Review of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County California

I was up in Santa Rosa and San Francisco/Oakland this weekend visiting my father who just moved out there. I brought along both my T-Mobile V600 and Nextel Blackberry 7510 to use. Here were my findings:

T-Mobile:
For whatever reason, I did not find the T-Mobile/Cingular network to be that great in the area. I had a few dropped calls in my dad's house (which is on top of a hill, so that would make a lot of the problems) and no signal areas in Sausolito yesterday. My dad has AT&T and his phone was on the AT&T network most of the time with no issues. It wasn't to say that the phone didn't work in most of the places we went, it was just not as great as I have come to expect of them here in Phoenix. They seemed to have great coverage of course on the highways, but it wasn't always so good in Santa Rosa. We headed north to Healdsburg and they were fine. We then headed West past Sonoma Lake towards the coast, and they went dead. San Francisco was fine for T-Mobile, and I had good service everywhere I travelled in the city.

Nextel:
Worked well throughout the Santa Rosa area and were great in San Francisco. They also died when I headed West from Healdsburg to the coast. The area is laden with trees and the coast of that part of California is very dessolate. There are not many towns, and I think one of the apeals for many people is that they are not in cell coverage range to be bothered.

Synopsis:
For the most part, the entire trip went well and the coverage I had with both carriers was fine. I may have had some Analog roaming in some of the areas north and west of Sonoma County, but it really wasn't a big deal. We were in very rural areas, and you don't expect a lot of digital services in those areas anyway! I only missed one call during the weekend and that was in a store in Sausolito. I was however able to make a call from a hill on the north side of the golden gate bridge overlooking the city. Nextel was laden with pilot polution and I couldn't get the call to connect. Loved the area, and can't wait to go back though. You northern California folks really have a lot to offer up there! Very beautiful!

 

Yes I was on the Sausalito side for my calls out. I have no idea what the locals call it, but man it had a great view of the Golden Gate, San Fran. and the ocean!

I was at most of the places you listed (Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf ) and also had a good experience on the Embarcadero. It was all around great to be using GSM in the city!