Coverage comments are submitted voluntarily by visitors around the Chicago, IL area.
Comments are sorted by date. However, users can sort by Carrier, City, Zip Code, Reception Rating,
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Great phone, awful reception. Constantly dealing with dropped calls. Reception bars go up-and-down like a rolling coaster and can't get any service at all during Cubs games. AT&T is brutal... .
If it weren't for the few random acts of divine intervention, I'd say I get ZERO reception with my first gen iphone within a 1 / 2 mile radius of my home. And I can only expect slightly better coverage elsewhere in the city. I love this device but am just waiting for the contract to expire. Everything was fine until about this time last year when they rolled out the 3G. Spent hours on the phone with tech support who opened a ticket only to close it later marking it as "resolved." In the time since, my wife and I have given AT&T roughly $1600. I will not be renewing my contract or buying another iphone unless Apple opens it up to other service providers. I've been with AT&T (Cingular) for nearly 10 years in three cities, including NYC. The coverage in Chicago is unbelievably horrible. I've had to get a home VOIP just to be able to make / receive calls at home -- that's not factored into the $$$ we're giving AT&T every month.
More than a year ago, long prior to AT&T G3 rollout, coverage in this area was decent. Since then, the coverage is sparse, and oversubscribed. The bottom line: you can't expect to be able to use your AT&T phone in this area: only the lucky. The symptoms make it look like you have 2-3 bars, but as soon as you try to make / take a call or use EDGE / GPRS, the oversubscribed tower bumps you to a neighbor with inadequate connectivity for your location. How many people does it take to make a class action lawsuit? I'd like to recover fees wasted and get AT&T's weak planning and false advertisement in the public record.
After trouble with AT&T (as documented by local media) service troubles (degraded service in the Lakeview area because of poor capacity), I decided to switch carriers. After reviewing the message here, I decided to give Sprint a try especially since they have the Palm Pre. EXCELLENT service from Sprint. I couldn't be happier.
WOW! With cell coverage this bad, I can't believe I'm in the 3rd largest city. Come on AT&T get your act together. I love my iPhone; however, with AT&T's horrible (understatement) coverage it's impossible to use my iPhone. I called AT&T about my coverage area and the representative on the phone dialed up the coverage map. He was shocked as he related the following... of the 4 towers within a mile of my location, 3 were severely degraded towers and the other was degraded. Notations by AT&T service technicians. How can AT&T be allowed to operate such a poor network. Someone (the FCC) needs to step in and review!
Wicker Park reception is TERRIBLE... I wish I wasn't such a big fan of my iPhone, and it's compatibility with my Macs at home / office. I'm ready to switch carriers. Come on, ATT, I live in a major city... get your act together!
Reception is good but sound quality sucks with Cricket service. I work in downtown Chicago and will see all bars but voice sucks. Never go for Cricket phone again.
I used to have decent service. I've lived here for a year and a half and the last few months have been nothing but dropped calls and poor call quality. I gave up my blackberry for my Nokia 2610, and it did help a lot, but I still drop calls, and that's unheard of for a classic Nokia bar phone. It's definitely AT&T's inferior network, and not Nokia. The 2610 model is among the best for reception. I miss T-Mobile. Cheaper and better service.
I get good reception outside and generally all over Chicago. I can talk in the underground train stations but not when on a running train unless it is above ground. I get below average reception in my 1st floor apartment(3 flat). There are certain pockets where I can talk and others where I know I will loose the call. This happens even though I am constantly updating my phone (*228) to make sure the software et all is up to date. The other thing about Verizon is that it is EXPENSIVE and I'm not sure it's worth it. I pay $122 for two lines with no data and 250 text msg-1400 min, 9pm nights, and weekends. Seems like Sprint has better deals but maybe worse service? And T-Mobile is another consideration... .
