Coverage Report Road trip Colorado, Az and New Mexico

[RH]

All,

Just wanted to post my findings after a 1 week road trip into Colorado and New Mexico with my Cingular postpaid Nokia 6010 and postpaid family share acII on Verizon with a Nokia 3589 and LG 3200. Bear with me this is all from memory. Our trip started from here in Scottsdale and we headed up the I-17 to Flagstaff then over to the I-40 both carriers performed about the same and had good-great coverage and both had about the same signal drop outs in canyons etc but all in all coverage was good-great. From I-40 in Gallup, NM we transitioned to the 491 to Shiprock and Farmington. This is where I was very surprised both carriers were fine in Gallup then as we started up the 491 I figured the Cingular phone would be completely dead outside Gallup both phones were fine for a few miles then boom Cingular lost signal and Verizon had fluctuations and I could not call out on either phone in digital or analog and calls in went to vm. Then a few miles later boom full signal on Cingular and a few test calls and 611 went to Cellular One (not sure if Western Wireless or Dobson) the only thing weird on this system was the calls sounded like they were being backhauled on an analog phone (the best way I can describe it) but it worked and incoming calls worked. I did have some drop out spots but Verizon was not any better and I did get about equal results with Verizon as far as signal to low to make calls but then full signal at times (this is a verrrryyyy rural area by the way). Once into Shiprock and Farmington both carriers were strong and I did see a Cellular One store in Farmington as we passed. Now we went up to the 550 to Durango Colorado from Farmington and as we left Farmington I thought ok Cingular is going to drop out for a bit but Verizon was no better signal to low and no calls went through. Then boom both had full signal and Cingular held its own and test calls were clear and no drop outs. I think Cingular was using Commnet since if I made a call with and error like just 56 and send I got a Comm error message. Once in Durango most peeps I saw were using Verizon but I did see a few GSM users, both Verizon and Cingular worked great even inside buildings etc full signal. We then drove up the 550 to Purgatory ski area (aka Durango Mountain Resort) both carriers went in and out of service and at the ski area I remember Verizon not having a strong signal but calls out sounded fine and I think Cingular had service but cannot remember. Our drive then went farther up the 550 to Silverton Colorado and service was again hit and miss for both carriers Cingular would be in no service and Verizon going into analog with one bar around Molas pass but could not call out. Upon making our decent into Silverton both phones were full signal in a and around town and calls were fine. After leaving Silverton we then spent the night back in Durango and then headed the next morning to Pikes peak via the 160 again I thought Cingular would be dead most if not all the way but was very pleased as again when Verizon had signal full so did Cingular and when Cingular died in the mountains Verizon would also or not be able to call out signal was to low. Once driving into the metropolis of Blanca a few miles before getting into town Verizon roamed on Blanca cellular digital and made and received calls no problems and Cingular also had full signal calls were fine. Once we got to Pueblo Colorado we then drove up I-25 to Colorado Springs and both phones had full signal for most of the way and calls were fine. When we arrived in Manitou Springs for a couple of nights both phone worked great. Here is where things get interesting we drove up Pikes Peak to the top and both carriers were fine part of the way up then both went to no service with Verizon drifting in and out of analog and digital but not enough to make calls or receive. On top of Pikes Peak at approx 14,000ft and 49F (man that felt good) we were at the visitors center and some folks with Verizon myself included were getting full digital signal then no signal but standing up on the overlook with full signal on Verizon digital I and other tourist tried to make calls with no success probably due to distance and seeing too many towers I did see some off in the distance on the mountain top. So I reached for my Cingular phone to test and had no signal but walked to the visitor area overlook and had full signal and made a call no problem but once I went back to the car it had no service but still I was impressed. We then drove over to Seven Falls which is located in a ravine between two mountain walls very pretty area again Verizon had some analog and digital signal but calls could not be completed and Cingular only worked when standing on the overlook with a couple of bars and calls connected and did not break up. Then the next day we took the I-25 to Santa Fe New Mexico and both phones worked the same most of the time full signal however Verizon went to analog (Extended Network) once into New Mexico for a bit and some calls could be made and some not while Cingular was full digital and calls connected fine. As we drove further into New Mexico Verizon then went to 1x Extended network I think on Alltel in most of the cities like Las Vegas New Mexico and then analog outside the cities but as we were closer to Santa Fe full digital then back to native Verizon wireless. In Santa Fe most folks had Verizon then some Spint and Cingular. Both carries were fine in Santa Fe. From there we drove down I-25 to I-40 and then to I-17 and back to Phoenix and both carriers were fine on these routes both would have there low spots or cut in and out. All in all I was very surprised by Cingular as a lot of this coverage is not on the map. Both carriers were about equal and I no longer think Verizon has such an edge as it used to and am glad to see both carriers working especially GSM in some of these remote and I mean remote areas. Sorry for the long post and rambling  . Also I did not notice any difference in the ability to make and receive calls on the Nokia 3589 vs lg3200 in fringe areas just my own observation ymmv.

RH

[budney]

Thanks for the report RH, even though in was hard to read (need paragraphs).

[RH]

Originally Posted by budney

Thanks for the report RH, even though in was hard to read (need paragraphs).

Thanks Budney, yeah I was carried away and forgot about paragraphs.

[azcellphonejunkie]

Thanks for the reports RH. I knew that Cingular was very good, but didn't expect to hear that you think Verizon is the same or better than Cingular.

Anyway, thanks for the report!

[pang]

In Mar. drove x-country from NY to CA, I had a ATT/Cing SE T637, my son had Verizon Treo 600, and friend had T-Mo.

Pretty much the same experience as you, but out of the 3, VZ seemed to have the most "no networks" issues. Usually at night when we were camped out or whenever someone couldn't connect, of course the others would see if their phones worked. I expected VZ to be superior but it looks like GSM has caught up and is even surpassing CDMA.

[Chinasaur]

"Aaahh!!! My eyes!! The goggles, they do nothing!!!!"


No paragraphs. Cannot parse. Please add!!