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No coverage where coverage maps says there should be

  • 22 January 2019
  • 4 replies
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C

I travel through and stay in an area of northern New Mexico where there has been no T-Mobile coverage. The coverage map now indicates that there should be coverage but there's none. I can drop a pin on the coverage map and the pop-up says I could get 4g lte, but, as I've already stated, there is no coverage. This dead zone extends for approximately 30 miles along a secondary highway that is a scenic route with high traffic in the summer.

I have an LG Stylo 4 and it receives band 71. If I click on the coverage map and then see how coverage expands with band 71, it clearly shows good coverage along this corridor. But all I see in the top left hand corner of the phone is "searching."

I've been on the phone with tech support twice, once for 45minutes, and I've been assured that they are looking into the issue. But they haven't done anything.I called them recently from the dead zone on a Sprint phone. The Sprint coverage map shows voice and text in this area and that's exactly what I got.

The coverage map for this area needs to be adjusted to reflect actual non-existent coverage. Or, better yet, actually expand coverage and get rid of the dead zone.

Who is there within T-mobile that can do something about this? Is there actually someone to contact about this?

Or am I just wasting my time? Or should I just switch to Sprint?

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Best answer by dragon1562 23 January 2019, 15:47

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4 replies

dragon1562
Userlevel 3
Badge +12

The best thing you can do is call into T-mobile and file a service complaint to let them know about the affected areas. Try to be as accurate as possible with the location. Don't expect changes or fixes to go through quickly, however. It is not that they are not doing anything its that the process to actually to do work for a tower takes time. With the permitting process and everything. Honestly, if T-mobile doesn't work for you then your not forced to stay with them but I personally believe that out of the big 4 carriers they provide the best value still to this day. Sprint is a good pick too because of their plans but their coverage is definitely worse than T-mobiles overall. Maybe you could look into something like Project Fi which uses T-mobile's coverage and Sprint's coverage together as well as US Cellular.

tmo_mike_c
Rank
Userlevel 6
Badge +15

Coverage is super important and we appreciate you coming here to tell us this. The best way to look at our coverage map is to search exact address. That way, you'll have a more accurate look at a specific area. It's hard to say why you're not getting coverage without knowing the specific address. As mentioned above, our internal teams can file a Service Complaint to have this looked at further.

C

Zip Codes 87578 & 87521

State Highway 76 between Truchas, NM & Penasco, NM

Here's an address along highway 76: 2296 State Rd 76.

Here's an address on Rio Arriba county rd 69: 57 County Rd 69 in Ojo Sarco, NM

Drop a pin anywhere along this corridor and the message mostly comes back as partner coverage with talk and text and sometimes the message states that LTE is available.

But there is no coverage.

Change to extended range 600mhz, which my Stylo 4 can receive, drop a pin, and the pop up shows LTE is available.

But there is no coverage.

AT&T's coverage map ends in Truchas, NM. Verizon's coverage map looks a lot like AT& T's. Sprint's Coverage shows roaming with text and voice, which I have personally verified.

T-Mobile's coverage in this area is the same as AT&T and Verizon, which is none, but at least the coverage maps for AT&T and Verizon represent this lack of coverage accurately.

I would love to see actual, customer verified coverage in this area but if that can't be done then just fix the coverage map.

Thanks

M

I have had T-mobile for little over a year and I have to agree that the coverage maps are very inaccurate or at least misleading in rural areas (dense urban areas seem fine). I found this out on a month long camping road trip going through parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, and California.  Typically 1 bar (out of 4) signal strength connections where not usable for even basic phone or text and 2 bar connections where not usable for internet use.  Also when I got 1 or 2 bar connections in stationary locations (like campgrounds), signals would randomly disconnect showing no connection all the time.

Being an engineer that worked on RF and wireless technology for almost 34 years it's almost like T-mobile setups up towers in rural areas with antennas that are designed for broad coverage and a trade-off for signal (data) bandwidth and/or move the beams around so they can make there coverage maps looks good even if the connections provide little or no bandwidth and are very unreliable.

Yes they provide cheaper service than the top 2 carriers and it's fine if you are only concerned with coverage in dense urban areas, but they are far from having even basic usable coverage anywhere else.

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