I am thinking of ditching my Treo 700p and Sprint for a new iphone. I am in teh DC area. Concerned about voice coverage and EDGE speeds in this area. Anyone have any experience with their iPhone here? Thx.
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ATT coverage and EDGE in Washington DC for iPhone?
- Thread starter amakh007
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Fair enough. Their map shows "good coverage" for both. But I would welcome some real world experiences. I have heard that the EDGE on the iphone seems faster then it is. That would be nice. I would hate to make the switch and then have a very very slow data connection with dropeed calls.
I live in the DC area. I've had both Sprint and ATT/Cingular Service. Edge is "ok" in terms of speeds. One minute I get like 150kps and the next time I'm only getting 40kps. It's not that reliable. Don't buy the iPhone if your main mode of browsing is going to be through EDGE. Edge is good for basic emailing, checking quotes, weather. If you plan on surfing the internet via EDGE instead of Wi-Fi, you are going to be disappointed. On the other hand, I've tried Sprint's HTC Mogul and wasn't impressed with "SprintSpeed" either and that's supposed to be high speed. It's feels slightly faster than EDGE in terms of loading similiar web pages. Maybe's it was the Mogul's browser, maybe opera mini would have been better.
In terms of Cell Phone reception, I feel ATT's coverage is much better than Sprint's in the DC area. I had Sprint for 7 years but the majority of the time I lived in Kansas City and Sprint was the king there because I was only a mile away from their national headquarters. I couldn't stand Sprint's dropped calls especially on the Tyson's side of the Capital Beltway. If you live in the city, than Sprint's coverage was excellent.
Verizon's coverage is probably the best in the DC area. Verizon does have Metro coverage.....that's because they (the former Bell Atlantic) had an exclusive contract with METRO for their towers down there. You shouldn't talk on the Metro anyways🙂
In terms of Cell Phone reception, I feel ATT's coverage is much better than Sprint's in the DC area. I had Sprint for 7 years but the majority of the time I lived in Kansas City and Sprint was the king there because I was only a mile away from their national headquarters. I couldn't stand Sprint's dropped calls especially on the Tyson's side of the Capital Beltway. If you live in the city, than Sprint's coverage was excellent.
Verizon's coverage is probably the best in the DC area. Verizon does have Metro coverage.....that's because they (the former Bell Atlantic) had an exclusive contract with METRO for their towers down there. You shouldn't talk on the Metro anyways🙂
compuguy1088
macrumors 6502a
Also to add that the coverage that Verizon has is not CDMA, but an older analogue standard. Coverage here in NoVa at least is alright, don't know about EDGE, but the speeds that you will get will be ok, but not fast.
Especially during evening rush hour on the Blue Line....it gets kind of packed 😀
Chupa Chupa
macrumors G5
Downtown and in NoVA I great great coverage, normally 4-5 bars. (Arlington, Alex, Tysons, Springfield, Fairlakes, Sterling).
im on the hill and the EDGE is great here and in most parts of dc that i frequent
it does however appear to be slower in northern VA -- pentagon city and crystal city. i never seem to get fast speeds there.
it does however appear to be slower in northern VA -- pentagon city and crystal city. i never seem to get fast speeds there.
I live on the hill and work in Tysons/Arlington. Service is great everywhere although I get slower speeds in my building in Arlington. Might be the buidling structure.
Anyhow, today the weridest thing happened. I got service on my iphone at L'Enfant Plaza metro station. I was listening to my music when I got e-mail alerts. I was on the green/yellow platform waiting for train toward fort toten/greenbelt. Total of 3 bars and I was on the edge network. Does anyone know if ATT is expanding their network in the metro stations?
Anyhow, today the weridest thing happened. I got service on my iphone at L'Enfant Plaza metro station. I was listening to my music when I got e-mail alerts. I was on the green/yellow platform waiting for train toward fort toten/greenbelt. Total of 3 bars and I was on the edge network. Does anyone know if ATT is expanding their network in the metro stations?
Why are you worried about edge coverage when we have 3g?? The 3G coverage is good and seems to have been boosted over the last couple of weeks. I used to barely get a 3G signal in my house in Lorton, never in the basement, now I get 3-5 bars in the basement, while only 1-3 bars of edge. 3G coverage is excellent, and in the rare places your don't have 3G than you can worry about Edge.
