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Is anyone knowledgeable about cell phone coverage and areas?

Discussion in 'Questions and Answers' started by Unlucky 13, May 7, 2015.

  1. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    I just had my carrier (NTelos) call me today to say that starting at some point as soon as next month, I will have zero coverage at my house because they're dropping a large area that I live on the periphery of. This is doubly maddening, because I left Verizon nine months ago and switched to NTelos because Verizon's signal had gotten so bad that they let me out of my contract more than a year early.

    Back then, when I looked into switching, AT&T, T Mobile, Sprint and US Cellular all basically told me that they would not advise me switching to them because the phone wouldn't work at my house. (One bar of signal or less, and no data)

    I live in a rural area, but not horribly remote. I'm about 20 miles from a city to the East, and the slightly more to another to the West, and "as the crow flies", only about half a mile to the interstate, and a few hundred feet to a major two lane highway. It's not like I live on top of a mountain or in the middle of the desert, but over the past decade, cell service in my area has been disappearing more and more as the years go by, to the point where it looks like none of the carriers offer anything to me.

    Anyone have any ideas of what my options are? It looks like I may just have to go without a cell phone and get a house phone turned back on for the first time since about 2007.
     
  2. byroan

    byroan Giggity Staff Member Administrator Luxury Box

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    You could look into a phone carrier that offers Wi-Fi calling. I know T-Mobile does. It works off your wifi at home if you don't have cell signal.
     
  3. Not So Fast

    Not So Fast Well-Known Member

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    You can use Viber to make wi-fi calls too, but you will have to get your contacts to use it.
     
  4. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    Unfortunately, Wifi calling is out because I cannot get real broadband at my house and have a hard cap on date usage with my Satellite provider. I have to keep a day to day eye on my usage to make sure I'm ok as it is.
     
  5. PhinishLine

    PhinishLine Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Satphone maybe?
     
  6. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    Verizon works pretty good for me, and I'm out in the sticks too.
     
  7. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Having 10 years of experience in cell phones I'd probably tell most people to get a network extender (which I know verizon sells) and they work off a high speed internet connection. Unfortunately that probably won't work for you based on what it sounds like. They basically serve as your own mini cell tower. I work in a pretty affluent area which doesn't allow cell towers to be put up but this has helped to resolve the issue for a few people.

    The next best option is to move. Seriously. Some areas won't allow towers to be put up (they're not aesthetically pleasing to the eye even when they're disguised as a fire hydrant or a tree...and yes companies do that) or there is simply not enough of a population in an area to warrant the expense for a cell phone provider. A single cell tower can cost upwards of a 100k with maintenance that can easily hit 10K In a given year so the investment in network infrastructure in rural areas isn't always worth it for the company.
     
  8. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    We had Altel and it was great. When they were bought by Verizon, we were promised up and down that not only would things not get worse, but that they would absolutely get better. Unfortunately, from that point, things gradually got worse over the years until we could not make a call 80% of the time or ever use 3G/4G internet at our house. Went from 3-4 bars to sometimes 1. To their credit, they at least aknowledged that we were screwed and let us out of our contract 15 months early with no penalty.
     
  9. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    Though I like my house, and my wife and I have put a lot of time and energy into expanding and renovating it, I'd like to move for many reasons. Unfortunately, its not likely in the cards for an equal number of reasons. Real Estate in our area is disgustingly pricey. My wife bought the house in the first place a year before we met because it was what she could afford. A house of the same quality closer to the city would cost three times as much. Even if we were able to sell, which is no guarantee as many houses in our area have been on sale for a long time, we wouldn't likely be able to afford a comperable home in a safe area that offers modern amenities. Plus, I've been unemployed for the last 16 months and am a stay@home dad.
     
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  10. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Yeah I never said that would be a practical answer. Lol. The only other thing you can really do is try and find out whether it's your town or the cell providers who don't want to put a tower near you. What I mean by that is some towns simply will not allow towers to be put up because they're not aesthetically pleasing and so the residents don't want them. I happen to have worked in a town like that and I know for a fact that the chamber of commerce has declined to have towers put up from multiple providers because the residents don't want the eyesore. In your case it may be because the area is too rural. But you can't know that without doing some digging :).
     
  11. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    Well, I don't live in a town. Nearest one is about ten miles away in a different county. But there are cell towers. Like I said, we used to get signal just fine, but its gotten progressively worse over the years. My current provider is abandoning theirs, and my guess is others have done the same.
     

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