Moving to new old house Cell Phone signal strength for AT&T and Verizon.

[Chuckcell]

We are moving 7 miles west. And currently Wifie is iPhone/AT&T and I am Android/Verizon. Once we're unpacked we need to choose one or the other system.
How to do that? Those signal strength icons are, by all accounts, notoriously un-accurate. And I've tried various Android Apps to map Cell Towers and signal reach. Also retched results!
What to do?

 

[B. Diddy]

Sometimes you can't really know until you test it out yourself. There can be relatively small pockets of poor signal that can't be shown on any coverage map.

One thing to consider would be a signal booster -- check with both carriers to see if they're available, and if so, how much they cost. T-Mobile offers them for free, but I'm not sure about Verizon and AT&T.

 

[Chuck Finley69]

We are moving 7 miles west. And currently Wifie is iPhone/AT&T and I am Android/Verizon. Once we're unpacked we need to choose one or the other system.
How to do that? Those signal strength icons are, by all accounts, notoriously un-accurate. And I've tried various Android Apps to map Cell Towers and signal reach. Also retched results!
What to do?

I recently did the same here in Brandon, Florida in Tampa area. Primary carrier has been AT&T for years but for business purposes I have a T-Mobile and VZW backup lines.

The signal boosters are being phased out for Wi-Fi Calling and the carrier maps are worthless due to elevation on your street, heavy signal interference, local tower congestion or combination of all three.

Simply move in and keep your separate carriers for 30-60 days. I'd recommend 60 days for better statistics. You'll have a better idea the quirks of your area.

Even things like postpaid versus prepaid accounts or specific device will affect your performance. I have one phone that's great all over my region except for where I live. T-Mobile uses different newer radio band on a newer tower next door.

In theory, AT&T or VZW have the most optimized coverage now, but as T-Mobile and Sprint finish their merger upgrades, that could also change things.

 

[Chuckcell]

Thanks for the comments/advice. It's been my impression that AT&T is good in urban areas, Chicago, New York, etc while Verizon is better coverage in rural areas such as Marion County FL where we are. Maybe?
A lot of technology hype is just plain spew - "Can you hear me now?" my patoi. Out where we are and will move to is iffy for coverage. As I type this I see just a one bar in the triangle icon AND I can point out the nearest tower AND Verizon doesn't use it but one that's twice as far away. Razzle frats! Anyways thru Spectrum we have TV and internet and telephone ... and a bill. A bill for service that evaporates at various times _except_ that they can find us when we owe them $$!
(Rant out).

 

[ManiacJoe]

Take a look at the Root Metrix maps to see if they help you any. In theory, the data is user-reported thus giving real-world info. But take it with a grain of salt.
https://webcoveragemap.rootmetrics.com/en-US

 

[Chuck Finley69]

Thanks for the comments/advice. It's been my impression that AT&T is good in urban areas, Chicago, New York, etc while Verizon is better coverage in rural areas such as Marion County FL where we are. Maybe?
A lot of technology hype is just plain spew - "Can you hear me now?" my patoi. Out where we are and will move to is iffy for coverage. As I type this I see just a one bar in the triangle icon AND I can point out the nearest tower AND Verizon doesn't use it but one that's twice as far away. Razzle frats! Anyways thru Spectrum we have TV and internet and telephone ... and a bill. A bill for service that evaporates at various times _except_ that they can find us when we owe them $$!
(Rant out).

Since now I know you're in Marion County (Ocala) topography and coverage is pretty much same as mine. The VZW advantage was because of legacy CDMA towers as compared with AT&T GSM towers.

With everyone switching to 4GLTE/5GE type coverage and the real 5G from AT&T, VZW and T-Mobile each being rolled out with vastly different strategies and technologies, I'd suggest keeping things as-is until there and testing both for a week or so. Especially if your WFC is going to be spotty as well. You'd think we built our places inside sinkholes or in drained out swamps.

 

[L0n3N1nja]

Coverage maps are for marketing purposes, they are not exact so you can't rely on those. (I worked at Verizon for 4 years in a rural area) it was common for people to have no coverage where our map claimed they would.

The cell phone signal in the notification panel of the phone can't be trusted either unless on 2 identical phones with the same software version. The reason for this is it's just a part of the UI and different phones are programmed to display bars differently. Even when 2 phones have the same signal strength one can be programmed to show 2 bars while the other will show 3.

If you want to accurately know the signal strength you need to measure it in decibels, not in bars on the top of the screen. There are apps available for free that can do this.

 

[Chuckcell]

Move in day in one week, Monday 24th. And we will compare wifie's AT&T with my Verizon. We've already had near-ish people we know say they don't have good reception, ala "I have to go outside..."
Also I've tried 4-5 apps that list signal in minus dB strength, suckith. Especially the one that kept reporting the nearest cell tower as on the south side of the road when it was actually on the north, about a half mile off! Really impressed.

 

[Chuckcell]

Here's a screenshot. We are, current house, the blue for. How do I know there's no tower there? I looked, drive up and down available streets thru a sketchy "single-wide city". If there's a tower anywhere near that location it's so we'll hidden I could not see it.

 

[Chuckcell]

Here's another screenshot.

 

[Chuckcell]

Took a ride out to the new house and got theses:

 

[Chuckcell]

Move in is Monday/Tuesday. At the moment, based on nPerf (if I'm reading it right!) AT&T is winning. But I don't understand that 2nd AT&T rating, never heard of that one.

 

[tony bag o donuts]

I don't know if carriers still do it but if you move, some used to let you out of your contract if they could not resolve any issues which would include a signal booster (not those silly stickers they sold for the back of our old flip phones).

 

[Chuckcell]

Hmm. Never heard of that. But, thanks! I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Chuckcell]

So we moved in and ... both Verizon (my cell) and AT&T (Wifie) have weak 4g connections. Bummer.
Spectrum, our ISP has supposedly got our TV Cable switched over but I've yet to find the incoming cable interface and where to attach the cable modem.
Technology, it's wunderfullll! We really must try it some time

 

[Chuckcell]

Here's another possible wrinkle: a lot of houses in this sub division have lightening arrestors on the roof. It was the 90s (when they were built) and "The Sky is Falling! Get Arrestors or YOU'LL FRY" must have been a successful scam. Anyway - is it at all possible that the arrestors, yes ours have them, create some sort of a Farraday Cage out of the houses? The local friends I've talked to all say the same thing " To get a good signal we have to be outside.

 

[B. Diddy]

What material is your house made from? Some materials block signal more than others, like brick.

 

[Chuckcell]

House is single story concrete block. And best signal is outside on the south facing front porch. Ha-hmm.

 

[B. Diddy]

Concrete can block signal significantly as well. https://www.wilsonpro.com/blog/how-building-materials-affect-cell-phone-signal-booster-performance

Will you be able to use wi-fi calling at home once your cable is hooked up?

 

[Chuckcell]

Wifi calling is some thing I have never tried. Thanks for the suggestion!