ATT coverage in Southern Cal

Hi.. I was wondering if anyone out there had any idea about the coverage of ATT in southern California?

At&t Wireless in Southern California is very good in the sense that you are using their multi-band phones, GAIT phone, or TDMA phone. What I mean by that is if you are willing to give up the gadgets like cameras, internet, and etc, than At&t has what you need. When it comes to going with their new network of GSM, it does struggle currently due to the expansion of the network. Do not worry though, At&t Wireless offers their customers the chance to go back to TDMA, if they find that GSM with all its extras just doesn't cover the areas you need it to. I've been offered that once, that is how I know, because I was on a road trip from San Diego to Chicago one time and with GSM, it just gets cut off, but with TDMA, you still get service along the way. I decided to stay with GSM though, because I found that driving is a little too tiring now that SWA has great deals on flights there.

AT&T coverage in L.A. is a mixed bag. This year I went through the traumatic transition from their old (TDMA) network to the new mMode (GSM) network. The only place my GSM phone worked perfectly was in my apartment in Hollywood. Everywhere else (Fairfax district, west San Fernando Valley, Seattle WA on business), my phone could not pick up a signal to save my life. 5 months of pulling out my hair later, I switched back to TDMA. Got better phone reception on my 2 year old beat up Nokia 8260 than with a new Sony Ericsson T68i any day of the week.

After much consultation at AT&T stores around town (and with other AT&T customers), I found that the GSM network in Los Angeles is not ready for prime time. Clerks at the store said that AT&T is working to get the GSM coverage problems worked out by the end of the year, but I wouldn't count on it.

AT&T's old network is actually quite good (haven't had any major problems with it in the 3 years I've been on it, besides the usual dropping out in canyons, etc.), and if you're strictly going to be using your phone to make calls and send the occasional text message (as I do) and not bother with the bells and whistles of mobile internet, I suggest you go with the old network. Although I hear Cingular (which until recently had a horrible rep in L.A.) is getting better.....

Hope this helps.

Compared to some areas the GSM coverage here is pretty good. Compared to TDMA coverage the GSM coverage isn't that great.

LA County - Decent coverage now that the network has matured a bit. The GSM coverage used to be pretty bad around Hollywood and the San Fernando valley but is much better now. In the southern cities like Pomona, Brea, and Fullerton I've had mixed luck with coverage. Coverage in those towns is really dependent on what hills are in your way.
Orange County - The coverage is a lot better in most parts of OC than in some areas of LA. In Anaheim and Garden Grove I haven't had any problems with service. Costa Mesa and Irvine have good coverage unless you're in the hills around UCI.
Inland Empire - In the past six months the IE has gotten a lot better coverage than they ever used to have. Riverside's coverage was pretty bad in a lot of areas because of bad tower placement. San Bernardino has pretty good coverage. Corona and Norco have decent coverage but you don't necessarily get a GPRS signal.
High Desert - I had strong coverage in Victorville and Bastow proper but the coverage gets spotty on the road. TDMA coverage is still strong there as is Verizon's signal (discovered that while camping).
San Diego - I've had bad luck trying to get a good signal in San Diego. In the outlying towns finding a signal isn't too difficult. Downtown SD was pretty bad. La Jolla has mixed coverage depending on whether or not you're behind a hill or not. The UCSD campus has good coverage.

All of those places are from my experience with a couple different phones. I'm using an R520m now which gets a much better signal than the T68i and T306 I've had. My old T61lx used to get really strong coverage just about anywhere. If reception is more of a concern than gadgets is for you I'd suggest picking up a multinetwork phone like the SE T62u or Siemens S47. Either of those will give you TDMA coverage where the GSM is weak.

Compared to some areas the GSM coverage here is pretty good. Compared to TDMA coverage the GSM coverage isn't that great.

LA County - Decent coverage now that the network has matured a bit. The GSM coverage used to be pretty bad around Hollywood and the San Fernando valley but is much better now. In the southern cities like Pomona, Brea, and Fullerton I've had mixed luck with coverage. Coverage in those towns is really dependent on what hills are in your way.
Orange County - The coverage is a lot better in most parts of OC than in some areas of LA. In Anaheim and Garden Grove I haven't had any problems with service. Costa Mesa and Irvine have good coverage unless you're in the hills around UCI.
Inland Empire - In the past six months the IE has gotten a lot better coverage than they ever used to have. Riverside's coverage was pretty bad in a lot of areas because of bad tower placement. San Bernardino has pretty good coverage. Corona and Norco have decent coverage but you don't necessarily get a GPRS signal.
High Desert - I had strong coverage in Victorville and Bastow proper but the coverage gets spotty on the road. TDMA coverage is still strong there as is Verizon's signal (discovered that while camping).
San Diego - I've had bad luck trying to get a good signal in San Diego. In the outlying towns finding a signal isn't too difficult. Downtown SD was pretty bad. La Jolla has mixed coverage depending on whether or not you're behind a hill or not. The UCSD campus has good coverage.

All of those places are from my experience with a couple different phones. I'm using an R520m now which gets a much better signal than the T68i and T306 I've had. My old T61lx used to get really strong coverage just about anywhere. If reception is more of a concern than gadgets is for you I'd suggest picking up a multinetwork phone like the SE T62u or Siemens S47. Either of those will give you TDMA coverage where the GSM is weak.

Hi i live in the 626 area code of CA, and been a mmode at&t subscriber for a year now. Basically, if you can choose another provider I would definitely do so. After about 4 months my service in my home was in possible to get. I had to litterally stand in a certain area of my room just to talk. aghh

My service go off in certain areas, and cuts off out of nowhere. Im changing providers next month. yea!
good luck with the provider you choose.

Whatever you do, don't switch to AT&T. They have the worst coverage in Southern California, one of the biggest market in the cell service. I've dropped so many business calls, it's embarrassing. And when I called customer service, they basically said, "oh well." I used to push my friends to AT&T all the time...until I moved back to SoCal...their service here sucks ass.

Verizon's really good in SoCal, as well as Sprint. Check them out. My girlfriend and sister both have Sprint. They both get full signal at home (Irvine)...I don't. My friend has Verizon...has full signal at work (Mission Viejo)...I don't.

And trust me when I say they're not going to do anything to improve the quality or the service, since in a few months, the AT&T - Cingular merger will be finalized.

ATT coverage in Southern Cal

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