vB Easy Archive - 3G More Widespread in Washington, DC Area

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3G More Widespread in Washington, DC Area
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Posted by: efparri

My Samsung SYNC has been on 3G with a not a single dropback to EDGE or GPRS since August 31, 2007. As a consequence, my battery has been taking a hit. I had to charge it last night and again this afternoon. I haven't talked more than ten minutes during that time.

Posted by: AnythingBUTROAM

3G is very solid in DC. So 3G is why my battery life was horrible.... even with no usage?

Posted by: awagner06

As an employee for AT&T in the DC area I can tell you that the engineering department is doing a decent job of filling in 3g coverage gaps, they just don't seem to be expanding the footprint.. i.e. Leesburg, Manassas, Woodbridge, Germantown, Frederick, Gaithersburg.

Posted by: ATnt-RSC

OP, I'd have a talk with the warranty dept, 3G does not kill a phone like that (this forum tends to exaggerate the battery drain of 3G, but that's another thread). With 10 minutes of talk (and assuming no/little Internet/messaging, or you don't spend 4-6 hours a day in the subway) the A707 will last 2-3 days.

Posted by: enigma99a

Happy for those in DC!

Posted by: convbcuda

The strange thing is, I'm surrounded by 3G, but don't get 3G at home and work (1.5 miles apart). I can't believe that the Newington/Springfield area isn't 3G yet. Other parts of Springfield, like the mall area do have 3G coverage.

Posted by: awagner06

3G in this market is interesting. For example, I will place a call in a strong 3G area and by the end of the call (without moving) my call is almost always handed off to GSM. Next spring when they start rolling out 3G on 850mhz in Greater DC things will greatly improve. Fyi, AT&T's 3G network in this market is at 65% capacity already so the extra spectrum they will be adding which is coming from Analog/ TDMA will be needed. Someone has been doing an excellent job of converting cutomers over to 3G devices..

Posted by: SHoTTa35

Quote:

Originally Posted by awagner06

As an employee for AT&T in the DC area I can tell you that the engineering department is doing a decent job of filling in 3g coverage gaps, they just don't seem to be expanding the footprint.. i.e. Leesburg, Manassas, Woodbridge, Germantown, Frederick, Gaithersburg.

I have a single blue block near my house according to the map but i don't have a 3G phone right now..

Seems G-Burg might be getting some 3G before the year is over! Finally!

Posted by: Superguy

3G's interesting south of Baltimore. I work in Columbia and live outside Pasadena.

AT&T's network claims where I live is 3G (though the main road that goes thru it says Edge

) but I have yet to get a 3G signal anywhere in Pasadena. It's all hit and miss along 32 though it's mostly 3G.

Drops to Edge as soon as I walk inside though.

Posted by: SHoTTa35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superguy

3G's interesting south of Baltimore. I work in Columbia and live outside Pasadena.

AT&T's network claims where I live is 3G (though the main road that goes thru it says Edge

) but I have yet to get a 3G signal anywhere in Pasadena. It's all hit and miss along 32 though it's mostly 3G.

Drops to Edge as soon as I walk inside though.

Right now they have 3G on 1900mhz so that's why you get a stronger and a more desirable signal on EDGE (GSM 850). I did notice tho that in my area, GSM1900 isn't even on. This is in Gaithersburg. I camp on 850 all day long and only towards Shady Grove station do i see it camping on GSM1900 which soon switches to WCDMA too.

Posted by: Superguy

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHoTTa35

How can you tell what the frequency is in an area you're in?

Posted by: SHoTTa35

Well i figured it out several ways. One was my friend from Germany/Turkey had her unlocked Nokia GSM 900/1800/1900 phone and i stuck my SIM in there and couldn't even find Cingular. All i saw was T-Mobile and it would allow me to register but the signal was weak. Next i have my Samsung Blackjack now and at home i put it in Engineering Mode and i see it stays on GSM850 all the time. They do use 1900 at some parts around here because on my way to work i see it switch to 1900 sometimes but i guess they turned off GSM 1900 to implement 3G which is usually on the 1900mhz band for now. Hopefully it's soon, there is like one cell site that has 3G in my area. LOL 1 lil patch of blue. It's probably not even the whole tower, probably just 1 or 2 panels.

Oh and check out these 3G speeds i got this morning tethered to my laptop. I'm not in Orlando FL but that's where the IP i was issued is from i guess.

Posted by: SHoTTa35

so when do we get 3G pushed all the way up to Frederick, MD? I'm dying to get rid of my lil pet peeve that i have when on a EDGE network that's not properly configured. In NYC (not sure of other cities) and on 3G phone numbers show up as (xxx)-xxx-xxxx instead of 1(xxx) xxx-xxxx . For some reason that 1 just bothers me like crazy!!! at work in Rockville i have full 3G but as soon as you get to Shady Grove (Metro) it goes back to EDGE even tho AT&T's map says it should be 3G.

(in the case of international numbers - 011xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx instead of +xxxxxxxxxxxxxx)

Posted by: scooper321

How's the overall coverage (not just 3G) for ATT/Cing in the DC/Balt area?

Posted by: Superguy

Quote:

Originally Posted by scooper321

How's the overall coverage (not just 3G) for ATT/Cing in the DC/Balt area?

I've been generally happy with it. I know of a few dead spots, but they're few and far between. I think the 3G coverage (according to the map anyway) is a lie in some places. Only trouble I really have is in big concrete office buildings, but those would be problematic with any carrier.

I live south of Baltimore near the airport. Don't venture into DC as much, so most of my experience focuses around Baltimore.

Posted by: George Knighton

A couple of you have talked about rapidly switching between 3G and GSM, and I think that is why you might be experiencing unusually short battery life.

It's not necessarily that 3G takes more battery (it does). It could be that it's trying to constantly find 3G in a fringe area or an area with an array capacity issue is forcing your phone to switch back and forth.

Some of us using the Moto V9 in the DC area, some of us who have to make and hold voice calls for extended periods in fringe areas like Pr William Co, will manually switch our phones to hold 850/1900 GSM so that our phones do not constantly hunt for 3G and try to hold a 1 bar 3G signal in a case where there's a perfectly good 5-bar GSM signal.

Our battery life improved.

Posted by: convbcuda

3G just went live this morning in Newington, VA.

Posted by: George Knighton

That's a considerable jump southward!

Posted by: SHoTTa35

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHoTTa35

Wirelessly posted (3125: SAMSUNG-SGH-I617/1.0 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.6) UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

well some lil birdie told me 3G was supposed to launche today in the 6aitehrsburg MD are but it is tenative now. i spoke to 2 people in the are and the both had the same info in regards to should have been here today but they might flip the switch later in the week as early as monday!

cant wait!!

Wrote that on Saturday but nothing yet in the northern parts. I want them to jump NORTH!!! I checked this morning and still dind't have nothing but maybe we could have something later today when i go home.

Posted by: convbcuda

Quote:

Originally Posted by George Knighton

That's a considerable jump southward!

The Springfield Mall area has had 3G for a while now, and that's just a few miles away. Of course there's a corporate store right across the street from the mall.

I saw them working on the tower earlier this week, so I wondered if this was coming.

Posted by: Interex

I'm showing 3G now live in Occoquan, parts of Woodbridge, and Lorton, Virginia.

Posted by: SHoTTa35

i got 3G at the Lake Forest Mall in Gaithersburg, MD today. Seems to be only on one side of the mall tho

Oh well, at least it's one and running. For the people that know, it's on the Sears/Ruby Tuesday's side

Posted by: George Knighton

Quote:

Originally Posted by Interex

I'm showing 3G now live in Occoquan, parts of Woodbridge, and Lorton, Virginia.

You're kidding!! That's great!

Posted by: George Knighton

Well, well, well.

There's 3G all over the east end of Pr William now. Woodbridge, Lake Ridge and Dale City were all showing 3G with a decent signal.

Didn't catch anything in Manassas yet.

But we're not winning any speed contests. The best test on the phone was 750K, and most of them were between 600-700K.

I was expecting a little better.

Posted by: Malibu21

it'll come as they tweak the towers

Posted by: c5karl

Quote:

Originally Posted by Interex

I'm showing 3G now live in Occoquan, parts of Woodbridge, and Lorton, Virginia.

I've seen 3G on Henderson Rd., east of Rte 123. I also had 5 bars of 3G inside the Costco on Alban Rd. and inside the Shoppers Food Warehouse in Lorton.

Posted by: SHoTTa35

well i was on my way down to Richmond and i had 3G for a while going down on 95. I noticed that i definitely had 3G in Lorton exit

I don't know how much futher it went but definitely loved having it a bit longer on that trip.

Now i'm in Orlando, FL and we have full 3G bars everywhere, i mean EVERYWHERE! LOL I'm like, damn, i can't even get my phone's bars to drop below 5. I go to the bathroom and put my hands over the back, put it in my backpocket while standing in the closet and just still 5 bars! I'm so jealous that we don't have that back up north. Driving around town too i see 3G everywhere, no matter what part of the area i am it's all 5 bars full 3G!

(speed tests tho are only normal/average. NO super good speeds here but oh well

)

Posted by: efparri

I was in Manassas today. There was 3G along Sudley Road and even inside the Great American Steak and Buffet restaurant across from Manassas Mall. There was 3G in Old Town and along Centreville Road.

Posted by: SHoTTa35

when i was coming from Richmond, VA (to DC) i had 3G starting at Exit 156 on 95, i think it said Dale City. I came back to 3G live all over the place where i live too

Just my stupid house doesn't have a strong enough one so it switches back to EDGE. Time to get that Dualband repeater i wanted.

Posted by: Superguy

3G showed up at my house this week in Orchard Beach, MD. Just NW of Pasadena. AT&T had claimed it was a 3G area for a few months now, but it was only turned on a few days ago.

Posted by: awagner06

Shotta 35. The reason why there is 3G on the Ruby Tuesday/ Sears side of the mall is because the site that serves that whole area is on top of the Hilton right off of I270. With UMTS only being broadcast on 1900mhz you will loose it faster inside the mall then you would with 850mhz GSM that is also on the Hilton site. I've also noticed that the "All Circuits Busy" message that I used to get in the area during evening rush hour has been halted now that the new 3G site is picking up all of the voice traffic from customers who have 3G devices in the area. It has always surprised me that AT&T relies on that one site to handle all of the network traffic in a 3 mile radious including several housing developments, Lakeforest Mall, commuters on 355 and 270.

Posted by: SHoTTa35

well guess they worked on that a bit because as i said now i get 3G to the other side as well as further down the road away from the mall. It would stop at Girard and Summit (bad reception area anyways).

So other than there, where are the other cell sites around here. I've honestly been checking the skyline and just can't find any. I'm just happy i got this zBoost Cell repeater. Now that 3G is around tho i wish i had gotten a Cel/PCS one instead. I can't complain tho, i got this one for dirt cheap cuz the guy that had it (for Verizon! hehe) sold it cuz he switched to T-Mobile or Sprint, forgot which. Nobody wanted it so he just took my super low offer

If i go on my room (where i have the antenna for the zBoost) i can get 3G there, 2-3 bars and full 2G so i know there's a tower here somewhere. I checked over at Kelly Park but i see nothing. I figured they'd use those super high lighting poles but just lights on them.

Posted by: zephxiii

Press release for this area:

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?p...articleid=25057

Posted by: SHoTTa35

nice find... i noticed some panels the other day on a high rise apartment building on the other side of the mall

I had to look hard cuz they were painted the same color as the building but they are there, i guess those got converted/added to 3G cuz it's all over now. Still tho, seems there's a 3G hole where i live (probably cuz of 1900mhz band, 850 gets there 2-3 bars)

Posted by: Neofite

hi all,

Im really looking hard at getting the Tilt from ATT. RIght now im on Verizon, but my contract is up now. I just want to know if 3g is fully rolled out in the Gaithersburg/Germantown area, as that is where i live/work/hang 90% of the time.

Posted by: SHoTTa35

did you not read the thread at all? 2 posts above yours as well as other people) including me were talking about when AT&T moved 3G to Gaithersburg.

From december 20th post of mine:

Quote:

i got 3G at the Lake Forest Mall in Gaithersburg, MD today. Seems to be only on one side of the mall tho Oh well, at least it's one and running. For the people that know, it's on the Sears/Ruby Tuesday's side

Posted by: George Knighton

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHoTTa35

did you not read the thread at all?

You should see how crazy people get in the 100+ page threads (like the single V8 and single V9 threads).

People aren't going to keep up w/a long thread, or even a couple of posts, apparently. :-)

Posted by: Neofite

I read the thread!!! is it full coverage or spotty is what i want to know.

Posted by: zephxiii

too bad these uber long threads aren't searchable.

Posted by: SHoTTa35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neofite

I read the thread!!! is it full coverage or spotty is what i want to know.

You're asking about spotty 3G coverage or spotty coverage in general? 3G coverage wont be greater than 2G coverage so as anyone else will tell you, check out the coverage maps AND also do a 30 day trial to see if it's good enough for you.

With that said, 3G coverage is everywhere i have 2G so far. I haven't been all over so i can't say 100% but that's why coverage is subjective and one you should try it themselves. The maps haven't been updated to show 3G coverage in this area but it's there where i've been. I don't know where you live or work so i can't say 100% it's there but it's all over and it wouldn't go announce it for the area and just have it on a few towers.

The link the above has the announcement for Gaithersburg, Germantown as being 3G covered. How well... can't tell you that

Posted by: dcdeadbeat

Even in the hood (Columbia Heights) we have 3G inside the district. Everytime I call 911 to report another drive-by shooting, I check and yes, it's 3G.