I think pretty much only Verizon focus on rural these days. There is no money in rural reception upgrade unless they can get you to sign up for fixed location internet via 5G / LTE fall back to compete with cable internet.
Cell phone technology
- Thread starter Donald
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Definitely true in the past. We live in a semi-rural area now although we are "in town" but other residents that are out "in the country" more say T-Mobile service is pretty good for them. Our youngest has an iPhone using TING mobile service which, in her case, is technically T-Mobile and gets service in most areas. Nothing as good as VZW, mind you though.
Back when T-Mobile was doing their “test drive” where they gave you an iPhone 5 for a week this was definitely true. 5 years later, my T-Mobile service basically mirrors AT&T, and even works in a few places such as at work where Verizon doesn’t get any reception in the building.
I think this is related to GSM vs CDMA. I can still remember how our VZW phones never worked inside Meijer stores. Different Meijer locations too. On the other hand, my phone is ATT and at our local (smaller) grocery store in town, once I'm 30' inside the outside wall, I start to lose reception. My phone will drop to 3G and the further in I go, I get no service.
Original GSM was TDMA, CDMA was the basis of what eventually get into the foundation of WCDMA / UMTS, aka 3G of the GSM. CDMA eventually turn into EVDO as a competition, with different bandwidth but the fundamental analog / penetration has more to do with how much power and which band you use. Since WCDMA / UMTS / 3G GSM are actually separate voice and data band, you can call and do data at the same time (remember the advertisement you saw in the past?) while CDMA / EVDO could not. We have different standard because of rivalry between Nokia and Qualcomm and the whole GSM org wants to avoid as much Qualcomm CDMA patents as possible in 3G, and eventually in LTE they finally settle down and get a standard everyone can agree upon.
From what I heard (need others to help verify if this is true), EVDO is not as efficient bandwidth wise compare to WCDMA / UMTS, so the EVDO / CDMA providers either have to deploy more towers or gets very insufficient bandwidth. Verizon decided to build more towers so they get good receptions in rural, whereas Sprint decided to invest less and save money.
Standardizing this to LTE and now it is all about distance to antenna and tower, and low band for building penetrations. The tech are all the same after they retire the 3G stuff.
That was definitely the case. I gave them a try years ago and there was almost no service in my area. Now we are in 2021 and they have 600 mhz service (band 71) service in our area, and I agreed to try one of their hot spots for 30 days (at no cost). The service in and around my house is comparable to the AT&T that I normally use. I have to travel through some very rural areas in Northern NY tomorrow, so that should be a good test. If the coverage is good I will probably switch.
Yep, for the last two or so years I'd been reading about the upcoming doom and gloom about Verizon CDMA being turned off. It was supposed to be turned off at the end of 2019, then changed to be turned off at the end of 2020.
Asked some phone representatives selling Verizon-based coverage about it, including back around November. They said they never heard of it.
And then 2021 came, and Verizon made a public statement saying they're not turning off CDMA any time soon.
Verizon is shutting down their entire 3G CDMA network no later than December 31, 2022.
https://www.verizon.com/about/news/3g-cdma-network-shut-date-set-december-31-2022
Yeah, its been a long time coming. Literally years ago we were changing out the CDMA cell units in security systems and upgrading them to LTE because of the coming "sunset" Its about time that it got here. A lot of the older systems had to be completely replaced because they werent compatible with the LTE.
It was lucrative. Its been so long now but I think we (as a company) must have replaced thousands, heck I dont know, maybe 10,000 CDMA units and compete systems because of it in SC and areas of GA/NC
Verizon does not even bother supporting the older cell tech on new towers in the last two years. My stubborn in-laws are miserable on Verizon because their flip phones that don’t support LTE have terrible reception where anyone else with LTE get perfect reception.
LTE and voip is absolutely superior in terms of voice quality.
LTE and voip is absolutely superior in terms of voice quality.
The wonders of wideband vs narrowband codecs. LTE uses a wideband codec which sounds much better than the old narrowband codecs used in the pre VoLTE days.
Who the hell uses a phone to talk to people?
Isn't this the truth. At the shop i work at it doesn't matter what you have, there are people with verison, At@, Sprint, T Mobile and the only provider with service in there? Crickett wireless. It is ridiculous that i got to watch my friend and his wife stream videos all day 4 bar service no lagging at all and there is not a single other person there who gets service.
It's the only thing I use it for.
How about a four-year-old phone being kicked off AT&T because of (?????). Switched to T-Mobile and have VoLTE now. (Same phone). Are consumers going to be required to purchase new phones every 3-4 years now?
So are electricity and hot water for shower. But in 2021 I think most people expect them in daily life.
Depends on your location. I think they may drop a band or two here or there to make room for 5G or LTE CA data. You may get worse signal if you don't upgrade once in a while.
They expect people to switch phones once in a while when the battery wears out.
This is all I care about:
1.) That the cell reception for voice is rock solid on highways and major roads should an emergency occur. In pennsylvania using verizon on interstate 80 there are several spots with 100% zero cell service. I find this unlawful and verizon should be fined daily until adequate boosters are installed. If you have any type of road side emergency, you will be walking or be dead.
2.) Whever tech they use as long as it works well. Whatever they have now is getting worse.
1.) That the cell reception for voice is rock solid on highways and major roads should an emergency occur. In pennsylvania using verizon on interstate 80 there are several spots with 100% zero cell service. I find this unlawful and verizon should be fined daily until adequate boosters are installed. If you have any type of road side emergency, you will be walking or be dead.
2.) Whever tech they use as long as it works well. Whatever they have now is getting worse.
What's the definition of a major road?
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to whip out my cell and call for help (or if I'm bored) regardless of where I am. But will that increase my phone bill? Lots of the US have just a 2 lane road through it, and the locals consider it a pretty important road (to themselves).
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Not sure about others but I buy phones on the premise of getting my value out in 2 or 3 years. So if the network changes and my old phone is rendered obsolete, that's a bummer, but I refuse to drop a kilobuck on something that could go down that route all too easily. $300 for 3 years of service is my kind of pace.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to whip out my cell and call for help (or if I'm bored) regardless of where I am. But will that increase my phone bill? Lots of the US have just a 2 lane road through it, and the locals consider it a pretty important road (to themselves).
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Not sure about others but I buy phones on the premise of getting my value out in 2 or 3 years. So if the network changes and my old phone is rendered obsolete, that's a bummer, but I refuse to drop a kilobuck on something that could go down that route all too easily. $300 for 3 years of service is my kind of pace.
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