Cell carrier for SH valley (Pittsburgh: lease, house, school)

[sskink]

This question to only those who live/have lived in a valley in the South Hills.

I need to get a new phone, probably getting a Galaxy. However, in the 11 years I've lived at the bottom of my particular valley, I haven't had much luck with getting a consistent signal. I've had Verizon & Sprint, so I know those didn't work. I'm OK not getting an unlocked phone, but I need to know for sure that the carrier will be useful at home.

If you live in a valley in the South Hills and have had luck with a specific carrier, please advise.

[jay5835]

I thought you'd be talking about the San Hernando Valley.

[greg42]

Okay, yeah, I haven't lived there.

But well, that leaves you AT&T or T-Mobile basically. I don't know if there are others with specific facilities of their own that would be different; I think all the others lease their airtime from one of those guys don't they?

AFAIK you can still get a 15- or 30-day trial with these carriers, which is the best way to try them out for sure. Small differences in location can make or break whether you get a signal at home or not. AT&T (and maybe others) also offers a way to boost the signal at home with a device that plugs into a home broadband line.

It is interesting to note that Sprint and Verizon use the same type of wireless technology (CDMA) so it's possible that one of the other two, which don't, will have a different effect in the valley. Yeah, everyone is going to LTE eventually, but there can still be differences due to the different frequencies.

T-Mobile has a nice way of pricing now seems like. I think I'd give them a try. We're actually going to try it here (not me, my phone is through work, but my other half will try it) now that they have iPhone. Plus they're making it dead easy to trade in old iPhone for new one at better cost than others. (Zero dollars upfront, sweet.)

[Goinback2011]

T Mobile has terrible coverage in the Pittsburgh area, including the South Hills.

[Hopes]

When was the last time you used Verizon? It has the best coverage locally and nationally. If it has been 10 years, I recommend you give it another chance. But ask your neighbors what they are using first. They truly are your best gauge since they live right in the same valley.

[greg42]

Aggregate "best coverage" is useless if you live in a hole in xyz company's best coverage.

I expect to be, well, to share a house with a personal guinea pig of T-Mobile's current coverage. My personal experience from several years ago was fine; I didn't switch due to coverage. Back then I stupidly wanted some specific type of phone that was on Cingular.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by greg42

Aggregate "best coverage" is useless if you live in a hole in xyz company's best coverage.

For people who travel, national coverage is important. If you have a home phone, it doesn't really matter if you have coverage at home if being able to be reached while traveling is important. Regardless, I asked how long ago he tried Verizon because the hole might have been fixed since then. I never have dropped calls wherever I'm driving. My friends' phones are always dropping calls and they have various other providers. I'm not trying to push Verizon. It's the plan that worked best for us because my husband travels. I do know that we have much better coverage than we did 10 years ago. If I lived in a hole and coverage in the hole was important, I'd be asking other people who live in the hole by walking outside on a nice day and chatting up neighbors who are out working in their yards.

[sskink]

Originally Posted by Hopes

When was the last time you used Verizon? It has the best coverage locally and nationally. If it has been 10 years, I recommend you give it another chance. But ask your neighbors what they are using first. They truly are your best gauge since they live right in the same valley.

Good point. Immediate next door neighbor uses landline in the house. Most others nabes are pretty old. Every contractor I've had in here has to go outside to the street to make a call.

I last had Verizon in 2009. Tossed my old smartphone when I didn't need it anymore for old-school flip on a monthly thru Virgin.

I like Greg's suggestion of 30-day trial. Wish I knew of a website to put in a GPS location and see signal strength.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by Hopes

For people who travel, national coverage is important. If you have a home phone, it doesn't really matter if you have coverage at home if being able to be reached while traveling is important. Regardless, I asked how long ago he tried Verizon because the hole might have been fixed since then. I never have dropped calls wherever I'm driving. My friends' phones are always dropping calls and they have various other providers. I'm not trying to push Verizon. It's the plan that worked best for us because my husband travels. I do know that we have much better coverage than we did 10 years ago. If I lived in a hole and coverage in the hole was important, I'd be asking other people who live in the hole by walking outside on a nice day and chatting up neighbors who are out working in their yards.

Hey, he specifically asked about coverage at his house. That's why I wrote that. A home phone is pretty much a waste of money. Even my elderly parents have ditched them.

Unless your travel takes you routinely to the sticks in the western US, they all have national coverage that will be spotty in some places and great in others, with some carriers being better in some areas and some better in others. That's just the way it is, regardless of Verizon's marketing. There's not even really anything untrue about Verizon's marketing, it's just that thinking of it as an absolute "don't consider anyone else if you travel a lot" is foolish. (Don't worry, I know that isn't what you said, but it is what many people imply.) There are a variety of reasons to choose another one, one of which is coverage at your own house. Another is coverage in a specific spot that you travel to often. Another is cost and/or better contract terms.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by sskink

I like Greg's suggestion of 30-day trial. Wish I knew of a website to put in a GPS location and see signal strength.

Based on a personally known sketchy area for AT&T coverage in Mass, the T-Mobile coverage map could be more honest than the AT&T one. (T-Mobile shows a falloff in their coverage there, whereas AT&T claims it to be strong.)

That's the only anecdote I really have about the carriers' coverage maps though.