Do any of you guys know of these "fair' areas to ever be improved

The sad thing is that I spend a lot of my time in an area Sprint thinks they have excellent coverage. I suspect I have little hope of seeing my area improve.

Each of the carriers has detailed information about their own network and can track things like dropped calls etc. They also track complaints from customers (to a greater or lessor extent).

Anyway, my only answer to coverage problems is as follows:
1) If it isn't too bad, live with it.
2) Change carriers.

In the years I've used and reviewed cellular service I've never seen a carrier respond to a single customers complaint regarding coverage -- even if they contact the carrier repeatedly. Coverage problems can be really expensive to fix and simply don't happen until things get to a critical mass. All that is to say one should never wait for coverage to improve.

-Dan

 

Yes I do! I'll send you a private message about it. By the way that map doesn't reflect the coverage from the brand new site at Garfield & Garvey as Sprint hasn't updated the maps since November.

 

Dan,

I can assure that Sprint is still actively pursuing better coverage where they need it even when the map shows dark green coverage already. So don't give up hope. If there's a Nextel only tower nearby there is a very good chance it will eventually get CDMA.

But I do agree with you about the carrier's unwillingness to fix problems from a customer complaint. I've never seen it happen either despite numerous trouble tickets I've filed over the years that even made it to the highest level. The problem is that even if they know they have a problem it will usually takes dozens and dozens of complaints before they will look into it. They won't do anything for just one person. To add a new cell site takes 1-2 years and approval from the corporate big wigs in Virginia. There's often a lot of red tape involved.

 

According to the Sprint coverage locator, my home is in a "Good" (not "Best") coverage area. I am only a couple of blocks away from "Best" coverage areas. At times, I have five bars of signal-strength, but at other times my phone switches to digital roaming on Verizon or Alltel.

Am I correct to assume that my phone goes to roaming due to "cell breathing?" In other words, is the roaming caused less by signal strength, but more by capacity issues at those tower locations? As the towers become busier, their ranges contract, and due to me being a little further from them, I get pushed out?

 

Cell breathing on CDMA networks is pretty much a thing of the past with the modern technology they have now. I think it's something else. Have you tried setting your phone to 'sprint only' mode so it won't roam?

 

Yes. When set on "Sprint Only" it usually stays connected. However, the signal strength meter ranges from five bars to no bars. I know the displayed signal strength indicator is not very accurate, but I believe it is a fair representation of the comparative signal strengths.

 

Pilot Pollution. Your phone can't stay locked on one tower because either the RSSI or EC-IO is too weak and/or noisy. So instead your phone goes into handoff mode bouncing around on different PN offsets without being able to find a dominant one. Common CDMA thing not caused by cell breathing but simply by being too far from the towers. This is very common in residential areas where towers usually can't be built due to city zoning restrictions.

 

Thanks, Larry!

That is interesting. I am located about two to three miles from the two closest towers that have Sprint antennas. According to the Sprint coverage maps, my home is in a "good" area (about 4 square miles) that is completely surrounded by "Best" areas.

I am confident that I don't have a phone problem, because the Sprint signal at my home is inconsistent with several different phones.

I would like to learn more about "RSSI or EC-IO is too weak and/or noisy." I will have to do some research.

 

Wow 2 or 3 miles from a tower is far. I'm only 3/4 mile away from the nearest cell site and I also pick up some pilot pollution. It also depends on how the tower is optimized and what azimuth (direction) the panels are pointing. RF can be a tricky thing. You can be 1/2 mile away from a tower but if there's something blocking it's signal path (ie. building, terrain, etc) you might not be able to even use the signal from it. Also height is another factor. A 200 foot tower has much more range than one that's only 50 feet high.

 

I will have to measure those distances. I may be closer than I think.

Thanks, again!

 

I've seen the 5 bars to zero, repeating issue.

In my area that happens when the user is in a geographic area with a relative depression related to the land around it.

I have a buddy with the misfortune of living in such a sync-hole type location (which is lovely for everything but cell service). None of the carriers cover his specific location, even though the relatively higher ground all around him has excellent coverage.

In other words, the topography of a location is important. Radio signals don't go through earth.

-Dan

 

I hate Pilot Pollution.

 

Totally. I think the CDMA vendors need to fix the system so that the handoff range on CDMA phones doesn't kick in until the -90's dbs range instead of the -80's like it is now.

 

That wouldn't help me at home, where I am usually in the high -90's lol.

 

Here's an updated shot of the area that already shows some improvement: