Second to Verizon, they have the best network in the city. By leaps and bounds, the best GSM network. The only places where I got marginal coverage were cliffton, va sometimes vienna, va and thats pretty much it. i live in bethesda and tmo covers residential bethesda as well as anyone. in downtown, you also get great coverage. I would say TMO is your best bet in the area second to Verizon...

If you are concerned about intl roaming with Verizon, later this year, maybe early next, Verizon will introduce a phone capable of roaming on GSM and GPRS networks, while still supporting CDMA use at home. THe first like this will most likely be a Samsung...

[DudeWashDC]

Originally posted by: GoodmanR I used TMobile for more than a year in DC and found them to be excellent. Second to Verizon, they have the best network in the city. By leaps and bounds, the best GSM network. The only places where I got marginal coverage were cliffton, va sometimes vienna, va

I've noticed one "blind spot" where every phone seem to drop a call - next to West Falls Church metro station.

and thats pretty much it. i live in bethesda and tmo covers residential bethesda as well as anyone. in downtown, you also get great coverage. I would say TMO is your best bet in the area second to Verizon...

I've been driving around with my Nokia 6610 and was observing the signal strength and I noticed bit improvement over four last months. It used to be that the signal was very weak in my house an in my office, but now in the kitchen I have 4 bars and in my living room and in my office - full strength. Surprisingly, my Verizon phone started dropping calls when I'm in the kintchen ;-)

If you are concerned about intl roaming with Verizon, later this year, maybe early next, Verizon will introduce a phone capable of roaming on GSM and GPRS networks, while still supporting CDMA use at home. THe first like this will most likely be a Samsung...

Do you happen to know if this new phone will be a tri-band (900/1800/1900) or just a single-band (1900) GSM-kinda phone? Something makes me doubt that they will support "europian" band. In that case it won't do any good for me. I preffer Nokia anyway :-) Can't wait to shovel T720 as soon as my contract with VZN expires in November.

[Andy]

Originally posted by: DudeWashDC Originally posted by: GoodmanR I used TMobile for more than a year in DC and found them to be excellent. Second to Verizon, they have the best network in the city. By leaps and bounds, the best GSM network. The only places where I got marginal coverage were cliffton, va sometimes vienna, va I've noticed one "blind spot" where every phone seem to drop a call - next to West Falls Church metro station. and thats pretty much it. i live in bethesda and tmo covers residential bethesda as well as anyone. in downtown, you also get great coverage. I would say TMO is your best bet in the area second to Verizon... I've been driving around with my Nokia 6610 and was observing the signal strength and I noticed bit improvement over four last months. It used to be that the signal was very weak in my house an in my office, but now in the kitchen I have 4 bars and in my living room and in my office - full strength. Surprisingly, my Verizon phone started dropping calls when I'm in the kintchen ;-) If you are concerned about intl roaming with Verizon, later this year, maybe early next, Verizon will introduce a phone capable of roaming on GSM and GPRS networks, while still supporting CDMA use at home. THe first like this will most likely be a Samsung... Do you happen to know if this new phone will be a tri-band (900/1800/1900) or just a single-band (1900) GSM-kinda phone? Something makes me doubt that they will support "europian" band. In that case it won't do any good for me. I preffer Nokia anyway :-) Can't wait to shovel T720 as soon as my contract with VZN expires in November.

Vodafone owns part of Verizon Wireless and they are apparently pushing for some GSM type phones...I guess we'll see what's going to happen.

[GoodmanR]

Verizon confirmed earlier this year that they will release a CDMA 800/1900 1x phone that also supports GSM 1800/900 and GPRS. The phone will not support any north american GSM bands, only european. it will use a qualcomm chipset and most likely be manufactured by samsung...no other details on it

[Matt]

I've had T-Mobile for about 3.5 years in the DC metro area and am very happy with the service. I work/live in all of the areas you mentioned in Northern Virginia and have had good service in all of those locations. They have greatly expanded the network over the years, and the plans are excellent IMO. I don't travel into the District much, but I work a couple of days per month in Silver Spring and don't have any problems there.