What Two Phone On What Two Carriers For Maximum U.S. Coverage

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JASII

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If you could get ANY two cell phones on ANY two carriers for maximum terrestrial coverage in the United States, what would they be? I would think I might be inclined to go with one Android and an iPhone. One would be Verizon and the other would be AT&T. I realize that a satellite phone would give better wilderness coverage, but I am referring simply to cell phones for this discussion. Anyway, would anybody here go with Sprint or T-Mobile? Or, would anybody go with a phone other than iPhone or Android?
 

w2xq

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Verizon, period, IMHO.

I'm an Android fan; the iPhone screen size is just too small.

Couple of observations. I use the VZ Navigator app rather than buying another standalone GPS. Recently spent some time around Taos, Santa Fe and mentioned the spotty coverage in some mountain areas to some local chamber of commerce people in Los Alomos. They emphatically told me anyone without VZW is really out of luck. Coverage in the central Wyoming country area dropped to 1x coverage crossing an Indian reservation but at least there was something. Yellowstone NP itself had partial coverage, but the surrounding towns were fine. On Amtrak between PHL-DC-CHI-DEN there is missing coverage between towns in nWV, wMD, and south of the Pittsburgh area.

I'm not hiking, climbing mountains, or riding trail bikes in the back country. YMMV. HTH a bit.
 

kayn1n32008

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JASII said:
Are you wanting coverage in remote wilderness areas.....

Yes.

Remote and wilderness generally do not go well with cellular coverage. Also be aware 1x and EVDO will likely be going away in the next few years. HSPA has a maximum radius the phone will work from a given cell site, so you may find that even you have a signal, you may not be able to access the system.(first hand experience)

If you are truly in remote wilderness, an Iridium sat phone is your best bet. Voice coverage is much better on Iridium, than Global Star.
 

krokus

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Verizon has the largest amount of coverage. That said, if you are are in truly remote areas, there will be no terrestrial coverage.

Sent via Tapatalk
 

w2xq

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On the VZW website you'll find a good map of cellular coverage. It appears to be automatically or routinely updated. My experience has shown it to be surprising accurate to down to street level. For jollies, I've tested the map in nVT and eCO amongst the mountains.

FWIW I have been depending on coverage since 1991. The only time VZW failed me was (no surprise) on 9-11 after the first plane hit the WTC. But then nothing worked that horrible day. Office phones were also out all day.
 

PACNWDude

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2 phones and 2 carriers.

The company I work for has many offices in remote locations. These are remote shorelines of the United States and sometimes on the offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

We use Andriod phones on AT&T network for those that need to talk and surf the net at the same time and iPhones on Verizon network for those that just want a phone that works most anywhere.

I work out of an office in Everett, WA, and go near Canada a lot, and this causes roaming issues at times for both networks. However, in places like Neah Bay, WA, or Hilo, Hawaii, having a phone that actually can make and take calls comes in very handy. This is why I carry an iPhone 5S on the Verizon network.

Me and three others in the shop were the last to get smart phones since we waited for Verizon to pick up the iPhone first.

The only places I have ever seen another network work better was Treasure Island, CA. Nextel had better service at that location, but that was also a few years ago.

On a side note, some of our vessels have Globalstar handheld phones that can actually be a satellite phone and a cell phone on the Verizon network. You get a satellite phone number and service from one provider and if wanted, activate it as a cell phone through Verizon as well. I keep one of these in my car for when I go hiking and can be reached on cellular or satellite if need be.
 
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Remote and wilderness generally do not go well with cellular coverage. Also be aware 1x and EVDO will likely be going away in the next few years. HSPA has a maximum radius the phone will work from a given cell site, so you may find that even you have a signal, you may not be able to access the system.(first hand experience)

If you are truly in remote wilderness, an Iridium sat phone is your best bet. Voice coverage is much better on Iridium, than Global Star.


if it is true what you said what is a given distance we can use our phones from the tower (in the near future at least) ? I'm just somewhat curious because I use a Wilson phone booster with my phone (only where needed!) and I can get Verizon coverage nearly anywhere!
 

zz0468

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Verizon, period. For those areas that are so remote that a cellphone won't work, I carry HF radio.
 
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if I could choose two phones with two carriers it would be iPhone 5s with AT&T and Verizon for service! Verizon would be my first pick though, AT&T seems to be putting up towers in a lot of places where Verizon does not have coverage or as poor coverage! Verizon service goes far better with my Wilson phone booster than AT&T for whatever reason ,
 
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abbadabbado

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reciently was in frankfort ky the capital of ky believe it or not but 2 years ago on my brothers farm which is about 5 miles out of town there was about 1 bar of service if you stand in the front yard. this time around we had t mobile forget it can you believe in this day an age 5 miles from the ky capital there is no cell service of any type unless you tap into there wi fi which all phones cannot do. he told me the only way there verizon service works is they tap into there wi fi
 

N1EN

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I must be about the only person who lives in an area where there are AT&T and Sprint signals, but Verizon is a no-show.

(A mile away, however, that's not the case.)

I'd say that generally Verizon does better countrywide, but there are some regions where another carrier might have a slight advantage. For example, in Connecticut, where AT&T wireless assets are descended from Southern New England Telephone, AT&T has a (very) slight edge.

And, of course, there are pockets everyplace that are the exceptions to the general rule. For quite a while, I had Sprint because it was the only cell carrier that had coverage at both my home and my office (both suburban fringe areas).
 

kayn1n32008

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if it is true what you said what is a given distance we can use our phones from the tower (in the near future at least) ? I'm just somewhat curious because I use a Wilson phone booster with my phone (only where needed!) and I can get Verizon coverage nearly anywhere!


Sorry for the reply to the thread so old, but there are 2 radius distances, 24?-ish Km and 62km. I may be off on the exact distance for HSPA, but I have found with a booster, that I have been too far from a cell site and have been denied service.

As Com501 said, Iridium, or Globalstar. Both are about equal now that Globalstar has their gen 2 sats up, but up north(north of 60 degrees) Iridium wins hands down.
 

mikewazowski

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GSM has a distance limit of 35kms for a regular cell and 70kms for an extended range cell because it uses TDMA technology.

UMTS uses WCDMA and shouldn't have a distance limit.
 

iMONITOR

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Verizon, period, IMHO.

I'm an Android fan; the iPhone screen size is just too small.


+1 Android / Verizon Life is good!
 
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Sorry for the reply to the thread so old, but there are 2 radius distances, 24?-ish Km and 62km. I may be off on the exact distance for HSPA, but I have found with a booster, that I have been too far from a cell site and have been denied service.

As Com501 said, Iridium, or Globalstar. Both are about equal now that Globalstar has their gen 2 sats up, but up north(north of 60 degrees) Iridium wins hands down.

Understood, thank you for the clarification on that ! it's starting to make sense now my at&t (GSM) phone by the booster says NO SERIVCE , and away from the booster it says SEARCHING..... in a dead spot of course

and where my verizon (CDMA) will still have service as long as it's in reception with a tower
 

kayn1n32008

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Understood, thank you for the clarification on that ! it's starting to make sense now my at&t (GSM) phone by the booster says NO SERIVCE , and away from the booster it says SEARCHING..... in a dead spot of course



and where my verizon (CDMA) will still have service as long as it's in reception with a tower


Sort of. I will see service on my Black Berry, but when i am too far away, and I go to make a call, send a text message or email, I get "your call can not be completed at this time" message on my screen and the call denial tones. My text messages and email will not go through.
 
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