never had reception here in 5 years

We just moved to Winslow in March, horrible reception on Verizon phones. At first I thought it was just my building, and Verizon kept telling me I would have to buy a network extender. But I have had dropped calls down on Wyatt, at Strawberry Hill Park, Safeway, the Library. I'm so tired of this, now I'm waiting for them to submit a support ticket to see if there is anything they can do to improve service. I just want to move on!

When I switched from AT&T to Verizon a couple years ago I couldn't get a signal at home and Verizon refunded all my money and ported my number back to AT&T. Luckily AT&T put in a tower at Battle Point Park. In December I switched back to Verizon because AT&T only had one high end Android phone and they wanted over $1,000 more over the term of the contract for four smartphones with data plans. Now I get a weak signal for both phone and data. My daughter has a HTC Incredible and gets a little better reception. Apparently Verizon is applying for a tower location at the high school. I wrote to the city council and asked them to force the cellular providers to share towers that way we'll get better coverage and the companies will have to compete on service... a novel idea!

I have lived in two locations on the South end of the island and had very bad cell reception! Very few towers down here!

Have had ATT for four years and only on road to the coast have I not been able to connect.

I moved here from Poulsbo. Hundreds of dropped calls later, I called Verizon and complained. Their standard response was, "why haven't you called before?". I told them to take a look at my record for the dropped calls from the time I moved to the new address. They agreed that they could definitely see the problem. They said that I was in a 'marginal' area. They are having a problem getting the go ahead to erect sufficient towers in this area. I was finally able to get a refund for the 3 months of basic service and waive the termination fee. Switched to AT&T after inquiring about their signal strength at my SPECIFIC address. They had told me that I would have terrific signal strength. Returned home and was unable to even download my free ring tone. Called them and spoke to tech support. They pulled up my SPECIFIC address and told me that there was terrific signal strength 500 feet away -all around me, but that where my house is located... .. slim to none. Told them that I had asked about the SPECIFIC address before I switched, and that I was very unhappy about the mis-representation. They agreed to drop the contract (no early termination fee if I could find another carrier).

I barely get one bar inside my house. But when I cross the bridge (Agate Pass) into Suquamish / Poulsbo area, the bars shoot up to full.

No signal at home on either of our Verizon phones. Despite a month of BS stories -- like "we'll have a new tower up and operating real near your house in just a few days," Verizon plans to have a tech come out and verify that we have no signal. They say that "we've had no complaints about service on Bainbridge." Like, helloooo!

No signal at home on either of our Verizon phones. Despite a month of BS stories -- like "we'll have a new tower up and operating real near your house in just a few days," Verizon plans to have a tech come out and verify that we have no signal. They say that "we've had no complaints about service on Bainbridge."

I want to get a new Apple phone and understand that you have to use AT&T service. Does anyone have any experience with this carrier on Bainbridge Island? Do you know if the 3G feature will help reception? Thanks

I read hundreds of reviews on dozens of sites from tech to blog and compared what friends were getting and I think I have learned a few basic conclusions which no one addresses with any authority in any site I have found so far: First, for reception, which is not a function of your phone's output power: Each service provider's service footprint or coverage area emanates from a tower with a radiowave coverage which is not a perfect circle even in flat terrain. Reception is a function of where your phone / pda is relative to that provider's own or shared / leased towers, where you are in the waveform path; whether there is any interference from physical effects like blocking and reflecting and multipath effects of receiving a signal directly and via a reflection which could make the signal twice as strong or zero. It also seems that during peak periods of use, the output power per incoming call may be affected adversely perhaps with some carriers more than wth others. Peak usage affects available bandwidth and data rates as well, although you might just think it is due to your location, battery strength, orientation of your phone, or some other physical problem and not too many others using the same tower at the same moment. Finally, the manufacturer and model of phone can make a huge difference in reception. I and friends experienced noticeably better signal strength in most difficult reception areas (partially blocked or multi-path over water) using various Motorola phones over Samsung and LG. Verizon, Sprint, and Cingular had less variations when all towers were in sight than the phones themselves and these are all I had access to try. The best performer I found was the Motorola e815 which held good reception under conditions where all others failed... but this was at the expense of battery life which was half the duration advertised. The other side of the coin is how well are you heard at the other end - here it depends on where your phone is in the radiation pattern, whether there is blocking or reflecting, and how strong your phone transmission is... the stronger the better for your listener, but there are growing concerns about safety to your brain and organs and many people are shifting to bluetooth or texting to reduce frequent, strong, and continuous exposure to radation from the phone itself. I have never found any site which could explain why the e815 was so much superior but the halved battery life suggests to me that the phone was sampling multiple tower signals continuously to maintain the optimum signal quality - if this is not what was happening then perhaps it should be and better batteries should be issued as standard. People on the Sound or a lake may experience multipath is worst on calm days when flat water reflects radio waves more coherently between your phone and a tower in your line of sight so both the direct ray and a strong but phase shifted reflected ray arrive simultaneously - you can watch the bars change from 1 or 2 to 5 and back - on rough days the reflected signals are scattered in all directions so the direct path ray arrives with only weak forward reflected energy which causes less interference. Forums such as this really help all of us, but a thought occurred to me while I was surveying for myself: why not interview nearby high shool students who likely use every local carrier and every phone offered by each and they probably use them all over town everyday - I don't have time to develop this test environment but maybe another reader can get something like this started - the resuts would quickly favor the best carrier and the best instruments for that carrier for each city right down to the neighborhood area... Of course I am looking for a phone and not so much an all-in-one mobile email / texting / music / movie / tv / pix / flix / gaming / stylin' device... So now I have concluded that Verizon has the best coverage for me most of the time... BUT their phones are only now becoming balned with the features I need and could use and some of those are locked; they have exhorbitant fees and hidden additional fees for options which should be included; they use double speak and more intent on selling me a clearance phone than a new release which will satisfy my specal requirements; and in that regard, they refuse to let me try more than one or two phones to get one which performs the way I need it to... and I call this "lousy customer service" which is why I dumped Sprint and would never go to ATT / Cingular... so if you may have reason to call upon customer service, this will be yet another important criterion before signing up for more than a one year contract. Hope this helps someone

reception varies: limited near library, at ferry, Eli's flower stand, Blakely grade school. Live in Fort Ward with 2 bars, previously had ATT, could not use at home. Wish providers would share tower signals

2 to 3 (of four) bars throughout our neighborhood, but no problems sending and receiving calls with Verizon. Verizon seems to have the best coverage on Bainbidge Island in my experience.

Verizon wireless claims there is cell phone service on their coverage map in this area. I got no coverage in my townhome and when I called them they transferred me to technical service who asked for my address. They said at my particular address there was little to no service (although the street view of the coverage map said there was). If you call and there is no service at your place of residence you can be allowed out of your contract without paying the cancellation fee. Just call VZW, tell them your problem and they will send transfer you to tech services. You will then have to fax the audit dept after you transfer your number and they will waive the fee.

We were told we would get good service here (coming from a small upstate New York town) but can't get a thing in our condo. Outside the building reception is fairly good, but we need to stand at the window to get anything indoors. Even moving a foot, or holding the phone the wrong way makes the call drop! It's ridiculous to be so close to a major city and have this kind of problem.

Just moved here. No reception on T-Mobile for most of downtown Bainbridge Island. Especially near the Town and Country - the real town center. T-Mobile says there is no problem because their coverage maps say it is okay. None of our three different phones work here, but they refuse to acknowledge a problem. So we'll all be switching as soon as I find out which system DOES work here.

Phone is almost usless at home. I spent quite a bit of money putting in a repeater and only got about 1 more bar (up to 2 maybe). My neighbor says he gets so much signal (Cingular, from the tower 1 block away), his phone burns his hand. I think that the Cingular signal drowns out all the Verizon signal. I am planning to switch to Cingular.

It would be really useful for a cell phone engineer to comment on this forum for all zip codes. I'm not one of those, but I'll suggest some points for an expert to elaborate on. The Everett-Seattle-Tacoma-Olympic Peninsula area is very poor for this technology even though its creator is from here. In the simplest case of one tower and one phone, tower antenna radiation propagates radially like a disc from the tower. Along the way, signal strength to cellphone receivers undergoes physical attenuation due to spreading, refraction, and atmospheric absorption in direct line of sight. There is additional absorption and reflection to the point of blocking due to intervening materials. When a tower signal reaches a phone by two paths, typically direct and reflected - such as among buildings or across water - constructive and destructive interference occurs which may induce varying reception strength from 5+ bars to zero. I would guess that those bars are based on received signal strength rather than received signal quality. Now also consider that your cellphone must act as a miniature tower with extremely low powered radiation whose signal must make the return path to reach the tower with sufficient signal strength and integrity to maintain a satisfactory connection. The reliability of this system is improved by adding towers to fill in shadow zones caused by geography, structures, and distance, but the complexity of the phone and multi-tower array requires additional sophistication as well. Also, the tower power out is probably a function of power sharing among tower users, the number of signals carried, and FCC environmental limitations. Considering voice calls, text and instant messaging, music and video streaming, and all the other features which we are being convinced we cannot do without, this system is being asked to do a lot in our unforgiving geographic region. I only have personal experience with Sprint, Cingular, and Verizon across the country and in the PNW. Since service is relatively imperfect among all companies, customer service takes on more importance. Consumer Reports and various internet sites' surveys placing Cingular at the bottom and Sprint nearly there are for good reason in my experience. Verizon's local customer service is little better but once one reaches a higher, out of area "supervisor" the results approach what I would call respectable. So what is the best of both worlds? These forums are helpful (also look at cnet and consumersearch) but it is better to query people on the street in the area where you will be relying on cell phone connectivity the most. It's a good way to meet people and everyone has honest horror stories to share. Two details to pursue over all others with cell users who are satisfied are their service provider and the make and model of their instrument. The local provider with the most owned (and leased / shared) towers determines your coverage but it is the cell phone itself which may be the final determinant. Each instrument is very different and the phone which may be best for your circumstances may not be offered by the provider of your choice, or the provider may have disabled the features you want. This is further complicated by the providers who limit your trial period(which I found is not really "free") and the number of phones you can experiment with during that period. So you are back to asking the highschool kids within that + / - mile swath of your cell phone usage area. But they are savvy and demanding consumers and will probably give you the best consensus compared with hours of internet research or unsatisfactory hype from the providers' salespeople. I personally would choose Verizon here but I am surviving with a landline until they offer a satisfactory instrument for my purposes. Of all their phones, only the Motorola E815 satisfactorily achieved and maintained a usable signal under dynamic circumstances for me but at the expense of less than 1 / 2 the expected battery life to do so... One version of the RAZR seems to work well for one friend but not all. I hope this helps.

If I stand in one spot on a bluff, I can get reception sometimes. Other than that, you can count on not being able to make a call.

No reception at all in downtown Winslow on T-Mobile. Can make calls from my home near the Library, but only if I stand up and / or lean against the window. Also can't make calls during a long part of the Seattle-Bainbridge ferry ride. When my calls drop, Verizon users are still talking. (Yes, I'll be switching!)