3 ms·

My experience with t-mobile service is that it has the worst coverage (western states) out of all the big players. I'll routinely have no signal on my t mobile

by Arrath 3y ago

My experience with t-mobile service is that it has the worst coverage (western states) out of all the big players. I'll routinely have no signal on my t mobile work phone while my verizon personal phone is just fine.

brewdad 3y ago
Same. Oregon has the worst T-Mobile coverage in the country. Something like half the state has no coverage. That's fine for the uninhabited areas but I will drop coverage between my house and the grocery store and I live in a Portland suburb. My wife's employer gave her a Sprint/T-Mobile phone and it doesn't work when she's in the office.
- darksaints 3y ago
  With some insider knowledge, I can definitely say that their “coverage” maps, at least in the western US, are complete and utter bullshit. They don’t actually measure coverage for those maps, they just use signal propagation models like longley-rice, with wildly optimistic parameters and extremely low resolution terrain data and almost no built environment data. Now there are people shitting their pants due to a drive-test requirement (literally driving around and measuring signal strength) of a rural data speed commitment that came from the sprint merger. They’ve been telling people for years that there is coverage where there is literally nothing.
  - criddell 3y ago
    Comcast was caught lying about their coverage: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/02/comcast-gave-false-map-data-to-fcc-and-didnt-admit-it-until-ars-got-involved/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/02/comcast-gave-fal... I wonder if there are similar FCC requirements for cellular companies?
    - xp84 3y ago
      Probably, but I suspect like all captured regulators, they'd impose a penalty of a sternly-worded letter and a wag of the finger, and a "firm request" that they stop lying no later than 2033.

3 ms·

My experience with t-mobile service is that it has the worst coverage (western states) out of all the big players. I'll routinely have no signal on my t mobile

by Arrath 3y ago

brewdad 3y ago
Same. Oregon has the worst T-Mobile coverage in the country. Something like half the state has no coverage. That's fine for the uninhabited areas but I will drop coverage between my house and the grocery store and I live in a Portland suburb. My wife's employer gave her a Sprint/T-Mobile phone and it doesn't work when she's in the office.
- darksaints 3y ago
  With some insider knowledge, I can definitely say that their “coverage” maps, at least in the western US, are complete and utter bullshit. They don’t actually measure coverage for those maps, they just use signal propagation models like longley-rice, with wildly optimistic parameters and extremely low resolution terrain data and almost no built environment data. Now there are people shitting their pants due to a drive-test requirement (literally driving around and measuring signal strength) of a rural data speed commitment that came from the sprint merger. They’ve been telling people for years that there is coverage where there is literally nothing.
  - criddell 3y ago
    Comcast was caught lying about their coverage: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/02/comcast-gave-false-map-data-to-fcc-and-didnt-admit-it-until-ars-got-involved/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/02/comcast-gave-fal... I wonder if there are similar FCC requirements for cellular companies?
    - xp84 3y ago
      Probably, but I suspect like all captured regulators, they'd impose a penalty of a sternly-worded letter and a wag of the finger, and a "firm request" that they stop lying no later than 2033.