Laguna Beach - PCH & Laguna Canyon Coverage

[dastormy1]

I switched from VZW last year to AT&T since VZW never seemed to work at my house. AT&T works ok ... but I still get every call dropped as I drive up Laguna Canyon (133) just south of 405.

I also get the same result when driving north on PCH from Laguna Beach ... through Newport Coast. If you live down here, you know that these are the only 2 arteries for leaving Laguna Beach and accordingly ruins my daily commute (conference calls etc...)

When I left VZW they told me there would be some new towers coming ... but I couldn't wait anymore. Anybody have info on new tower locations for VZW? I'm also trying Sprint right now for 30days, but it's not looking any better.

Appreciate any advice!

[larry]

I have Sprint and don't remember having any trouble along 133. They did de-commission a couple of the old Cox cable sites a few years back but later replaced them with better sites.

[jimwayda]

I have Sprint and pass through those areas quite often with no problems. Where do you keep your phone while driving? Seriously if the phone is attached to your belt and you are using an earpiece, the signal will be significantly attenuated by the proximity of your body. I always remove the phone from my belt when I am in my car and never have any problems. The RF experts can explain why this signal attenuation occurs.

Originally Posted by dastormy1

I switched from VZW last year to AT&T since VZW never seemed to work at my house. AT&T works ok ... but I still get every call dropped as I drive up Laguna Canyon (133) just south of 405.

I also get the same result when driving north on PCH from Laguna Beach ... through Newport Coast. If you live down here, you know that these are the only 2 arteries for leaving Laguna Beach and accordingly ruins my daily commute (conference calls etc...)

When I left VZW they told me there would be some new towers coming ... but I couldn't wait anymore. Anybody have info on new tower locations for VZW? I'm also trying Sprint right now for 30days, but it's not looking any better.

Appreciate any advice!

[Eric47]

Originally Posted by dastormy1

I switched from VZW last year to AT&T since VZW never seemed to work at my house. AT&T works ok ... but I still get every call dropped as I drive up Laguna Canyon (133) just south of 405.

I also get the same result when driving north on PCH from Laguna Beach ... through Newport Coast. If you live down here, you know that these are the only 2 arteries for leaving Laguna Beach and accordingly ruins my daily commute (conference calls etc...)

When I left VZW they told me there would be some new towers coming ... but I couldn't wait anymore. Anybody have info on new tower locations for VZW? I'm also trying Sprint right now for 30days, but it's not looking any better.

Appreciate any advice!

what kind of phone do you have?

[RJB]

Originally Posted by jimwayda

I have Sprint and pass through those areas quite often with no problems. Where do you keep your phone while driving? Seriously if the phone is attached to your belt and you are using an earpiece, the signal will be significantly attenuated by the proximity of your body. I always remove the phone from my belt when I am in my car and never have any problems. The RF experts can explain why this signal attenuation occurs.

Signal attenuation honestly wont affect your dbs like night and day. I have watched my numbers on a number of phone and if anything it will effect it by 8-10 decibels. But mileage may vary. Sorry for going off topic.

What phone do you have even though there is a slim chance it is your phone let us know maybe there have been problems with that model. I am not calling you out but I doubt that in an area like that ATT Verizon or even Sprint wont work. As Larry said he gets good service up there when he goes and we may not see eye to eye I will trust his word since he lives there on the Sprint side of things.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by dastormy1

I switched from VZW last year to AT&T since VZW never seemed to work at my house. AT&T works ok ... but I still get every call dropped as I drive up Laguna Canyon (133) just south of 405.

I also get the same result when driving north on PCH from Laguna Beach ... through Newport Coast. If you live down here, you know that these are the only 2 arteries for leaving Laguna Beach and accordingly ruins my daily commute (conference calls etc...)

When I left VZW they told me there would be some new towers coming ... but I couldn't wait anymore. Anybody have info on new tower locations for VZW? I'm also trying Sprint right now for 30days, but it's not looking any better.

Appreciate any advice!

Verizon has complete coverage of the 133 from the 405 to Laguna Beach. I held a call going both ways through the canyon. There was one place where coverage was weak for a few seconds but call quality did not suffer and I did not drop the call. This experience was as of a month ago.

[TelcomJunkie]

Originally Posted by RJB

Signal attenuation honestly wont affect your dbs like night and day. I have watched my numbers on a number of phone and if anything it will effect it by 8-10 decibels. But mileage may vary. Sorry for going off topic.

Just remember for every 3db, you're either gaining or loosing half of your power. Going from -90dbm to -93dbm is a pretty big drop. When you're on the fringe of coverage to begin with, to be fluctuating up to 10dbm is a large impact on your received signal.

[RJB]

Originally Posted by TelcomJunkie

Just remember for every 3db, you're either gaining or loosing half of your power. Going from -90dbm to -93dbm is a pretty big drop. When you're on the fringe of coverage to begin with, to be fluctuating up to 10dbm is a large impact on your received signal.

Right as you may be for me and my experiences watching these kind of numbers until I got very bad pilot pollution or up in the 107's my calls have stayed connected.

Now back to the OP I would try each carrier and take advantage of their trial periods see what works best. Also sorry to say but even if you want to I would never rely on a Cell phone to keep a connection or be on a conference call even being under a tower anything can happen.

[danny boi]

None of the carriers must find it profitable to make the entire 241 Toll Road from the 91 FWY southbound totally covered either. They've made improvements I've noticed, but coverage is still poor in parts just before the 261. Either that or the local municipalities haven't allowed them to...

I've never tried to hold a call the entire stretch between the 405 and PCH along the 133 S, but I don't remember ever losing service completely or dropping any calls the few times I did. There are a few weak areas just S of El Toro.

Too bad Verizon, AT&T or Sprint don't sell their Femtocell technology yet to LA/OC users. I know that parts of South County and coastal OC are the pits coverage wise and indoor coverage can be difficult in you happen to be unlucky enough to live in a bad area.

My brothers in-laws live a few blocks from PCH in Laguna Beach and they use AT&T. They have to go outside on the patio to hold a decent conversation. Using the native PCS network, my BlackBerry will literally spend the entire day searching for service.

Back in April, while there, I asked them to allow me to connect my Pearl using UMA to his home network and I was able to get -49 dBm's indoors. Now he wants one too.

UMA works great in situations where you have service outdoors but need a little coverage help inside. I'd only use it in these types of situations because unless your router is provisioned to promote battery life it'll drain fast.

[Eric47]

i pulled up the coverage viewer for ATT. Looks better than most parts of the US have for in City coverage, so if thats what you guys consider "poor coverage" your actually a bit spoiled

anyhow, i was still wondering what phone the OP had because that could be a good clue to the problem IMO.

[danny boi]

Hi Eric: What those coverage maps fail to display properly are how geography plays a role in actual real time coverage.

For example: AT&T's coverage map shows my parents home and at least a 10 square mile radius around them with perfect 2G coverage. In reality, there are holes and bad spots even within the dark orange shaded areas on the map.

The OC coastline is rugged, semi-rural and full of canyons, hills and valleys. I'm sure when you include local zoning laws to the mix it's pretty difficult for all the carriers to have a more consistent coverage experience as those who live near the flat LA Basin.

[Eric47]

maybe because i live an area where cell service is not as good as even an area that others may be considering questionable, it is hard for me to understand. there are places in my town where its 0 bars and we are of a decent population.

the maps of my community show low and dead areas and it is general due to geography as we have many hills and valleys.

generally the performance in my experience is more of a device related issue more often than the accuracy of a coverage map.

I can carry a Nokia 6030 and generally have no problems ever. I can carry a Pantech Duo and i have to make sure i have at least 2 bars. i can also carry a 8525 and have better calling than almost any PDA ive ever used.

So its all relative IMO. if you wanto see dead spots and holes, look up any city in GA that isnt Atlanta.

im not argeuing or anything obviously, but just making a point as to why i believe that the coverage maps may be correct, but that there can be other factors such as device, or possibly even network outages or upgrades. Generally if your having a problem in an area that is suppose to have good coverage, it is a good idea to call customer service and let them know so that they may issue a trouble ticket. many of the network guys that participate on this site mention that is the best way to improve or fix problems and im a firm believer in that as well.