AT&T vs Verizon

[charlie12]

I have a friend down the road from me that has been bitching about her AT&T cellphone about not getting signals around her house. And we do have poor signal here in Pride.
Well a few months ago Verizon built a new tower about 200 yrs behind her house so yesterday she finally had enough and went and got a new Verizon Iphone 4gs.

On her AT&T Iphone 4G she had 1-2 bars. On her new Verizon Iphone 4Gs she has 1-2 bars. She is NOT happy now.

 

[gotabyte]

I'm not convinced about signal strength. Sprint had two bars at my house but never worked consistently. AT&T sometimes has one bar but works. Bottom line is signal bars do not truly indicate call availability. Towers do not always relay properly.

 

[mike84z28]

I have had signal loss in many areas with AT&T, went to Verizon at work and never have an issue with signal.

 

[Neil09]

I wish there was a right answer...they both make me angry.

 

[rdm227]

I have my personal phone with AT&T and my work BlackBerry through Verizon. The BlackBerry usually works very well in most places where AT&T won't

 

[Bearco]

I really prefer verizon, but just went back to AT&T for signal at my gun range.

 

[charlie12]

I'm thinking she might be too close to the tower

 

[West]

I just switched to Verizon from att, haven't had any problems yet. I would say I get better all around reception with Verizon and I travel a good bit.

 

[velociraptor]

I'm thinking she might be too close to the tower

I agree being that close to a tower is more likely to result in signal interference than a better connection.

There are several things you can do at home though. If you have high speed internet and a marginal signal get one of these.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/accessories/samsung-network-extender-scs-2u01/

If you have decent signal outside you may want a simple external antenna. These are particularly useful if you have a metal roof.

http://www.amazon.com/zBoost-ZB545-...070644&sr=1-1&keywords=verizon+signal+booster

Finally ignore the "bars" of signal strength they are useless and generally misleading.

Most smart phones will have a setting function that shows your signal strength numerically. There are free apps that show you signal strength. Use there to find a decent signal.

http://lifehacker.com/5929546/see-the-actual-signal-strength-on-your-iphone-with-this-quick-tweak

http://www.appszoom.com/android_applications/signal%20strength


If the signal strength is truly poor like it is on my boat you can get a setup like this. However, this will not do you any good unless you have at least some cell signal.

http://www.amazon.com/Wilson-Electr...060&sr=8-1&keywords=cell+phone+booster+for+rv

 

[SMR412]

I've heard equal amounts of complaints about both.
I have at&t and have two phones. One slider non-smart phone and one android phone.
Inside my in-laws house my Droid will have 0-1 bars and the slider will have 3-4 bars.
I also agree the bars don't truly represent signal/reception.
Basically, its a crap shoot.

 

[sandman7925]

Had both and they are about the same in town. Off the beaten path in the middle of no where verizon sucks.

 

[CHW2021]

I am confused about cell service also, my att phone has poor service at my house and good service at the deer lease.... friend of mine has good service on sprint at house next door and no service at deer lease. Do the pay by the minute use phones have any better service in all areas? It seems they can use any signal available (if I am correct) and should get signal anywhere.

 

[oleheat]

I have a friend down the road from me that has been bitching about her AT&T cellphone about not getting signals around her house. And we do have poor signal here in Pride.
Well a few months ago Verizon built a new tower about 200 yrs behind her house so yesterday she finally had enough and went and got a new Verizon Iphone 4gs.

On her AT&T Iphone 4G she had 1-2 bars. On her new Verizon Iphone 4Gs she has 1-2 bars. She is NOT happy now.

I get a crappy signal at the house too, with AT&T. But visitors with different carriers don't get anything better. I'm sticking with AT&T because their signal seems to pick up better than the others at my camp. But at either location, dropped calls rarely happen....

 

[JBE]

I agree being that close to a tower is more likely to result in signal interference than a better connection.

There are several things you can do at home though. If you have high speed internet and a marginal signal get one of these.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/accessories/samsung-network-extender-scs-2u01/

I was having reception/signal issues with my Verizon service at home after they moved a tower and Verizon sent me one of those extenders for free. All it took was a phone call to Verizon. Only caveat is that it only works when your internet is working.

 

[edman87k5]

There are boosters and signal repeaters available for in home use that supposedly work very well. Att was actually giving them to their customers at one time, may be worth looking in to.

 

[Skiney]

I have both AT&T service through work and Verizon for my Internet and Personal Business Phone

I could have not made this post with AT & T service

I agree with Bob above At&T SUCKS....

 

[ddeacon1]

I have had AT&T since it was called Suncom. I have two Androids and have intermittent signals with iHeart in no man's land east of NO East. The only place I do not have any signal is when I am in Honey Island. I have found out that from the years of having AT&T, when I start losing my signal, I call the tech service and they change my home tower.

 

[RedStickChick]

Work phone - AT&T
Personal - Verizon

I haven't had any insane issues with the work phone (yet), mostly just use it for email and hotspots. One person I work with calls me on it. Everyone else calls me on my personal.

Everyone else who is saying signal bars are inaccurate is correct. They're very deceptive.

Just my $0.02.

 

[charlie12]

Well my friend went to the Verizon store this morning and told them she wasn't satisfied and hardly had any signal at her house. She upgraded to another Iphone it was a 5 something I can't remember which one.
Now she has more signal and is happy.

They also told her that the tower in her yard was data only.

 

[JBE]

Well my friend went to the Verizon store this morning and told them she wasn't satisfied and hardly had any signal at her house. She upgraded to another Iphone it was a 5 something I can't remember which one.
Now she has more signal and is happy.

They also told her that the tower in her yard was data only.

Good for her. The iPhone 4's do have a history of reception problems.