myiW Current Conditions and Forecasts Community Forums Buy and Sell Services
 
Hi guest · myAccount · Log in
 SearchSearch   ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   RegisterRegister 
cell phone plans: best/worst Gorge/Coast - CONCLUSION
Goto page 1, 2  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    iWindsurf Community Forum Index -> Northwest USA & Canada
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
30knotwind



Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 239
Location: White Salmon, WA

PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 8:04 am    Post subject: cell phone plans: best/worst Gorge/Coast - CONCLUSION Reply with quote

I am switching service because I have trouble getting ATT data at remote launches, e.g. 3Mile and Pistol--no signal whatsoever at Pistol.

Please reply with any known service failures, i.e. data, voice or no signal, at any sites you know of, coast or gorge.

I am particularly interested in T-moble because of the Simple Mobile plans.
http://www.mysimplemobile.com/

Friends with Verizon seem to get signals when I can't. Any gaps in the Verizon service?

Thanks!
Chris

_________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.30knotwind.com/


Last edited by 30knotwind on Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:48 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 11:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't know about T-Mobil, but when I saw a bud download weather maps in 4-5 seconds on Verizon at Roosevelt that took me literally 15-20 minutes on AT&T, I dropped AT&T the next day. (They wanted the street address of the problem, promising to send out a technician to fix it. She could not understand what the technical term "boondocks" meant. She insisted that EVERY place has a street address, admitting later that she has never been outside NYC. That's still funny years later, as I have lived and played near and in remote western deserts for decades now.) That same bud switched to Verizon because it dramatically improved his reception at 3-Mile, where he sails through the dead of winter.

Another local bud, on AT&T, is barely reachable or understandable even in our city of 300,000, let alone on the road.

I get a couple of brief dead Verizon zones driving east of Arlington, especially near Crow Butte, and Port Kelley, deep in a canyon where the Columbia bends north, is in cell hell, period.

Mike \m/
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
trburl



Joined: 10 Apr 2000
Posts: 196

PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 1:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

T-not-so-Mobile

Last edited by trburl on Fri Jun 07, 2013 12:55 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
bjamin



Joined: 19 Jul 2000
Posts: 57

PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 2:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Verizon works very well for me everywhere. It is 3G for now in the gorge (at least from HR to Maryhill). LTE (4G) in most cities and even Maui. Entire nation supposed to be LTE by end of 2013.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 2:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

trburl wrote:
I have had T Mobile for 7 years and can safely say, their coverage sucks the WORST on the Oregon Coast, bar none. .... I cannot wait to get out of my contract with them, and might even pay the $100 to do it.

I like T Mobile as a company the best, but their coverage when I really need it, for weather data & safety, on the coast, is a total joke.

They have probably already broken your contract by providing lousy coverage. Legally, it is likely now null and void, and the remaining issue is probably whether your time (or fun) in Small Claims Court or writing letters is worth $100 to you.

When the nationwide (maybe global?) carrier for iW's predecessor tried to make me pay them hundreds of dollars because I had dared to actually download wind data, I made it as obvious to the CEO as a Force 5 tornado in his office that there was no way in hell he was getting one cent from me, that trying would cost him far more than he claimed I owed and that he would lose in court anyway at no expense to me. His tone quickly changed from ^@%&#! to, "Crap; you're serious, aren't you? OK; you win." They're accustomed to dealing with ignorant and/or overworked sheep.

Many much larger corporations have caved similarly once confronted with facts, simple math, the law, and our contracts. Kicking their arrogant asses is not only as much fun as a 4.0 day, but it's often profitable and can protect our credit ratings (my homes, on two occasions). It's like getting paid to windsurf, and can be done on calm days.

Mike \m/
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
dcfordo



Joined: 15 Jun 2006
Posts: 30

PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 2:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sprint works well for me at 3 mile for wind data. I don't know about Pistol.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
30knotwind



Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 239
Location: White Salmon, WA

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

FWIW I went with a Verizon plan and the HTC Incredible phone because:
1. Discounters, e.g. Page Plus, will apparently suspend you if you overuse a tether/hotspot.
2. Verizon coverage seems to be the best, based on comments on forums.
3. Voice on the Incredible was the best, which is important when forwarding your work calls to a windsurfing launch. Wink

WHEN SHOPPING FOR A PHONE, TEST VOICE QUALITY

This became the deciding factor on the actual phone. I was 'upgrading' from a 4 year old Blackberry on which voice was ALWAYS as good as a landline.

I started with the LG Spectrum for the first two weeks: voice was unbelievably terrible--everyone I called commented on it and many times I could not be understood at all--the salesperson at the Verizon store confirmed the poor quality by testing my phone and the demo Spectrum. Other LGs were also bad.

Next, I tried the newest Blackberry Bold-like model: voice was not great.

I then tested voice on the not-yet-released, "hot new thing", Samsung Galaxy III(?): it was almost as bad as the Spectrum, but not quite.

I ended up with the HTC Incredible, which had voice quality as good as my four year old Blackberry, modern features and Hotspot capability.

Discount sellers, without official hotspot/tethering features
ATT network: http://www.airvoicewireless.com/
Verizon network: http://www.pagepluscellular.com/
T-Mobile network: http://www.mysimplemobile.com/

_________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.30knotwind.com/
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
thomas_tlusty



Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 16

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 1:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Is there any carrier that works at Oceanside and Pistol / Cape Seb? ATT doesn't, would be worth it to me to switch if I could find one that did.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
30knotwind



Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 239
Location: White Salmon, WA

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 1:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I watched friends get normal coverage from Verizon at Pistol while my ATT signal was completely non-existent. Don't know about your other sites.
_________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.30knotwind.com/
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 9:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Verizon works better at 3-Mile than it does at my home in a city of 300,000.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    iWindsurf Community Forum Index -> Northwest USA & Canada All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You can attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum

myiW | Weather | Community | Membership | Support | Log in
like us on facebook
© Copyright 1999-2007 WeatherFlow, Inc Contact Us Ad Marketplace

Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group