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San Francisco South Bay Area - AT&T vs Verizon vs Sprint

S

saintforlife

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 25, 2011
1,046
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Which of these three has the best service in the San Francisco South Bay Area (Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, San Jose) today in terms of voice and data service currently?

When carriers roll out the 4G networks in 2012, which will be the best carrier to be on next year and beyond?
 
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saintforlife said:
I live in the San Francisco South Bay. Between AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, which provider do you think will have the best service in terms of voice and data going forward from 2012 on wards in the Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, San Jose area? Will all of them be on the 4G LTE network? Will people be able to use simultaneous voice and data on Verizon and Sprint starting next year?

I have an iPhone 4 and am eligible for an upgrade via AT&T. But I want to wait for the iPhone 5 (which hopefully will be 4G) next year and at that I want to have a choice of switching cell phone providers if need be.
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You said you have an iPhone 4 with AT&T , how's the coverage? My cousin lives in San Fran and she said she doesn't have a problem with iPhone on AT&T.

If AT&T works out good for you then that should be your answer.
 
According to my cousin in San Fran she says she has no issues with iPhone on AT&T.

Are you concerned about getting an LTE iPhone next launch?
 
mpossoff said:
According to my cousin in San Fran she says she has no issues with iPhone on AT&T.

Are you concerned about getting an LTE iPhone next launch?
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I am happy with AT&T for the most part. But there are some terrible blind spots with AT&T at my office. Also the fact that AT&T doesn't have any service in any of the National Parks in California is another bummer as my wife and I go on frequent trips.

But having said that, having simultaneous voice and data is important for me, hence my reluctance to switch to Verizon/Sprint. Also AT&T has the fastest 3G data speeds I think which is good. Not sure how the 4G LTE network will affect things when it comes out. But I will definitely be upgrading when the 4G iPhone comes out. I just want to make sure I make the right choice which gives me the best voice and data service.
 
I'm from San Jose and I currently live in SF. I'm on AT&T.

SF: I lived in Inner Richmond last year and reception was terrible. I'm in SOMA now though and no problems so far -- everything is actually very snappy down here.

SJ: Reception is terrible. Especially recently. Not sure if it's my parents' house (in ESSJ) but generally I find that I constantly get dropped calls, especially on 3G. When I am in SJ I have to stick to EDGE. My boyfriend has similar problems, so it's not just me. Too bad, too, because before iPhone (or maybe right when I got my 3G) AT&T service was excellent and I never had any problems, like my friends did with Verizon.

Hope that helps! I'm really hoping that the bump in data speeds on AT&T will help matters. This is only my personal experience, though. I could just have bad luck :D
 
saintforlife said:
Which of these three has the best service in the San Francisco South Bay Area (Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, San Jose) today in terms of voice and data service currently?

When carriers roll out the 4G networks in 2012, which will be the best carrier to be on next year and beyond?
Click to expand...

Wish someone would answer these questions
 
I don't know who you people are [who love AT&T in the BA] because I have to know two dozen iPhone owners in the SF Bay Area (including me), and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM loathes AT&T. I can't go to a dinner or party or work without people ranting about AT&T's dropped calls, and even though it gets old, I get it because I lived through it myself. I've driven to every corner of the Bay and AT&T is consistently horrendous. Sure, you can find pockets here and there that work OK. But don't go anywhere, don't even move your arm, turn around, or change the grip on your phone because you're risking a dropped call.

Verizon is WAY better in SF as far as coverage and voice quality and reliability, there is no contest. Now I will say that was before the iPhone 4S, does that make AT&T suddenly awesome? I don't know because I took the opportunity to bail to Verizon, but I doubt it.
 
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"I don't know who you people are"

People who are trying to get answers to information we don't have and feel
this forum is a good way to get those answers
 
wateron said:
Wish someone would answer these questions
Click to expand...

I live in the east bay and travel around the bay area. I been with AT&T well before the iPhone and their network has gone down hill for the most part. Rf issues have become a norm along with dropped calls. The network comes to a halt where many people are gathered. I switched to Verizon with the 4s and have been happy so far. Coverage is better and haven't seen much of a slowdown with data. Verizon has a faster ping than att so pages render quickly.

I also have a 4g lte provided by work. Verizon has a good lte footprint here and offers the fastest speeds out of any carrier. AT&T doesn't have lte here so verizon will likely have leg up on them come lte iPhone time.
 
I've been in Palo Alto and Richmond and had great service on Sprint for the past 5 years (NY and Chicago before that). No dropped calls and pretty fast data. We'll see how it goes with all the new iPhones, but I've been very happy over the past 13 years with Sprint. No dropped calls (there is one dead spot on the freeway near parents place in Sacramento), but other than that, network is good and relatively fast 1 Mbps average and upto 1.5. Plus you can't beat the price.
 
leftpinky said:
I've been in Palo Alto and Richmond and had great service on Sprint for the past 5 years (NY and Chicago before that). No dropped calls and pretty fast data. We'll see how it goes with all the new iPhones, but I've been very happy over the past 13 years with Sprint. No dropped calls (there is one dead spot on the freeway near parents place in Sacramento), but other than that, network is good and relatively fast 1 Mbps average and upto 1.5. Plus you can't beat the price.
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Those speeds are slow as hell compared to ATT customers. I am in SF on ATT and I almost constantly get 8-10 mbps download and 5-7mbps upload.

Check out all the threads of angry Sprint customers complaining how slow their speed is.
 
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