After a resent trip to Lake Norris TN area including Andersonville,Norris, LaFollette we were disapointed with our ATT/Cingular coverage. In the center of these towns coverage seemed good. But at the marinas coverage was poor. Marinas had no coverage at all except Andersonville Marina where the tower can be seen and covered that area somewhat well. Marinas at Deerfield, Stardust, Sequoyah, Shanghai which we have intrest in had no coverage at all on Cingular/ATT network. Does anyone know if other carriers have coverage in those areas or are those dead spots now?
Verizon's coverage maps seem to indicate native digital service in the area, but coverage maps sometimes don't tell the truth. Check it out yourself: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/CoverageLocatorController?requesttype=newsearch
T-Mobile's compass seems to indicate some roaming coverage-it doesn't look as wide spread than Verizon's though. Maybe GSM just isn't too good in that neck of the woods?
Nobody seems to have great coverage at all the marinas on Norris Lake but I do know that Cingular just turned on a couple more sites that helped out at 33 Bridge Marina and a couple of others. Part of the problem with the other areas is that they site in and around state parks which won't allow a tower to be built.
I thought the Park areas may have a part in the equation. Stardust, Deerfield marinas are/have been growing and growing so I hope the other towers being turned on are covering those areas now. Being such a big vacation area and houses and condos going up I would think its high on need for all of the carriers. While searching for coverage reports in those areas I found it interesting that last summer the TVA who control most of the Lake and surrounding areas signed a deal to supply all the managers and some employees with Nextel phones and service. While down at the Norris Dam and the marinas mentioned above do not have Nextel coverage via on of my partners phones. Any more info anyone may have would be great.
Best in that area is going to be VZW pretty much by default (VZW tends to have the best rural coverage in east TN.) USCC and Eloqui should also have decent coverage, although Lake Norris is the border between the two. None of this helps GSM users any, though. As for Nextel: haven't heard about Norris, but I think they've expanded out to Spring City (Watts Bar) -- an area Cingular has basically ignored along with Decatur and so on -- and have improved coverage in northern Alabama. (Most of the TVA facilities around Chattanooga have coverage by virtue of being near the city, I-24, etc.) -SC
Thanks for the info roamer and nice web site. I guess what I realy need are some actual reception reports from on and around the Lake. I just don't believe any of the maps because my wifes Verizon phone did not have coverage at all but according to the Verizon map its available EVERYWHERE!
What kind of phone is she using and what PRL does she have? You can also call CS and ask them(they have internal maps) if the area has coverage, if they say yes then you can tell them your phone was dead and see what they say.
Unless you have an extremely old PRL you will pick up only VZW in that area of TN. (USCC Knoxville and SPCS were in some very old PRLs but haven't been in them for at least two years now; Eloqui has never been in VZW PRLs and probably never will be even with them going CDMA. Pretty much the only part of TN where you can use a carrier other than VZW is the northeast corner, where ALLTEL and [in Mountain City] Commnet Wireless are available to VZW customers.) -SC
Interesting, thanks for the info. The OP should definitely call CS though, since it seems like coverage maps for the area are waaayyy of then.
ALSO -- Cellular South's Memphis coverage *may* be available around that area depending on what SID they're using there. -SC
Roamer, you can now use Cingular in Mountain City. The only problem is going over the mountains from Shady Valley from Bristol and from there to Mountain City
Like most people said.. the cdma providers (verizon, uscc, eloqui) will have better service in that area-- but i WOULD go w/ Verizon, because the only place eloqui will be in their 'home area' would be in campbell county (lafolette, cove lake parts of norris etc)... and then once you get into norris and andersonville(Anderson County), you would roam on uscc, and accuire roaming charges... so Verizon would be the best bet for this one
Verizon's new America Choice plans no longer have roaming charges. So you won't ever pay roaming charges while in the US on a AC plan.
