My test drive log of Verizon v. Sprint in Portland, OR metro area

I subscribed for Sprint SERO plan and I'm still within 30 day risk free period. I took my existing Verizon phone and Sprint phone for a test drive along suburban area. I let the two phones talk to each other. No disconnected call.

Verizon is quite solid, but it seems to consistently suck in basements and university buildings. It will lose service in some buildings. Verizon doesn't have roaming limitations. I'm not sure if it's changed much, but a few years ago, back then, I was using a Motorola v120e, I just could not get good reception at PCC Sylvania campus, out in the open, even the outdoor parking lot.

Sprint did better in university buildings but it's spotty like Zebra, but on the road, it's spotty as hell, so if you sign up for two year contract and depending on which part of zebra's patch you land on, you maybe SOL. Sprint doesn't charge you per minute roaming, but you may get kicked off if you exceed 800min/mo or 50% of your usage in roaming, whichever comes sooner.

Sprint kicked off 200 people for constant roaming.
» OUTRAGE: Sprint said to cancel nearly 200 military accounts for “excessive roaming” | IP Telephony, VoIP, Broadband | ZDNet.com

They agreed on media to waive these restrictions if and only if you produce your military status.

Test drive:

Cedar Hills Blvd, between Best Buy and Hwy 26:

Verizon Wireless
4/4 bars pretty much the whole ways

Sprint
- south of walker was for the most part good.
- Between Walker and Hwy 26 varied from 6/6 to 0/6 bars.

Barnes Rd<-->SW Leahy Rd<-->SW 90th<-->NW Leahy Rd/NW Leahy Ter
Verizon Wireless
Pretty much 4/4 all the way through

Sprint
0/6 bars on significant portion of NW Leahy Rd, somewhat better in neighorhoods. These areas are listed as "fair coverage" on Sprint coverage tool.

Although, there was no dropped call, I called up a friend on my Sprint, then repeated the same course on Verizon. He said I sound better on Verizon.
Cornell Rd between Tanasbourne and NW Portland

Verizon Wireless
Kept 4/4 for the most part. Dropped to 2/4 in some parts.

Sprint
Anything from 0 to 5 bars. Signal strength changed wildly in the mountain roads between NW Murray Blvd and NW Portland. Phone got stuck on roaming in sections of Cornell Rd. I pulled over to the shoulder and rebooted the phone, but it still roamed. If you live in this area and your house happens to land on this part of the zebra's patch, you are at a great risk of getting the excessive roaming account termination.

Burnside Rd<-->Vista<-->Council Crest Park
Verizon Wireless
3 to 4/4 bars most ways. Small section gave 2/4

Sprint
jumped anywhere between 0 to 6. Same result at the actual Council Crest Park.

 

Basement of Neuberger Hall at Portland State Univ:

Verizon, 0 to 1 bar, can make call, marginal.
Sprint, can't initiate a call

Areas by SW Hall & SW Park, by the PSU campus Dept of Public Safety bldg

Verizon: just fine
Sprint: I started a call and I walked as I continued to talk. Voice got choppy on my end and when I finished my call, the phone was on roam. I was outside the entire time.

I think I'm going to try out a $40 T-Mobile Prepaid that has $25 airtime included.

 

Before I made the call, there was no delta mark. Then, when I got off the call, there was a delta mark on the screen. It might have gone to roam right after I pushed send.