Verizon is solid

**vPhone** · 05-08-2012, 03:47 PM

Driving cross country on I80 from kentucky to california. I have Verizon for my new iPad, and att on my iPhone 4s. I can't believe how solid Verizon's network is. I have had 3G almost the entire way on I80 and LTE in major cities. My iPhone has been terrible in rural areas. Roaming on different carriers and unusable data most of the time. Posting this on my iPad with full Verizon 3G while my iPhone is "off network" with edge that won't load anything.

**kupe** · 05-08-2012, 03:49 PM

Sounds familiar to me too. I get that a lot with my AT&T phone.

**johnhere** · 05-08-2012, 04:04 PM

I've driven cross country a few times and vz was pretty good most of the way. With att driving across town had some issues.

**drewsdroid** · 05-08-2012, 04:15 PM

I live in rural north alabama and have lived in north miss. I can understand your pain with AT&T, I will give them credit, in certain areas in this region they have coverage where Verizon doesn't. But where Verizon doesn't have coverage they have built new towers, which AT&T has done little to improve the quality of their network until just recently. I remember when I switched to Verizon from AT&T, I was attending a college and the service in the daytime was so bad on edge that calls where constantly being dropped and even texts where not being delivered, part of the reason that they had to bring 3g to that area.(The AT&T reps said this: We underestimated the amount of traffic in this area and are working to fix this issue)- how can you not estimate that you might have a traffic issue in area with thousands of smartphones and other data hungry devices.

On a side note AT&T just last year upgraded their network here to 3G, which is why we have a lot of Verizon customers in this area where I live.

**vPhone** · 05-08-2012, 04:31 PM

I will give AT&T credit, where they do have enhanced backhaul in rural areas it works well, but usually doesn't last long. I'll be jumping to Verizon when my contract is up in June.

**elgee02** · 05-09-2012, 12:33 AM

A few months ago I drove from Phoenix to Fort Worth to Kansas City and only once, yes once did my streaming Pandora not work (middle of nowhere west Texas, only a few miles stretch). I drove back a different way going from Kansas City to Fort Worth to Albuquerque to Flagstaff to Phoenix and Pandora worked the entire time. VZW is most definitely solid.

**Extraordinary** · 05-09-2012, 02:18 AM

I have put on thousands of miles between over a dozen states and even drove from WI to KY nearly 100 times plus some trips from WI to SC and I can only think of one problem area (I posted about before) in Indiana where a call will always drop. Verizon is pretty good, can't say the same for anyone else.

**Jordan T** · 05-09-2012, 02:37 AM

It depends where you are, come up to Montana and repeat your test

AT&T kicks Verizon to pieces up here... Same in central California (especially off the highways, in the farmland). Same in Utah. Same in the Dakotas. Those, of the places I've traveled much. Idaho, though, gotta give Verizon the credit there... it depends SO MUCH where you are.

**ggore** · 05-09-2012, 05:55 AM

If you drove I-80, a good part of your journey was through the AT&T black holes of Nebraska, Wyoming, and Nevada. There's not much native AT&T anywhere along 80 once you get past Lincoln except a little around Cheyenne, WY and oddly enough, very good coverage across the Utah desert. The rest is a hodge-podge of no service and roaming nightmares. I-10, 40, 90, and 94 are the best-covered routes, just don't stray too far off the interstate!

**daake_07** · 05-09-2012, 06:39 AM

As ggore said ATT and Nebraska do not go well together especially off of I80. My bother lives in Omaha and has an ATT iPhone, when he comes back to the central part of the state its all Viaero roaming. He can't make phone calls or get data when he is inside buildings.

I'll give them credit though, they have taken it upon themselves to cover many of the very low population areas in the Western part of the state. Considering its based out of eastern Colorado it makes sense.

I'll stick with Verizon and put up with their inconsistent 3g speeds and hope that we get LTE sooner rather than later.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using HowardForums

**Jon_Doh** · 05-09-2012, 07:56 AM

My experience is different. I have Verizon and as I drive down the interstates all I get are dropped calls and garbled voice quality. I'm leaving them as soon as my contract expires.

To the OP, if you have an iPhone 3G, 3GS or 4 then your problem is likely your phone. Those models have horrible antenna problems and aren't capable of holding on to signals 3 bars or less very well. But, if you've got the iPhone 4S and are having those problems, then it's another matter altogether.

**kupe** · 05-09-2012, 09:03 AM

Originally Posted by Jon_Doh

My experience is different. I have Verizon and as I drive down the interstates all I get are dropped calls and garbled voice quality. I'm leaving them as soon as my contract expires.

Location? Your profile doesn't show one.

**Trocks797** · 05-09-2012, 10:29 AM

Originally Posted by Jon_Doh

My experience is different. I have Verizon and as I drive down the interstates all I get are dropped calls and garbled voice quality. I'm leaving them as soon as my contract expires.

To the OP, if you have an iPhone 3G, 3GS or 4 then your problem is likely your phone. Those models have horrible antenna problems and aren't capable of holding on to signals 3 bars or less very well. But, if you've got the iPhone 4S and are having those problems, then it's another matter altogether.

His post states he has a 4S. Where are you? I can see by your signature you loathe Verizon...I wonder how much you of that went into your post...

I have similar experiences to the OP. Verizon has never let me down on any road trips. The only thing I don't like is the dropped call when leaving or entering roaming areas. Other than that, Verizon has never goofed on streaming Spotify on the interstates or in rural areas, and I can't remember the last time I actually dropped a call! Verizon is the only carrier to have always concentrated on rural areas, not just highways, and it shows. When we had those tornadoes come through Kentucky at the beginning of the year, I got to meet some storm chasers that were in my area, and every one of them had Verizon, and they said Verizon is it in the midwest where they chase most of the time. Moreover, in small towns where Verizon 3G is the only internet available, they use data cards to upload their work.

Like Mark said, area-by-area, things may change, but Verizon's determination to be the nations only nationwide and rural carrier has paid off in droves.

**clonehappy** · 05-09-2012, 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by Jon_Doh

My experience is different. I have Verizon and as I drive down the interstates all I get are dropped calls and garbled voice quality.

I would say those issues are probably your phone. Have you tried a different handset or gotten yours swapped?

Extraordinary: Where in Indiana do you always drop calls? I know of a few spots on SID boundaries where they drop pretty often.

As an aside, do voice calls handoff across SIDs nowadays? I haven't talked on the phone for that length of time in years, I know that I used to drop calls religiously back around 2002-2003 when leaving SID 20 and entering SID 506 exactly at the Kane/DeKalb county line in Illinois on I-88.

**Mr.Mischief** · 05-09-2012, 08:18 AM

Originally Posted by Jon_Doh

To the OP, if you have an iPhone 3G, 3GS or 4 then your problem is likely your phone. Those models have horrible antenna problems and aren't capable of holding on to signals 3 bars or less very well. But, if you've got the iPhone 4S and are having those problems, then it's another matter altogether.

Not quite. The 3G and 3GS have no significant antenna problems. The iPhone 4 only has antenna problems whey hold it without a case or bumper. I'm typing this on my iPhone 4 AT&T. If I remove the mophie Juice Pact Air it's currently in, it will drop from 3 bars to 1 bar of service.