vB Easy Archive - Eastern PA

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Eastern PA
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Posted by: albertr

Just want to check if anyone has information on when AT&T/Cingular are planning to extend 3G coverage in Eastern PA (Bucks county, in particular)... The initial deployment was rolled out about a year ago, and it was no visible progress since then..

If anyone has reliable information regarding AT&T's plans in this area, please chime in...
Thanks,
-albertr

Posted by: albertr

Well, i guess lack of responses is response too :-(

-albertr

Posted by: siliconvalley78

There is some in certain areas of Bucks County, but not enough. Oxford Valley Mall is covered, as is Richboro/Holland, to an extent. Newtown could use alot of 3G coverage, but I have only seen one tower with it, and I can't lock onto that tower due to distance. Hopefully with the huge 3G push that's happening, we'll see something soon.

Pritesh

Posted by: buckspaul

yes you mean the southern part of bucks county in suburbia The coverag emapes on att site are from may 31 so ims sure 3 g now, from what i have heard they are started agrressively adding 3g to cell sites in philly market. It s easty to tell ATT 3g cell site they have a larger regtanglear panel.. i have noticeed have expanded leghigh valley coverage also. let me call the corp office for philly this wee as has i have contact their and ask them if they have started expanding the 3 g coverage in bucks county. They really need to catch with verizon and sprint..

Posted by: albertr

AT&T store in Doylestown says that November, 16 is the date. We will see if it holds true...
-albertr

Posted by: siliconvalley78

Looks like someone messed up, unless Doylestown now has 3G, cause certain parts of Newtown don't.

Pritesh

Posted by: buckspaul

never seen such hodge podge rollout before some towers have utms some dont. i notice certain towers in newtown still dont have utms, doylestown deosn have utms at all .. its like that all over philly and new york city markets. i was driving on 78 last week. patchy 3g doesnt start until almost watchung. then with steady 3g starting at summit.. driving west on route 42 towards philadelphia the first tower with utms starts at blackwood.. pathetic.... 8 miles from center city philadelphia. Whats taking them so long to expand. another area that odd is wildwod and cape may proper as they both utms coverage but in rio grande where all the new stores are located including the att store theres no utms... its like a swiss cheese 3g network no logic... at least verizon and sprint did a rapid complete rollout where they intended to have 3g evdo coverage.

Posted by: siliconvalley78

Right, it's getting a bit out of hand. The closest 3G tower is 1.5 miles from me, the one 1 mile away is the one I lock onto, with no 3G. Absolutely ridiculous. And at times the one 3G tower doesn't broadcast 3G, which makes it more annoying. I've filed tickets with AT&T over both the lack of 3G and the specific tower, but I sincerely doubt they care.

Pritesh

Posted by: albertr

Dissapointed as everybody else here, I stopped by Doylestown store tonight to vent my frustraition. The store manager was swearing that Novermber 30 is NOW the definite date. He said all the equipment is installed already and they are just waiting for 11/30 to launch it.... Let's keep our fingers crossed.
-albertr

Posted by: buckspaul

i am tempted to post att's philly corp market office number right on here! do think i would get banned for a few days? im sick of empty promises... just like my crappy cable company oh im not talking about comcast either.

Posted by: albertr

Well, I can wait for 10 more days... in fact was waiting for it since July/August 2006 when they launched 3G in here - coverage just stopped 1.5 miles away from my house. I noticed that network was acting alittle bit strange in the last couple of months around here, let's hope that 11/30/2007 stays firm launch date and they turn it on finally!
-albertr

Posted by: DoubleSh0t

Still waiting for any word of Reading, PA and the surrounding areas of Berks to have 3G coverage. I was in Hershey this weekend, and I couldn't believe my phone was showing a 3G signal. Coming back home was disappointing to say the least. 3G in Kutztown (the university specifically) would be nice too, considering how close it is to Allentown.

Posted by: 2004ep3hatch

Don't feel bad, I'm waiting by Pocono raceway. my thread is here somewhere

Posted by: experiment626

What about my hometown area?Does the Telford-Souderton area have 3G? Last maps I saw showed them stuck on EDGE between the Philly and Allentown 3G coverage markets.

Posted by: albertr

In anticipation of getting 3G coverage at my house location, I've got myself a Samsung A717 UMTS/HSDPA-capable handset. To my big surprise, when I drove on PA turnpike from King of Prussia to Willow Grove, my phone stayed on Edge all the time. The only UMTS tower it detected was at turnpike's exit to Willow Grove. Driving 263 from Willow Grove to Doylestown, I only counted THREE UMTS towers! No HSDPA towers at all! A717 shows "3G" icon for UMTS and "3G+" icon for HSDPA, or at least that's what documentation says. When I drove 611 from Doylestown to Willow Grove, it stayed to Edge all the time... WTF? I'm using "3G"-marked SIM card they sent me... The whole area from King of Prussia upto approx. 1.5 miles before my house is shown as having 3G on AT&T coverage maps. What am I missing here? Is it defective handset, problem with my account or AT&T's maps are just plain misleading? I'm totally confused now...
-albertr

Posted by: albertr

Was driving around King of Prussia mall during lunch break today. This area seems to be covered with "3G" much better. Alas, no "3G+" icon on A717... But at least it looks like my handset works. Does it mean that "3G" coverage in Bucks county is almost non-existant past Willow Grove? Why AT&T maps show it as having coverage? What am I missing here?
-albertr

Posted by: baaadandy

Wow, I'm really surprised Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has 3G but all of these areas where you guys are are still lacking.. I really wonder who put NEPA higher up on the priority list than the Lehigh Valley? area. I don't know really anyone up here who even utilizes 3G, most people just want to make calls and text.

Posted by: siliconvalley78

Quote:

Originally Posted by albertr

Was driving around King of Prussia mall during lunch break today. This area seems to be covered with "3G" much better. Alas, no "3G+" icon on A717... But at least it looks like my handset works. Does it mean that "3G" coverage in Bucks county is almost non-existant past Willow Grove? Why AT&T maps show it as having coverage? What am I missing here?
-albertr

You probably won't see the 3G+ icon unless you're transferring data, since that indicates HSDPA, and the network isn't going to put you on it unless an active data transmission is occurring.

Pritesh

Posted by: albertr

Ahhh... makes sense. Thanks for explanation. Let's keep our fingers crossed for tomorrow's launch.
-albertr

Posted by: albertr

Hmm, it's 8PM and still no cigar...

-albertr

Posted by: siliconvalley78

I just went live via 3G about 10 minutes ago on my nearest tower in Newtown. Very surprising. Caught on my SYNC. I'm tethering on it right now.
Let's hope it holds out.

Pritesh

Posted by: albertr

Great! My tower is still broadcasting 850MHz GSM cell only... Hopefully, I'll see some 3G soon too.
-albertr

Posted by: siliconvalley78

You'll get it, just taking some time. No one told me about the launch on the 30th either, it just kind of happened. Works well for the old addage of thing showing up when you least expect them to.

Pritesh

Posted by: jankm

Just noticed my phone now shows 3G in Worcester, PA. Finally!

Posted by: albertr

YES! Amid few delays, 3G went up live here too tonight!
-albertr

Posted by: 2004ep3hatch

i guess pocono will never see 3g lol . i hope it dont take years

Posted by: jmoz2989

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2004ep3hatch

i guess pocono will never see 3g lol . i hope it dont take years

With the tobyhanna tower there Im sure they will have 3G up by early 2008. In fact they should cover all of 380 then

Posted by: buckspaul

seriously dont hold your breath...this rollout is horrible.

Posted by: Quake97

They just turned on 3G along Route 202 from North Wales up to Doylestown.

Joe

Posted by: aurigus

Just wanted to report - 3G live in West Chester, PA area. Active out route 30 until around coatesville where it seems coverage switches back to Edge speeds.

Posted by: Quake97

The latest AT&T coverage maps don't show any of the new coverage in Bucks and Montgomery counties.

Joe

Posted by: RogerPodacter

hey i'm from Levittown. I get full 3G at my house in levittown, and at Oxford Valley mall and surrounding area. i keep the signal into lawrenceville NJ. in fact, i get full 3G signal from philly international airport till i walk in my front door. so has coverage imporved? the philly area 3G coverage is spectacular compared to los angeles.

Posted by: buckspaul

you get 3G because you travel along the I 95 corridor. Im lucky i live in far upper bucks adjacent to the lehigh valley i get 3g because of one of the towers from northampton county. i have switch my palm 750 into utms mode only though. but its a good signal. but the coverage maps dont show 3g coverage at my house LOL.

Posted by: RogerPodacter

certainly true. What did surprise me was the local 3g coverage at my house and surrounding area. Was pulling down 1.2Mbps in the woods at my house!

Posted by: JoeyDee

try looking for coverage here: http://www.wireless.att.com/coverag...r/popUp_3g.html

it's slightly more up-to-date than coverage viewer, it's in PDF format

EDIT: Didn't realise most cities listed just take you to the coverage viewer when clicked... my area is a PDF that shows 3g coverage... coverage viewer doesn't show any 3g... :P

Posted by: albertr

Apparently, AT&T didn't update its coverage viewer with recent changes in eastern PA deployment.
-albertr

Posted by: buckspaul

OMG that viewer is so inaccurate in my area even the voice data is dead wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!

Posted by: 2004ep3hatch

ill have to look at that link. I have a Verizon 6700 that i got for my friend and its in EV-DO right now. I'm saying dammit to myself lol. Its OK tho. im sure 3G will be here soon enough for my 750.

Looks like Verizon beat at&t to the punch here. Monroe county.

Posted by: Poopie

How is harleysville for 3g? I just picked up another 3g phone after being without one for 4 months and haven't been to work because of the holidays. I'm curious to see if I get 3g at work. My house used to be very spotty, but I could force it into 3g but now its a solid 4 bars.

Posted by: Poopie

im at work on the crapper and 3g works very well here. In fact I get a good lock at HSDPA speeds. bandwidth test on my Tilt shows 845kbs.

Posted by: dctmpeg

Allentown / Whitehall / Bethlehem PA UMTS is very good, though it would appear that it is on 1900. I have not proven this, but the in-building peneration on GSM is marginally better. (It could be a closer site, versus UMTS being on 1900 however.)

However, using a LG-CU400, I can tell you:

-Calls holds functionally until -106dBm with AMR 12.2
-They are using AMR at 12.2 kbps at all times
-Audio is lost once you reach -106dBm or more.

Testing a friend's Sync - not a good phone at all - it seems as though placing a call on UMTS with a weak signal will often cause the call to be handed off to the GSM network. The same went for the CU-400 when placed on UMTS and GSM.

IIRC, the menu for engineering mode on the CU400 is->

277634#*# - > Modem Setting - > Engineer Mode.

Posted by: telarium

Quote:

Originally Posted by dctmpeg

Allentown / Whitehall / Bethlehem PA UMTS is very good, though it would appear that it is on 1900. I have not proven this, but the in-building peneration on GSM is marginally better. (It could be a closer site, versus UMTS being on 1900 however.)

However, using a LG-CU400, I can tell you:

-Calls holds functionally until -106dBm with AMR 12.2
-They are using AMR at 12.2 kbps at all times
-Audio is lost once you reach -106dBm or more.

Testing a friend's Sync - not a good phone at all - it seems as though placing a call on UMTS with a weak signal will often cause the call to be handed off to the GSM network. The same went for the CU-400 when placed on UMTS and GSM.

IIRC, the menu for engineering mode on the CU400 is->

277634#*# - > Modem Setting - > Engineer Mode.

Working to expand coverage down 22 and 78 - eastward. Easton, PA is market live at AMR EFR @ good SNR.

Posted by: buckspaul

upgraded my treo 750 to windows 6 with hsdpa upgrade. forced my phone into utms mode. 3G appears with 3 bars when data is being downloaded H appears for HSDPA. This is on a tower in the lehigh valley that spills overs in to upper Bucks, i have yet to to do a speed test . Edge speed is 140k download.. will post results hdspa this weekend.

Posted by: dctmpeg

It would appear based upon the current coverage maps that UMTS is spreading inbetween Allentown and Reading.

A certain capacity-crunched area inbetween the two would really benefit from it, especially if in-building penetration on 850 could be held consistently.. Plus, it's not nice being on GSM and AMR-HR at 3:00am when nobody is using the network...

I can't be certain, but I think a well known water-tower site around here
had its antennas modified. I will have to walk up and check soon enough.

Posted by: experiment626

According to the latest coverage maps it looks like 3G has finally crept into the Telford & Souderton area.Just happy for my old hometown.

Posted by: kida

Why isn't AT&T updating towers along the interstates? On the coverage map it appears that 81 is still EDGE between cities. Is that the case?

Posted by: buckspaul

because they cheap!! the worst roll out ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!