WirelessAdvisor.com

TNDan21 · 03-15-2005, 1:49 AM

T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty
03.09.05
By Sascha Segan

Cellular carriers promise thick, cozy blankets of coverage, but we know every one of them has infuriating dead spots. With its Personal Coverage Check (PCC), T-Mobile unabashedly unveils both their strong and weak spots, block by block, across the USA for all to see.

The Personal Coverage Check is easy to use – just punch in an address, and you'll see a map with gradations of coverage from forest green (perfect) to ghostly white (none at all.) T-Mobile updates the PCC Web site weekly and ties it into their engineering systems for the most honest possible picture, the carrier says.

We tried the Personal Coverage Check with a dozen locations we know around the US, and it usually worked flawlessly. It only failed with one location: downtown Manhattan, where the Personal Coverage Check says T-Mobile has no weak spots. T-Mobile told us their system has trouble because "Manhattan is a unique environment," and that's true: building penetration issues, signal crowding and multipath reflections make the nation's densest neighborhoods a painful test for any wireless system.

We asked the other major carriers why they don't give consumers similar information. (Most carriers' maps just paint a wide swathe of coverage over an area, not going down to the block-by-block level or differentiating strong signals from weak ones.) Sprint and Verizon dodged the question; Cingular said they're planning to improve their own coverage maps soon.

We are truly impressed with T-Mobile and their PCC's honesty so much, we would name it a major reason to switch from less-revealing carriers to T-Mobile – as long as T-Mobile works where you need it. Thanks to this Web site, you can now easily find that out.

T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty

jones · 03-15-2005, 8:52 AM

All Carriers should Follow these Maps
and should be the Standardize Coverage Maps.

Not a BOGUS Nationwide Map.
If There should be one coverage map
for all carriers, this is it.

ehcruzan · 03-15-2005, 10:18 AM

That's an impressive achivement! Way to go T-Mobile.

I really don't expect any followers.

budney · 03-15-2005, 10:47 AM

Their maps are pretty accurate. I find them a little conservitive for my area though.

telecomjunkie1 · 03-15-2005, 12:12 PM

I don't have Tmobile but these maps are incredible. Even if they are conservative its beyond great to see roughly where a tower is and then to see the rough approximation of what kind of coverage it offers. Stating the obvious but wow these look nice. Probably be years before any other provider gets this detailed.

Andy · 03-15-2005, 12:26 PM

Yup, they did deserve this!! Even though I've had bad experiences with them, they did an awesome job with this!!!

WiggyFife · 03-15-2005, 12:39 PM

I respect Tmobile for giving consumers access to this tool. W/out it, I would have never known that if I started up w/ Tmobile, service @ my house would be non-existent, inside or out!!!

Airb330 · 03-15-2005, 2:09 PM

They are definitely conservative for my area. They totally forgot the tower in my town for starters lol. Besides, they only have green signal for like .2 miles around the tower, and most of it is gray....though in those gray areas I have full bars on a nokia and 4 on a Moto.

larry · 03-15-2005, 3:21 PM

Sprint has those unique tower location maps but I'd still like to see them come up with something better.

coalminer · 03-15-2005, 5:50 PM

Wow, I checked a few areas around here that I know are weak and they do have them listed correctly, nice job on those maps.

If I remember right, Nextel had something like this at one time, but it is not available online anymore.

Steve B · 03-15-2005, 11:02 PM

In my some of my area, I noticed their maps weren't that accurate, but nobody is perfect I guess. They tried. HEHE

agentHibby · 03-16-2005, 5:18 PM

Siding on being conservative for coverage is better than showing coverage that you don't have.

Verizon has tons of holes in some areas and would exploit we are #1 everywhere.

bobolito · 03-17-2005, 1:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by agentHibby

Siding on being conservative for coverage is better than showing coverage that you don't have.

Verizon has tons of holes in some areas and would exploit we are #1 everywhere.

When you are good, you can afford to lie a little bit and still get away with it. But when you are horrible, nobody is going to believe you otherwise, so you better be honest.

ehcruzan · 03-18-2005, 9:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobolito

When you are good, you can afford to lie a little bit and still get away with it. But when you are horrible, nobody is going to believe you otherwise, so you better be honest.

Stop beating up on TMobile!

Gamer03 · 03-19-2005, 1:27 AM

I wish every carrier had a coverage "check" like T-Mobile does.

Maybe someday every carrier will......but I seriously doubt it.

WiggyFife · 03-19-2005, 3:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gamer03

I wish every carrier had a coverage "check" like T-Mobile does.

Maybe someday every carrier will......but I seriously doubt it.

that'd be waayyyy too easy to fathom!!!

dallison · 03-22-2005, 4:04 PM

cing should make theirs avail to the public

WiggyFife · 03-22-2005, 4:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dallison

cing should make theirs avail to the public

I second that...

budney · 03-22-2005, 6:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dallison

cing should make theirs avail to the public

Thanks to T-Mobile, Cingular Orange customers can see their coverage in CA/NV for the time being.

bobolito · 03-23-2005, 6:54 PM

The same WAS true for the NJ/NYC market. However, most orange customers are now using blue towers so those maps are really useless to us because coverage has increased like tenfold.

budney · 03-23-2005, 10:05 PM

That right it was true, but it was/is smart of Cingular to switch Orange customers to the Blue network as it is sooooo much better then the crappy T-Mo network in NJ/NYC. And it's smart of them to keep orange and migrating blue customers on the orange/T-Mo network in CA/<

03-15-2005, 1:49 AM	#1 (permalink)
TNDan21 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Kingsport, TN Posts: 5,956 Phone(s): LG enV2, Samsung t219 Provider(s): Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile Devices: iPod Nano Thanks: 0 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts	T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty 03.09.05 By Sascha Segan Cellular carriers promise thick, cozy blankets of coverage, but we know every one of them has infuriating dead spots. With its Personal Coverage Check (PCC), T-Mobile unabashedly unveils both their strong and weak spots, block by block, across the USA for all to see. The Personal Coverage Check is easy to use – just punch in an address, and you'll see a map with gradations of coverage from forest green (perfect) to ghostly white (none at all.) T-Mobile updates the PCC Web site weekly and ties it into their engineering systems for the most honest possible picture, the carrier says. We tried the Personal Coverage Check with a dozen locations we know around the US, and it usually worked flawlessly. It only failed with one location: downtown Manhattan, where the Personal Coverage Check says T-Mobile has no weak spots. T-Mobile told us their system has trouble because "Manhattan is a unique environment," and that's true: building penetration issues, signal crowding and multipath reflections make the nation's densest neighborhoods a painful test for any wireless system. We asked the other major carriers why they don't give consumers similar information. (Most carriers' maps just paint a wide swathe of coverage over an area, not going down to the block-by-block level or differentiating strong signals from weak ones.) Sprint and Verizon dodged the question; Cingular said they're planning to improve their own coverage maps soon. We are truly impressed with T-Mobile and their PCC's honesty so much, we would name it a major reason to switch from less-revealing carriers to T-Mobile – as long as T-Mobile works where you need it. Thanks to this Web site, you can now easily find that out. T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty

03-15-2005, 8:52 AM	#2 (permalink)
jones Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 3,425 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty All Carriers should Follow these Maps and should be the Standardize Coverage Maps. Not a BOGUS Nationwide Map. If There should be one coverage map for all carriers, this is it. __________________ - 3 Billion GSM Users by 2009. - 700 GSM Carriers in 220 Countries - 82% of the Global Market 45,000 Cell Sites and Adding.

03-15-2005, 10:18 AM	#3 (permalink)
ehcruzan Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: St. Croix, VI Posts: 754 Phone(s): Sanyo MM-8300, Sanyo PM-8200, Toshiba VM-4050, Sanyo VI-2300 x 2 Provider(s): Sprint PCS Devices: iPod Nano, Compaq Evo, Netgear & Linksys WiFi Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty That's an impressive achivement! Way to go T-Mobile. I really don't expect any followers.

03-15-2005, 10:47 AM	#4 (permalink)
budney Resident Headbanger Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Tardville Posts: 4,430 Phone(s): Katana II, HTC Vogue (Touch), Moto Q Provider(s): Sprint Devices: 30GB Zune & 1GB Zen Stone Thanks: 1 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts Images: 14 My Auctions	Re: T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty Their maps are pretty accurate. I find them a little conservitive for my area though. __________________ Thanks Sprint for turning on EV in Bullhead & Laughlin, just hurry it up with Ft. Mohave!!!

03-15-2005, 12:12 PM	#5 (permalink)
telecomjunkie1 Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Northern Illinois Posts: 78 Phone(s): Moto RAZR V3 Provider(s): Cingular Devices: Jabra BT250V headset Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Images: 12	Re: T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty I don't have Tmobile but these maps are incredible. Even if they are conservative its beyond great to see roughly where a tower is and then to see the rough approximation of what kind of coverage it offers. Stating the obvious but wow these look nice. Probably be years before any other provider gets this detailed.

03-15-2005, 12:26 PM	#6 (permalink)
Andy Join Date: May 2003 Location: Campione, Italy Posts: 10,285 Phone(s): HTC 6900 Touch, Motorola RAZR V3i Provider(s): VZW, Vodafone D2, Solomo, Swisscom Mobile Thanks: 0 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts Images: 130	Re: T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty Yup, they did deserve this!! Even though I've had bad experiences with them, they did an awesome job with this!!!

03-15-2005, 12:39 PM	#7 (permalink)
WiggyFife still knows nothing!!! Join Date: May 2003 Location: Chandler, AZ Posts: 4,318 Phone(s): LG VX8700 Provider(s): Verizon Wireless Devices: HP Laptop, Palm T\|X, iPod, Toyota Camry BT. Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts My Auctions	Re: T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty I respect Tmobile for giving consumers access to this tool. W/out it, I would have never known that if I started up w/ Tmobile, service @ my house would be non-existent, inside or out!!!

03-15-2005, 2:09 PM	#8 (permalink)
Airb330 Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 3,525 Phone(s): iPhone, Pantech EVDO Provider(s): at&t/Sprint for datacard Devices: iPod Nano (Black), XM Radio Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Images: 3	Re: T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty They are definitely conservative for my area. They totally forgot the tower in my town for starters lol. Besides, they only have green signal for like .2 miles around the tower, and most of it is gray....though in those gray areas I have full bars on a nokia and 4 on a Moto.

03-15-2005, 3:21 PM	#9 (permalink)
larry Go Angels! Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Orange County, CA Posts: 12,846 Phone(s): LG Rumor Provider(s): Sprint Thanks: 11 Thanked 14 Times in 14 Posts Images: 144 My Auctions	Re: T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty Sprint has those unique tower location maps but I'd still like to see them come up with something better.

03-15-2005, 5:50 PM	#10 (permalink)
coalminer Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: North Royalton, OH Posts: 496 Phone(s): Casio Gzone V/RIM 8703e, Novatel s720, LG 8550 (wife) Provider(s): Verizon Sprint (data) Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts My Auctions	Re: T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty Wow, I checked a few areas around here that I know are weak and they do have them listed correctly, nice job on those maps. If I remember right, Nextel had something like this at one time, but it is not available online anymore.

03-15-2005, 11:02 PM	#11 (permalink)
Steve B Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 757 Phone(s): Apple iPhone 3G 8GB, Motorola V3xx (PLT) Provider(s): at&t Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty In my some of my area, I noticed their maps weren't that accurate, but nobody is perfect I guess. They tried. HEHE __________________ More Bars In More Places

03-16-2005, 5:18 PM	#12 (permalink)
agentHibby Iowa Cellular Guru Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: SID 150 or 1214 Posts: 3,470 Phone(s): Nokia 6256i, (retired) Motorola V120c, Timeport 270c, Nokia 252 (Airtouch) Provider(s): Verizon Wireless Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty Siding on being conservative for coverage is better than showing coverage that you don't have. Verizon has tons of holes in some areas and would exploit we are #1 everywhere. __________________ If Verizon can buy out their affiliates they would be better off.

03-19-2005, 1:27 AM	#15 (permalink)
Gamer03 Technology Aficionado Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The Florida Everglades Posts: 8,243 Phone(s): AT&T Tilt (me), AT&T Tilt (Dad), Motorola Razr 2 V9 (mom), Motorola Razr 2 V9 (sis) Provider(s): AT&T (4 lines on a FS plan) Devices: NB;GPS;Sling Pro; iPod 80GB; Kenwood DDX512 Thanks: 6 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts Images: 68	Re: T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty I wish every carrier had a coverage "check" like T-Mobile does. Maybe someday every carrier will......but I seriously doubt it. __________________ My Video Game Systems (in order of purchase): Sega Genesis > Sega 32x > Sega CD > Sega GameGear > PS1 (died so I upgraded)> PS1 DualShock > PS2 > Xbox > Xbox 360 Premium (died so I upgraded)> Xbox 360 Elite > PS3 80 GB

03-22-2005, 4:04 PM	#17 (permalink)
dallison Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 662 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty cing should make theirs avail to the public

03-23-2005, 6:54 PM	#20 (permalink)
bobolito iPhone 3G 16GB (White) Join Date: May 2002 Location: New Sanfrakota Posts: 12,364 Phone(s): iPhone 3G, RAZR V9, Sierra 875 3G Aircard, HP iPaq Classic 110 Provider(s): AT&T Mobility Devices: WiFi cards/Access points Thanks: 3 Thanked 11 Times in 10 Posts Images: 50 My Auctions	Re: T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty The same WAS true for the NJ/NYC market. However, most orange customers are now using blue towers so those maps are really useless to us because coverage has increased like tenfold. __________________

03-23-2005, 10:05 PM	#21 (permalink)
budney Resident Headbanger Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Tardville Posts: 4,430 Phone(s): Katana II, HTC Vogue (Touch), Moto Q Provider(s): Sprint Devices: 30GB Zune & 1GB Zen Stone Thanks: 1 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts Images: 14 My Auctions	Re: T-Mobile Personal Coverage Check Gets "A" for Honesty That right it was true, but it was/is smart of Cingular to switch Orange customers to the Blue network as it is sooooo much better then the crappy T-Mo network in NJ/NYC. And it's smart of them to keep orange and migrating blue customers on the orange/T-Mo network in CA/<

WirelessAdvisor.com

Clearing the static since 1998.