T-Mobile surpasses at&t as carrier with most cell sites
With the completion of a new T-Mobile cell site in west Reno on Summit Ridge Drive (CID 4360x), T-Mobile has surpassed at&t as the carrier with the most cell sites covering the Reno-Sparks city limits. The new site which is just to the southeast of McCarran and Interstate 80 brings the total number of T-Mobile cell sites to 40. at&t has 39 cell sites serving the Reno-Sparks city limits.
However, just because T-Mobile has more cell sites does not necessarily mean they have better overall coverage. Part of at&t’s network operates in the 850Mhz radio spectrum, which generally covers a larger area that 1900Mhz which is where T-Mobile’s network operates. T-Mobile has been rapidly expanding their network this year in the Reno area, turning on 5 new cell sites in the past year compared to 1 new at&t cell site.
You can view maps and a list of the number of cell sites per carrier on the Cell Site Locations & Coverage maps page.
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:54 am
If AT&T operates at 850mhz, What does Verizon operate at? Yet, Verizon has the fewest cell cites. but, has great coverage. Verizon has not added any cell cites in the entire time I have been viewing this website.
I also read that CDMA stretches further than GSM? Is that true?
October 3rd, 2008 at 8:01 am
Verizon also operates at 850Mhz. They use CDMA technology which can carry a phone call on multiple cell sites at a time, so they could get away with having less cell sites and more coverage.
GSM starts having problems over 30 miles as I recall – but that’s not something that would differentiate urban area coverage.
December 25th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
I know that individual opinions and experiences vary, but I tried Verizon about six months ago and used them for about three months in the Reno/Sparks area. I had MANY more problems with dropped calls and audio dropouts during a call than I have with AT&T or T-Mobile. It really seems that the number of cell sites does matter and, in the Reno/Sparks area at least, Verizon really does not compete well in call reliability considering that they have the fewest cell sites of all carriers in this area. Considering their excellent reputation, I am sure that the result is different in other areas.