manalapan and marlboro route 9 corridor/tennet rd

I can't vouch for those particular spots, but Cingular and Verizon, as the 800 Mhz carriers, have the best coverage in MA. Perhaps a friend with one of those carriers will let you borrow their phone to check signal strength.

 

You might want to mention that you are asking about New Jersey

 

Oops, sorry, there is a route 9 near Marlborough in MA. Actually, I think the advice still stands for NJ (Bobolito could confirm this), Verizon and Cingular/AT&T? would be the 800 Mhz carriers, there.

 

Well, it works a bit different in NJ as Cingular is the TDMA800 (A) carrier in Central/South Jersey but in North NJ that band is covered by AT&T. Verizon takes the other 800Mhz block (B) with its CDMA system in all of NJ. As North NJ is more urban, coverage is way better than in South NJ, but still they have better coverage than the 1900Mhz carriers. In the south, coverage is better along the major highways. Also, AT&T has some 1900Mhz coverage in Central NJ.

 

I think all services get weak in the marlboro/manalapan corridor. Sprint and T Mobile are pretty much useless in Manalapan. ATT/Cingulair use the same TDMA towers so their service should be equal. ATT phones show extended area somewhere towards the southern end of Old Bridge. It seems that ATT is creaping further south weekly. They claim to have their own sites in Monmouth and Ocean by the end of the year- including full GSM service.
These two towns are very stingy about letting the carriers put up antennas-must be the NIMBY theory.
I think once ATT gets up to speed around here they should be superior to Cingulair.
I havent used nextel but I hear they have the same weak spots as Sprint and T Mobile.
Rt 9 between Gordon Corner and Union Hill is a weak spot for every phone I have tried.