Better iPhone, AT&T coverage coming to California in 2009
March 26th, 2009, 1:05 pm · 16 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
AT&T just announced plans to improve mobile coverage statewide this year by adding new cell sites and upgrading older ones.
In the Orange County and Los Angeles area, the company will add 94 new cell sites and upgrade 133 older ones to 3G service, confirmed Deborah Lieberman Rapoport, with AT&T. No details on O.C. locations are available.
The upgrade to 3G is important to not only iPhone users but others who want a faster, more reliable Internet service from their cell phone.
Last year, AT&T added 157 new cell sites in California, plus upgraded 1,031 older sites to handle 3G data services. Of those, 74 new sites were in the greater Los Angeles area, which includes Orange County.
The company doesn’t break out how many cell sites are in Orange County but since September, AT&T added at least 10 new cell sites here, plus upgraded service throughout most of the county.
More on cell-phones: Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local cell phone services. Previous stories on new cell sites in Orange County:
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94 sites w00h000 wow that’s just unheard of…i love how they spin things to make it sound so positive. What they didnt tell you was how much they cut back to get down to the 94 sites for the entire socal region…how is that going to improve the “drops all over” network? If it wasnt for the loyal iPhone users they’d have a lot of churn…people are willing to tolerate the dropped calls for their iPhones amazing.
157 new site in 08? others have done twice that last year.
Hey singlespeeder: I’ve asked all the major wireless companies for updates on new cell sites/improvements in O.C. Verizon and AT&T are the only ones that have provided the information. Are the others really upgrading their networks here in O.C.? You tell me or they can, since they know where to reach me. I’d rather have 94 new cell sites this year than none. — Gadgetress
I live near Lake Forest Dr. and Jeronimo Rd. in Lake Forest and my AT&T cellphone service is super fine.
dropped calls off Jamboree and San Joaquin in Newport ALL the time…also pretty shady coverage in my home off 55 and MacArthur..for some reason works better with the earpiece when I am in the home
iPhone never had reception on the way to Mammoth and in Mammoth. I am going Blackberry and Verizon all the way.
I agree about bad reception near South Coast Plaza, though I believe the large amount of people at the mall are what is causing it. I randomly bounce out of 3G into their crappy EDGE network all day long, and I work across the street from South Coast.
When I’m on the phone with my friends, they know when I turned in to my neighborhood because the call will drop. Coverage is horrible in my neighborhood and I don’t live on a hill or in an exclusive part of town…just regular ol’ Anaheim.
Hopefully, this time I’m not filled with false hope (again) as ATT announces improvements.
AT&T needs to put cell site up in Turtle Rock in Irvine. There is no reception at all.
well with the recent lift in moratorium within the city of irvine things can somewhat go back to the normal for all the carriers so you residents .
I want to urge all the readers of your column to call your respective city representatives and demand better cell site service. the cities have become such a stumbling block in our deployment efforts that you may or may not ever see coverage in residential areas…case in point Turtle Rock and every carriers efforts to improve coverage up there.
Lastly, I cant divulge our build numbers as that is typically confidential so how you got 94 from ATT is pretty good work on your part
Josh Groban: please call your city councilperson and ask for this; a company called Newpath has been trying to get a mulitcarrier DAS solution up in turtle rock for years now and is part of the reason why there was a moratorium in Irvine on cell site development. CALL YOUR CITY Council write letters show up at the meetings and demand that city planning staff not be so anti-wireless.
BEWARE that AT&T FORCES you to pay for an expensive TV package if you want to order any of their fastest internet packages. I can’t wait for FIOS to become available in my area
I hope the service improves in the Anaheim Hils/Yorba Linda area. It’s crap now!
AT&T is a joke. they should have fixed their network years ago.
Please add Chino and Chino Hills to your list.
Singlespeeder says: a company called Newpath has been trying to get a mulitcarrier DAS solution up in turtle rock for years now and is part of the reason why there was a moratorium in Irvine on cell site development. CALL YOUR CITY Council write letters show up at the meetings and demand that city planning staff not be so anti-wireless.
As a resident of Turtle Rock I count on the city to help us fight against retrofitting our residential neighborhood with cell towers and antennae. You don’t care because you don’t live here, but it would disrupt the aesthetics of our neighborhood. Also there’s enough concern over the health and safety of RF emissions that cell installation would negatively impact our property values and give us the stigma of being a cell tower neighborhood. Hills are notorious for poor cell reception. It’s just a part of living among them. Service blackouts occur. The solution should not be to install this equipment among the residences and their play areas, but instead in the open, empty hills that are higher than and surrounding Turtle Rock. This strategy would probably help Turtle Ridge as well.
I’m just wondering, how is ATT’s coverage in Redlands, Yucaipa, San Bernardino, Loma Linda, etc.? We are interested in switching from Verizon to ATT for:
a) for an iPhone 3G and two iPhone 3GSs.
b) the fact we can get rid of Verizon’s arrogant customer service in the area
Overall, how is ATT’s coverage? I won’t really have to deal with C.S since we would have Apple to help us out.
Hi Conservative… I put together a guide to mobile-phone company services, which include links to coverage maps and phone numbers so you can check coverage in those areas yourself Here’s the link to AT&T: http://gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/cellphones/#att
Another good site: Mobiledia’s CellReception.com. Also check sites with user reviews, like HowardForums.com.