Cellular Coverage Maps - Are You Really Covered?

Before choosing a carrier or plan, determine how you will be using your cell phone (long distance, emergencies, daily, week-ends) to find a plan to best fit your needs.

Then you can determine a carrier's coverage area based on your specific needs. To find a carrier's coverage area:

Carriers provide coverage maps on their Web sites and in stores where their products are sold. Often these maps show very general coverage for entire regions. These maps usually carry the disclaimer that they are provided for informational purposes only and that actual coverage may vary. There may be holes where the carrier has not located antennas or where the topography causes dead spots.
There is no guarantee that your phone will work in an area just because it is included on a carrier's coverage map. Regions where towers are few and far between may technically be included in your home area, but the quality of your calls may be so poor that you can't use your phone. Although carriers attempt to design their networks to eliminate dropped calls, busy signals, and dead spots, no network is perfect, so coverage breaks within the general coverage areas are still possible.

Specific and/or updated information may not be available in maps provided by carriers, since coverage is frequently changing.
One way to find out about a certain carrier's coverage is to ask neighbors and friends. You can also look at Web sites (such as http://www.deadzones.com), which list specific dead spots submitted by individuals, by carrier and location for specific cities.
Since coverage is also affected by the type of handset, consider whether a single-mode, dual-mode or tri-mode phone best suits your calling needs. "Single-mode" phones can connect to either a digital or an analog network but not both. "Dual-mode" handsets can be used on both analog and digital networks. "Tri-mode" handsets can be used on analog and two types of digital networks.
Investigate carriers' coverage areas to determine if they provide service where you intend to use the phone most frequently.
Test the carrier's plan and coverage on a trial basis. Many carriers offer trial periods during which you can test a phone before you are locked into a service contract and have to pay a significant fee for terminating that service contract.

During this trial period, you may want to test the phone in the areas where you plan to use it most frequently to determine if the coverage suits your needs. (Can you Hear me now??? :)

Consider trying a prepaid plan; that way, you can switch providers if the service isn't to your liking. If you sign a longer term contract and aren't happy, you may have to pay a significant termination fee to get out of the contract.
When a problem arises, call your cellular company. If the problem is with the telephone itself, go to one of the cell phone company's stores, not an independent agent. The staff at a company store is better equipped to provide a remedy.

Summary

Compare plans and prices of several dealers and service providers before deciding on the phone and plan that best suits your needs.

Remember that most coverage maps carry the disclaimer that they are provided for general informational purposes only and actual coverage may vary.

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