New York City Local Coverage

The issue of coverage seems to ignite peoples passions. The worst thing that happens is that someone on a carrier with good coverage gets enticed by low rates to switch to a carrier that happens to have poor coverage. Coverage is not the only issue to consider when choosing a carrier, but IMVAIO (in my valued and informed opinion) it is the most important issue for the individual subscriber. I don't really care if the voice quality of a call degrades because of network congestion when the alternative is a dropped call or not being able to make a call at all. Some people may intentionally chose a provider with poorer coverage because the carrier has lower rates, offers worldwide roaming, or has a better selection of phones. But a lot of people don't realize how much of a difference there is in coverage between the different carriers, and go strictly by rates and./or equipment, which is a big mistake. Bottom line is that there are HUGE differences in coverage among cellular carriers, and independent studies have confirmed this fact.

Watch out for the "100% Coverage" Sales Tactic

A favorite response of wireless salespeople, when a potential customer asks about coverage differences, is "no carrier provides 100% coverage." This response is an attempt to equalize coverage among the various carriers into two groups, 100% and <100%. After all, if neither Verizon nor Cingular provide 100% coverage then why not choose the carrier with the lower prices and cooler handsets. As the data below demonstrates, there are huge differences in coverage between the carriers. 89-90% is much better than 68%. In terms of total area covered, a CDMA/AMPS phone or a TDMA/AMPS phone covers orders of magnitude more area than a GSM-only phone.

There are no 'official' data on coverage. However there have been many surveys and tests done/  Based on these surveys, studies, and tests, the rankings for coverage in the New York City Area are as follows:

Cingular is using the T-Mobile network and thus will have the same coverage ratings as T-Mobile

AT&T TDMA coverage is actually much better than the ratings indicate, much closer to Verizon's numbers. However the TDMA network is overloaded which resulted in their poor score.

Dead Zones
One useful web site to check prior to selecting a carrier is http://deadcellzones.com/. Just be aware that this site is based on voluntary subscriber input; just because your area of concern does not appear on their list does not mean that there actually is coverage (and conversely, a location on the list may have had coverage added). For example, the web site shows big differences between Cingular and T-Mobile, when in fact the number of dead zones each has should be exactly the same. Of course the reports of dead zones are skewed by the number of subscribers each carrier has as well. You'd expect AT&T and Verizon to have far more dead zone reports than Cingular, Sprint, or T-Mobile by virtue of the fact that AT&T and Verizon have many more subscribers. Is this anecdotal evidence useful? Taken in context with other reports of coverage I believe that it does have some validity. 

Dead Zone Reports as of August 12, 2003

Carrier New York
AT&T 170
Cingular* 22
Nextel 88
Sprint 154
T-Mobile* 155
Verizon 134

* Cingular is a relatively new carrier for New York City and it shares the T-Mobile infrastructure. The T-Mobile numbers are a better indication of the Cingular dead spots.

Why Do AT&T and Verizon Consistently get the Top Ratings for Coverage?
The reason for Verizon's and AT&T's superiority is very simple; they were here first (at least the companies they evolved from were here first), they have the 800 Mhz spectrum, and they put up gobs of sites before communities started regulating towers as strictly. Verizon started as Nynex, AT&T used to be Metro 1, then Cellular One. While digital sites need to be more closely spaced (due to the lower transmitting power of digital phones) at least you can be assured of at least an analog signal in most areas.

New York City is somewhat of an anomaly in that the density of population combined with the inefficiency of TDMA has resulted in capacity problems for AT&T. GSM will improve things a little, though CDMA carriers will continue to have the advantage because CDMA is the most spectrally efficient technology.

Please don't go just by the rankings. Check coverage at your home and workplace with each system by asking friends and colleagues. Also check the maps on the carrier's web sites, though these are usually not very detailed.


Nextel, a Special Case

Nextel is primarily suited to businesses that have no need for coverage outside urban areas, and that need the two-way radio feature (Push to Talk). Nextel uses a proprietary technology called iDEN, which is not compatible with any other carrier's network. 

Nextel has never tried to market itself to customers for whom ubiquitous coverage is a necessity. Nextel has carved out a very profitable niche in servicing business customers but makes only token attempts to lure individual subscribers.

I originally did not include Nextel in this web site because I felt that it was unfair to compare them against conventional cellular carriers. However I have received several e-mails, some of them not very nice, asking why I did not include Nextel, so I added them.

Several countries in South America have iDEN networks, as do two countries in Asia (Israel and the Philippines)


Surveys and Tests on Local Coverage
The February 2003 issue of Consumer Reports rated the New York City Carriers. Please see the details on page 17 of  this issue at you local library. Verizon was #1, AT&T #2, T-Mobile and Nextel were tied for #3, Sprint was last.


Coverage by Borough (to be added)
Manhattan

Brooklyn

Queens

The Bronx

Staten Island


Comments
AT&T has excellent TDMA coverage, but the network is overloaded. AT&T also has good GSM coverage in the New York City Area, and their GSM network is not yet overloaded. AT&T is now offering GAIT service. AT&T's GSM service is initially at 1900 Mhz only, which means that the quality of service will be worse than their TDMA service. Eventually they will deploy 800 Mhz GSM which will solve the in-building coverage issue.

AT&T GSM, Cingular, and T-Mobile do not have analog roaming (other than one GAIT phone on AT&T), and cannot roam onto any other systems other than some GSM systems. This is a major hassle if you travel outside the metropolitan area. With the other three providers you still are able to use the old analog cellular system that is present in many smaller towns, as well as the many small CDMA and TDMA systems. Cingular coverage is spotty throughout the area. Coverage will improve as both AT&T and Cingular convert their existing TDMA networks to GSM, but for now the coverage is poor. AT&T GSM has more roaming onto other GSM systems because of the ability to roam onto AT&T affiliates.

Verizon has the best coverage. Verizon operates at 800 Mhz in this area which is a big advantage over Sprint, Cingular, and T-Mobile.


Bottom Line on Local Coverage
Verizon has the best local, on-network coverage. If you can live with the coverage of Cingular's network then opt for T-Mobile's better rates, but if you must have GSM, AT&T GSM is the best choice in terms of coverage. Remember that with AT&T TDMA there are no data services. AT&T GSM is the best choice if you want GSM service.


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