Road trip Report on VS PHX to San Diego

[RH]

Hello,

I got back from San Diego about a week ago but have been to busy with
work to report and wow I was impressed with VS. Along for the trip were
my Nokia 3390 VS and my wifes Moto7868 with Verizon. We left Phoenix and
took the I10 to the 85 to Gila Bend and on the 85 I had full VS signal
with one spot where it dropped out and my wife had 1 bar analog and then
digital but it was very sporadic. From Gila Bend to Yuma I8 (for those
who have never traveled this area once you leave Gila Bend you are in
the desert with nada in the form of a town, gas station etc) had a low
signal 2 bars a few miles outside Gila Bend then full signal until
Yuma. The Verizon phone was digital and analog along the way and digital
in Yuma both phones worked fine in Yuma. Once leaving Yuma on I8 toward
the Cal border and crossing the Fruit check station maybe a mile then
boom full digital signal on cing/VS in Cal. My wifes phone said
searching then had only 1 bar analog by now we are driving thought sand
dunes yes sand dunes and nothing around very close to the Mexico border
and still full VS signal all the way until the Cleveland national forest
then both phones were dead (must be the forest thing no towers aloud)
once out of the forest then back to full digital both phones all the way
into San Diego. No problems in San Diego both phones worked fine even on
the Harbor cruise. The real test was the Hotel room in Del Mar which
suprised the heck out of me when in the room my wife had 1 bar analog
and I had full digital signal. On the other hand one place I did find
that my VS phone had no signal was one bar in Del Mar and my wife had
three bars digital. On the beaches both phones were fine. Also on the I5
and hwy 1 both phones were fine Dana Point, Carlsbad Oceanside and San
Clemente. Coronado was fine but was a little flakey in neighborhoods but
the main drag etc was fine. Anyway enough of my rambling and no I did
not spend the whole trip just watching my phone just the ocassional
glance. Also features vm, call delivery everything was fine. Even had my
mother calling me on the way back out in the middle of nowhere and VS
was fine. I was very surprised since in such rural areas I though VS
would be very hit and miss.

RH

[TNDan21]

That's impressive RH, it sounds like T-Mobile has a good network over there.

[azcellphonejunkie]

I have made that trip a few times with Sprint and the results are a mix of your findings between CS and verizon. Most of the trip on the I-10 and the I-8 I was able to make calls just fine with Sprint's network with a few dead spots. These however were never more than a few miles if I remember correctly. Road trips on these rural routes are interesting none the less to see what the companies have set as priorities for areas that are only going to be used by those passing through at 80 mph.

[Rasputin]

In Cali you were on the Cingular network, they have done a good job with Freeway coverage, the probs I had was once I got off the freeway, I had dead areas/dead spots and always had spotty coverage in buildings/Malls etc.

[adjklf]

Cingular has installed an antenna in Hotel Del.