AT&T Wireless (TDMA)
So far good reception in my area. I haven't experienced any call drops or poor reception. Although outside of my general area, I have experienced call drops or no reception despite the phone showing full bars. This only occurs when I'm on the outer fringes of the Bay Area (i.e. Gilroy, Half Moon Bay, Marin City, Fairfield). As long as I stay in the major areas in Bay Area, reception is great with full bars.
Was this review helpful to you?Sprint
terrible reception in my house - multiple drop-outs up in the hills - would switch if I could but on a corporate plan
Was this review helpful to you?Sprint
Sprint phones are practically unusable near my home and elsewhere in Montclair. My wife also has Samsung Sprint PCS phone that doesn't work. What is most frustrating is phones can occasionally get enough signal for a bar or less, and phones will actually ring, but you can't carry on conversation (no transmission / reception or disconnect). I'm thinking of moving to Verizon which I'm told (and can see on reviews) fares better in Montclair. Unfortunatly we still have several months in 2 year contract and I haven't found an acceptable substitute for Palm / phone device (i500) I currently have (Treo 600 / 650 on Verizon is logical choice but is much larger than i500).
Was this review helpful to you?Verizon
I've had Verizon for two years. I have OK reception at home but if a Bart passes near my house, the reception goes dead. In my office in Berkeley, I have no reception at all. I have to walk outside to get any signals. I used to have AT&T as my carrier and Nokia 5160 my phone. It seemed to work better in Berkeley office but worse at home in El Cerrito.
Was this review helpful to you?AT&T
I switched from AT&T to Cingular. AT&T got me virtually no reception. Cingular lets me talk on the phone! Not perfect, but decent.
Was this review helpful to you?AT&T Wireless (TDMA)
I get decent (3 bars out of 4 or better) almost everywhere in this area, including 2 or 3 bars inside my house. Only a few places in Berkeley / Oakland area where the TDMA service is sketchy. Would like to upgrade to a nice new GSM phone, but I'm waiting till they build out the GSM network more.
Was this review helpful to you?Nextel
I've been using this Nextel iDen phone from Motorola for over a year with no major problems in Berkeley or anywhere in San Francisco or anywhere I've been in the bay area. The only place I've seen people take calls that I have no service is underground in BART or Muni in downtown SF. Standard reception fading occurs underground or deep within buildings.
Was this review helpful to you?T-Mobile
In the previous entry I hit the US Cellular button by mistake it's T-Mobile that's terrible. I know nothing about US Cellular. My apologies to them
Was this review helpful to you?US Cellular
T-Mobile signal is *appallingly* bad in the East Bay. Over the Berkeley Oakland area I *average* about 0.5 bars. I *cant wait* to conclude my contract with them and switch to a real cell phone provider.
Was this review helpful to you?Verizon
3 yrs with vzw. great to decent reception in most places, although inside thick walled old building around Harrison and 20th Sts, had very spotty reception, even outside -with the 120c. the LG seems to maybe be getting a stronger signal. Here at home, over bay bridge, richmond bridge and through Marin, I found the coverage to be great - equal to the t-mo phone I'm currently testing out. Stafford Lake in Novato had no coverage on either. vzw phone said it had a couple of bars, but it never actually connected when I tried to check my vmail. today vzw dropped a call on Northgate at W Grand Ave, drove back that way with T-Mo and no drop. also vzw gets ok reception on Long Island and in NJ, although not so great indoors - generally need to stand near a window or go outside. this has been improving lately though.
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