Towers are a lot more spaced out here in the US, even in large metro areas. Where I live in Gig Harbor, my AT&T signal goes between three different towers. Going by what Google Maps tells me with their new tower-based location service, I am probably over 2km from the tower I connect to most often. Occasionally I connect to a nearer one, but it's 1.5km.
Even when I was driving through Tacoma, which is a bit larger of a city, I was surprised at how far apart the towers were spaced.
Not having a ton of towers and having them spaced out as far as they are leads to dropped calls, unusable signal in buildings, etc.
Part of the problem is we have a lot more NIMBY (not on my backyard) twits here in the US that refuse to put cell towers up because it "obstructs my view" or "we think they cause cancer in lab rats" or some other BS reason. Usually the higher median income prevalent in the area, the higher the NIMBY quotient is.
I say, screw 'em. Put those damned towers where I can see them. Everywhere! :)
jeremy
· 1 year ago
interesting. i know in california at&t had a joint network with t-mobile using 1900 band but they have transitioned to 850 band and the problem you describe sounds like a problem a friend of mine had with a phone that was only 1900 and it was searching for 850 but roaming off the 1900. california is one of at&t's best markets. i can see the phone maybe not working well in the hotel but no 80 percent of california. did you purchase an at&t sim while you were here or just use your service and roam here?
Luca Filigheddu
· 1 year ago
no, I was using my italian SIM. In most indoors places it was not working fine and I think the problem was the 1900, since to higher frequencies correspond worse indoor coverage.
Dennis
· 1 year ago
This is old, but for future reference your problem was likely that you were using a phone without 850 MHz support. AT&T operates on both 850 MHz and 1900 MHz; the 850 MHz coverage is extensive but the 1900 MHz coverage is vestigial.
If your phone only has 1900 MHz support, stick with T-Mobile. Their coverage isn't as good as AT&T but it is all at 1900 MHz.
Luca Filigheddu
· 1 year ago
Dennis I think you are right. I'm now using a T-Mobile SIM card and it works much better. I was surely using 1900 with AT&T; and with higher frequency indoor coverage is really bad too.
All Comments
Even when I was driving through Tacoma, which is a bit larger of a city, I was surprised at how far apart the towers were spaced.
Not having a ton of towers and having them spaced out as far as they are leads to dropped calls, unusable signal in buildings, etc.
Part of the problem is we have a lot more NIMBY (not on my backyard) twits here in the US that refuse to put cell towers up because it "obstructs my view" or "we think they cause cancer in lab rats" or some other BS reason. Usually the higher median income prevalent in the area, the higher the NIMBY quotient is.
I say, screw 'em. Put those damned towers where I can see them. Everywhere! :)
If your phone only has 1900 MHz support, stick with T-Mobile. Their coverage isn't as good as AT&T but it is all at 1900 MHz.