coastal USA cell phone coverage

[gettinthere]

I know verizon is best, att a close second for coastal USA coverage.
What about Sprint? We're liking the straight talk android pricing very much. But it's on the sprint network. Coastal Fl, Ga & Chessy look good. Outer banks looks bad. But this is all from coverage maps that may not be very accurate.

So, if you are using Sprint service for coastal USA phone and data, how good is it?

Thnx

[ShaunJ]

Sprint seems to have good coverage in most coastal towns that I have been to from Maine to Florida. not so good is less populated areas. coverage is spotty on the Chesapeake. Data speeds I get are mostly 3G, although if in a major city 4G is available. The price is great.....

[gettinthere]

Bad on the Chesapeake? That's a disapointment...their coverage map looks good there.
Thanks

[bobconnie]

In our part of the Gulf AT&T works best sprint wont even work up the bayou where we live !LOL We are in Louiaiana, sort of center of the gulf.

[capngeo]

Other than the 35km hard limit on GSM (AT&T), I have found it to be better coverage than Verizon on the West Coast of FL and the Keys. That said, once I turn on the cellular booster aboard, I can hit Verizon further out, but only at off-peak times. During the day, AT&T gives me better throughput consistently out to 22 miles.

ETA... I have both AT&T and Verizon accounts.... One or the other usually hits in coastal travels

[ShaunJ]

Originally Posted by gettinthere

Bad on the Chesapeake? That's a disapointment...their coverage map looks good there.
Thanks

I use a booster and do ok on the northern Chesapeake, just not great. I get data speed of about 500k compared to about 8M when in range

[Cheechako]

sprint was recently rated the worst for modern phones. Surprisingly Mobile 1 was very good.

[zeehag]

i have sprint. aside from being rated number 2, and aside from sukking, they do ok. even have good coverage in virgin islands and other areas.

screw modern fones--i want SERVICE. have been sprint client for since 2001--i hate to like em but they DO get the job done well.

[Hudson Force]

I'll need to revisit this thread later with a more comprehensive report. It's becoming more difficult to evaluate coverage areas with the advent of increased tower sharing. We are coastal cruising from Florida to Maine with our Verizon coverage and with an additional prepaid and very inexpensive Trackfone. So far, we have not seen any significant difference in coverage, but we'll no more later. We are now only in South Carolina. We expect to be in Maine by the 4th of July and we'll report back.

[sww914]

Surprising to say, but Virgin has been great the whole way down the bottom 1/2 of California. Why do I have a better signal in Two harbors than in Newport or MDR?

[zeehag]

914--good question..do they use verizon/sprint towers?? sprint gets roaming from verizon, mebbe virgin also does..dont know

[senormechanico]

I'll be on a delivery of a Dragonfly 35 from the PNW to Newport beach California at the end of the month.
It's still to be decided how far offshore we'll be.
The boat has no booster, but if I get any AT&T (Tracfone) coverage during the trip, I'll post results in early June.

[sww914]

Zee, I think it's just cause the city sucks in all ways. Unless you need illegal or immoral stuff, then it's all right there for you.

[Jbaffoh]

Originally Posted by sww914

Surprising to say, but Virgin has been great the whole way down the bottom 1/2 of California. Why do I have a better signal in Two harbors than in Newport or MDR?

ATT is awesome at Two Harbors. But non-existent in Santa Barbara wine country. Fine in LA, though--and no worse than Verizon--the drp calls equally, but in slightly different spots.

[Wyoming pirate]

Verizon worked for us quite well from northern Maine through the Florida Keys and up the west coast of Florida in the last year.