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Verizon knows how bad their service is on Alameda. They said "it is a known trouble spot" so they offered to give me a $250 network extender or let me out of my contract without the early termination fee.

Verizon reception has been fairly good for the last 6-years but over the last 3-days I've had little to no signal strength. Brought my phone to Verizon and it is okay. Wondering if there is a cell tower problem in the area.

Inside, get 1-2 bars, dropped calls every once in a while. Work at Harbor Bay, same thing. I get better signal just about anywhere else.

I usually get only 1 or 2 bars at home, with lots of dropped calls. I work near the intersection of Otis and Grand. My reception at work has improved to 3's and sometimes 4's. Still have dropped calls and poop[r sound quality.

Near webster and central, I will get reception if I stand in one spot, but if I move, the signal is lost. It only gets better over near park street and that for me is only about 2 bars and still not great reception.

Reception veers wildly from 5 bars to zip and back, inside or out. Every other call drops. We must be at the edge of a reception area; CDMA area retracts toward tower as call load increases.

Pretty good reception except on West End and crossing the Bay Farm Bridge and of course, at home. Using headset and waving phone around trying to get reception. My clients get mad when they get dropped!

Can't use my cell phone at home. Have to go outside and walk a block to the beach to get any reception.

Good reception here. I'm assuming the tower at the Alameda Fire Department HQ is responsible for this. It is owned by Crown Castle International, but I belive it provides service to mostly Verizon customers. Verizon's Broadband Service works great here. Never has dropped internet service.

Good reception here. I'm assuming the tower at the Alameda Fire Department HQ is responsible for this. It is owned by Crown Castle International, but I belive it provides service to mostly Verizon customers. Never had a dropped call here.

I had Sprint and in did not work in my house on the West End. I moved here and it didn't work here either. I noticed the real estate agent talking on my phone. She told me Verizon is the only one that works well in Alameda. I am very pleased with it. The only place it hasn't worked is inside Pagano's Hardware store. It also works great in big box stores like Costco.

This is an update to the post I put up on Dec 10, 2005 (seen a few comments below this posting). I kept a careful eye on my reception and found out that my phone only displays a total of 4 bars! So having 3 to sometimes 4 bars at my location is actually above average and good. A friend of mine also has Verizon and his phone only displays a total of 4 bars. So don't be a sucker and fall into the full 5 bar hysteria like I did. I've seen numerous phones with a display of 6 bars with other carriers! How ridiculous! Anywho. My reception as well as my phone are working like champs. No drops, crisp and clear calls even when I was at a Ski resort in Washinton State (Stevens Pass).

This area has always been problematic for cell coverage until they installed a tower at the fire station (1 mile away). Now, I can get a signal both outside and inside my house. The voice quality isn't as good as landline, but at least I can make a call from inside my house. I don't know if the voice quality is due to the phone or the cell coverage. I previously had SprintPCS. With Sprint, it only worked in certain rooms of my house, not everywhere in the house. So, the Verizon signal seems to be an improvement. I also tried T-Mobile. Their signal only works outside the house, not inside.

As of 12 / 9 / 05 I'm ball and chained to Verizon for two years. Well, at least after the 15 day trial period. I switched over from T-Mobile whom I was with for two years. Their reception at home was average to below average at best. But very good everywhere else. I was even able to get reception below in the BART station of San Francisco (Montgomery / Embarcadero / Powell). I stuck it out assuming it would only get better at home. Well, after two years it never made it to my house. Calls constantly got interrupted with static breaks and drops with two different Motorola phones. With Verizon I only get 3 bars but the calls are crips, clear and don't drop even after an hour of straight talk! I'm very satisfied and I know their reception is reputable else where locally and nationwide. I believe it's just Alameda. It's hard to receive spectacular reception here. All my friends have different carriers and their reception isn't always the best.

Living on Park St.has its advantages. Signal strength is wonderful.

Horrible Reception in my home, cannot use phone most of the time. Some spots in Alameda are just ok, most of Alameda is horrible. They said there is a cell tower 3 miles away and they have a range of 30+ miles. NO EXCUSE for the bad signal!!

Verizon on this end of the island is spotty at best. At home I might get reception in the house, but stepping outside doesn't even mean i've got something good enough to complete a call -- and it's not just my phone, several friends have similar problems when visiting.