I received this review by Kyle, who lives in the South Meadows/Damonte Ranch area. He was an AT&T wireless customer for quite a while, but got fed up with the unreliable coverage at his home. A few months ago he switched to T-Mobile. Below is his experience:
Coverage is MUCH better in South Meadows. It is also better in south Reno going up Mount Rose HWY around the Chevron station, Monte Rosa Estates, etc. Also better going up HWY 395 North of North McCarran.
Other than that the coverage isn’t any better than ATT. Inside large buildings like Atlantis Casino and the Eldorado Casino, T-Mobile is worse than ATT. T-Mobile has no service at times, whereas ATT had low signal (1-2 bars) but did not drop to no service. With only 5 fewer sites than T-Mo and 850 Mhz, ATT has Reno covered quite well overall as you well know. T-Mobile is also worse between Gold Ranch and Truckee– drops a call where ATT does not.
What I have found is that quality of service has been noticeably better. I drop fewer calls overall (not just in South Reno) and have not had any calls where only one party can hear the other talking and the other party hears silence (happened occasionally on ATT). Calls on T-Mo’s GSM sound better than on ATT GSM (maybe AMR HR vs. AMR FR?). ATT’s 3G sounds great but it kicks you back down to GSM so often that it seems many calls would end up there. I have not had delayed voicemail messages like I would sometimes get with ATT. Fewer “Call Failed” messages, etc. Overall, T-Mobiles network seems to provide a better quality of service, with the only noticeable weakness being the In-building coverage in certain large buildings.
Spanish Springs – We have a business account out there and we are out in Spanish Springs 3 days a week. T-Mobile has much better coverage in the South end of Spanish Springs, especially in the new Spanish Springs Town Centre shopping center with the Costco, Home Depot, etc. AT&T has 1 bar or “no service” in some of these businesses while T-Mobile has a strong signal.
