<p>I'm attending UCSC this fall and was wondering what phone carrier had the best service in UCSC. From looking at the coverage maps, TMOBILE had by far the best, but I'd like feedback from people that go/went there.</p>
<p>Im thinking about tmobile or boost mobile. Idk yet.</p>
<p>I have T-Mobile and I’m not too happy with it =\ I only get a couple of bars in my College 9 dorm room (luckily, down the hall I get none at all) and none in lots places like the College 9/10 dining hall, Thimann labs, and the Media Theatre.</p>
<p>AT&T has good reception, except for the west entrance area.</p>
<p>Seconding AT&T for good reception in general. I usually have full bars on 3G all over campus sans a few problem areas. I don’t use my phone often enough at west entrance to have experienced an issue with it so I can’t speak on this part. Reception does go to almost nothing depending which building you’re in (I always lose most of my reception in the theatre arts area).</p>
<p>Those I know with Verizon complain about incredibly spotty coverage in west campus areas (specifically Porter) and calls I’ve had with those on it always seem to drop at west entrance. I’m beginning to wonder if that’s just a problem area common across carriers, though. Those I know on Verizon have said coverage is much better on the east side of campus.</p>
<p>I’ve lived on the east campus for a long time, and yes Verizon is pretty damn good around there. Only in the apartments do I get dropped calls, and yes it is often. But really, they’re thick concrete, so it’s probably more a function of the building and less of the location. Also, my freshman year Verizon had almost no reception, and some other carrier had great reception. I’d heard that the ‘tower’ up the hill changed hands (to Verizon), so I suppose it could do that again, but that’s doubtful.</p>
<p>I know someone who can’t stand the T-Mobile service on campus, so, that’s seconded.</p>
<p>I’d go with Verizon if possible.</p>
<p>AT&T is definitely the carrier of choice. It is the only carrier that receives reception at the College Nine and Ten apartments.</p>
<p>I have AT&T and have had almost no problems whatsoever. The only place where coverage is a little spotty (for me) is around the theater arts/art studios. Then again, I don’t find myself on the east side of campus all that often, so I can only speak for the west side of campus.</p>
<p>The only issue I have with ATT is the lack of reception on Western Drive between Bay and Nobel and Outlook Apartments.</p>
<p>East side is great for AT&T, never have had any spotty coverage over there. Theatre Arts has a lot of dense, concrete buildings that seem to cause most of the issue. My reception always improves when I find a more open area there (particularly that area between X-Space and Second Stage). I haven’t checked my phone near the studios yet. I should try that out tomorrow. Also curious now about the music area…</p>
<p>Some more info on Verizon I got from a friend who has it: reception in the Porter dorms is awful unless you are in the north halls. South and center are terrible including the part of the north halls that look like a part of center. However, reception is significantly better in the Porter apartment area.</p>
<p>The Critic:
My reception is just fine through there on AT&T. Always interesting how even on the same carrier people can get different results. I’ve even found that my Kindle (which uses AT&T for its wireless service) will get much better reception than my phone. I’ll have reception even in areas my phone has spotty coverage (like theatre arts).</p>
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<p>What do you consider to be fine? Although both my former iPhone 4 and my current Motorola Atrix 4G indicate a signal on Western drive between Western/Meder and Outlook Apartments, both phones show that they are operating off of the Edge network and data speeds are almost zero. It is impossible to send any e-mails or do any web browsing. However, voice calls sometimes work.</p>
<p>I have 3G connection through that area with usually at least half bars. Voice calls always work along with data. My Kindle gets full bars on 3G.</p>
<p>What phone do you have? I need to get myself one of those!</p>
<p>I have a Samsung Eternity. I think they discontinued them/came out with an “updated” model, though XD. I like it, but not something I’d recommend. I’ve been so disappointed with phones the last five years. My old Nokias used to last for years, but now my phones barely last a year (usually just long enough for the warranty to run out). Even my last Nokia (N75) died nearly a year after I got it :(. Was a perfect phone other than that.</p>
<p>Anywho, the Eternity is technically a “dumb phone” (or “feature phone” if you want to go by what AT&T calls it) so I have the much cheaper data plan ($10/month for unlimited data) even though it works the same as the more expensive ones*.</p>
<p>Honestly, I wonder if it has to do with them thinking I can’t possibly do as much damage as a smart phone on my dumb phone. Never mind I’ve racked up some serious data counts (rivaling my brother’s when he had the original iPhone). I’ve seen little difference between the abilities of my phone and a smart phone (I was quite shocked when I learned I could get the cheaper data plan a couple years ago).</p>
<p>It’s a bit out there, but I don’t think it’s entirely out of the realm of possibility I get better coverage because they think that. I could argue the same for my Kindle. Internet is far more cumbersome on it than my phone, but I can see full pages much easier than on my phone. However, the cumbersome aspect is enough to discourage some people.</p>
<p>We’ll see what happens when I finally get around to taking advantage of my current upgrade eligibility. I will laugh if my reception suddenly goes down if I end up with a smart phone.</p>
<p>*I love that some AT&T reps try to say the dumb phone plans won’t work on smart phones. They do. But AT&T does random scans and will change your data plan “for your convenience” when they see you have the cheaper plan attached to the smart phone.</p>