California and Montana - Sprint or Verizon?

[incellhell]

Just found this great site and hopefully all of you can steer me in the right direction -- I'm a noob so please don't flame me for the inane questions.

I've been using Sprint for 4 years with reasonable success, particulary when I switched from a Samsung to Sanyo phone. Now I'm coming across service issues which I hope some of you may be able to help me with.

I use my sprint phone as my business phone and lately in the afternoons the service gets really bad. Dropped calls and bad to no reception. Mind you, this is working out of my office/home in Los Angeles/Eagle Rock all day. In the mornings everything is great but in the afternoons the aforementioned becomes so bad I do my calling on a landline. Then a few days ago I drove up to Mammoth Mountain and the reception was 1 bar to nonexistent for the majority of the area -- even my roaming function did not work well with lots of static and echo or dropped calls. The thing is my buddy was using Nextel and the reception was consistently good - crisp, no echo, no dropped calls. Another guy had Verizon and it also worked well.

I want to switch to Verizon or Nextel. However, since I travel to Montana and Nextel does not service Montana (not even roaming) I have two options -- Verizon or Sprint (basically its' roaming).

Any of you have any ideas or observations on my line of thinking?
I'd also like to buy a smartphone and am leaning towards a Blackberry, is this a mistake, should I consider the Treo or other smartphone?

Thanks so much for the help/advice.

[agentHibby]

Nextel has no native coverage in Montana.
I don't know if Nextel will let you roam on Airtel. If they do it might be expensive
here is a coverage map.

Sprint may have a better network in Montana due to using Western Wireless towers in the state;however, Verizon does have a good network there. Traveling from California to Montana Verizon will be the better provider. Some spots Sprint will be better.

[larry]

Originally Posted by incellhell

Just found this great site and hopefully all of you can steer me in the right direction -- I'm a noob so please don't flame me for the inane questions.

I've been using Sprint for 4 years with reasonable success, particulary when I switched from a Samsung to Sanyo phone. Now I'm coming across service issues which I hope some of you may be able to help me with.

I use my sprint phone as my business phone and lately in the afternoons the service gets really bad. Dropped calls and bad to no reception. Mind you, this is working out of my office/home in Los Angeles/Eagle Rock all day. In the mornings everything is great but in the afternoons the aforementioned becomes so bad I do my calling on a landline. Then a few days ago I drove up to Mammoth Mountain and the reception was 1 bar to nonexistent for the majority of the area -- even my roaming function did not work well with lots of static and echo or dropped calls. The thing is my buddy was using Nextel and the reception was consistently good - crisp, no echo, no dropped calls. Another guy had Verizon and it also worked well.

I want to switch to Verizon or Nextel. However, since I travel to Montana and Nextel does not service Montana (not even roaming) I have two options -- Verizon or Sprint (basically its' roaming).

Any of you have any ideas or observations on my line of thinking?
I'd also like to buy a smartphone and am leaning towards a Blackberry, is this a mistake, should I consider the Treo or other smartphone?

Thanks so much for the help/advice.

A couple of things I wanted to mention.

First it's very unusual for Sprint to suffer the afternoon/evening capacity issues that some carriers do. I live in Orange County and also spend a lot of time in LA. I have never experienced any situations where my signal would get worse depending on the time of the day. I can't imagine why that is happening.

Sprint has never covered the areas along Hwy 395 including Mammoth Mt. They have never shown it as covered area on any of their coverage maps. But roaming should have worked fine. I remember my last trip to Mammoth in 2003 and I was able to use the roaming network just fine however some incoming calls wouldn't come it and would go to voicemail. Sanyos are not very good when it comes to roaming off network either. Samsungs and LG's work better.

But the good news is that Sprint will be taking over the Nextel towers as part of the merger and this will give them new coverage in those areas where they didn't have coverage in the past (most notable Hwy 395). Mammoth should have native Sprint coverage via their affilaite Ubiquitel PCS as early as November of this year.

Sprint now has pretty good coverage in Montana thanks to their western wireless deal. This coverage is Sprint native coverage with all features available and no roaming charges. So I would imagine that Nextel will have coverage in montana in the future as well once the merger gets going.

[TProphet]

You'll do fine with either carrier, although Sprint offers more roaming coverage than VZW here in the Pacific Northwest. You'll have coverage throughout Montana on Sprint thanks to their roaming agreements with both Western Wireless and VZW. In larger Montana cities, Sprint offers full-featured PCS coverage including Vision services. The Sprint network in Montana is very new and obviously needs some fine tuning, but it's operational at least.

I visited Montana a couple of weeks ago and posted about my Sprint experience on HoFo. This led to a pretty detailed thread, which you may also want to check out.

[incellhell]

Up in Montana last year, with Sprint, using my Sanyo phone and the roaming feature worked wonderfully. On some incoming calls it bounced to my phone and others I was able to pick up. (this is in Missoula,Hamilton/Bitterroot Valley)
It's odd that the roaming was so crummy in Big Pine/Bishop area.
Do you think this is the Sanyo phone or Sprint?

In the afternnoons (back here in Los Angeles) when my service and reception become progressively worse; is it possible that Sprint reaches over capacity with more users than the towers or servers or whatever it is, can effectively handle? Would this change if I switch phones (say a blackberry)?

Thanks all of you for your input, much appreciated!

[incellhell]

Originally Posted by larry

A couple of things I wanted to mention.
Sprint has never covered the areas along Hwy 395 including Mammoth Mt. They have never shown it as covered area on any of their coverage maps. But roaming should have worked fine. I remember my last trip to Mammoth in 2003 and I was able to use the roaming network just fine however some incoming calls wouldn't come it and would go to voicemail. Sanyos are not very good when it comes to roaming off network either. Samsungs and LG's work better.
.

2 years ago I was using the Samsung and I switched to a Sanyo for that reason: The Sanyo had better reception. Do you know if it's possible to try another phone for a trial period to see if it works better? Already I'm thinking the answer is "not until hell freezes over'.

[Andy]

Well you can always try a different phone before switching, but from what you're describing it sounds like the nosie level on sprint's network goes up in the afternoon commute because of too many people using their network, so a different phone will most likely not help.
If that doesn't helf, try out Verizon, but make sure you try them for their 15 day trial period(or 30 in CA, isn't it?) and try to travel to Montana to see if they fit your needs.
Verizon's coverage locator is available at
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/C...ype=NEWREQUEST
Choose America's Choice NO ROAM map and punch in some towns/cities you will be going. It gives you a good general look of coverage.

[larry]

Originally Posted by incellhell

2 years ago I was using the Samsung and I switched to a Sanyo for that reason: The Sanyo had better reception. Do you know if it's possible to try another phone for a trial period to see if it works better? Already I'm thinking the answer is "not until hell freezes over'.

A couple of years ago Sanyos were better then the other brands. But the others have caught up now to the point where they're neck and neck. But Sanyos still haven't mastered the off network roaming (800 Mhz) capabilities of the others.

[larry]

Originally Posted by incellhell

Up in Montana last year, with Sprint, using my Sanyo phone and the roaming feature worked wonderfully. On some incoming calls it bounced to my phone and others I was able to pick up. (this is in Missoula,Hamilton/Bitterroot Valley)
It's odd that the roaming was so crummy in Big Pine/Bishop area.
Do you think this is the Sanyo phone or Sprint?

In the afternnoons (back here in Los Angeles) when my service and reception become progressively worse; is it possible that Sprint reaches over capacity with more users than the towers or servers or whatever it is, can effectively handle? Would this change if I switch phones (say a blackberry)?

Thanks all of you for your input, much appreciated!

It's possible you could just happen to be in an area with an overcrowded tower. But I just haven't seen that happen before with Sprint.

[incellhell]

Originally Posted by larry

It's possible you could just happen to be in an area with an overcrowded tower. But I just haven't seen that happen before with Sprint.

I spoke with a Sprint Rep on the phone this morning and was told that in the afternoons in Los Angeles there can be problems with too many people using the network -- which may account for dropped calls or bad reception (Do you agree with that / does that make sense?)

The rep suggested in an oblique kind of way that my antenna on the Sanyo was bad and a new phone might fix the trick. Which is wonderful 'cause I paid $168 for the phone 9 months ago and have replaced it once already due to the crummy hinge. So no trade in and I'll have to sign a two year to get the phone rebate (important, 'cause I'm thinking of the Blackberry)

Now, when I was waiting online for the Sprint Rep, I was notified that my phone needed an upgrade which was done while I waited to speak to a rep (pretty cool feature) I'm wondering if the upgrade will take care of the roaming issues? Have to make another trip to Big Pine/Bishop heh, heh.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by incellhell

I spoke with a Sprint Rep on the phone this morning and was told that in the afternoons in Los Angeles there can be problems with too many people using the network -- which may account for dropped calls or bad reception (Do you agree with that / does that make sense?)

The rep suggested in an oblique kind of way that my antenna on the Sanyo was bad and a new phone might fix the trick. Which is wonderful 'cause I paid $168 for the phone 9 months ago and have replaced it once already due to the crummy hinge. So no trade in and I'll have to sign a two year to get the phone rebate (important, 'cause I'm thinking of the Blackberry)

Now, when I was waiting online for the Sprint Rep, I was notified that my phone needed an upgrade which was done while I waited to speak to a rep (pretty cool feature) I'm wondering if the upgrade will take care of the roaming issues? Have to make another trip to Big Pine/Bishop heh, heh.

If the network is overloaded, a different handset will most likely not change anything, unless you get a handset that you can force digital roaming on and roam on Verizon while in the area of the overloaded Sprint tower.

IF you do try a new phone, make sure it works, if it doesn't return it so you're not stuck with another two year agreement with a phone that doesn't work in your work in the afternoon.

I don't 100% agree with the rep saying that the network usually gets overloaded in the L.A. market, but it does look like your area is overloaded during the evening commute, so there is some truth to what the rep is saying, but it definitely is not a wide spread issue with Sprint in the L.A. market and Larry will agree with that, but that does not mean that your location is not at capacity...it looks like it is.

[incellhell]

Originally Posted by Andy84094

If the network is overloaded, a different handset will most likely not change anything, unless you get a handset that you can force digital roaming on and roam on Verizon while in the area of the overloaded Sprint tower.

IF you do try a new phone, make sure it works, if it doesn't return it so you're not stuck with another two year agreement with a phone that doesn't work in your work in the afternoon.

I don't 100% agree with the rep saying that the network usually gets overloaded in the L.A. market, but it does look like your area is overloaded during the evening commute, so there is some truth to what the rep is saying, but it definitely is not a wide spread issue with Sprint in the L.A. market and Larry will agree with that, but that does not mean that your location is not at capacity...it looks like it is.

If you don't mind my asking, what are you looking at and where did you obtain that information?

[Andy]

Originally Posted by incellhell

If you don't mind my asking, what are you looking at and where did you obtain that information?

Sorry but I didn't understand your question.

[incellhell]

Originally Posted by Andy84094

Sorry but I didn't understand your question.

Of course, you said "but that does not mean that your location is not at capacity...it looks like it is."
So I was asking, what are you looking at that shows my location looks like it is at capacity?

[larry]

Originally Posted by incellhell

I spoke with a Sprint Rep on the phone this morning and was told that in the afternoons in Los Angeles there can be problems with too many people using the network -- which may account for dropped calls or bad reception (Do you agree with that / does that make sense?)

The rep suggested in an oblique kind of way that my antenna on the Sanyo was bad and a new phone might fix the trick. Which is wonderful 'cause I paid $168 for the phone 9 months ago and have replaced it once already due to the crummy hinge. So no trade in and I'll have to sign a two year to get the phone rebate (important, 'cause I'm thinking of the Blackberry)

Now, when I was waiting online for the Sprint Rep, I was notified that my phone needed an upgrade which was done while I waited to speak to a rep (pretty cool feature) I'm wondering if the upgrade will take care of the roaming issues? Have to make another trip to Big Pine/Bishop heh, heh.

With Sprint and CDMA technology you can be connected to 3 different towers at the same time. So it's rare when capacity problems happen. Because if one tower is maxed out you can switch to another. Here in the LA market Sprint has a ton of towers and it is one of their best markets in the US.

The upgrade you got was an OTA PRL update. It could improve roaming depending on which markets were affected by the last few updates. I don't think anything changed here in CA but I could be wrong.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by incellhell

Of course, you said "but that does not mean that your location is not at capacity...it looks like it is."
So I was asking, what are you looking at that shows my location looks like it is at capacity?

From what you describe it looks like the network's noise level rises to a very high level during rush hour evening traffic, and what causes a network to become unstable during evening rush hour...? Too many people using their phones at the same time.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by larry

With Sprint and CDMA technology you can be connected to 3 different towers at the same time. So it's rare when capacity problems happen. Because if one tower is maxed out you can switch to another. Here in the LA market Sprint has a ton of towers and it is one of their best markets in the US.

The upgrade you got was an OTA PRL update. It could improve roaming depending on which markets were affected by the last few updates. I don't think anything changed here in CA but I could be wrong.

I agree, Sprint works great in L.A., even about 2 years ago while I still used them, and that was before they installed many, many new sites, but it does look like the OP's case is an isolated problem.

[larry]

The OP did mention 'Eagle Rock'. I know for a fact that is NIMBYVILLE.

[eds222]

Originally Posted by incellhell

Just found this great site and hopefully all of you can steer me in the right direction -- I'm a noob so please don't flame me for the inane questions.

I've been using Sprint for 4 years with reasonable success, particulary when I switched from a Samsung to Sanyo phone. Now I'm coming across service issues which I hope some of you may be able to help me with.

I use my sprint phone as my business phone and lately in the afternoons the service gets really bad. Dropped calls and bad to no reception. Mind you, this is working out of my office/home in Los Angeles/Eagle Rock all day. In the mornings everything is great but in the afternoons the aforementioned becomes so bad I do my calling on a landline. Then a few days ago I drove up to Mammoth Mountain and the reception was 1 bar to nonexistent for the majority of the area -- even my roaming function did not work well with lots of static and echo or dropped calls. The thing is my buddy was using Nextel and the reception was consistently good - crisp, no echo, no dropped calls. Another guy had Verizon and it also worked well.

I want to switch to Verizon or Nextel. However, since I travel to Montana and Nextel does not service Montana (not even roaming) I have two options -- Verizon or Sprint (basically its' roaming).

Any of you have any ideas or observations on my line of thinking?
I'd also like to buy a smartphone and am leaning towards a Blackberry, is this a mistake, should I consider the Treo or other smartphone?

Thanks so much for the help/advice.

I can't speak for Eagle Rock or Montana, but along 395 its Vzw. In our region there are Vzw 800 mhz. sites at Little Lake, Quail Flats (Olancha), Lone Pine, Poverty Hills (south of Big Pine), Bishop, Sherwin Summit, Mammoth Lakes, Crestview, and Conway Summit. Soon to be added in Independence and the site in Mammoth Lakes is going to be moved to the mountains so service there should be greatly enhanced. As far as I know Sprint owns nothing around here.

[larry]

Originally Posted by eds222

As far as I know Sprint owns nothing around here.

Well actually they will own the Nextel sites once the merger is completed which should be late summer or early fall.