Best provider for use in NoCal, SoCal, and Tx

Hi Jason,

Welcome to WA, great to see a new member from the Bay Area. I can't really provide a detailed answer for the Bay Area since I haven't been back home to Redwood City for almost 2 years. However, you could definitely consider a 15-day (Verizon/Sprint) or 30-day trial (T-Mobile/Cingular) to see if a CDMA/AMPS (analog fallback is a plus if you go through rural areas where GSM carriers don't have the same level of coverage).

This means that you should take a hard look at how GSM coverage fares vs. CDMA/AMPS up in Sonoma, Napa, Solano and Marin Counties if these areas are considered to be vital since you mentioned the need for reliable coverage along the route from the Bay Area to Petaluma. You can expect coverage to be close or the same for both GSM and CDMA/AMPS along I-80, Highway 39, 101, I-680, I-780 etc since freeways tend to be covered quite well.

Secondly, I would conduct this trial (if possible) in the cities that you travel to outside of the Bay Area. It is really difficult to give the "right" answer since the wireless needs are different for each person and it always comes down to where you need your phone to work.

Hope this helps somewhat,

 

You are going to get many answers based on opinion just ask people where you live what is best for them. Such as close friends and family you trust.

 

Yes, asking people is a good thing, but if your cousin has a Verizon phone, give it a test run. Verizon is one of the strongest carriers in the Bay Area and is very strong in Southern California as well. Yes, some people in the East Bay say that the T-Mobile/ex. Cingular network is spotty there.

 

In that case, give Verizon a try. My guess is that GSM could have some coverage issues up in the Oakland Hills and in places like Piedmont but this is also dependent on how T-Mobile and Cingular places their towers in the East Bay. Simply put, Verizon and Sprint both use network infrastructures which go back much longer than any GSM carrier so if you find that Verizon beats GSM in the East Bay, then have a go at it.

 

I live in SoCal and used to do have to work on my companies 2-way wireless/data network from San Diego to Santa Rosa, Sacto, Salinas, Tahoe. I also worked in and around most of Texas. For California in my opinion Verizon has the best coverage, Cingular is not too far behind. Now in Texas Verizon has good coverage and I believe that in the areas I have worked in around Austin, San Antonio, El Paso I felt that Cingular had better coverage.

 

I believe that Sprint also provides very good service in Sothern California. In the very rare instance that they do not have service, the phone will roam on Verizon's digital network. Note that there are areas of Riverside county where Sprint has excellent service and Cingular has mediocre service. One of these areas is Temecula.

 

In May i took a trip from Yuba City (my home town) down to the L.A. area and then to San Diego. I have Cingular GSM for my main provider and Verizon as my secondary. I took a few of my friends with me and between us we had all of the major providers.I took 99 to I5 and had no problem at all with Cingular. I had 3-5 bars the entire time down I5 all the way into LA. Verizon tried to keep up, but it lost service a few times. Sprint was very spotty all the way. T-Mobile was good and usually had service, but not through the grapevine. Now we get to Nextel, they by far were the worst! Had a hard time getting service everywhere! I even had coverage going through the Grapevine with my Cingular phone! As we made our way into Disneyland Cingular and Verizon were strong where as Sprint and Nextel lost almost all signal and their networks were not useable. T-Mobile was for the most part strong. Two days later we left for San Diego. From L.A. to San Diego Cingular and Verizon had great service, T-Mobile was a close second! Sprint and Nextel were very poor until we got into the city limits. Cingular had just a little better reception and call quality in San Diego than Verizon did.

If i were you i would go with either Cingular or Verizon. You can't get any better than ther service they provide. The only advantage that Verizon had over Cingular is amps. Which in L.A. and San Diego is so bad it can't be used. They both have good plans. Now you said that you needed good service in Texas also, I have a cousin who lives in Texas and when she first moved there she had verizon. She has the hardest time getting reception everywhere she went. She switched to Cingular in January and loves them. She has reception everywhere she goes, she has not found a dead spot yet, and she goes somewhere new every weekend. If i were you and looking for great service in texas, i would go with Cingular hands down. Hope this helps.

 

I have a hard time believing Sprint was as you say "not useable". I'm in those areas mentioned all the time and never have any trouble.

 

Sprint not usable in Disneyland and San Diego? i just got back from my trip to San Diego and had no issues at all, i'm wondering if maybe it was the handset your were using? I did have some spotty signal with my Cingular phone when in old Town San Diego but that was probably due to building signal penetration, other than that i had no issues.

 

I believe that there is something wrong with your Sprint phone and drive from Orange County to San Diego several times per week and am on the phone all of the time that I am driving sometimes on the same phone call! I have never had a call-drop or any problems with Sprint. I would suggest that you take you phone to a Sprint store and get it checked-out.

 

Yup. I have also used my Sprint phone is Disneyland and never had any problem. I believe that the person that posted this information has a bad cell phone.

 

Either that or just has a grudge against Sprint for some reason.

 

Really? I went their 2 weeks ago with Cingular and had no Probelms Full service my dad teaches a class in Old town and he also has Cingular and has no issues...

Anyways I would say Verizon or Cingular, i have Cingular now and had Verizon for 5+ years good service everyhwere i went except Laguna Beach where it had issues, now i notice Verizon has overloaded towers in my area...

Cingular so far so good, Service is fine somtimes beats Verizon!

Sprint had them for 15 days to try out service pros is great service! And plus lets you roam on CDMA networks.. Cons: When out of Sprint coverage zone then thier Vision, and rdy link dosn't work..

I would try which carrier is the best for you, i heard in TX cingular is the Best and Verizon is next.. Not sure abot Sprint..

In southern Ca Verizon and Cingular the best, however when i drove to AZ with my Virgin Mobile phone (Uses Sprint network) it was the best on drive up by a long run..

Good luck!

 

In Central and SoutheastTexas Cingular has a very strong network. I have had no problems with Cingular in Austin. Verizon is probably the second best.

 

Sprint does not have any cell sites on Disney property right now. They rely on spillover coverage from a couple of sites out side the park on Edison towers. The phone got a max. of 3 bars and all of the calls were really choppy. The people that i was with just gave me these reports on there experience with their service providers in these areas. I know that i had to let them use my phone a lot during our trip due to network issues. At the times when the network was not useable, sprint was roaming on the analog network in Disneyland. And nextel was really garbeled. At times, while on rides, my Cingular and Verizon phones lost reception or had very little. Every provider has there issues, these are just a few that i have noticed with Sprint and Nextel. As far as Texas goes i have a cousin who lives in Austin who has sprint and is stuck in a 2 year contract and she is beating her self up over going from T-Mobile to Sprint. She has trouble getting reception almost everywhere she goes. Her first bill was $900.00 due to her "roaming" charges that she got because she was always roaming on Verizon. Again this is just what i have been told, i have no personal experience with sprint in Texas. This is just what i have been told. And i have nothing against Sprint or Nextel. I here a lot of good things about both of them as well as bad things. If you have any questions about Cingular, T-Mobile, or Verizon in these areas i can give you more detailed information about them. :biggrin:

 

Agreed, no issues here either, that's why i said it could have been do to building penetration.

 

Ok now it makes more sense, like you mention in your post, you're not speaking from your experience but just from hearsay, thanks for your report.

 

I wonder where you got that info from?
http://forums.wirelessadvisor.com/showthread.php?t=9792

By the way just because they don't have sites on Disney property doesn't mean they are weak or unuseable. In fact they have sites around the perimeter of Disneyland which provides good outdoor coverage and some ok indoor coverage throughout the park with the exception of a few buildings deep inside the park.