Where are you, what phone do you use and how good is your reception?

[hav0k99]

I am in Santa Rosa, Ca (50 mins north of San Francisco) I use the Samsung SCH-3500 w/ Sprint and coverage up here sucks. I want to switch to another service provider and possibly get the T68i. Where is everyone here in Ca located and what phone and service do you use? Also can someone recommend me a good service to use the T68i up here with?

[Rasputin]

I live in Simi Valley, Ca, in Ventura County northwest ish of LA. I have a T720(might return today), startac 7868(great phone), LG510(Good phone). I use Verizon and coverage is great, I use it mostly in Ventura County, LA County, OC, San Diego, and the Bay Area. I have had ATT in the past TDMA coverage for me was a little less with more dropped calls and busies. I have used it in Oregon, Wash, ID, Hawaii, Ariz, Utah,Nev,Boston, NYC,RI,Wyoming,Colorado,Kansas,Missouri, Michigan, Chicago,New Orleans,Miami,Atlanta, Cleveland. It has worked well for me all of those places. I have used Verizon in the greater Santa Rosa area and Napa and have had good coverage. I had ok coverage with ATT there also.

[ILUVSOCAL]

I'm in Redwood Valley, just outside Ukiah, about 60 miles north of you in Santa Rosa. I use Verizon(I also have Edge-AT&T affiliate-Wireless, and Cingular, but rarely use them)as my main wireless and have a Samsung SCH-T300. Coverage is getting better by leaps and bounds(until very recently, Verizon was the worst up here, having inherited a poorly built system from GTE and Contel Wireless), as they have 12 new sites going up in Lake and Mendocino Counties, with 2 going live recently(one in Hopland, and one in Kelseyville)and sites on Ridgewood Summit, Longvale, and Potter Valley to go online very soon. Coverage is all digital now in both Lake and Mendocino Counties, and in fact, they have the best digital coverage between Ukiah and Santa Rosa. It can be spotty though, and I do have to roam over to US Cellular sometimes to get coverage(between Willits and Laytonville, in Clearlake and Lower Lake, between Redwood valley and Lucerne, and between Redwood Valley to just before Lakeport)but I don't get charged extra as I'm on a local digital choice plan. As far as the T68I goes, It'll be okay if you stay in the interior areas of Sonoma County(with the exception of Bodega Bay, there is no GSM coverage on the Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, or Del Norte coasts), but Lake and Mendocino Counties have no GSM presently(Edge Wireless is in the process of overlaying GSM onto their TDMA 1900 system here, and will go live with it sometime early next year), Napa County can also be very spotty with GSM. Overall, from using my Verizon phone all across the state, and comparing it to my AT&T and Cingular phones, Verizon has the best coverage and service in California. I hear you about Sprint, they don't even have coverage past Cloverdale.

[hav0k99]

Thanks so far for the great information!! Lets keep this kind of info coming to benefit us and others!

[anon]

I'm from Vallejo, and when I had Cingular, I had pretty good coverage when I was in Rohnert Park (never went lower than 4 bars in my dorm); I went up to SR a few times, and don't remember reception being a problem there either. I recently moved to SF, and found I wasn't getting any service in my apt. which led me to switch carriers; I now have Verizon, and am more than satisfied with the service (both phone and customer wise) that I've received. There are places now, where I realize I'm getting a full signal whereas when I had Cingular, I would've only gotten mediocre reception. Verizon would probably be your best bet, though you wouldn't be able to use the T68i with it. I have the Motorola T720.

[calwatch]

I'm in Berkeley, CA and I have Verizon Wireless. I've been generally happy with the service so far. Dropped calls seem to be a problem in my apartment, but my roommate, who has AT&T, seems to have the same problem (he's using a 5165, me the 5185i). They happen relatively frequently, especially when I move around. Outside, though, I have had no complaints with service, nor do I have a complaint on the Berkeley campus. (Indeed, when they had that power outage last year, I walked onto campus and noticed that service was lower and I received dropped calls, indicating that Verizon does have some microcells on campus.)

The 5185i works well for me since it was free, but I want to move onto something that has data capability, so I can use my Palm and the phone as well. I'm cheap, and since I bought a car charger a few months ago for the phone, I may migrate to something along the same line, like a 3285. A used StarTAC 7868 looks intriguing to me, although I suppose I could have many of the same features, and more of a "cool" factor, with a v60 as well.

[714tmobile]

I use T-Mobile in Central (Stanton, Westminster, Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, etc.) and South Orange County (Irvine, Tustin, Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, etc.)

No problems....

[ZaphodB]

I live north of downtown Los Angeles, in Universal City, and my T-Mobile phones have full coverage in my home, as did my Cingular GSM phone and the Verizon LG phone I tested. The AT&T V60t (TDMA) I tested had minimal coverage (2 ticks in the living room and office, 1 tick in the bedrooms, and nothing anywhere else).

My office has full coverage for everyone except AT&T TDMA (which is OK but not full), which is in Montrose, though for some very odd reason AT&T GSM is full coverage.

There are a couple of dead spots on T-Mobile/Cingular (though the worst ones have gone away), and spots where you get 1 tick. Amazingly, though, I can make a call as clearly on 1 tick as 6 ticks.

Dead or weak spots that cause me trouble the most:

On the 170 between Victory and Roscoe
BH - Coldwater Cyn/Beverly between Linda Vista and Sunset
Bel AIr - Roscomare, Chalon, and Bellagio Rds (entire lengths)
Arcadia - on Campus Rd near Santa Anita Rd

I've noticed that in-building penetration is, um, interesting in some places... a lot of my clients' buildings (in N. Hollywood, Rosemead, Arcadia, even Boyle Heights) are just giant signal black holes.

[3ncrypt0r]

Location: S. San Jose (near Santa Clara County Fairground)
Provider: Cingular
Phone: Siemens S40, Nokia 3395
Reception: Excellence.

[kisalex]

Irvine, Orange County. Motorola V60g with T-Mobile. A decent coverage around town. I live in a notoriously bad reception area of Irvine - Turtle Rock. So, no coverage in my home. Well, if go up to the balcony on the second floor, and raise my phone-clenching hand as high as I can, and stand on my tiptoes , then - oh miracle! - one or two bars will appear, illuminating my contorted face with a heavenly glow. Oh, only if I could bring my ear up to my phone, so I could call everybody and proudly tell I am calling from my home! But then, my hand is fatigued, and, as I lower my hand, the bars disappear, leaving me in the wireless darkness :