Need Advice ATT or Verizon West Los Angeles

[RagingToad]

I need some help deciding service with ATT (multiband) or Verizon. I live in Santa Monica. The strongest service is the most important to me.. Also dont want to get trapped in a 2 year agreement. I travel mostly around the westside Santa Monica, Venice, Malibu and Downtown LA. In a couple of months i might be moving up North but will be on the California Coast (Bay Area, Santa Cruz). Anyone using either of these networks with the latest phones????

[r4]

I have AT&T GPRS service with a T720 phone. I drive all around the LA area and I am having alot of trouble with my phone. Many dropped calls no coverage and monents of complete silence during calls. I would not advice using this servce until they have better built out their network, which they are unable to give a date owhen this will be complete.

[Phony]

You should go w/Cingular. I use to live in that area and didn't have any problems. System busy's were pretty frequent but that was a year ago and they've added tons of sites in the Westside.

[DCinSEA]

Which ever one you try first, be sure to take advantage of the 15 day return policy. I believe both AT&T and Verizon have them. That way you don't get locked into a phone that doesn't work where you need it to.

All carriers have dead spots, but what matters is if the phone works where you go: home, work, play, and commute.

[BillRadio]

We spend many days in the area each year. There is almost no difference between AT&T (TDMA) and Verizon all the way from downtown L.A. to the west end of Malibu. Both carriers have weak spots at the west end of Malibu, but not on the PCH. Also both carriers have weak spots along Venice Beach, but in different spots, and those spots are small. (weak spot=maybe a dropped call)

But from all reports, AT&T's GSM coverage is not yet up to the TDMA and Verizon standards there. They might be in the future, but AT&T is about done adding their GSM "overlay". They will start adding new GSM sites, probably later this year. Until then, the GSM network isn't as good as the TDMA network in w. L.A. There are areas in the country where it is.

-Bill