LA/Valley area best coverage?

[mdstudio]

I live in Santa Clarita and do driving in the LA/Hollywood/Beverly Hills/Valley areas. My wife and I currently have Nextel and are looking to get a cheaper service (we don't use it much) and hopefully better service (I have regular dropouts during my drives).

We were looking at "Pay as You Go" service between Tmobile and Verizon because it would fit our checkbook and usage needs. We're also looking to add another phone for my young daughter as an emergency phone (so three phones total).

I have SBC (now AT&T) for my home phone and Internet service so I was also considering Cingular for cellular service as well. I don't know if there would be any discounts or how good their coverage is (the map is really small).

Does anyone have any experience with these carriers or other suggestions?

In a related area: I may also be looking to add wireless Internet access that I can use on the road. Right now I use SBC's Freedomlink but I'd prefer to not have to depend on finding a hotspot.

Any input would be greatly appreciated! The breadth of knowledge on this board is really amazing!

[ZaphodB]

Verizon has a very slight coverage edge (especially in traditionally hard-to-cover places), but honestly any of the carriers will be fine for you. It depends where you go, because all carriers have different dead spots.

I will say this for T-Mobile -- you can find out EXACTLY how good the coverage is on a street-by-street level on their website.

[ComicalMoodyDan]

Have you considered Virgin Mobile? They use the Sprint PCS network which I have heard is very good in your area. They also have four different prepaid plans which is pretty flexible. You should check out Virgin's website and rate plans at the website below.

http://www.virginmobileusa.com

[ComicalMoodyDan]

Another option might be to get a T-Mobile FamilyTime plan. T-Mobile has pretty good family plans and they may fit what you need. You could get a FamilyPlan for you and your wife and have a prepaid T-Mobile line for your daughter. From the way you are talking I'm guessing neither you nor your wife talk that much so the FamilyTime Basic Plan may work for you.

FamilyTime Basic Plan:
$59.99 a month for two lines
700 Shared Anytime Minutes
Unlimited Night and Weekend Minutes
Unlimited Mobile to Mobile

+

T-Mobile To Go prepaid line for your daughter.

[Andy]

I would suggest Verizon and T-Mobile before Cingular in the L.A. area. They are having problems in some areas down there right now and their plans really aren't that attractive for the coverage you get.

[voice862]

I have T-Mobile and for me it's the best coverage in L.A area. I've had Sprint, Nextel, Cingular, But T-Mobile has been the best both in coverage and price

[mdstudio]

Thanks very much all for the input and advice.

I think we're probably going to go with Tmobile's Pay as You Go plans.

We can get decent flip phones for $150 each and then 1,000 minutes which are good for a year. That would give us (my wife, daughter and myself) about 85 minutes a month each for 12 months for $300 total (after phone purchases). Based on our usage right now, that should be fine.

I may go on ebay and see what kind of unlocked phone deals we can get.

------------------------------------


In terms of wireless Internet, does anyone use the SBC (now AT&T) wireless Internet service?

I have Freedomlink which is $1.99 a month (I have SBC/Yahoo DSL at home) but was considering upgrading to their Premier service for $21.99 a month.

Freedomlink lets you use AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots (most McDonalds, Barnes & Nobles and some coffee shops).

The Premier service offers Freedomlink plus all roaming partner locations.

My hope would be to be able to have access around the streets of LA and not to have to find a store but I suspect that this service wouldn't provide what I want.

Any thoughts/experiences you can share?

[ComicalMoodyDan]

Thanks very much all for the input and advice.

I think we're probably going to go with Tmobile's Pay as You Go plans.

We can get decent flip phones for $150 each and then 1,000 minutes which are good for a year. That would give us (my wife, daughter and myself) about 85 minutes a month each for 12 months for $300 total (after phone purchases). Based on our usage right now, that should be fine.

T-Mobile's to Go Service may work for you but be warned their prepaid phones only work on the T-Mobile Network. T-Mobile has the smallest native coverage of any major carrier and has some gaps in network coverage. However you should be fine in California with T-Mobile only coverage but if you ever plan on traveling a bit I would proabely recommend somebody else.

[ComicalMoodyDan]

T-Mobile prepaid Coverage Map

[John Sprung]

I live in Santa Clarita and do driving in the LA/Hollywood/Beverly Hills/Valley areas.

If you can, the best thing to do would be to borrow a phone from a friend who has T-Mob, VZW, Cingular, etc., and try it in the actual places you need it to work. Better yet, make a phone-test trip with a bunch of them side by side. I just got Nextel, and it's way better than my wife's Verizon where I live and work, in Hollywood. Around Melrose between Gower and Van Ness, Nextel is very strong, better than Verizon. It craps out, though, in the parking lot at Home Depot on Sunset at the freeway.

Things change all the time as the providers modify and improve their facilities.



-- J.S.

[Tony E!]

I'm still trying to find the problem spots that were mentioned, both Cingular and T-Mobile are working fine for me from Valencia/Sta Clarita to Beverly Hills ( area where i work) LA, Hollywood and Valley areas where i lived.