Best Coverage in Redmond/Seattle ,Washington?

[gowri20]

Hi,

I am moving from Seattle to Redmond, Washington.I am looking for a new wireless service.People I know around Chicago suggest T mobile since their service and support is very good.How about ATT?

My main purpose is to use it during an emergency on the road.

It would be great if you can advice me on a good service and some good phones also.

thanks a lot

[Oppie]

At&T, Sprint and Verizon all have good coverage in the Seattle Metro area, inlcuding the Eastside (Redmond). However, as you get further away from the I-5 / I-90 corridors and head west or east to the mountains, Verizon has better coverage.

Welcome to the PNW.

Oppie

[DavegTester]

Welcome to Seattle. I was born Chicago area, Hammond, IN to be exact.
Well, the two dominant players here are Verizon and AT&T (TDMA), both on 800MHz.
They have the best (read-mature) networks and 800 is better for penetrating buildings if you plan on working downtown... Now if you're going to be at Microsoft, Sprint also works very well there. T-Mobile is very good too, but it does have a few more deadspots. My wife uses it in the North burbs and its fine for her occasional usage. I have Sprint myself (very happy) and have also used ATT from 2001-2 and in the mid 90's.

If you plan to do a lot of camping, use Verizon (AC plan) or AT&T (TDMA or "Digital" plans) or perhaps Sprint with analog roaming. Sprint has an America roaming plan but it is pricey at $45 I think.
GSM phones are useless in most rural areas away from I-90 and I-5. If you're driving here, you better look at their map.
**Avoid Cingular here - their GSM is very spotty

Phones - V60? for either ATT / Verizon for voice only or VX4400 for Verizon data
Moto V60? or Samsung (other than R225) or T720x for T-Mobile
Sanyo period for Sprint

Questions ??? Let me know !

[Obro]

I concur with the prior two comments. I've had VZN since it was Airtouch. I can honestly say that I have only found one bad spot while driving and it is in your new neck of the woods. Highway 18 about 2 miles north of the Tiger Mtn summit is dead. Everytime I drive it. Other than that coverage on Eastside and Seattle is nearly identical. As for the best phones, just browse the forums (excellent comments from most of these folks) and then compare them side by side at a store.

Good luck.

Post On.
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Edit for typo...

[BWayne]

Obro,

Glad to see you actually started to post - Say Hi to DG for me. Good practical advice.

BW

[GoodmanR]

In Redmond/Seattle I would go ATT without a doubt...because....their corp. operations is in Redmond and they test new products and release them first in your market. WCDMA will be avalible there before (or with) any other city and youll simply get the best technology in that market with ATT.

[Rasputin]

I have worked a bunch around Redmond, south to Tacoma, and east. I have had the best service with verizon there, I had a work phone on ATT and a personal phone on Verizon, in Seattle they were the same, I had better off the beaten trail coverage with Verizon.

[TProphet]

The rule with GSM around Seattle is that it doesn't work very well. That's true whether you're using Cingular, ATTWS, or T-Mobile. Everyone I know with a GSM phone has coverage problems.

AT&T Wireless has continued to add subscribers to their TDMA network, while adding no new capacity. My real estate agent uses them, and plans to switch away the instant wireless number portability becomes available. He's seen a dramatic increase in dropped calls. Additionally, AT&T Wireless bills you 1 minute for unanswered or busy calls that go over 30 seconds (believe me, this is very easy to do).

I use Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS in the Seattle area (I actually live in Redmond). Verizon has the excellent service that you would expect from a high-cost, mature provider (theirs is the oldest cellular network in the Seattle area; they were Airtouch previously, and US West Cellular before that. To get an idea of how mature their network is, the System ID for Verizon in the Seattle area is--believe it or not--6!). If you can afford it, you will not be disappointed with their service (although beware of the America's Choice plan, since it can be tricky to navigate the roaming charges).

Sprint's service has improved substantially over the past two years, and I consider them on par with Verizon. They do not have the breadth of coverage that Verizon offers, but they cover the Puget Sound metro area and all the major freeways well. Dropped calls are fairly uncommon now, as are call quality problems. I think their "Free and Clear America" plans are a really good deal, personally. There is simply no such thing as roaming on these plans. If your phone can pull in a signal on any available network, then your calls simply come out of your plan minutes. If a "cool" handset is important to you, then Sprint is also your best choice (T-mobile has "cool" handsets too, but their service is very poor compared to Sprint).