Carrier T-Mobile in Los Angeles/Culver City, CA no signal inside TARGET store

[MrXiro]

So I just switched over from At&t to T-Mobile 2 days ago and so far everything worked out fine until I walked into the Culver City Target last night. Literally had no signal while in the store for 10 minutes... walked around the whole store too and checked the phone (I was trying to look something up).

Any T-Mobile customers out there with similar problems? I'm using a 5S and reception has been decent through out Los Angeles, I lose reception in certain spots of my office at work but it's not much better with At&t (down to 1 bar with Data running really slow).

Overall the Tmo speed (both LTE and 4G) blows At&t out of the water. But I don't recall completely losing reception indoors for at least the last 5 years... this was common around 2002 but I was shocked to see it happen a decade later.

Is T-Mobile known for this or is this an intermittent issue?

 

[monkey28rb]

ATT holds lower frequency bands (which allows better in building penetration) Tmobile unfortunately does not have the spectrum with the lower frequencies.

So I just switched over from At&t to T-Mobile 2 days ago and so far everything worked out fine until I walked into the Culver City Target last night. Literally had no signal while in the store for 10 minutes... walked around the whole store too and checked the phone (I was trying to look something up).

Any T-Mobile customers out there with similar problems? I'm using a 5S and reception has been decent through out Los Angeles, I lose reception in certain spots of my office at work but it's not much better with At&t (down to 1 bar with Data running really slow).

Overall the Tmo speed (both LTE and 4G) blows At&t out of the water. But I don't recall completely losing reception indoors for at least the last 5 years... this was common around 2002 but I was shocked to see it happen a decade later.

Is T-Mobile known for this or is this an intermittent issue?

 

[bradl]

ATT holds lower frequency bands (which allows better in building penetration) Tmobile unfortunately does not have the spectrum with the lower frequencies.

And depending on what you need, Target does have free WiFi in all of their stores.

BL.

 

[CEmajr]

Yeah AT&T has better building penetration. At one of my local Target stores I also get no signal inside unless I'm near the entrance.

 

[alent1234]

sometimes my verizon phone works better than my att phone
sometimes its the opposite

i doubt you will find a cellular service that works 100% everywhere

 

[MrXiro]

And depending on what you need, Target does have free WiFi in all of their stores.

BL.

I did not know about the free wifi. I will have to check that out next time I am there.

----------

sometimes my verizon phone works better than my att phone
sometimes its the opposite

i doubt you will find a cellular service that works 100% everywhere

I wasn't expecting 100% coverage but I also wasn't expecting 0% inside a store either. If there is a dead spot just by the kitchen aisle I wouldn't have bothered to ask. But this was in the entire store. I walked through the whole place and couldn't get 1 bar. It's just odd to me since I've been in other buildings with no problems. Ironically there is a tmobile store about a 5 min walk away from Target.

 

[bradl]

I did not know about the free wifi. I will have to check that out next time I am there.

It's definitely a time saver when you need it. I was at that store in Culver City roughly 6 months ago and a year ago when I drove down with my family for a dinner and get together. I believe you're talking about the one that is on Sepulveda just east of I-405 near LAX. It definitely has WiFi in the store.

BL.

 

[Col Ronson]

So I just switched over from At&t to T-Mobile 2 days ago and so far everything worked out fine until I walked into the Culver City Target last night. Literally had no signal while in the store for 10 minutes... walked around the whole store too and checked the phone (I was trying to look something up).

Any T-Mobile customers out there with similar problems? I'm using a 5S and reception has been decent through out Los Angeles, I lose reception in certain spots of my office at work but it's not much better with At&t (down to 1 bar with Data running really slow).

Overall the Tmo speed (both LTE and 4G) blows At&t out of the water. But I don't recall completely losing reception indoors for at least the last 5 years... this was common around 2002 but I was shocked to see it happen a decade later.

Is T-Mobile known for this or is this an intermittent issue?

I lose Tmobile signal 50% of the time i enter buildings. It's not too big of an inconvenience for me since most places have wifi, but it does irritate me since ATT never had that problem. but like everyone said, Tmobile's spectrum has terrible building penetration. No fault of the company or its network, just plain physics lol.

You're right about the speed too. Besides the rootmetrics reports, Tmo has less congestion so i've always had better "4G" speed on Tmo vs ATT simply cuz there's less people using the network.

 

[mazer75]

I remember that T-Mobile's spectrum had building penetration issues in the EDGE days, and I guess 3G/HSPA, but isn't their LTE supposed to be better? Or are they using the same poor frequency bands for their LTE?

(I am thinking of switching to T-Mo from Verizon to save some money, but I'm terrified that I won't get signal anywhere. I live and work in Torrance CA, btw).

 

[Col Ronson]

I remember that T-Mobile's spectrum had building penetration issues in the EDGE days, and I guess 3G/HSPA, but isn't their LTE supposed to be better? Or are they using the same poor frequency bands for their LTE?

(I am thinking of switching to T-Mo from Verizon to save some money, but I'm terrified that I won't get signal anywhere. I live and work in Torrance CA, btw).

The LTE band Tmobile uses, AWS, 1700Mhz, will not have as good of a building penetration as the bands Verizon and ATT use, the 700Mhz band. Remember, lower frequency= better building penetration.

If you're afraid of not getting signal, buy a prepaid $30 5GB data plan online and test it for a month.

 

[applegeek25]

I lose Tmobile signal 50% of the time i enter buildings. It's not too big of an inconvenience for me since most places have wifi, but it does irritate me since ATT never had that problem. but like everyone said, Tmobile's spectrum has terrible building penetration. No fault of the company or its network, just plain physics lol.

I'd say building penetration is way more important than even 4G/LTE coverage. What's the point of living in an LTE area if you lose signal 50% of the time. Unless you live in a tent or spend most of your day outside, you're really just throwing money down the drain every month. Also keep in mind that battery life will decrease rapidly if the phone is constantly fighting to hold onto a signal.

 

[Col Ronson]

I'd say building penetration is way more important than even 4G/LTE coverage. What's the point of living in an LTE area if you lose signal 50% of the time. Unless you live in a tent or spend most of your day outside, you're really just throwing money down the drain every month. Also keep in mind that battery life will decrease rapidly if the phone is constantly fighting to hold onto a signal.

i can live without having 4G/LTE inside a grocery store or Target or anytime of large retail store for 30 minutes. In most normal workplaces, there are windows and building penetration is not an issue.

 

[MrXiro]

It's definitely a time saver when you need it. I was at that store in Culver City roughly 6 months ago and a year ago when I drove down with my family for a dinner and get together. I believe you're talking about the one that is on Sepulveda just east of I-405 near LAX. It definitely has WiFi in the store.

BL.

Yeah that's the one... I'll have to check my Wifi next time.

I went to Costco today in Culver/Marina del Rey. Got great LTE signal... must be the all the lead in the Target.

 

[co.ag.2005]

Yeah that's the one... I'll have to check my Wifi next time.

I went to Costco today in Culver/Marina del Rey. Got great LTE signal... must be the all the lead in the Target.

there's certain target stores here in the Denver Metro where I get a terrible drop in service (building penetration issues) with AT&T. No other stores do this to me. Maybe it's how they construct their stores?

 

[DcGamer05]

So funny you mention Target, when I switched to Verizon the only store I lose LTE in is Target here in Bethel,CT. Its funny whenever I go into Target I always have to use their Wifi because the signal in their is atrocious, must be a Target thing

 

[MrXiro]

So funny you mention Target, when I switched to Verizon the only store I lose LTE in is Target here in Bethel,CT. Its funny whenever I go into Target I always have to use their Wifi because the signal in their is atrocious, must be a Target thing

Lead paint?

 

[zorinlynx]

What phone are you using? If you're using one of the older iPhone 5 units without the AWS UMTS bands, you may be missing out on coverage.

I'm surprised to see absolutely no coverage in the store. Maybe you're already in a weak coverage area and the store killed the already-weak signal? How many bars do you get outside?

 

[Tomb01]

I'm surprised to see absolutely no coverage in the store. Maybe you're already in a weak coverage area and the store killed the already-weak signal? How many bars do you get outside?

There are a fairly significant number of threads in the T-Mobile support site about poor reception with the 5s. I live in an 'Excellent' signal area, and frequently drop into E (Edge) mode. Not only that, but I regularly have periods of no signal in this and many other locales. I travel for business, and have had issues in California, Nevada, Missouri, and New York in addition to my hope patch in Texas. There are a number of posters in the T-Mobile support forums that indicate there may be some technical issue with the 5s and their network. I believe it, as both my and my wife's phones are experiencing regular service issues. Have not called and opened a service ticket yet, but plan to do that in the near future. For those of you considering T-Mobile and the iPhone 5s, I'd do some research first.