vB Easy Archive - there a way to find out where 3G towers are?

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there a way to find out where 3G towers are?
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Posted by: psycho-

As of yesterday afternoon, my 3G signal in my office has jumped up significantly. The last tower is a block or two away and gives me usually 1-4 bars of 3G service throughout my office complex. Usually, it's 1 bar in the depths of the concrete building and 4 bars near the windows.

As of today, I've been getting full signal even in areas that are traditionally good. Is there any way to check with at&t to figure where there are towers?

Posted by: RogerPodacter

you mean you want to see where the 3g towers are and not gsm? or you want to see where att towers are, period? i assume anywhere att has a tower it will have 3g and gsm both running on the same tower, so i doubt there are separate 3g towers on their own.

anyway, i dont know how or where. but i know there are websites that log locations of cell towers for each company and include the intersection location and an actual picture of the tower for sites pretty much all over the country. hopefully someone can jump in and post the site.

and i swear i saw an app for s60 nokia phones that would show you the cell ID you were currently connected to, and actually could download a pic from this database i mentioned above, so you could save the actual tower pic in this diagnostic app on the phone. i might be dreaming though.

Posted by: bobolito

3G towers are in the same place as 2G towers.

Posted by: panrispter

very often through their testing of the network and looking for holes they will just change the positioning of a broadcast radio on the tower, or sometimes will turn up the power (we had them do this for a VIP customer near his house that landed us a huge sale). they might have just turned one so its directing the signal more towards your building.

The coverage viewer on att's website can take a while to put up where there is coverage. for example my area just got 3g turned on a week ago and it still shows no 3g available on that map.

Posted by: RogerPodacter

i've always wanted to ask this question. why in the world would they not have every tower cranked up to the max? turn those suckas up. brain radiation for all.

Posted by: MyPyle

Quote:

Originally Posted by RogerPodacter

i've always wanted to ask this question. why in the world would they not have every tower cranked up to the max? turn those suckas up. brain radiation for all.

capacity issues in the city. you can reuse a channel in a different part of the city.

Posted by: psycho-

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobolito

3G towers are in the same place as 2G towers.

But not all 2G towards are 3G enabled. I think Panrispter might have nailed it on the head. We do have some (big) affiliation with at&t, but I can't really talk about it.

Posted by: formercanuck

Yup - that's the case here.
The majority of sites have 3G, however, many of the 'smaller' sites (i.e. utility pole mounted) do not have 3G yet.

Posted by: psycho-

Quote:

Originally Posted by formercanuck

Yup - that's the case here.
The majority of sites have 3G, however, many of the 'smaller' sites (i.e. utility pole mounted) do not have 3G yet.

There's something definitely going on here in our buildings. I get full coverage in the basement of this concrete office building....sweet.

formercanuck, I was in LA this last weekend (visiting family for Thanksgiving) and I noticed just how piss poor LA's 3G coverage is. I'm around the pasadena/san gabriel/arcadia/san Marino area and the phone just mostly vascillates between Edge and 3G. Coming from sprint, i've fully come to appreciate how good CDMA (and likewise WCDMA) is versus AMR-HR and some of those GSM codecs. The 2G data and voice just kills me.

Posted by: formercanuck

And the coverage viewer shows So-Cal as 3G swiss cheese.
3G in So-Cal on AT&T generally works well outdoors. Indoors, you're typically on GSM, unless you're in the urban jungle.
The differences: GSM is on every site of AT&T, 3G is not
GSM is on both 850 MHz and 1900 MHz in So-Cal, 3G is on 1900 MHz only in So-Cal.

AMR-half rate on GSM is no fun in SoCal.

Posted by: RogerPodacter

it does suck out here in socal compared to when i go back east, to philly for example. there it is just blanketed completely, everywhere, from the time the plane lands to when i walk in my door, full 3g bars constantly. here in socal if i drive 25 miles on the freeway, its guaranteed the phone will have switched networks at least 8 times.

Posted by: psycho-

Quote:

Originally Posted by formercanuck

And the coverage viewer shows So-Cal as 3G swiss cheese.
3G in So-Cal on AT&T generally works well outdoors. Indoors, you're typically on GSM, unless you're in the urban jungle.
The differences: GSM is on every site of AT&T, 3G is not
GSM is on both 850 MHz and 1900 MHz in So-Cal, 3G is on 1900 MHz only in So-Cal.

AMR-half rate on GSM is no fun in SoCal.

Actually, coverage for 3G in San Diego is pretty solid from San Clemente down. It's not as much swiss cheese, and the signal is nice and strong...well I guess SD is smaller vs. OC or LA counties....also SD's 3G started 3 years back with ATTWS. LA this time around was a major laggard in comparison.

Posted by: RogerPodacter

yeah i exclude SD when talking about socal 3g coverage. SD has awesome 3g network. just LA is the bad one. so does temecula count as SD? cause thats where i am, and the coverage could use some work. but at least its here.

Posted by: formercanuck

San Diego area has had 3G service for quite some time, and has had a chance to work out any issues years before it was offered in L.A. area.
L.A. area had weak GSM service on AT&T Wireless to begin with, and Cingular added $1 billion in upgrades in the LA/OC areas.
On my trip to San Diego (Legoland) I had 3G on I-5 from Santa Clarita to San Diego with a small exception around San Diego county line, where 3G in San Diego county is on PCS D block vs. PCS B block in the rest of So-Cal.

Posted by: bobolito

Quote:

Originally Posted by RogerPodacter

i've always wanted to ask this question. why in the world would they not have every tower cranked up to the max?

Because then you'd be complaining about interference, dropped calls, garbled voice, etc. Wireless networks need to be tuned appropriately taking in consideration neighboring sites, antenna height, geography, capacity needs, intended coverage pattern, propagation properties, frequency band used, available spectrum, etc. Otherwise, there's chaos.

Posted by: geoshale

Quote:

Originally Posted by psycho-

Where's the best place to find out when a particular area will get 3G coverage in the LA Area, especially for North San Gabriel? I'm looking into switching to AT&T from Verizon and consolidate all my landline, cells and Internet (from cable) and save some $$$. I live in North San Gabriel and the coverage maps show only Good 2d coverage-no 3G and spend alot of time in Pasadena, San Marino, Temple CIty & Arcadia. I guess I will still try the TILT for 30 days and see how it goes...

Posted by: formercanuck

Looks like its a little hit or miss. If service in Sierra Madre/Arcadia/Pasadena is similar to Santa Clarita, then some of that area with 'no coverage' may actually have coverage, but not all sites in that area are up, or service is weak (i.e. decent outdoor, but non existent indoors).
Eg. In Santa Clarita, on I-5/CA14, 3G service is good, but the coverage viewer shows pockets of no 3G.
Similarly, it shows no 3G along Soledad Canyon (between San Fernando and Whites Canyon). There is 3G service along there (driving), however, the site that is at Golden Valley/Soledad doesn't have 3G.
I can only say to try it... return it if you don't get what you want.

Posted by: geoshale

Since 3G coverage is just a couple of blocks away, I'm hoping that I will be able to pick it up inside. But I have WIFI at home, so it shouldn't be too bad. So, I will use their 30 days to check it out. I'm just waiting for the local store to get another batch of Tilts in, the rep said he would get it to me at the $149 Black Friday price. If it works out, I plan to switch the my wife & daughter's phone over and get a bundled plan for cell, land line & internet and save some $$$.

Thanks for the input.

Bill

Posted by: psycho-

I really wasn't happy with at&t's coverage in that area. Where in San Gabriel are you?

Posted by: geoshale

Quote:

Originally Posted by psycho-

I really wasn't happy with at&t's coverage in that area. Where in San Gabriel are you?

North San Gabriel, just south of Huntington. But it doesn't matter anyways... Those idiots at the local store near my work made my day today. Last week I had gone into the store about the TILT, and explained to an employee that I was interested in combining my cell service - land line (already ATT) & Internet with them to save $$$. But I wanted to try the TILT for 30 days to check out the coverage first, being concerned after seeing their coverage map. I was told that they were out of the phone, but he would talk to the manager about honoring the special $149 price if it ended before another batch of phones arrived. He was off Monday & Tues of this week, returning today. I called this AM and he said they had the phone, come on down. I took some leave time to give myself enough time to get the phone. I got down there and he wanted to charge me $399 (with a $100 mail in rebate), saying the sale ended Sunday, and no discounts were available. I left the store steamed, when back to work and called the manager explaining what had happened. He said he would honor the deal, since I was a new customer looking towards migrating my other phones & Internet to ATT. We agreed that I would come by after I got off of work at 6pm and ask for another clerk since he would be off by then. When I arrive at 6:05 the clerk was away at lunch, and nobody knew when he would be back! I guess they don't want my business. I'll call the manager tomorrow and let him know that they lost a potential customer. I doubt if he will care tho...

Bill

Posted by: formercanuck

Sounds like an Agent store to me... I've never seen any deals like that, except 'Black Friday' or in an alley or out of the back of a semi.

Posted by: geoshale

Quote:

Originally Posted by formercanuck

Sounds like an Agent store to me... I've never seen any deals like that, except 'Black Friday' or in an alley or out of the back of a semi.

It was a 'Black Friday' deal. I coulda picked up the phone online at ATT for that price (it was still available at that price Monday morning @ 6:30 PST), but I was waiting for the store to get them in since I had talked to the clerk about moving into a bundled deal if the phone coverage worked out okay at my home. Stupid me, thinking the clerk actually cared.

What is an "Agent store" and how is it different from an AT&T corporatate store (if such a thing exists)?

Bill

Posted by: geoshale

Well I picked up the TILT on Thursday. I can get 3G cov upstairs (2 bars), but downstairs it is hit & miss, and only one bar. Most times it slides back into EDGE. I called my wife from inside the market and she said I sounded awful (I was on EDGE), when I called her outside after loading the groceries into the truck, she thought I was on the road due to the faint static/hiss (on 3G with 1 bar). I could hear faint static at my end too. Not a promising start towards moving to ATT from Verizon. I wish I knew when they will update the service in our area of the San Gabriel Valley. It would help with deciding whether to switch or not...

Posted by: RogerPodacter

maybe you should just force the phone to stay on gsm when at home. we have 3g coverage everywhere here EXCEPT about 100 yards from my house where it goes to only 1 bar of gsm. my calls are still crystal clear (even when it goes to zero bars) so its not a problem. nokia's are good for reception though. i also use VOIP when at home on my wifi router which has excellent call quality. but all these issues do not help you have better service, so if you can live without gsm phones and their freedom, then maybe verizon is a better choice for you.

Posted by: geoshale

I gotta figure out how to force it into 3G. But the call quality from my house with EDGE is okay. It really sucked at the local market which the cov maps shows as 3G. I called several times when I was out this (Sunday) afternoon and she said I sounded okay. Then I was getting 3-4 bars on 3G. I could always go to the XV6800 or Samsung I760 on Verizon I guess. Too bad Verizon is so slow with PDA phones (like I'm the first to utter that!). We'll see.

Posted by: RogerPodacter

also keep your hand away from the antenna of the phone in low signal situations. it practically ruins calls for me, but if i move my hand away from antenna its crystal clear.

Posted by: bsilvertab

Quote:

Originally Posted by RogerPodacter

maybe you should just force the phone to stay on gsm when at home. we have 3g coverage everywhere here EXCEPT about 100 yards from my house where it goes to only 1 bar of gsm. my calls are still crystal clear (even when it goes to zero bars) so its not a problem. nokia's are good for reception though. i also use VOIP when at home on my wifi router which has excellent call quality. but all these issues do not help you have better service, so if you can live without gsm phones and their freedom, then maybe verizon is a better choice for you.

This may be a stupid question but I thought ATT didn't have VOIP calling like T-mobile has.

Posted by: RogerPodacter

thats the beauty of using nokia s60 unlocked phones. They support internet calling integrated into the phone just like it was a gsm call. I connect to wifi and can make and receive voip calls to anyone in the usa for free. Can even call any cell or landline. Even better, my internet call gets forwarded to my gsm number if i'm not logged on. The phone rings just like normal and all. When i go to check my voicemail by holding #1 it asks if i wanna check internet or gsm mailbox. The voice quality is much better than the cell network too.

The best thing is, since i have 3g, i can use the 3g data connection to make internet calls. So essentially anywhere i get 3g service i can make unlimited free internet calls which never use my cell minutes bucket.

Posted by: zephxiii

Man, sucks that att is so terrible the areas described above, they really must be using crap for hardware out there on the network side, because even HR in my area sounds just fine and dandy (and in several other markets i have been in). I take it that whole area needs overhauled with new equipment from a better manufacturer.

Posted by: RogerPodacter

well i believe he is in SoCal as well as myself, and ATT has had a horrible network here for years and years. thats why ATT users have been allowed to roam on tmobile for so long here in cali, but i think they just started ending that roaming agreement. tmobile's gsm network is pretty good here. i wish i understood the technical reason why ATT has never had good coverage and service in socal. i dont think its bad hardware. i think its a combination of 2 things. 1 is this area is surprisingly difficult to cover geographically due to lots of hills and mountains and rural areas. #2 i think is maybe lack of spectrum. or maybe lack of "good" spectrum, meaning they dont have license for the 850 mhz band out here. doesnt make much sense though if verizon can provide good service while ATT cant. unless verizon has the 850 while att and tmobile are left with 1900. i really dont know.

Posted by: zephxiii

Crap hardware, as poor quality in design, function and capability, there are a few different GSM vendors, who makes the better or the worse etc.. and probably a not very good deployment of the network out there either it seems, even though it appears Cingular/ATT has the other Cellular license out there.

Posted by: butthead440

on the voice side what will improve with 3g ??

Posted by: RogerPodacter

voice quality gets much better with 3G because its better and more efficient bandwidth on 3G. 3G = landline quality, and is probably the same as verizon's good quality network.

also, right now ATT is not using any compression codecs on 3G, and they are on GSM though. so the quality is way better than their gsm right now.

Posted by: geoshale

Quote:

Originally Posted by RogerPodacter

voice quality gets much better with 3G because its better and more efficient bandwidth on 3G. 3G = landline quality, and is probably the same as verizon's good quality network.

also, right now ATT is not using any compression codecs on 3G, and they are on GSM though. so the quality is way better than their gsm right now.

And GSM is Edge & GPRS?

Bill

Posted by: Elfreshcuh

Quote:

Originally Posted by geoshale

And GSM is Edge & GPRS?

Bill

yep !

Posted by: formercanuck

Quote:

Originally Posted by RogerPodacter

also, right now ATT is not using any compression codecs on 3G, and they are on GSM though. so the quality is way better than their gsm right now.

GSM codecs in general uses compression:
http://www.commsdesign.com/showArti...icleID=16501605

I think you meant to say that AT&T is not using AMR-half rate. Its possible that the AMR codec is not currently using AMR-half rate (or has to use it due to capacity).