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I drop about 6 calls a week in my apartment, 3rd floor. In general around the n. oakland / lake merrit / rockridge / berkeley area I would say my service is above average in my home below average so I give them an average rating.

Inside apartment usually only get 1-2 bars. Lots of dropped calls. Seems to have gotten worse in 2010.

We love Verizon: Great customer service (alway jobs in the USA, no off-shore customer service!), great reliability, mostly great reception--As a visiting nurse, I drive 6 counties and I really need reliable good service at night. But for the longest time, we couldn't get calls on our mobile phones in our own house! Verizon was embarrassed but couldn't fix it on their end. So they suggested we buy a booster. Now our reception is perfect EVERYWHERE. I really lust after an iPhone, but after reading all the bad reviews of AT&T from people right here in my zip code I'm going to stay with Verizon.

My reception was below average- two bars or less- until about a month ago, when it suddenly became far worse- frequent total losses of service, cycling through loss and regain until I just turn the phone off. I've called Verizon's tech support three times, and they say there's been transmitter work in the area and it'll get better, but after a month I've come to understand they're just shining me on. My phone gets a great signal, just a mile away in any direction, but North Oakland has been, evidently, left for dead. I'm looking at Sprint, through Credo. It couldn't be worse.

I have used Verizon for about 10 years and have been very happy with the reception and their customer service. I always get a signal inside my house, and usually a pretty good signal at work in downtown Oakland (far from a window). This past summer we drove to Wyoming through Oregon and Idaho, taking back roads most of the way, and were very surprised at how often we had a signal. I was even able to get on the web waaay out in the boonies of eastern Oregon. Amazing!

Although I hate the higher pricing of Verizon, I have to admit the reception for me has been pretty close to perfect at our home about midway in on Benevides. Still, I pay way too much. My neighbor has T-Mobile and told me she gets no reception in her house--has to go outside or find a sweet spot upstairs. I borrowed her phone to test T-Mobile in our home next door and I got service all throughout our main floor. None downstairs where my desk is though. Thinking about moving to T-Mobile for the much cheaper rates including texting... as long as I can get calls somewhere in the house!

Better upstairs than down, but I can take two steps to my left and the signal will go from 2 or 3 bars to none, and the call gets dropped. I used to have AT&T which was useless. Verizon is only a bit better. I'm keeping my landline.

Would do better with a megaphone... Reception is terrible and calls drop usually every single call!

There are patches where there is no reception at all. I thought Verizon was supposed to have the best signal in the Bay Area! The USB data access for my laptop also doesn't work.

Everytime I get to a certain point on Broadway Terrace (just past Village Market) or turn onto Golden Gate from Ocean View, my call drops. I warn whomever I'm talking with that the call will be dropping soon. I call back when I get home (on Golden Gate) but have to stand in just the right spot in my house to get decent reception.

Used to be no reception at all. Last year or so, I get many calls, though they are frequently dropped. Seems that walking out to the driveway improves odds of completing a short call, but still pretty dicey

I used to live two blocks away and had very spotty reception. In my apartment now I have excellent reception and no dropped calls.

a ton of disconnects. my phone kept switching from the 1x tower to Ev tower which drained my battery everyday. I could not have my phone on for the whole night with out having it plugged to a charger.

Verizon is the best in coverage. I do not need to carry 2 phones.

Marginal coverage in main area of house. Calls often drop. No coverage in downstairs basement.

Verizon has good signal and coverage throughout the East Bay and SF. I've never really had problems with dropped calls or no signal.

Zero to 1 bar above Hwy. 13 on Thornhill. Not useable.

Very variable from none to three bars. Dropped calls area problem.

In this area of the town, cell reception for all carriers seems to be bad. I have used a Verizon vx9800 and it has been only 3 times that I was able to make it up golf links and almost half way up Elysian Fields. I have a friend that has a Sprint sanyo 8200 that who was able to make calls 75 percent of the time. I had the vx9800 LG phone for a year, it worked well in places where my sanyo 4900 didn't all over the bay area. I will write about my new phone with metro PCS next.

I have Verizon and occasionally get one bar but it's not enough to get or receive a call. They said I could cancel without penalty. I don't think anyone gets reception here. I got good reception when I lived on Snake Road.

Reception is OK in this part of the city. Usually I get 1-2 bars indoors (apt with concrete etc) and 2-3 bars outside. I think part of the problem is the tall buildings. Verizon should add an antenna or two near the dowtown area. Reception is better near 16th and Franklin and near Jack London Sq.

Verizons network sucks. Everytime I see one of there stupid adds I want to strangle them. Our service is so bad when I called to complain they said yes we know it is bad we have no plans to fix it and you can cancel your contract without any cancellation fees. I have tried Sprint to no avail. My next test Cingular. Why do american cell companies spends billions on BS ad campaigns and invest zero in there network.

Poor or no reception at home. After 2 years. Phone is basically useless here for placing calls. College Avenue, one block away, is little better.

I get pretty much no reception downstairs. Upstairs is better, but the sound is still choppy, and if the conversation lasts more than 3 minutes it has close to a 50% chance of being dropped.

I can only get calls upstairs and while hanging my head out the East facing window. Across the street is much better.

The reception on this model is horrible. You can rest assured that if making or recieving calls in the area of 12th Av and East 22nd st all the way down to Park blvd your call will drop. Also, it doesn't work inside in these areas either. Most times I'm not able to use my phone until I'm actually on interstate 580 in either direction. However, it doesn't get any better once you transition onto Interstate 80 eastbound until you get to the city of Albany. From that point all the way to Vallejo it does fine.

Constantly wavering zero to three bars, with frequent dropped calls. My wife and I both have LG flip phones from Verizon and experience the same lousy signal quality throughout the Upper Rockridge and Broadway Terrace neighborhoods. The dead spots get worse as you head up the Oakland hills near the Caldecott Tunnel.

only works well if stand on Bay side of house by window.

Never really had any problems with Verizon. Always works fine wherever I go in the bay area.

Only sporadic reception at my home. Very frustrating

We just moved to the nieghborhood and while we may have 3-4 bars, calls often drop on all 3 of our phones. Just talked to Verizon Customer Service and the closest tower is located between Lake Temescal and Hyway 24. We suspect that the problem is an over crowded cell due to commute traffic going through the tunnel. I'm stuck till July when my contract is up. Friends that have Cingular don't get dropped cals from here.

Verizon reception for this part of College Ave. is between poor and none.

Verizon's reception here is great, even within the house.

Reception below the ridgeline on the west side of Hwy. 13 was absolutely miserable in the past. I rarely could hang onto any call for more than a few minutes -- essentially unusable. Verizon was unresponsive to concerns about coverage. Reception quality seems to have improved significantly in the past couple of years. Now usable on a more consistent basis, but still fades out and drops sometimes.

After good reception through Verizon's Extended Network for the past year, they suddenly dropped the extended network (which may have been Sprint). No reception and no explanation for the network change. Customer service trying to help, sending us through phone exercises, but have no clue about what happened to the extended network.

All over this part of rockridge, from the bottom of the hill by the Country Club, down Manila, and up College ave from Manila to the next street closer to BART - reception is terrible. Inside, fahgettaboutit. My girlfriend's Sprint phone seems to work o.k. A friend's AT&T had no service either, but another friend's Cingular even worked inside my apartment.

No reception at all in my home at the moment. At best, I can expect 1 bar and dropped calls.

bad reception that hasn't improved in at least the last 5 years

I cannot make or receive calls from inside my apartment. I get a "no service" screen. If I stand outside on the sidewalk, I get fair reception, but often get cut off.

No problems, even get decent reception in the tricky Oakland Hills.

Terrible coverage here. I am in and out on every call.

Great Reception all over Piedmont, occasional cut out but majority of the time reception is great. Satisfied.