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Comment by bimr | Hacker News Reader

If T-mobile has a weakness, it is not signal strength. Coverage maps are a red herring. If you look at AT&T coverage in SoCal, you would think that they have it on lock. However in Downtown LA, AT&T is atrocious, and T-Mobile is stellar. Even if signal is weak where you live, T-Mobile was the first to unlock WiFi Calling for its phones. They even give you an awesome router for your home. If somebody is telling you that T-Mobile coverage sucks, its because they have no other complaints than this subjective opinion. Remember, coverage = Your Mileage May Vary

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this is only true in cities, which I guess covers the majority of people, but as someone who camps across the country, and often drives there, T-mobile is terrible outside most metro areas, and I rely on my girlfriend's verizon to keep us from getting lost and to link up with other campers.

And I'm not just talking about the deep boonies either. Even in state parks that are less than an hour from densely populated cities, I often have no bars.

Most state/national parks have atrocious service because tower companies can't get towers installed there. That's not a carrier's fault.

The issue is Verizon and AT&T have coverage in these places. They’re just not a good choice if you are frequently out of the city. Very cheap though, it’s a good fit for a lot of people. (I recently switched from Verizon to T-Mobile on my iPad and have an AT&T phone.)

Have any specific places coverage is lacking? I can get that to the right capacity planning dept at TMO.

A few days ago I was driving back from Rainier in Washington State and had full bars LTE on AT&T and no service at all on T-Mobile. It was on 410 right outside of Enumclaw, WA. Had to be almost in town to get any signal from T-Mobile.

AT&T and Verizon actually have some coverage inside the park around the Sunrise area (I believe coming from the Crystal Mountain ski area) while T-Mobile has none.

To be fair, the T-Mobile coverage map is extremely spotty in WA so it's not like they're claiming they have a great network here, but it is very noticeably worse than the two largest networks. From their map it looks like they're weak in the whole Northwest. Sort of curious considering they are based here, but I get that the topography is difficult.

In the Midpeninsula Open Space lands (e.g. San Mateo county), I routinely lose data (even 3G and 2G) and often voice on T-Mobile while other carriers are fine.

In one of these (Russian Ridge?), there is a pair of towers with maybe 30 transmitters and dishes. Even there, nothing on T-Mobile.

Even my neighborhood tower was crap for about 2 months. Only after the fact did they acknowledge the problem.

Entire stretch from North of Rockford to baraboo Wisconsin. Most of central Illinois, from Louisville to Stanton ky

The entirety of I-10 from the outskirts of Phoenix to Palm Springs is a T-Mobile black hole for even the most minimal data usage.

By no means would I call T-Mobile's rural coverage great, but how recent is the phone you're using with them? Specifically, does it have Band 12 support? If not, you're missing out on most of their coverage improvements.

How can we tell which radios are included in our devices? I have 5 different handsets.

T-Mobile picked up some lower frequency (greater range, penetration) licenses around the end of last year. I'm waiting for their deployment/integration into their service, to see what difference they make. I've grown increasingly tired of Verizon Wireless's recent behavior, but they have had coverage in areas I visit where T-Mobile has not.

Something to consider is that only newer phone models support all the new spectrum that Tmo has utilized to expand coverage. YMMV but some of the lower band stuff is essential for coverage in rural areas.

What bands? I have a 6p and it's still pretty bad

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