Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

[Mjrtom7]

I've heard talk about how ATT is "working on their network coverage" and plans to provide 3G service in Northeast MI "in the coming months".  Well, now that another 2 year contract has expired, I'm seriously wondering if I would be better off jumping to Verizon.  The EDGE data network up here if virtually useless.  5 full bars, yet extremely poor data transfer.  

Can anyone provide an HONEST answer as to when this coverage is planned to be upgraded???  Verizon has had 3G for quite a long while up here...

[Tpeltz]

@Lewyman - 

NICE! Welcome to Big Red enjoy the 3G and LTE! 

[Wild Banchi]

I sincerely hope that you guys appreciate your new phones and upgraded network. In highly populated areas that have already been upgraded to 4G LTE, this is probably something that is not that cool/important to them. It's probably like being a kid in a candy store for you guys.

I'm in Bay City and I have friends that have Verizon 4G LTE-capable smartphones. I asked them if it was noticeably faster than regular 3G and they said that it was. I've noticed that text messages send noticeably faster than they have before on AT&T. I wonder what it's like...

It's a downer that AT&T could not suit your standards, but what ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Enjoy!

[Lewyman]

@Tpeltz
I hope they keep rolling it out fast. If they are truly going to have statewide coverage by late summer then they will need to start lighting up huge areas at a time. I will drive by the tower in Lewiston tomorrow to see if the tower has new panels. It appears at least downstate that they are not replacing panels but rather adding new ones and leaving the old ones up.

[JREwing53]

I'm giving AT&T till the end of this summer, or else I'm moving on to Big Red.  They have been stalling us around here for too long.  Promises made by store employees just don't mean anything anymore.  When my friends down state seeing 4G LTE all over the place and there is no sign of even 3G to us, then that's it for me.

Rumor is that Verizon will have 4G LTE here by summer.  Pretty embarrasing that they have LTE and we are stuck on 2G Edge.

[Lewyman]

I would say that Verizon will be turning on a lot of areas in the next few months up north and would suspect that the Soo right on down the I-75 corridore will be very soon. What I heard from a few AT&T techs 6 months ago, is that they were supposed to have 3G/H+ in Grayling and West Branch by the end of last year but that didn't happen. Very disappointing.

[Lewyman]

Well I found a website that shows areas of mapped coverage from people that travel around and post newly discovered network upgrades. This site is for all carriers: www.sensorly.com. Well I selected AT&T 4G and it shows the Detroit and Grand Rapids LTE areas but it also shows some coverage along U.S. 23 near Au Gres. Wonder where the main coverage is? I don't have AT&T anymore so I can't verify this so maybe somebody else can. Also it shows some new Verizon LTE coverage in the U.P. west of Marquette along 141, south of 28 and north of 2. It appears that Iron Mountain is now live as well.

[Mjrtom7]

I think I've figured out a way to minimize my ATT headaches.  My plan has 3 different phones on it, and two of the phones will expire in May.  At that point, I can sell my phone on Gazelle dot com (currently for $325!)  and help pay for the early termination feel I'll get hit with from ATT.  At that point....Verizon, here I come!  (or maybe one of the prepaid services, provided the network coverage is adequate).  Do anyone know which networks are used by these prepaid vendors?

[Lewyman]

Verizon is launching 4G LTE in Escanaba today.

[JREwing53]

How would you like to be a poor AT&T customer with Edge today in Escanaba? And tied into a two year agreement?

[Lewyman]

I know. I just switched to Verizon but was three months into a new contract from AT&T for upgrading to a Samsung GS3. I am going to get hammered with an ETF but I cannot justify staying with AT&T and paying a $50 monthly data charge for almost two years when the data is virtually unusable north of Bay City. And after looking at their updated coverage map month after month with no new 3G coverage up there I will take the hit.

[Wild Banchi]

Verizon has had LTE in Bay City now since around the late summer/fall of 2012... AT&T's turn, soon?

[randu22]

Even Sprint will have Bay City and Saginaw on LTE in the next few months. AT&T better step it up.

Randy

2g in Alpena

The full list of markets that will gain access to Sprint 4G LTE follows:

• Albany, Ga.
• Anderson, S.C.
• Bay City, Mich
• Branson, Mo.
• Bremerton/Silverdale, Wash.
• Columbus, Ga.
• Columbus, Miss.
• Decatur, Ala.
• Florence/Muscle Shoals, Ala.
• Gadsden, Ala.
• Gaffney, S.C.
• Gettysburg, Pa.
• Glasgow, Ky.
• Homosassa Springs, Fla.
• Hot Springs, Ark.
• Lake City, Fla.
• Lake Havasu City/Kingman, Ariz.
• Midland, Mich.
• Nacogdoches, Tex.
• Opelousas/Eunice, La.
• Oxford, Miss.
• Paris, Tex.
• Pittsfield, Mass.
• Saginaw, Mich.
• Spartanburg, S.C.
• The Villages, Fla.
• Waycross, Ga.
• Winona, Minn.

[Lewyman]

Well AT&T's 4G (HSPA+) ends north of Bay City around the 176 mile marker on I-75 in which it drops to EDGE. Verizon LTE ends around the 188 but when it drops off at least it reverts to 3G. Like TPeltz stated in a previous post AT&T simply does not have enough spectrum to launch LTE north of their current 4G cutoff at this time. However, they are acquiring spectrum from other companies plus they are going to start refarming their PCS and Cellular frequencies to achieve 10x10 Mhz paired spectrum to deploy LTE on. But that will be a while yet, not to mention the fact that a big majority of their towers up there haven't been upgraded with new panels yet.....and lastly they are WAY behind in the necessary fiber/microwave backhaul. I'm not an expert by any means but I would say realistically that a statewide AT&T LTE deployment is at least 3 years away. New York and Chicago will have LTE Advanced before you will see 3G.

[Mjrtom7]

Is there hope on the horizon....???

I called ATT last week to complain (yet again) about the poor data coverage in the Alpena area.  I stated that I've been a loyal customer for about 4 years now, and year after year I am given the false hope that some day (hopefully before I retire and move away) they will upgreade the service in my area.  I told them that that I can only use about half of the fancy functions on my phone due to lack of data connectivity (Siri? nope.  Maps? barely.  Speach to text? nope).  Only using wifi, but not through Edge.  I was seriously planning to pay the cx fee and jump ship.

After speaking with the first agent, she politely offered to credit my account for $30/mo for the next 6 mos to cover my unlimited texting.  I told her that would be great....HOWEVER....and trying not to sound ungrateful...I was still concerned that the poor data service was here to stay and that I held out no hope of ever seeing improvement.  She sympathized with my complaint and dircted me to another department, where she felt my concerns could be better addressed.

The next fella I spoke with was very cordial and sympathetic as well.  After giving him my iPhone-life horror story, he offered to credit my account for an additional $250 dollars!  Clearly they are becoming sensitive to the complaints of shoddy service and are trying to do something about it.  He further offered that (although he wasn't supposed to bandy about any dates) they are planning to have 3G service in Alpena by March 29, and 4G service in mid May of this year.  

I don't know if they will be able to hold to these dates...or if this is just more fluff aimed at trying to placate the people who call with concerns.  What I do know is that I will be saving $380 over the next 6 months on my phone bill and, hopefully, by the end of that time I will be able to pull up a map on my phone to give me directions to the beer store so I can go pick up a 6 pack and celebrate.

If you haven't contacted ATT to express your concerns over the lack of service in your area, it may be worth your while to do so.  I was very polite and measured in my conversations with the folks on the line, and they genuinely seemed to appreciate my complaints.  Here's hoping that they can keep to these timelines and FINALLY get service upgraded  in our neck of the woods!

[JREwing53]

I called today and they never offered me anything.  But they did say that our towers are to upgraded to 4G on June 29, 2013.  

Ok, now I've heard these promises before, but at least they give me hope.

The problem for me is, that Verizon is horrible here.  They don't even have cell coverage in Pickford. I guess i will ride it out and hopefully will be a happy camper by Independance Day!