at&t/Cingular Dead Zones
- Interstate 80 near Floriston (though roaming on the T-Mobile network provides coverage in this area).- fixed Summer 2008.
- Hwy 89 south of Truckee to Tahoe City (though roaming on T-Mobile network provides some coverage along the route).
- The Zollezzi Lane /Arrowcreek Pkwy./ Thomas Creek Road foothills area (dropped calls, poor signal). In early 2008 at&t installed a new cell site behind Wal-Mart on Damonte Ranch Pkwy and South Virginia Street, however it only improved coverage in an approximate 1 mile radius of Wal-Mart.
- The Damonte Ranch/South Meadows area east of Double R Blvd. and Damonte Ranch Pkwy. (dropped calls, poor signal).
- Bad hand-offs between cell sites resulting in dropped calls in the following areas: N. McCarran between Sutro St. and Evans Ave., N. McCarran near Keystone Ave., Hwy. 445 (Pyramid Lake Hwy) between Los Altos Pkwy and Queens Way.
- Poor coverage in the residential areas east of Vista Blvd. and Los Altos Pkwy.
- Poor coverage in central Sun Valley in the vicinity of Hobey’s Casino.
Please submit your dropped call or dead zone experiences in the comment form. Comments may take up to 24 hours to appear on the website. Thank you for your participation.
May 2nd, 2007 at 7:42 am
Cingular always drops my calls on Hwy 431 (Mt. Rose Hwy) traveling between Thomas Creek Road and Fawn Lane.
May 19th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Dead Zone/Bad Handoff in West Fallon along Highway 50. The exact location seems to move from one trip to the next we have 2 Cingular GSM phones one May have coverage and tne other doesn’t. The dead Zone satrts as far east as thw New Wal Mart and can go west of there for about a mile
May 29th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Ron: It looks like that area is “Partner” coverage provided by T-Mobile. It’s likely a bad hand-off from att/Cingular to T-Mobile or vise versa.
July 3rd, 2007 at 12:45 am
My experience in the sub divisions in the South Meadows/Damonte area is usually no calls rather than dropped calls. Very frustrating and a long-standing problem.
July 13th, 2007 at 6:57 am
Why is it that my phone rarely works in the Double Diamond area? This area has grown so much, yet it seems no one on the AT&T network can get a signal out here. However Sprint happens to have a two towers down here.
July 30th, 2007 at 7:16 am
According to at&t, the cell tower located off of Trademark Drive and South Meadows was recently sold to T-Mobile. T-Mobile and at&t have signed an agreement and at&t will have a site located on that T-Mobile tower by the end of this year, 2007. Also at&t said they plan to offer the 3G service in the Reno/Sparks area by the 1st of 2008.
July 30th, 2007 at 7:48 am
Tanner: That tower was sold to T-Mobile at the same time all the other old Cingular 1900Mhz sites were transfered to T-Mobile as part of the agreement for Cingular to take over the old AT&T Wireless network in 2005. I haven’t seen any government permits yet to add at&t antennas and equipment to that tower on Trademark Drive, or anywhere in the South Meadows/Damonte Ranch area for that matter. I agree they definitely seem to be dragging their heels on providing good coverage in that area.
In the past few weeks I’ve noticed that I’ve roamed on T-Mobile towers in several areas of town. Since there is no test mode on my Treo650, the only way I’ve been able to confirm this is a good signal strength in the area of a T-Mobile cell site, and the T-Mobile network uses a different kind of busy signal when calling a busy number.
I heard from another at&t customer that was told that “high-speed internet” would be launched in November. He is currently using an EDGE laptop card. Time will tell.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:29 am
AT&T is finally improving coverage in the Damonte Ranch / Zolezzi Lane area. See my latest news http://renowirelessinfo.com/2007/10/15/att-set-to-improve-coverage-in-damonte-ranch-and-zolezzi-area/
April 24th, 2008 at 11:07 am
I have noticed that in the Wingfield springs area has weak coverage and almost all the way through the Los Altos pkwy develpment there is none. For At&t.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
AT&T Wireless is dead from 5 mile flat on Geiger Grade (this is where the turn out is) until Virginia City. The signal also fades from the top of Six Mile Canyon Rd in VC until you get to Dayton / Mark Twain.
AT&T also has issues on the top of the hill from Carson City into Washoe Valley.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:28 am
I am like several of you, awating better AT&T coverage in Double Diamond. I was told last Sept. it would be done in first quarter 2008. Now it’s August. My cell is my work phone, and I can’t use it at my home office. Does anyone have good cell coverage in Double Diamond? I need to change
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:37 am
no ATT service along highway 50 from glenbrook,nevada to round hill,nevada (east side of lake tahoe). Verizon just put a tower in at Glenbrook, can’t ATT piggyback?
November 23rd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
ATT iphone coverage at Somersett in the NW is very poor. My new iphone goes into no service mode and stays there. Only rebooting will get bars and usually about 1 bar. Phone waffles like a bad politician between Edge and 3G. Edge, 3G, 3G Edge.
So far, I like the old iphone better. It did not get stuck in NO SERVICE LAND. Had the battery lasted more than 14 months I guess i would have kept it. Apple phones seem to be made at the lower level of quality. ie poor speakers and battery
November 30th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
As Bryce mentioned, I always get dropped calls at the 395 exit (south end of Washoe Valley leaving Carson City) to Eastlake Blvd in Washoe Valley. Also have problems on Eastlake near teh 7-11.
December 8th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Plumas between Moana & McCarran
Residential Area around Plumb Lane & Marsh Ave. – both north and south of Plumb Lane
December 9th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Calls dropping consistently today near Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson in southwest Reno. This is the worst coverage I’ve had in this area. I’m wondering if there is an equipment problem.
December 9th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Outgoing audio on my calls today has been dropping – all over town. I was unsure if it was just my phone.
March 27th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
AT&T consistently drops calls on Mount Rose highway (431) around the vicinity of the Chevron station. Also, in the South Meadows residential area service is STILL bad, even after the addition of the new site by the Damonte Wal-Mart. Dropped calls, etc.
March 29th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
RE:
“Randi said,
August 19th, 2008 at 11:28 am
I am like several of you, awating better AT&T coverage in Double Diamond. I was told last Sept. it would be done in first quarter 2008. Now it’s August. My cell is my work phone, and I can’t use it at my home office. Does anyone have good cell coverage in Double Diamond? I need to change”
Almost three months ago I switched from AT&T to T-Mobile. I had been with AT&T for 4.5 years. I live in Double Diamond and have found T-Mobile to provide much better coverage in this area, as well as providing excellent coverage around the rest of Reno/Sparks as well. AT&T is also good around most of Reno/Sparks, just not south Reno or Spanish Springs in my opinion. T-Mobile has the top position on both of the towers at the Damonte Ranch Wal-Mart and at Trademark/Wilbur May. After my experience with T-Mobile, I would highly recommend them to anyone having trouble with AT&T’s coverage in the Double Diamond/Damonte Ranch area.
May 6th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
South Meadows area signal very weak where I make 90% of my calls from. MASSIVE dropped calls infuriating. I see on the map Sprint, T-Mobile and Cricket have a cell tower out here and AT&T does not. Ready to change carrier.
May 6th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
I had the same problem on AT&T. T-Mobile has the top position on both of the South Meadows towers, by the Damonte Wal-Mart and the one by Trademark and Wilbur May. T-Mobile has worked much better for me in South Meadows.
May 28th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
I never really had a problem with signal when I lived in South Meadows; neither have I had problems near Southtowne Wal-Mart. I’m having the biggest frustrations at Damonte Ranch though. I’m located just off of Veteran’s Pkwy close to Curti Ranch. It’s a real pain since my phone is my primary contact than my house phone. AT&T needs to step up with coverage. There shouldn’t be a reason why the “number one phone carrier” should have mediocre service in terms of cell phone coverage.
July 22nd, 2009 at 7:11 pm
I can’t understand why AT&T has a weak signal area in the South Meadows/Damonte Ranch areas? I thought AT&T recently added a site on the existing pole (along with Sprint, Cricket and T-Mobile) behind the Wal-Mart? With a 850Mhz signal, I would think the signal would travel well east of Double R Blvd! AT&T should fix this problem!
July 22nd, 2009 at 7:24 pm
I believe the reason that the signal does not travel far is because the AT&T antennas are so low on the pole (the bottom set of antennas) that the freeway to the east tends to block the signal somewhat. AT&T has room to move up and shound have done so initially. T-Mobile is on the top of this pole. Sprint is in the second position. Then Cricket. Then Clearwire. Last is AT&T.
July 23rd, 2009 at 7:15 pm
That makes sense to me! I know someone who lives in that new development east of 395 and his T-Mobile phone works pretty good. I think they need to erect a much taller tower.
November 3rd, 2009 at 8:58 am
There is a map for that. Submit your AT&T coverage problems on our map at http://deadcellzones.com