Verizon Holes around Philly,time to bail?

All cell companies have coverage holes.

 

I rarely notice any signal drop around philly with verizon.
brother went to villanova and I constantly travel to philly along the blue route to the schulkyll and never had a signal drop

 

Jerro - truthfully, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better carrier in the Philly/NJ area than VZW. We're their backyard, after all. But bear in mind that no carrier is perfect, and environmental/zoning/atmospheric conditions can cause coverage holes. But to drop VZW simply because they have a hole here and there would be cutting off your nose to spite your face.

 

The other problem is the NIMBYer's that don't want towers up.
You could try a Go Phone to see if Cingular has coverage in the area's that your having a problem, and a Virgin Mobile phone to see how the coverage is with Sprint. Basically though Verizon & Cingular will be the better bets in this part of the country.
Do you do the regular updates on your phone to make sure any roaming partners & new towers are picked up by your phone?

 

Fire, I don't think a PRL update would help in this case, because it will only make a difference if Verizon ads a roaming partner in the area, but there haven't really been any changes lately for that area. It will, however, pick new Verizon towers up, and new towers of their already included roaming partners, it will only make a difference if a new roaming partner is added.
But it doesn't hurt for the OP to do a *228, option 2 anyways I guess.

 

*228 only updates new roaming partners and new networks
No new networks in that area and no new roaming partners
I would suggest to try another provider and not just go to another provider. With another provider you might find more holes and want VZW back.
You can see if Sprint does have network where Verizon has a hole by doing *22803 if you can connect to a tower then you know they have coverage and hangup. Nothing will happen to your phone by doing this.

If you want to check Cingular or T-Mobile you will need to get a gsm phone to do that.

 

I don't know that area that well, but if NIMBY's say no way to a new tower VZW can't do anything, but go into litigation that can last 5 years.

 

Ahh,...yes. VZN won't co-locate. Guess they'd rather pay James Earl the millions than invest in the newtwork. I know, I know,....I've seen the artificial "let's satisfy the shareholders / blow smoke to the public" numbers regarding their network buildout. I can't tell you the last time we added a T1 line (capacity issues) to a VZN cell site in the immediate York, PA area,...maybe 3 yrs ago ? The network is way overloaded.......hey, with Cing's 30 day trial period, why not try it. GSM sounds better anyway, unless you really like CDMA's Mr. Roboto sound.
:loony:

 

Since when doesn't Verizon invest in their network?? That's news to me!

 

Me too, didn't they announce recently they are investing about the same or more then Cingular this year? over 6 Billion dollars or something like that?

 

Ofcourse they invest. I just don't for a moment (I think working for the wreched outfit gives me perhaps just a bit of an inside view regarding their tactics) believe that it's nearly as much as they say.
No....I haven;t tried GSM in about 3 yrs here. I was with Cingular and got caught in ye'ole mismanaged TDMA to GSM thing....then tried GSM. Quality was absolutely superb, but yes, RF wise, coverage was an issue.
I noticed with GSM that I didn't need "cell yell" to overcome the CDMA noise cancelling crap. Entirely suitable quality wise, for land line substitution I thought. I can't say the same for VZN CDMA. Yes, I still use VZW...contract over August 27th...we'll see then. Oh, and yes, like many others, I learned my lesson the hard way (can you say liars?) on their slamming people with 2 yr contracts, even when they promise it's a 1 year.
I guess Ivan's bankroll is plenty big to ward off the legal beagles.

 

Perhaps you'll see "A Tale of Two Companies". My local, CWA 3806, is on the front line of inviting Cingular Blue employees into organized labor. Here's a second report.

Please consider Cingular Wireless for your GSM provider. I am sure it has improved since your last trial two years ago.

COtech

 

I will consider Cing. In fact, there is apparently a small discount offered to VZN employees, but it requires working through the NBO
I have also searched Cing jobs in the past, but there isn't much in my immediate area, and I'm not in a position to relocate. However, I know how confrontational employee / company relationships can be, and only WISH I was CWA affiliated. We're a small division of IBEW here, so good 'ole VZN crapped all over us with a recently ratified 5 yr contract. The Cing Blue folks should jump on your invite.

 

Geeze,.....I knew this, but after reading The Tale....I really hate the company I work for.

 

GSM coverage has greatly improved in PA,
even ANALOG Dead zones now has GSM coverage in PA.
Also the analog dead zones in the backroads of Northeast PA
now has CDMA coverage.
These rural back roads of Northeast PA are shown as
DEAD ZONES in T-MOBILE Personal Coverage Maps
but it has Cingular GSM coverage.
Of course if you don't live here it's OK.

 

I'm in the southeast area; 50 miles dead North of Baltimore. Pretty dense area, but I do travel around "backroads"
New cell site locations everywhere....the most intelligent placement seems to be the ones using existing structure, like a water tower, where the municipality or whomeve owns it likely gets lease money. Kind of win / win.

 

Wow, very interesting articles especially the one "A tale of 2 companies" Has Verizon responded back to this in any way, at least trying to counter the article?

 

Both articles are plain union BS. They know how to twist truth and misrepresent facts. My union (32BJ) does it on regular bases. They have few people that they constantly show on TV or in the fliers. And these people ALWAYS hail the Union. If anyone remembers history, Nazis would have few prisoners from concentration camp in front of the Red Cross comity saying how happy they are and how they like the "camp". That is why Verizon does not see any need to respond to that. People that know how union operates will see trough that BS. And if some people choose to believe it, you won't change their mind anyway.

 

No VZN responds alright. With their own brand of COMPANY BS. The VZW folks have shown interest in unionizing. BIG V does what it always does, and scares it's employees into submission. I've been praying for several months now to be laid off. I told my boss directly, that I volunteer, to save them the hassle of veiled threats and BS on my behalf.

 

Actually, majority of the employees voted against the union. Nobody treatened them. Union is not always the best option. Check out Howard Forum's Cingular threads. You will see how they "like" union.

 

In my regional area, common knowledge was that most of the VZW techs seriously entertained unionization. It really depends on what union you're going to be affiliated with. CWA always seems preferable in the examples that I've seen.
A VZW cell site tech a few yrs ago did about 35 - 37K / yr., probably with some OT involved. In general, the PCS guys (T Mob, Sprint) make less.
I think that's too low, but, hey,.....maybe they're content with it.

 

I guess this did get a "little" off topic, sorry if I helped get it that way.
So, has there been any sign of hope they are putting up any antenna or towers by you to fix these holes?

 

So I guess the real question is, how is Cingular service in the area?