Scarlett Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Does anyone know anything about cell phone coverage and how to get a phone to work in a certain area? You can't trust any individual carrier to tell you the truth because they all just want to sell you THEIR company. My step son lives in rural OK and we are having the worst luck with phone service. He had AT&T. Service was fine. But the bill was huge so we changed to Straighttalk which worked fine....but then he wanted a better phone and when we bought him a better Straight talk phone it wouldn't work at all. At all. We took that phone back. Then we put him on our Verizon plan and coverage stinks. Does the phone make a difference? Don't they all use the same towers? Anyone have any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fhjmom Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 My family has a ranch right on the Texas/Oklahoma border and my brother lives up there. Cell phone coverage in that area has been an issue for my dad and brother forever. In fact my dad carried an old analog bag phone for *years* after the rest of the world went digital because he swore he got better coverage at the ranch. It wasn't until they started completely doing away with the analog towers here in the metroplex he finally made the switch. We have always been with AT&T (or its predecessors) and different carriers do have different signal strengths in different areas. Even though they do share towers, I don't think all carriers are necessarily on every tower. And my brother has found that phones do make a difference, but there isn't really a way to tell from the information available on a phone whether it will work better. Used to, the phones that had more of an antenna would get better reception, but now none of them have one, so that is moot. Can he ask people who live near him what carrier and phone they are using and how their service is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Does anyone know anything about cell phone coverage and how to get a phone to work in a certain area? You can't trust any individual carrier to tell you the truth because they all just want to sell you THEIR company. My step son lives in rural OK and we are having the worst luck with phone service. He had AT&T. Service was fine. But the bill was huge so we changed to Straighttalk which worked fine....but then he wanted a better phone and when we bought him a better Straight talk phone it wouldn't work at all. At all. We took that phone back. Then we put him on our Verizon plan and coverage stinks. Does the phone make a difference? Don't they all use the same towers? Anyone have any ideas? My dh went to Radio Shack and they knew which phone would be best for our area. I wasn't there, and I've never shopped for a cell phone myself, so I only know what he told me. I think he said they had maps of coverage areas, but I might be wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda in VT Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Does anyone know anything about cell phone coverage and how to get a phone to work in a certain area? You can't trust any individual carrier to tell you the truth because they all just want to sell you THEIR company. My step son lives in rural OK and we are having the worst luck with phone service. He had AT&T. Service was fine. But the bill was huge so we changed to Straighttalk which worked fine....but then he wanted a better phone and when we bought him a better Straight talk phone it wouldn't work at all. At all. We took that phone back. Then we put him on our Verizon plan and coverage stinks. Does the phone make a difference? Don't they all use the same towers? Anyone have any ideas? Yes, the phone matters. And no, the providers do not all use the same towers. Local word of mouth is the most reliable way to find a good provider. Around here, you need a really local recommendation, since there are lots of dead pockets. At our new house, for example, we have 0 cell coverage from any provider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Don't trust the carriers because when you call, they're just looking it up in a database. AT&T works best for me, but zero coverage where my parents lived. Well, OK coverage until 2009, which I found out that they had cut off that entire part of the state. So we have two AT&T phones for frequent use, and a Verizon that floats for area that AT&T doesn't cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueridge Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 I understand only vaguely, but I do agree with everyone else. :) Dh works in this industry, and he said that coverage depends on which part of the state someone lives in. Coverage in some places may be sporadic because of the population there, which influences how many towers a company puts up. Verizon has next to no coverage in rural OK. AT&T has a few towers in the Southwest. Prepaid phones are a gamble because they can use different carriers (like Sprint) that have virtually no coverage there. US Cellular is a rural carrier, with a fairly large network in most parts of OK, so they might be the best bet. Clear as mud...but I tried. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amey311 Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Definitely have him ask around. I live in a major city, but there are some carriers that just have holes in different places. When we first moved in, we couldn't get an All-tel signal at our house (but you could at the end of the street). We've had fantastic coverage from Verizon until the past year where for some reason I have fine coverage in the house except for the back part of the kitchen (and heaven forbid if I bend down while in that spot - the call will definitely drop then). The living room is fine :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 I agree with asking people locally. We had great service here in West Michigan-----all but our house, and 4 pockets on roads we frequently travelled. We moved 2 miles away and have GREAT coverage but those 4 pockets are still a bit iffy. Seriously, in rural areas, you can have coverage on the deck, while hanging upside down and facing north but not if you are actually standing on the deck :-) Heaven forbid you happen to breathe wrong as well while trying to talk as that will drop the call as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparrow Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 I've just spent the past 20 minutes looking for a great article I read a few weeks ago describing how to decipher the model numbers on no contract phones. For the life of me, I can't find it :glare:. The basic gist was that cell phones with model numbers that end in "C" use CDMA which is Sprint or Verizon networks. Model numbers that end in "G" are GSM and use AT&T or T-Mobile. Here's *some* info, but not as good as the other article: http://techtips.salon.com/cdma-vs-gsm-cell-phone-service-20419.html We asked around regarding what network worked best for our friends in the area. Verizon came out on top, so we shopped for a Straight Talk phone that ended in "C". We got the Samsung R451C for $20 refurbed. It works like a dream! I found out the previous Tracfones we had were "G"s and therefore on the AT&T network, which only works well in certain areas of our county! It was amazing to us to find we could actually *choose* our carrier, based on the model number, and not have to get a pricey contract. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nono Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 I'd like to give a shout out for T-Mobile. When I first got with them, about 10 years ago, they were exceedingly concerned about my coverage being fair to poor on the island. I practically had to beg them to write me a contract (they had a phone I wanted/needed for work). Then a couple years back they came out with their zoom in coverage map. They nailed it, right down to 45' on my property where I could get no coverage! The map reflected that. Good luck in your search for adequate coverage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted March 1, 2012 Author Share Posted March 1, 2012 Thank you each and every one of you. I am trying my best to figure this out. I found this site...http://www.reviewgist.com/best-cell-phones and this one http://www.antennasearch.com/ Very interesting reading. His location in OK shows 4 towers and 10 antennas. Not many! I think we might should consider one of the other carriers mentioned here in you all's posts. Ugh. If only his mom would put him on her plan I think this problem would be solved...she has At&t and apparently good service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share Posted March 3, 2012 Hmmm.....well, that was all a big waste of time and money. Dss15 now has an IPhone, which apparently works out there in the boondocks....too bad he isn't allowed to call my dh from his new phone. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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