<p>S is on the first floor in Courtside, and his Nokia (T-Mobile) does not work inside his room. He was on the third floor last year, and this combination worked with no problem. Is it Nokia? Is it T-Mobile? Is it time to find a new phone or provider? Which phones have you found to work best in the dorms at UCLA? We saw someone with sufficient reception to use his phone on the third floor of the SV parking structure. There is no way our phone works that far underground! I am grateful for any information on this!</p>
<p>I think a lot of it depends what part of UCLA you're at. I have t-mobile, and there's no reception at all inside Rieber unless I'm standing right at the window. In Hedrick Summit, I have full reception throughout the entire building.</p>
<p>generally, verizon and cingular have the best reception out of the national carriers. generally. now, your experience can and will vary depending on your exact location and your phone. Nokias are known for awesome RF performance, so your problem is probably with T-Mobile.</p>
<p>each carrier will have their dead spots in different areas. ask your son to check out his friends' phones to see what works and what doesnt in the places that he goes to.</p>
<p>keep in mind if he's on your family plan and you switch the whole family to another carrier, you just might end up with him having perfect reception, but you have nothing at home. so, you should ask around and see what works best in YOUR areas too, and then find a happy medium. dont forget about early termination fees if you're still under contract with T-Mobile.</p>
<p>UCLA has some of the weirdest reception patterns off any place I've ever been, due to all the hills and huge buildings around the area. I can lose reception just by turning my chair in my room, my roommate's cell gets reception in the living room but zero in the kitchen next to it. You'll eventually figure out what works for your phone. I have to say though, I get decent service around most of UCLA with Cingular, and from what I've heard T-Mobile service isn't so great.</p>
<p>verizon works awesome for me</p>
<p>My daughter had Sprint in Hedrick last year. I didn't hear any complaints.</p>
<p>I just got here yesterday and have Cingular. I get good reception for the first 30 seconds of my call and then it totally breaks up. Hopefully it'll work around the rest of the campus...</p>
<p>what about helio?</p>
<p>my T-mobile worked everywhere during the orientation including the 9th floor of Rieber Vista</p>
<p>helio runs on Sprint's network.</p>
<p>i never actually heard of helio until i started working in the helio building</p>
<p>T-Mobile's reception is inconsistent. Verizon is supposedly the most reliable. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>alot of my friends with T-mobile have been complaining about bad service lately :(</p>
<p>My experience with T-Mobile ranged from downright horrid to spectacular.</p>
<p>My first year with them, I was in Delta. I got okay reception, but usually had problems connecting my calls due to network overloads.</p>
<p>My second year with them, I was in Saxon. My first few months were the pits. One bar at best. Then, magically, my reception went to full-strength! It was a great rest of the year...well, not on the pocketbook.</p>
<p>Operamom: My D is also on courtside, 3rd fl. though and our T-Mobile is working perfectly so far. She has called me from her room and also from the lounge. Maybe being in the higher floor makes a difference. Both our phones are Nokia too.</p>
<p>Also, I just want to say the move in to SV went very smoothly. My husband and myself were impressed with the organization. We were expecting traffic, chaos, crowd but none of that happened. MIA everywhere to guide parents & newbies and a lot of freebies (ice cream, cookies, soda, water) The only hitch is the wait for the elevators but then we took the stairs and the alternative route. Much faster.
Overall, its an A++++++++++.</p>
<p>Momca25--S was on the third floor last year and also had no trouble. It seems to be an issue of being surrounded by the building as is the case on the 1st floor. </p>
<p>I am waiting for the results of S's informal poll of the first-floor residents. Our contract is up, and we can switch if we know what would be best. I want his phone to work because I like to hear from him :)</p>
<p>I agree with you about the smooth move-in. S moved in Friday evening (8:00pm-10:00pm) and I thought the crowds would surely be out on Saturday. But the planning was spectacular. This is S's second year--we were impressed last year also.</p>