Originally Posted By: Eugene
I guess I should have prefaced with my area. From the west end of TN to Washington DC, South to the Carolinas and North to Michigan GSM coverage has been getting worse once you get out of any decent sized towns. Its almost like they have transmitters at the town limits, people's gsm phones drop there. I was keeping an analog cdma and a gsm phone for diversity but in the last few years the coverage areas of either has gotten so low it doesn't matter anymore.



Cell coverage certainly isn't great in the I-81 corridor or 60 miles west of DC in Virginia. I have Verizon and always lose the signal about 70 miles west of DC in Virginia headed toward the mountains. Friends and I caravanned to Pigeon Forge, TN in October and relied on walkie-talkies to communicate between vehicles (I-66 and I-81). I wouldn't bet a nickel on getting a cell signal anywhere along that route -- outside of the few significant towns.

At 3700 feet in the Shenandoah Mts, at the campground we frequent, there are only a couple of campsites where a signal is possible for most peops I know. But I did meet someone with a Droid last summer and they were pulling up weather radar away from the usual good spots for a signal. I don't think they were on Verizon.