Coverage comments are submitted voluntarily by visitors around the Washington, DC area.
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AT&T The bar indicators in my apartment facing Mount Pleasant / Rock Creek drift in and out with the wind, it seems. 1 bar then 2,3 then 1 then 0 and then finally it says, Emergency Calls Only. Went to the Westin hotel on 14th and M NW, my colleagues with Verizon and Sprint had perfect reception. I had No Network Coverage. I have to say, with my old Nokia I never had the message Emergency Calls Only. Hmmmmmmm. It does have it's benefits though. Makes people call me at home and saves me a few $ on extra minutes of bla, bla, bla... .. Bottom line is, service must be as advertised and it's not. Imagine standing next to a bus with an ad for ATT and getting no reception. Hilarious.
Sprint has really improved the DC area. I chose Sprint over everyone else, primarily because of the great coverage I have in my apartment. I'm located deep in the building with no outside windows, only one inside window which stairs at some fire escapes and a cement wall. Verizon coverage was ok (fluctuates between 2 bars to 5 bars and you notice clipping when on conversations). Cingular's clipping was more noticeable, but had the same 2 bars to 5 bars reception issue. T-Mobile fluctuates between 1 bar to 4 bars and sometimes drops the call. Since my cell is my only phone, coverage in my apartment was pretty important, so Sprint won out because of my close proximity to a tower located on the exterior of a building up the street. As far as coverage in the area, Sprint has a lot of weak spots once you get out of the downtown area, but I have roaming included with my plan, and when out in the boonies, I just force my phone to roam on Verizon. I'm satisfied with the price I'm paying and the quality of the conversations where I have proper signal. I notice that calls seem to be clearer on Sprint than when I'm roaming on Verizon. Also the Razr phone I have seems to give headaches if I talk too long on Verizon. I don't get the same headaches when using Sprint. I don't know if this has something to do with different rf emission on Sprint's 1900 PCS versus Verizon digital 800.
Hate to say it because I am irritated at the company and the software in this cheapie phone, but the reception is flawless here, inside or out. Not as good in Bethesda and disapears altogether going out 66 to Virginia.
Very poor to no reception in many parts of Tenleytown, especially indoors. Calls that do get through are more likely than not to be randomly dropped. The situation is only slightly improved when standing outside.
I just switched from Sprint to AT and T. I was fed up with horrible Sprint customer service. We got two KRZR K1 GSM phones to use here and abroad. On both phones we often hear loud echoes of our voices, get constant dropped calls and often can't get signals around the Washington area. I'm switching to Verizon for local and buyng the GSM phones overseas with their own Sim cards. Luckily, I'm still in the 30 day return period!
Sprint is a very poor service. I live in D.C. and calls drop. Some calls go straight to voicemail when the phone is on. I had the phone diagnosed because all Sprint customer service reps insist it is the phone since they show great coverage and a lot of towers. Well the Sprint Repair shop says it is not my phone. The phone works fine! I am in Chicago this summer and the calls drop and voices sound electronic. I normally hear every other word. In So. California most places I can't get a signal at all. Plus, Dan Sprint Rep # 60852. hung up on me. I wanted him to note in their system that he could barely hear me for 10 minutes of a 20 minute call. He would not. He said a contract is a contract, I will be a Sprint customer until Aug 2008. Please don't sign up for sprint. It is cheap but not absolutely worthless. Plus expect 20-30 min hold times to speak to a rude customer service person.
I have been using a useless phone for almost 2 yrs now. I intend to switch 1st day after my contract is up! I get absolutely no reception in my building at 6th and E. If I accidently leave it on when I arrive at work in the morning my battery drains almost instantly!
even though I get 4 to 5 bars of reception showing, I actually can rarely make a call from inside my house. And when I do, I usually have to wait 30 seconds for the phone to find a tower.
