Where are you?

[NuG050]

Just wanted to know where all you Cingular users are out there...I'm located in Hercules, Cali...another quick question...how goes your reception? I've noticed that I've been plagued with "SYSTEM BUSY" while I'm in Hercules and at Albertson's...I got full bars but I can't make calls (a lot of the time) but I can SMS...and, sometimes while in at home, my phone would beep and tell me I have a missed call...anyone else have these or similar problems? And also, what phone do you guys use with Cingular?

(And don't just read this thread, reply to it! ^_^)

[Schukey]

I'm on Cingular in the San Francisco Bay Area (in California, in the suburbs) and I used to get horrible signals with my Nokia 5190 and then Ericsson T28, but with my new Nokia 7190 I get much better signals. I really wish there was another GSM provider in California... Cingular is MUCH worse than the old PacBell... it seems like as if they took down towers, and they actually raised the off-peak hours which now start at 9 PM instead of 8 PM, which I think makes a big difference... worst of all, they won't let me download operator logos cuz they think I can get a virus on my phone... I hate Cingular!!!

[ValentinaDeb]

Do you really think it's gotten worse? Gosh, I thought maybe I was deluding myself. I couldn't stay with PacBell due to crappy signal down here in SoCal...a few years ago there were NO towers in San Diego County, but I live in a hilly topography, so signal tends to be a problem. I was thinking of re-activating just to see if it has gotten any better, but in my own neighbourhood, no carrier can penetrate adequately, due to the fact that all the houses are new, and built to the new earthquake code, and according to my Nokia Level 3 buddy, the steel in the frames sucks the signal. No one can get a clear call in the block around the area with any provider (and I've also tested it myself with AWS, Verizon, and PacBell), so it's pretty pathetic. I've considered getting an antenna for my roof to fix it.

At any rate, I have a Cingular mini tower across the street from my house, and another full tower 1.7 miles away, and my dad got next to no signal on his 8890 (he's had PacBell since '96) , and tried calling while at my house and gave up after getting the call dropped thrice.

The signal is really bad in my immediate area, but it's spotty everywhere else, but the idea of Cingular actually taking towers down sounds a bit strange. Are you sure that it isn't some local Home Owners Association making noice about having an eyesore in the neighbourhood? If you're in SF, I could believe that. However, if you're in Marin County, I'd blame the bad signal on the topography. I've heard the GSM coverage is horrible there.

[kitkit201]

I feel u NUG050 , i hate the service down here in the bay area, i live in San Lorenzo, a small town near hayward.. it's awful.. i just tried calling my friend from inside the house and thought the reception was bad in here, but i went outside even and no dice.. it's just really bad because of there unlimited nites and weekend promotion.. i wished they did something about it, like more powerfuler towers and such because it's really pissing current customers off.. i have a nokia 3390 fone and the reception is average at best because of the built in atenna, but this is rediculous!!!~! and also, i do get the times when i get a voicemail but I never heard the fone call at all.. BS!@!!~!!

On the other hand, my friend who has a 6190 says that his phone picks up reception perfectly, abiet the system busy signals plaguing the network~!!

[DebsterZ3]

When traveling in California on business I roam on PacBell and have always had great coverage. Usually I am in the Bay area so maybe that makes a difference. I think all providers have an area that they suck in covering. I have switched providers many times in my life and found they all have something that ticks me off
Unfortunately again, the world doesn't revolve around me, athough I think it should.

[Desi4]

Deb, I agree with you on the coverage with PacBell/Cingular. Here in my neck of the woods (Fairfield/Vacaville) I never seem to have any coverage problems, knock on wood.... I also do a lot of traveling where I roam on Voicestreams network (Denver, Washington DC, etc) and the coverage is superb and I never seem to have any problems either!

[NuG050]

Not too much gripes about coverage...I, too, generally get some good coverage but I can't say it works good all the time...like when I'm at Albertson's in Hercules, I got full bars but whenever I try to make a call, it keeps telling me SYSTEM BUSY, but, the funny thing is that I can still SMS...

And yeah, they raised the off-peak hours to 9p...my wifey has the Unlimited Nights/Weekend before they switched over so it's still 8p for her...but still...the other services start off-peak at 7p...I think Cingular took on too many new customers and can't handle the load...they need more towers...just last week, I was unable to send SMS over 149 characters and sometimes, I couldn't send at all! PLUS I couldn't send Picture SMS's! So I called them up and they told me that their networks were overloaded and the Network Technicians were looking into it...it's fixed now but it was a hassle...

[Desi4]

NuG050, I can definitely relate to the part about unable to send an SMS... Although I can make calls without any problem, Last week while I was in DC, I tried to send a simple SMS message to a friend who is also a Cingular customer in the DC area (she has a Nokia 8260).

For some reason, she was unable to receive my message! Even after several attemps, my message still wouldn't go through! I don't know what the problem could have been...

[NuG050]

Yeah, the whole two weeks ago, Cingular's towers were overloaded with people either making calls or SMS'ing...the Customer Service people told me that they knew about the problem and was looking for a solution...now, I think they're all good...as far as SMS'ing goes...the calls still suck...I think it's all relative cuz there's two sides to this story anyway...one would say their coverage is hella good and the other half would say it sucks...wish there was like a way we could test out the coverage BEFORE we sign on a contract, hunh? Sorta like a sampling period...oh well...