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In my neighborhood (West Logan Square) iPhone reception is terrible. I have to stand perfectly still against the front window to complete a phone call. Outside on the street, my phone constantly switches between 1-2 bars of 3G and 3-4 bars of (slow) EDGE, usually disconnecting for a few seconds in between. Elsewhere in the city reception varies widely. I can get 5 bars in some parts (especially on highways) and have reception similar to my neighborhood elsewhere. Out where I work in Hoffman Estates (far NW Suburbs) reception is similar to my neighborhood (very spotty) unless you're on the highway. In my experience T-Mobile and Verizon have the best reception in Chicagoland with Sprint and AT&T being the worst.

Almost no reception here. Second floor unit, need to hang out the window.

All my calls are dropped (AT&T). I can get a text through most of the time. I had to buy a Verizon pay-as-you-use phone just so I can make calls from my apt! Sprint also seems to work just fine.

Never had this problem with T-mobile. I get dropped calls, calls that go to VM right away. It is horrible. They need to put up more towers in the NW side of Chicago

AT&T does not provide reception when I am in my house. I live in a three flat. I have to go outside -- even in the middle of winter -- to talk to anyone. I have gotten used to communicating with all of my friends and family with text messages. I have been waiting for over a year for AT&T to put more towers up since I assumed they would have an interest in the yuppiefied Wicker Park / Bucktown customers. Apparently not. I am switching to T-Mobile tomorrow.

AT&T's reception here is a complete joke. In other major cities, such as Seattle, I was able to talk on my phone in underground parking garages, never dropped a single call. Here, I can't even check my voicemail in my top-floor apartment most of the time and can rarely even make phone calls. Forget about anything involving data. It blows my mind that T-Mobile's coverage can be flawless in the exact same spot where AT&T can't even complete calls. It also doesn't make sense that my phone "has bars" all the while this is happening, yet still drops calls and refuses data connections. I really don't understand how can this be..

I drop calls all the time in my house. I swear it has gotten much worse with AT&T lately. Since I work out of my house and only have my cell number on my business cards this is a pretty big issue (understatement)

I would like to rate it as 0.5 instead of 1. I got no signal and up to 2 bars.

Very, very poor reception in my first floor apartment, in a three flat. Cannot use the phone at home at all. Also spotty outside throughout the neighborhood

I get 1 or 2 bars outside and 1 or zero inside! What is the holdup in putting up towers?! It sure as hell isn't a lack of money! And in Hyde Park, there are plenty of places that would give permission to place a tower there. I resent having to by a cell phone extender / cell signal booster, especially since AT&T doesn't even have one of their own to use. Cell companies do not want people to stop depending on land lines unless you save them the cost of building towers by buying your own signal boosters.