Cell Coverage Question

[Shawn Seeger]

So first I will say I am fairly tech savvy (even though I am older, but not even close to @Old Man)... I have been pissed by the 5G rollout and the effect on 4G service (esp. Verizon for me). I have been with Verizon since day one, but I am on the verge of changing networks.

Also, I have been a Motorola brand (Just say no to iPhone) because they have always been the best "antenna" (signal grabbing/capturing) phones (depending on the specific phone model). Since I live remote and spend a big amount of time more remote, that has been my phone buying criteria.

Last year I was in my favorite parking lot, during the 5G change, and every since my phone has worked like crap.

SO ... for all you Eastern side guys and guys that fish/camp remote, what has been your best network (excluding iPhone)?

Thanks for any assistance!

Tight lines

 

[Long_Rod_Silvers]

In the same boat. Been super happy with Verizon until right around when they rolled out 5G.....

Curious what others say.

 

[Old Man]

I have Samsung and I like it. It isn't an expensive one as I travel on the Cheap side, But it works for me. I was up on the south side of the Red Rock River. I got a phone call. It surprised me as I thought I was out of range. I use the Straight Talk service. What they do is hook you up with another working service, so you don't really get out of service range.

When I worked at Boeing I got a cell phone through Verizon. If you got behind a tall tree or a large rock you lost your service. I lived north of Lake Cassidy. If you drove east out of Marysville you had to go up a hill and on the other side of highway 9 you lost all service. After two years I quit that service.

I would just buy a flip phone and use what service came with it. It was easy

 

[Tom Butler]

Down in Southeast Washington we have t-mobile for our samsung androids and didn't notice any service difference. I don't get signal down in the tucannon or out on the snake though, the places I'm most likely to get hurt.

 

[clarkman]

same boat here. Verizon.....but maybe not much longer?

 

[HauntedByWaters]

I have been on Cricket for a long time. It works most of the time. Wake up people! Verizon and ATT are too damn expensive.

 

[Capt Insano Emeritis]

We have Verizon. And I phones and we love them. We both use 4g phones . I still have an 11. No hurry to upgrade. Mainly because it works fine for the limited daily use . I have not even made much effort to use its features. I have noticed a real issue trying to connect to my 97 yrold mom . She has a land line. Maybe there are no folks here who regularly call land lines here? There is an issue for me in my erratic success of calling and her hearing my voice. I can connect but sometimes she can’t hear my voice. Old and mew tech do not play well together.

 

[RCF]

Back in 4g days Verizon was best overall - no one else came close. I have been on Verizon for a several decades too.

With 5g there are two different types. Wide area coverage and small area coverage. Wide area coverage is slower than small area coverage but still faster than 4g. Based on what I have experienced Verizon is utilizing small area coverage and is rolling it out to higher density areas. T-Mobile is rolling out wide area coverage most places.

I use speedtest.net to run speed tests.

At the QFC near me, the Verizon 5g is about 100 mb/sec. A little bit further away Verizon 4g is less than 20 mb/sec. In Issaquah at my doctor's office complex I can get Verizon 5g. If I go to the far side of my doctor's office complex I can only get Verizon 4g.

At my home I am now using T-Mobile for internet. On my phone I can only get Verizon 4g. Speed is less than 20 mb/sec. If I use T-Mobile to make phone calls through my internet I am consistently getting 40 mb/sec. One of the people living in our house has T-Mobile phone service. He is consistently getting 5g speeds of 60+ mb/sec and even better than that. The T-Mobile service at our home is 5g wide area coverage.

Since 5G wide bands occupy the same area of the RF spectrum as the existing 4G low and high bands, they're simple, immediately useful drop-in replacements—and they'll offer higher throughput, lower latency, and more predictable service quality than the 4G systems they replace.

Once my contracts are up with with Verizon I will be converting them all to T-Mobile.

 

[Clean Willy]

I'm a West side guy but can't say I'd recommend T-Mobile. Coverage is fine on the East side, until you get 50 yards off any major freeway.... There are advantages to it, cost being one, travel another, but I live 13 miles as the crow flies from T-Mobile world headquarters and get one bar in the house. Works for what I use it for but there are some pretty significant holes in say, Idaho and Eastern Oregon.

T-Mobile Coverage Map

 

[TicTokCroc]

Verizon, have coverage issues in the usual remote places but otherwise not many complaints. Our whole account is a "business" account, 1 number for our store and 2 for my wife an I so never really factored in cost too much since I write it all off. If you have internet in your home there are programs that will convert your cell coverage over to your modem when your in the house. I have a friend that lives in a valley out of town and does this.

 

[Bruce Baker]

I had been with Verizon for close to 20 years and switched to Xfinity Mobile. So far so good, but I have yet to leave the Oly area since switching.

 

[RCF]

I had been with Verizon for close to 20 years and switched to Xfinity Mobile. So far so good, but I have yet to leave the Oly area since switching.

Xfinity uses the Verizon network for coverage...

 

[Divad]

I travel A LOT of the i5 corridor in WA and don’t use 5G anymore. 5G rollout was largely driven by marketing prowess in an effort to continue equivalent upgrades in technology to sell to consumers ie: 4g, 3g etc.

Problem is Verizon, TMobile and AT&T all utilize Signal Sharing to accomplish widespread availability of 5G, but signal sharing uses the same frequency infrastructure of 4G/LTE. This minimizes new construction requirements for carriers while still giving a broad coverage map for marketing. Best part is, Verizon even came out and blatantly said this, it’s a new technology running on old networks.

Your phone will try to evaluate 5G and 4G and make a trade off for you. For some, it’s seamless but others depending on location it’s absolute crud.



Turn it off, wait 10 years for 5G to actually have supportive infrastructure built on higher frequencies and by then they’ll be selling 6G as widespread.

 

[majpreal]

I had been with Verizon for close to 20 years and switched to Xfinity Mobile. So far so good, but I have yet to leave the Oly area since switching.

That's interesting as I'm fairly certain Xfinity Mobile uses Verizon's network.

 

[Mossback]

Comcast’s Xfinity Mobile service is an MVNO, which means that Comcast handles all of its mobile customers’ billing and service issues, but the actual underlying network they’re using is Verizon’s.

What’s even more surprising is that Xfinity Mobile customers generally ranked the MVNO’s network coverage as slightly better than Verizon’s network coverage, even though the underlying network is exactly the same. (That’s not a huge surprise considering just 29% of Xfinity Mobile’s customers knew that Verizon is the actual network provider for Comcast’s mobile service.)

 

[Josh]

I was always under the impression that Verizon was the best PNW coverage and so when we needed to get phones for the teens and add some lines last year, I switched from AT&T (after 15 years or so) to Verizon. AT&T had no deals or incentives to help me want to stay without playing the "threaten to cancel" game. So I figured I'd finally switch to the "better" network.

And let me tell you it sucks ass. I'm really pretty disappointed with Verizon. Coverage is significantly worse than AT&T. I actually have a second eSIM line on my phone that uses Mint mobile (which is on the T-mobile network). And for all the crap I've heard about the T-Mobile network I've heard over the years, the coverage isn't any worse, and in some spots is better, than Verizon.

I genuinely wish I hadn't made the switch.

 

[Mossback]

Where I am on the OP, Verizon is the best coverage around, and I have no complaints.
Had Sprint for a long time, but when I moved it was a no go out here, that may have changed by now.

 

[HauntedByWaters]

I was always under the impression that Verizon was the best PNW coverage and so when we needed to get phones for the teens and add some lines last year, I switched from AT&T (after 15 years or so) to Verizon. AT&T had no deals or incentives to help me want to stay without playing the "threaten to cancel" game. So I figured I'd finally switch to the "better" network.

And let me tell you it sucks ass. I'm really pretty disappointed with Verizon. Coverage is significantly worse than AT&T. I actually have a second eSIM line on my phone that uses Mint mobile (which is on the T-mobile network). And for all the crap I've heard about the T-Mobile network I've heard over the years, the coverage isn't any worse, and in some spots is better, than Verizon.

I genuinely wish I hadn't made the switch.

Cricket is AT&T. So if you switch back consider Cricket because it is cheaper and you get the same coverage.

 

[RCF]

Verizon, have coverage issues in the usual remote places but otherwise not many complaints. Our whole account is a "business" account, 1 number for our store and 2 for my wife an I so never really factored in cost too much since I write it all off. If you have internet in your home there are programs that will convert your cell coverage over to your modem when your in the house. I have a friend that lives in a valley out of town and does this.

My Android does this. Just turn on 'wifi calling' and phone will automatically be using the your home internet for both incoming and outgoing. Easy Peasy... IMHO speeds are much better using wifi too... When not at home it will revert to cell tower signal...

 

[_WW_]

It really does depend on where you are standing as to which network will work better for you. Seen this on many fishing trips. The guy on verizon will get service and the other guys won't. Ten miles down the road and it flips.