Coverage comments are submitted voluntarily by visitors around the Columbia, MD area.
Comments are sorted by date. However, users can sort by Carrier, City, Zip Code, Reception Rating,
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All I can say is horrible. Being a neighbor of the FCC does not help and living in 3 story townhome and constantly pressing my phone to the window to get a bar to make a call. The signal is still poor even outside of my house.
I get dropped calls on on I95 crossing 695 crossing 32 and on 495 going toward I95. One time I was at my condo close to 175 and got a call I couldn't return. My attempt to call back failed 6 times before I gave up and used my home phone
Along Route 100 from exits 1, through exit 10 (Arundel Mills Mall) Signal is pretty weak. Calls drop continuosly. Cingular indicated that they would look into the issue.
I run a home business and have NO reception. I have to drive out to Hickory Ridge Village to get ONE bar and the calls get dropped. I called Cingular and they tell me I'm in a HIGH RECEPTION AREA (by the way, they area is "Washington DC" so that tells you how accurate they are). Their maps and database show high reception... I've always got good customer service from Cingular, so I've been persistent. They said they'll be sending "updates" to my cell phone, set up a "network quality case" and a "technical case" to investigate why MY PHONE is not working. They said I have a tower 3 miles away and should be getting excellent reception. EXTREMELY frustrated because my OUT OF BUSINESS without my cell. I'll be trying Verizon or Nextel even if they don't let me out of the contract. But I have faith that they'll do the right thing. Lost in Columbia...
I live right here and we never get any reception in our house, and poor\spotty reception if we go outside. For being a major highway intersection it is pretty cruddy that it doesn't work.
Cingular is so far the wost service I have experienced since Spring. I am moving with T-Mobile because I have had a lot of good review about them and I am rolling with them today.
I usually have good reception while outdoors but on occasion I have trouble getting a good signal while indoors. At my house (which is between Ceder ln. / rt 32 / Great Star rd. ) I have great reception except when I go into the basement; there I have 1 bar if I'm lucky. If they had a better lineup of phones, I would renew my contract with them. Unfortunately they have a horrible selection and they're all overpriced. Is it too much to ask for a nice PDA / Smartphone that isn't a blackberry?
I've been using Nextel for the past few months in multiple locations, but mainly in the Columbia / Clarksville / Ellicott City area. I've noticed that Nextel has you covered completly outside. You will always get full coverage outside... the problem is indoor coverage. In older buildings (mainly building that do not have shielded insulation), the signal stays very strong. In newer buildings (with shielded insulation), good look getting a strong signal. You will want to keep your phone on a belt clip so it will ring... and when you answer, go to a window with the Antenna up. Overall, I am satisfied with Nextel because unlike some providers, you can always get a signal outside in the MD area.
