Coverage Report:SLC, UT to Vernon, UT

[Andy]

Well since this is a coverage forum I figured I would post some of my experiences I had yesterday. This probably won't interest a lot of people other than maybe Ryan
I went 4-wheeling yesterday in the Vernon,Faust, Cedar Valley, Five Mile Pass Area here in Utah.
The drive on SR-73 leaving Lehi had a carriers drop out already: CricKet left and never came back. Taking SR-73 towards Eagle Mountain my Verizon phone worked flawlessly other than one little area where the signal goes down to the low -100s(the call didn't drop though). T-Mobile has some dead spots, same with Sprint(they both have no service for a little part of the drive towards Eagle Mountain). Driving through Cedar Fort/Mountain, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon all had strong signals, but leaving Cedar Mountain continuing West on SR-73, T-Mobile and Sprint quickly droped out and were searching for service. I made camp close to where SR-73 turns northward and Verizon was the only available service. All around Five Mile Pass I always had a Verizon signal, even if it was weak; going to Vernal via Faust there was a good Verizon signal all the way(sometimes in the -70s), T-Mobile and Sprint were searching for service. In Vernal my Verizon phone gave me a -80s dbm signal while T-Mobile and Sprint were both searching for service again. On the way back to the Five Mile Pass area I went over a mountain/Ridge where there was a great view of nothing by the way . My Verizon phone had full service, T-Mobile had service up there too, but it left as soon as we descended a little; Sprint sometimes found a signal, but it was unusable. There was actually a tower up on the ridge I was at(I was right next to it), but it was for TV mostly as far as I could tell, there were some omni antennas there as well though(maybe Analog?).
Well, I hope this can be of some help or at least an interesting read, one interesting thing I saw was when field testing out there in the middle of nowhere, even with bad dbm readings on the Verizon network, the Ec/Io level would always be very low, anywhere between -1.0 to -3.0...I guess there just isn't any traffic.
Andy
P.S. VZW coverage was 1x the whole time, no analog needed.

[larry]

So Andy what did you do call *2 from the Sprint phone to test it out?

[RJB]

Andy I can realte to going out there I have grandparents out in tooele so I take the eagle mountain pass alot. I never loose service going out that way. As for the other you described that is very accurate.

[Rockhound]

Hello Andy84094,
Great coverrage report! Thank you for posting - nice to know what works around home when you get off the main roads.

[azcellphonejunkie]

Originally Posted by Rockhound

Hello Andy84094,
Great coverrage report! Thank you for posting - nice to know what works around home when you get off the main roads.

Great report Andy! You guys are like us here in Arizona, as soon as you get off the highways or big cities, you get little to no coverage with Cingular, T-Mobile or Sprint. Sprint roams well here on Verizon and Alltel, so they are still a good option. I don't head out into the desert much so it isn't a big deal to me. I do keep a Motorola Microtac in my glovebox though in case I need to make an analog 911 call if I have an emergency...

[Andy]

Originally Posted by larry

So Andy what did you do call *2 from the Sprint phone to test it out?

I'm sorry, Larry, but I don't need to dial *2 to see if Sprint has service or not(which they did not as soon as you leave city limits).

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Rockhound

Hello Andy84094,
Great coverrage report! Thank you for posting - nice to know what works around home when you get off the main roads.

Yes-I always feel comfortable knowing that my phone will work even when outside city limits...just for that once a month or so time when you do actually leave city limits

[Gman]

Originally Posted by Andy84094

I'm sorry, Larry, but I don't need to dial *2 to see if Sprint has service or not(which they did not as soon as you leave city limits).

I didn't know that Sprint only covers inside city limits.

[RJB]

Yeah Sprint here in Utah does go outside the city in certain places. But here in Utah wow Verizon covers alot more than most of the carriers.

[larry]

Originally Posted by Gman

I didn't know that Sprint only covers inside city limits.

I didn't know either.

[jrip]

Originally Posted by larry

I didn't know either.

Especially in affiliate markets. They will VERY rarely stay of off a MAJOR highway. To get them to provide coverage to the resident of the city that the highway passes through, a ice cube has a better chance in hell. Affiliates suck!(IPCS/AIRGATE THAT MEANS YOU!!!!) Sprint corporate markets are just the opposite though.

[azcellphonejunkie]

Originally Posted by larry

I didn't know either.

Huh, they must have shut down a lot of towers recently Sorry I couldn't resist...

[larry]

Originally Posted by jrip

Especially in affiliate markets. They will VERY rarely stay of off a MAJOR highway. To get them to provide coverage to the resident of the city that the highway passes through, a ice cube has a better chance in hell. Affiliates suck!(IPCS/AIRGATE THAT MEANS YOU!!!!) Sprint corporate markets are just the opposite though.

I can't speak for IPCS/Airagte but I can say that some of Sprint affiliates have done a very good job building rural coverage such as Ubiquitel PCS abd Alamosa PCS. In fact some in Southern AZ say that Sprint/Alamosa PCS has the very best digital coverage between Tucson and New Mexico.

[azcellphonejunkie]

Originally Posted by larry

I can't speak for IPCS/Airagte but I can say that some of Sprint affiliates have done a very good job building rural coverage such as Ubiquitel PCS abd Alamosa PCS. In fact some in Southern AZ say that Sprint/Alamosa PCS has the very best digital coverage between Tucson and New Mexico.

I can vouch for part of that. I have driven with Sprint from Tucson down to Douglas and had good Sprint coverage in that strech. I found them to be good around the southern AZ area.

[larry]

I remember reading an article that said Sprint/Alamosa was the first carrier to build a tower in downtown Bisbee.

[Fathead]

Ubiquitel's coverage leaves a lot to be desired outside the city limits and interstate here.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Gman

I didn't know that Sprint only covers inside city limits.

i was talking about my experience here in Utah, not in other places. Here in Utah their coverage is mostly limited along I-15, period.

[larry]

Originally Posted by Fathead

Ubiquitel's coverage leaves a lot to be desired outside the city limits and interstate here.

I've found them to be very good in the Central Valley, CA region.

[Fathead]

The 2 coverage problems I have with them are the fact that they only really cover the interstates, and they will not allow Sprint to add the Verizon SID as digital roaming here.

[agentHibby]

Originally Posted by Andy84094

i was talking about my experience here in Utah, not in other places. Here in Utah their coverage is mostly limited along I-15, period.

Don't Forget Logan, UT!