How is AT&T in NC and SC

[RedStickHam]

I've used ATT in Raleigh and it worked just fine. Got full signal strength. I only used it for making calls though, didn't use any data, so I can't comment there.

[Trocks797]

FWIW, I have zero problems with Verizon in Myrtle Beach when I visit my family there. I have not been back since LTE was lit up this summer, however.

[fraydog]

AT&T suffers with the really rural areas in NC because either VZW, USCC, or ATNI Alltel holds the 850 spectrum in those rural areas. Now I believe that AT&T should have been allowed to buy the ATNI spectrum as well as the areas where VZW has both A and B 850 blocks. The Kevin Martin era FCC screwed the pooch on that one.

For most of the state it's fine. Maybe not as much in the mountains though.

[jim9000]

AT&T suffers with the really rural areas in NC because either VZW, USCC, or ATNI Alltel holds the 850 spectrum in those rural areas. Now I believe that AT&T should have been allowed to buy the ATNI spectrum as well as the areas where VZW has both A and B 850 blocks. The Kevin Martin era FCC screwed the pooch on that one.

For most of the state it's fine. Maybe not as much in the mountains though.

VZW owns both blocks of 850 in the following areas: Raleigh/Durham/Cary/Chapel Hill, Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem, Charlotte, and Fayetteville. I'm not listing all of the surrounding cities, just the major ones. 850 isn't a huge advantage in these more populated areas since higher population requires more cell sites for capacity reasons, so being PCS isn't a huge issue. And to be honest, AT&T's network quality in these areas proves that.

Most of the rural areas (Eastern NC, mountains, etc) are split between Verizon and USCC. Regarding the ATNI areas, that is a very small part of the state, and I don't know if AT&T even wanted it in the first place. So even if the FCC would have made Verizon give up more spectrum, it would not have necessarily helped AT&T in rural areas.

Also, VZW is native in almost all of NC, except the nothwestern part of the state where they roam on Carolina West Wireless (around Wilkesboro and several surrounding counties). There is some patchy roaming on US Cellular in a few areas throughout the state as well.

So back to the original point, in populated areas, AT&T should be fine. Most of the EDGE coverage has been replaced by HSPA+ (and increasingly with enhanced backhaul). CDMA still wins out in the middle of nowhere, but all of the major highways, and even small towns covered by AT&T. There are places where AT&T is better despite being a PCS carrier.

And to prove that Verizon isn't always the best, I live in North Raleigh and can barely use my phone outside at night. Despite having an acceptable signal, there is noticeable audio distortion, brief audio drop-outs, and sometimes even dropped calls. It appears that the network is overloaded. I have to go *inside* to use my femtocell or VoIP line. Sprint works better inside than Verizon does outside. This all started over the last year, shortly after renewing my contract

If I were on Sprint now, I would probably stay because they have a well documented plan to improve their network, and their customer service is pretty good. I'm not sure when it is coming to Charlotte, but after the initial markets launch this month, Network Vision should move pretty fast. Keep in mind that a Sprint "market" can cover half of a state, sometimes even more, while other carriers seem to be using smaller markets since it sounds better in press releases.

[mrp10000]

I decided to ride it out for a couple of months. Iphone 5 may be out sometime in October and a couple of months after that one of my 3 lines will be out of contract, reducing by quite a bit my termination fee. Too, I read an article that said AT&T had done a good job of upgrading towers in the Charlotte region because the DNC convention will be held there in September.

I'm thinking that whatever network you're on, Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T, that it would be in any network's interest to be upgraded with all the extra people that will be in the region. This would not be a time for an epic fail...

[Kies]

This area is not slated for Network Vision anytime soon.. so don't hold your breathe or u will die in the meantime

From my T-Mobile Galaxy S III in HD

[matt110]

just drove from greensboro all the way to myrtle beach. Had fauxg(4g) signal 99% of the time. I was driving in rural areas too. Last year, It was a much different story and I saw Edge a lot more along the way. Impressed overall.

Myrtle Beach with att was great as well. No dropped calls, speeds were avg 3mbps. average.

[RodimusConvoy]

Glad I found this thread. I live in Raleigh, NC and plan to move to Charlotte soon (end of Summer or beginning of Fall). I have Cricket at the moment on a ZTE TXTM8. I've been thinking of either going to Straight Talk or Net10 to do that bring your own phone sim thing with the Samsung Captivate Glide. Since that would put me on AT&T's network, I was wondering how the coverage is, both in Charlotte, NC and Los Angeles (I have a friend there I want to visit).

[Nucleartx]

Glad I found this thread. I live in Raleigh, NC and plan to move to Charlotte soon (end of Summer or beginning of Fall). I have Cricket at the moment on a ZTE TXTM8. I've been thinking of either going to Straight Talk or Net10 to do that bring your own phone sim thing with the Samsung Captivate Glide. Since that would put me on AT&T's network, I was wondering how the coverage is, both in Charlotte, NC and Los Angeles (I have a friend there I want to visit).

LA varies with AT&T, I have seen mostly good coverage overall. But at one point, I was sitting on I-10 in traffic a couple miles from the Santa Monica Pier and had No Service on my phone. Guessing that was a bad spot for T mobile too since I should have seen "Emergency Calls Only". Speeds weren't that bad, did alot of picture uploading to facebook and even uploaded a couple videos that were around 500mb's in size to Facebook.

[RodimusConvoy]

LA varies with AT&T, I have seen mostly good coverage overall. But at one point, I was sitting on I-10 in traffic a couple miles from the Santa Monica Pier and had No Service on my phone. Guessing that was a bad spot for T mobile too since I should have seen "Emergency Calls Only". Speeds weren't that bad, did alot of picture uploading to facebook and even uploaded a couple videos that were around 500mb's in size to Facebook.

Thanks for the reply. My friend who is already there has Virgin Mobile, which is technically Sprint. I may ask him how his coverage is and then make a decision.

[newyork4me]

Thanks for the reply. My friend who is already there has Virgin Mobile, which is technically Sprint. I may ask him how his coverage is and then make a decision.

Sprint 3G in LA right this second is mediocre. Coverage is fine but speeds are a bit slow. Network vision is underway now though, and that will really help.

[Kies]

Speeds sre down right atrocious. So bad that my sister doesnt even want to use her phone. I think i clocked in 33kbps near USC

From my T-Mobile Galaxy S III in HD

[-banned-]

Was in beulaville nc and both sprint and AT&T were working flawlessly ... For the 9 days I was there ..
Now while in Florence sc for 6 days, both AT&T and sprint were having issues data wise ... Signal was bouncing around and data was intermittent ...

[johnhere]

From my experience AT&T has generally been pretty good in nc and sc. There are the usual trouble spots but overall when I'm in those states it's been pretty good.

[formercanuck]

Sprint 3G in LA right this second is mediocre. Coverage is fine but speeds are a bit slow. Network vision is underway now though, and that will really help.

I'll agree - I haven't used Sprint data in a while (old Treo800w PoS), but voice was excellent, and no real holes.
I migrated my work phone to AT&T Samsung Galaxy II.