Hi...I'm considering T-Mobile service in Stephens County, GA in the city of Toccoa. The map shows 'fair' coverage but I'm concerned. Any one have experience with service there
Actually believe it or not, T-Mobile never put any towers that far up in Northeast Georgia. The SunCom network in Northeast Georgia (T-Mobile bought) included only about 7 towers and only along I-85 between Lavonia (Lake Hartwell) & up to about Commerce, Georgia. Toccoa is about 15 miles Northwest of I-85. So T-Mobile doesn't have a tower (service) in the city of Toccoa yet, and this is a spot they desperatly need to fill. You'd be roaming on AT&T.
KandM22, Thanks for the response.... you seem to be very well versed in this stuff. My buddy has T-mobile already, in Commerce. I was planning to get the unlimited everything including free roaming. I did read that T-mobile will roam on AT&T just like you said. And if I have free roaming then would I have degraded service or additional dropped calls if I am roaming on AT&T with my T-mobile phone? Or is it just a bad idea to "plan" on using my T-mobile on AT&T roaming all the time? What do you think?
Well I don't live too far away from Toccoa, GA, I'm 1½ hours up I-85 just past Greenville & Spartanburg SC, but I do go down to Lake Hartwell & the Atlanta area like every few months. And I've done some field tests with my phone down there. Glad I could help. Well T-Mobile's policy, like with most carriers, is to get rid of a customer after a certain amount of time of roaming too much (usually 800 or more minutes, or 50% roaming for 3 - 6 consecutive months). Sometimes this is not enforced. Free roaming for the customer isn't free for the carrier, and it costs carriers alot more than what someone pays for service (like 2-4 cents for the carrier per minute of roaming). I've been to Toccoa just once with my phone, and from my experience with all available carriers, Verizon & AT&T are the coverage kings, you would be most likely to have good service with either one. T-Mobile may one day put up a tower in Toccoa but who knows when. Off the interstate, the closest T-Mobile tower to Toccoa is in Clarkesville, GA, in Habersham County, 12 miles west of Toccoa. My best options for "unlimited calling" for service in Toccoa would be on Verizon or AT&T, for $99 or Boost's $50 unlimited using the nextel network, but coverage may be hit or miss there. Sprint is ok in Toccoa, with towers along route 17 between Toccoa & I-85, but outside that is dead. Unfortunately, T-Mobile is just not an option right now for those in Toccoa, I've thought about this problem of theirs for some time now. In the meantime, you could bring a T-Mobile phone to Toccoa, and be roaming non-stop on AT&T, and see if you like the AT&T coverage. If T-Mobile throws you off after a few months of roaming, you could just transfer service to AT&T and not have to pay ETF. I hope you get to find some good service, and let us know what happens.
