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I have Virgin Mobile (Sprint) service and get great reception (5 bars) all around this area. I usually have at least 2 to 3 bars inside my house. The only time I have a reception problem is when I am in Irvine. But, that's not the service or phone's fault. It's the city of Irvine. They won't allow towers and cables above ground. Oh well...

Reception is pretty good, don't have any issues really.

Sprint is having major problems with towers in Lake Forest Ca. Confirmed by tech support and Sprint Store: many customers effected. Being going on for 4 weeks. Dismissed calls, network busy, sms errors, etc.

Phone shows 2-3 bars, but never a dropped call in two years with my Verizon phone. I wouldn't go just by the bars. Call quality is excellent, even in thick concrete buildings like at work.

The reception for T-Mobile is around 3 bars, fair reception

Live in a wooded area of Lake Forest. Reception is low to non existence in my home and I have many dead zones in this area for the PCS network. I can however step into the middle in front of my house and get decent reception. Since, I cannot explain why. I reported my findings to Sprint via Customer Service and I was told that there is nothing they can do except verify a problem if I call them immediately right after a problem occurs. The PCS network otherwise works great in many cities I have traveled to throughout the US. It would appear from most of the posts I have read that it as good as or better then other service providers or perhaps its as good as it gets. BTW I use this phone as my exclusive service, (got rid of hard-line 10 years ago), in Phoenix, AZ were I own a vacation home. No problems there.

Thinking about using AT&T in Lake Forest, parts of Rancho Santa Margarita or Irvine, think again. I get NO reception in my home and have to travel to the curb to make a call. From El Toro to Los Alisos you'll get from no reception to 2 bars. If you are out past Los Alisos, it will go up to 3 bars, but your call will likely get dropped. If you think that 911 will work, well it does, but I have timed it 3 times and it takes on average 1 minute and 30 seconds for the call to connect. If you want AT&T will sell you a $200 cell booster and offer to charge you an additional $20 per month to fix the problem, of course it is probably just cheaper to switch companies.

If you plan on buying a cell phone and live in north lake forest DO NOT use the AT&T network. Look at where the cell tower are before you buy. I have not had more than two bars for years now. Its so frustrating when I call AT&T and they tell me the reception should be fine. Well it's not. I get dropped calls daily and because I am under contract I will have to buy a prepaid phone so I can actually make and receive calls. I really hope AT&T finds a solution for the few thousands that signed on to use the network in this dead zone. BoooooO AT&T! I only love you in some areas just not where I work and live.

SIGNAL strength for the majority of Lake Forest is very weak. The main street El Toro is completely a weak signal for Sprint. Please HELP!

Cell service Poor most of the time. Rare times I can communicate without going outside.