Time's List of the Worst Cities For Cell Reception Where Sprint is the Best of the Worst Time magazine recently partnered with data firm OpenSignalMaps to track which cities had the spottiest wireless coverage. From bad to worse, the top ten troubled cities when it comes to wireless are: Detroit, Michigan; Lexington, Kentucky; Jacksonville, Florida; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Tucson, Arizona; Toledo, Ohio; Lincoln, Nebraska; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Bakersfield, California. Sprint took top honors in the study, garnering "best of the worst" honors in nine out of those ten troubled cities. The full data and maps over at OpenSignalMaps is worth taking a look at. Does it match your experiences?
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 | | Does "City" Include Surrounding Area? I wonder if "city" includes the surrounding area? Reason I ask is: I'm in the Detroit area and it's been my experience that, for the most part, throughout the Detroit-Metro area, Sprint has always had the best coverage.
Sad to see that Detroit (and surrounding?) is one of the 10 worst, overall, tho 
Jim | |
|  |  mix
join:2002-03-19
Utica, MI | Re: Does "City" Include Surrounding Area? Try using your Sprint phone at a Tigers game... it's not going to work. | |
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 BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | Map is a POS According to that map my area no ZERO cell overage which of course is 100% inaccurate. Funny how in a area with ZERO coverage I'm pulling 4 bars INDOORS. | |
| |  LinklistPremium
join:2002-03-03
Longport, NJ
kudos:5 | Re: Map is a POS said by BF69:According to that map my area no ZERO cell overage which of course is 100% inaccurate. Funny how in a area with ZERO coverage I'm pulling 4 bars INDOORS.
This web site depends on people to have their proprietary Android app and turn collection on and then transmit info to them on signal strength as they travel around a region. Unfortunately for them, VERY FEW people are collecting data. Outside of city cores, the data is crap.
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»www.mittromney.com/s/repeal-and-···bamacare
»www.mittromney.com/issues/health-care | |
| | | WhatNowPremium
join:2009-05-06
Charlotte, NC | Re: Map is a POS I wondered why the maps were so spotty even in areas I knew had a good signal. This may be useful in the future as more data is added. The towers map may be more useful. | |
| | | | | | Re: Map is a POS I wish the tower maps could include rented space on towers, like when carriers share space on one owned by American Tower or something like that. There are many towers missing. | |
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| | Reviews:
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| Exactly.
Each carrier probably has different coverage metrics in different areas.
Sprint in general, I will say has a high cell density, mostly due to its purchase of Nextel and its integration of sites. Voice call on Sprint has been good for me in the past.
T-Mobile really varies by region
AT&T varies by region and what carrier channels (850, 1900 or both) being used. Typically here in SoCal, and even up in Detroit when I was there, it was very good, hitting +10Mbps on HSPA+
In general though, AT&T has its sites spread thin in many areas compared to other carriers. | |
| | |  camaro92Question everythingPremium
join:2008-04-05
Westfield, MA
·Comcast
| Yea I have had this app on my phone for a couple of years now and you are correct about the contribution, people download it and expect it to work like magic and show coverage everywhere they go. I have my whole town mapped and two towns around me and when I look back at all the areas I have been contributing to the service it shows dead nuts down to the hills and tree line where your signal is the strongest and the lowest. It works people just need to learn how to utilize the app. | |
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| | | That is what i am finding also. There are places where the map is saying that Sprint has no towers nor coverage and I know for a fact they have it. | |
| | | | | Re: Map is a POS I have downloaded the app to see how it works. | |
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| | gotta spend it to make it.. $$ Sprint is about the only small carrier with enough of an inferiority complex (to Verizon and AT&T) to actually build more infrastructure... Tmobile & Metro? virtually nonexistant.. | |
| | | Website Maps Hi all,
This is Sam, founder of OpenSignalMaps.com.
JSeymour: We use the 2011 census definitions of city bounds. These boundaries will often seem a bit strange to residents (i.e. why include this bit of the city but not that bit), but hopefully the overall results would match any other definition of the city bounds.
BF69L: The map on our site is currently a bit confusing and we are hoping to change it in the coming months. Currently the gaps in the map correspond to gaps in our data, not gaps in our cell coverage. So in your area we don't have any data, and can't say if you have coverage or not. Hopefully as we get more data we can fill in the holes. Romney2012 is correct -we do get data from users of our Android app. So we get lots of data where there is a high population density (cities) and very little data in rural areas. For the TIME article we just looked at the top 75 cities in the US. The data was based on about 2,000,000 readings in the largest city (New York) down to around 40,000 readings in the smallest (Fort Wayne Indiana). (This data has already been filtered from a much larger set to remove duplicates/similar results). With 40,000+ readings spread throughout a city we are able to get a pretty good overview of cell coverage.
Thanks!
Sam | |
| | | | Re: Website Maps Welcome Sam!!
Sweet to see owner/ops participating in forum discussions.
I'd love to see a Canadian version of this study. | |
| | | BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | Re: Website Maps said by mrherzog:Welcome Sam!!
Sweet to see owner/ops participating in forum discussions.
I'd love to see a Canadian version of this study.
You want to see completely inaccurate maps of Canadian cell phone coverage? | |
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| Reviews:
 ·Verizon Wireless..
| I have had the appt on my Droid for over a year now and find it fun to mess with. I am one of the poeple you like to see. I work on the railroad in Ohio and Indiana and travel all over the place. And of course the railroad don't follow major hightways and interstates in most places to add to all of this. Keep up the good work! | |
| | BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | said by OpenSignal:Hi all,
This is Sam, founder of OpenSignalMaps.com.
JSeymour: We use the 2011 census definitions of city bounds. These boundaries will often seem a bit strange to residents (i.e. why include this bit of the city but not that bit), but hopefully the overall results would match any other definition of the city bounds.
BF69L: The map on our site is currently a bit confusing and we are hoping to change it in the coming months. Currently the gaps in the map correspond to gaps in our data, not gaps in our cell coverage. So in your area we don't have any data, and can't say if you have coverage or not. Hopefully as we get more data we can fill in the holes. Romney2012 is correct -we do get data from users of our Android app. So we get lots of data where there is a high population density (cities) and very little data in rural areas. For the TIME article we just looked at the top 75 cities in the US. The data was based on about 2,000,000 readings in the largest city (New York) down to around 40,000 readings in the smallest (Fort Wayne Indiana). (This data has already been filtered from a much larger set to remove duplicates/similar results). With 40,000+ readings spread throughout a city we are able to get a pretty good overview of cell coverage.
Thanks!
Sam
Then TIME shouldn't be posting your maps as if they are some accurate gauge. TIME is stating emphatically that these 10 cities are the worse based on your admittedly flawed data. | |
| | | | | Re: Website Maps We were assessing the worst cities in America. We have more than enough data in the cities to say which are the best/worst. It's rural areas where our data is sparse. | |
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 djdanskaRudie32Premium,MVM
join:2001-04-21
San Diego, CA
kudos:4
·Cox HSI
·Verizon Broadban..
·Clear Wireless
·Time Warner Cable
| tried it, failed.. I had it on my android. Everytime i was on wifi calling (most of the time) it kept submitting just horrible signal reports back for t-mobile, even though it wasn't. it was just on wifi calling.
I've been to milwaukee with my t-mobile phone a LOT, and never had any problem until you left the metro area into jackson wi, and even then, i always had signal just spotty 4g.
Don't trust them.
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The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult. The day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.
Alden Nowlan | |
|  IowaCowboyWant to go back to IowaPremium
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA
·Comcast
·Verizon Broadban..
| AT&T used to have better coverage, now VZW does Verizon Wireless used to have spotty coverage in Springfield, MA and we jumped ship to AT&T. Now AT&T is declining in quality (network congestion, increasing amount of dropped calls) and we jumped ship back to Verizon now that they improved their signal strength.
Currently have an iPad, iPhone, Jetpack, and two dumb phones on a 4GB share everything plan on Verizon.
We paid ETFs on Verizon back in 2004 (due to unusable signals) and we paid AT&T an ETF in 2012. Difficult to change carriers when a family plan is involved as there are different contract end dates.
Had they had network extenders back in 2004 (femtocells), I probably would have gone that route instead of abandoning ship with Verizon.
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I wish I still lived in Iowa; Everything there from rent and groceries to Cable TV is much cheaper in Iowa (especially with an overbuilder in town). | |
|  tshirtPremium,MVM
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
kudos:3
·Comcast
| Total fail for OPENSIGNAL... ..in seattle area, T-Mo and AT&T towers and signal data appear to be reversed and very dated.
yes we have dead/lowcoverage spots, because we have actual hills, some cities in the article are almost pancakes by comparsion so coverage should be a no brainer. | |
| | | | sprint in astoria, ny they should have come to Astoria, New York . . Sprint sucks ass. .
I must say Sprint did have good service in Tucson, Arizona , once you get out by the prisons it gets sketchy.. | |
| |  SeleniaI love DebianPremium
join:2006-09-22
Lanesboro, MA
kudos:2 | Re: sprint in astoria, ny Or the Berkshires, tourist attraction in Western Ma with 2 small cities. Sprint and T-Mobile are horrible. Hard to say which is worse. Probably Sprint since their phones started calling 1x 3G, so now unweary consumers don't realize Sprint is mostly 1x around here, not EvDO. South County is very spotty and north county is even worse. Almost no coverage for either in the city of North Adams. Verizon and AT&T used to both be about equally decent but now AT&T has a definite edge since going to 850MHz in this hilly region. Average signal on hspa+ is lower than Verizon, but usable coverage spread is much greater in this mountain region with 850mhz. EDGE is stronger in most spots but hspa+ coverage is near 100%. Lte from vzw is still a no show. Neighboring Northeast NY and vt tend to be spottier but vzw vs at&t plays out similarly, save for more 2G from both. T-Mobile kills sprint in vt. In general, I'd have to say sprint is the worst carrier in my region. They work great down toward Springfield, MA but crappy in so many places. Really crappy. My fiance threw his boost mobile phone in the garbage it was so bad(Samsung Galaxy Prevail) since Boost phones don't roam on vzw. Convinced him to go with a straight talk that uses at&t and he is happy(he only likes prepaid and at&T's own prepaid plansare outrageously priced on smartphones). I love my 4G and upgrades so I remain on at&t contract.
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A fool thinks they know everything.
A wise person knows enough to know they couldn't possibly know everything.
There are zealots for every OS, like every religion. They do not represent the majority of users for either. | |
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| | detroit I have had Verizon att and tmobile and can tell u that in Detroit ive have exceptional signal strength from all of them ,unless I went in to the basement of the home then Verizon would slow way down , which makes me think they are talking about the Detroit area which is another thing all together . I live in lansing Michigan and I can tell u I look forward to going to Detroit because in upper mi the services are hit or miss even with Verizon 4glte which keep having tower issues and sending people back to 3g . my tmobile phone on the other hand gets 8mbs and 10 mbs per second when I go 2 Detroit. | |
| | | Colorado Springs and AT&T and Verizon We have AT&T in Colorado Springs and can see its tower high on the hill behind UCCS from our house - clear view with no obstructions. We generally get 4 or 5 bars out of 5, but calls are dropped with a message indicating the tower is overloaded. Signal's not the problem it's tower or back-haul overload. My wife's company's Verizon Blackberry never has a problem. | |
| nonymousPremium
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ | Tower map How are the towers discovered? I know it is showing Verizon towers where there are not any towers at all period. | |
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