Where are the tower

**NautTboy** · 04-02-2012, 10:40 AM

Since VM rent Sprint towers, I was wondering if anyone know which tower it is bouncing off of in Des Moines? It seems like the best I've ever got was 2 bar in Downtown area. I live in the north side of town and have only 1 bar. The 3G act like(or worse than) my old non smart phone.

I'm assuming there's only one tower per town and it's probably in the center it.

Since I just got me the Moto Try, I guess I have to use it and make my $worth.

**hershey_squirt** · 04-02-2012, 11:20 AM

The Triumph gets a poor signal compared to the other VM androids (besides the Intercept), Imo. And Virgin has no roaming, so if your in a poor native Sprint coverage area you will have a poor signal. Also, Sprint owns Virgin Mobile.

There's an app called Opensignal maps, which will tell you what tower you are connected to. You can also look at Sprint's website to find your local towers.

**NautTboy** · 04-02-2012, 11:39 AM

Eventho VM is own by sprint, they don't actually share ALL the available towers do they? Because my sister is from Sprint and her phone gets FULL bar. So the MT couldn't be that bad with reception.

Here is what my perception, Sprint has North, South, West, East and Center towers.
Depend on where you are at as Sprint customers who pays more than paySUgo, you get the closest tower.
It seems as for the PaySUgo, everyone gets just the "Center" towers.

**Churner** · 04-02-2012, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by NautTboy

Eventho VM is own by sprint, they don't actually share ALL the available towers do they? Because my sister is from Sprint and her phone gets FULL bar.

Sprint postpaid roams onto other companies' CDMA towers. Virgin Mobile USA prepaid uses only towers transmitting for Sprint (no roaming). That's why your sister gets better signals in more places than you do.

**NautTboy** · 04-02-2012, 12:25 PM

Dang! I just check out the available towers in Des Moines. There's only 5. 2 towers are north of Des Moines. Other 2 towers are in Des Moines south side. 1 other tower are at west des moines. So if you are in central or east side, specially east you are outta luck. I'm considered east side(northeast).

Verison has most towers.
Next is T-mobile, and I thought T-mobile sux, I should ov check on towers first.

**billm261** · 04-02-2012, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by NautTboy

Eventho VM is own by sprint, they don't actually share ALL the available towers do they? Because my sister is from Sprint and her phone gets FULL bar. So the MT couldn't be that bad with reception.

Yes, the Triumph CAN be that bad for reception. It would sit on my counter always looking for a signal while my Mantra and Rumor touch would be just fine.

Sprint owns Boost and Virgin Mobile and allows full access to all native Sprint towers.

Your sisters phone probably just gets a better signal. Not to hard to do compared to the Triumph.

Sent from my Infuse 4G

**NautTboy** · 04-02-2012, 12:32 PM

Well, my wife's HTC wildfire is not that good either same as my MT. Don't tell me the HTC-WF also has bad reception.

I thought Moto phone are good with reception quality.

**cookedgoose** · 04-02-2012, 01:13 PM

I wouldn't put too much of a premium on phone brand for overall data speeds. It's the carrier in this case really.

**billm261** · 04-02-2012, 01:44 PM

Originally Posted by NautTboy

Well, my wife's HTC wildfire is not that good either same as my MT. Don't tell me the HTC-WF also has bad reception.

I thought Moto phone are good with reception quality.

I never owned a Wildfire, just went through 3 Triumphs before calling it quits. My Photon on Sprint was stellar.
Don't just go by the status on the signal display but get the dB reading in the phones setting menu in "about phone" then "status".

Most Motorola phones are good, actually very good in reception. Unfortunately, the Triumph was made by Huawei for Motorola.

**billm261** · 04-02-2012, 01:45 PM

Originally Posted by cookedgoose

I wouldn't put too much of a premium on phone brand for overall data speeds. It's the carrier in this case really.

The OP is questioning the signal strength of the phone, not data speeds.

**NautTboy** · 04-02-2012, 08:31 PM

I mentioned before somewhere. You get what you paid for. I was looking at the $35 a month. Seems like they are the lowest no contract. I should went with Wallyworld Straight Talk for $45 using Verizon towers i've heard.

I took " hershey_squirt" suggestion and look up the tower. I've noticed Verizon has more towers than any carrier in my city with tmobile as 2nd.

As of right now, i'm in the middle on 4th floor of 6th floor building and i'm getting from 3-4bar out of 4. Which I thought would be less because of the walls and electronics around it. Maybe being up high than being on the ground level.

**NautTboy** · 04-02-2012, 08:32 PM

wow, review was pretty good tho.

Originally Posted by billm261

I never owned a Wildfire, just went through 3 Triumphs before calling it quits. My Photon on Sprint was stellar.
Don't just go by the status on the signal display but get the dB reading in the phones setting menu in "about phone" then "status".

Most Motorola phones are good, actually very good in reception. Unfortunately, the Triumph was made by Huawei for Motorola.

I know the wildfire has bad review with the battery, but my wife didnt' care.

**billm261** · 04-02-2012, 08:37 PM

Originally Posted by NautTboy

I mentioned before somewhere. You get what you paid for. I was looking at the $35 a month. Seems like they are the lowest no contract. I should went with Wallyworld Straight Talk for $45 using Verizon towers i've heard.

I took " hershey_squirt" suggestion and look up the tower. I've noticed Verizon has more towers than any carrier in my city with tmobile as 2nd.

45 a month would be using Sprint, AT&T or T-Mobile depending on the route you took.

VM is not a bad deal but it's not any value if it does not work for you. I'm sure some of your signal issues are device related.

**NautTboy** · 04-02-2012, 09:46 PM

Here's a map

**NautTboy** · 04-02-2012, 09:55 PM

I've been with US Cellular since my first cell phone and i have to admit they have the best reception for me regardless of the device. Their phone price are high when you can get free at another carrier. So more than 10 years, they still treat you like regular customer paying $99 for family essential plans without any data with ******* phone. Why not get something cheaper or same with more options. This is the reason to VM.

Originally Posted by billm261

VM is not a bad deal but it's not any value if it does not work for you. I'm sure some of your signal issues are device related.

Anyway, thanks to all who reply.

Anyone wants to check out towers in their town, i got it from cellreception. Forgot if I could post link or not here. Don't want to go back and read the rules