Ask Slashdot: Who Has the Best 3G Coverage In California and Nevada?

New submitter derchris writes "We will be on vacation in the U.S. next month for about 3 weeks. We are going to do a road trip between San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. To not use roaming for data, and get a heart attack once back home looking at the mobile bill, I was looking at so called 'MiFi' devices, portable 3G Wi-Fi hotspots. As far as I know, more or less all of the U.S. carriers have such devices available. But as I'm not from the U.S., I have no idea what would give me the best 3G coverage in the areas we are travelling. Another question would be whether I can buy one of these devices off eBay, and use it with any SIM card. Let's hope there are users available who could give some advice on this topic."

Comments

Very Specific Question

[Missing.Matter]

For a question posted on a worldwide forum this is a very geographically specific question. Shall I also ask Slashdot which carrier has the best coverage outside my front door? This isn't even a question that requires the unique expertise of the /. crowd; just go on the 3, maybe 4 carrier websites and check the relevant maps.

Re:Very Specific Question

[pushing-robot]

And if you're not aware what the major US carriers are, they're Verizon and AT&T, followed by T-Mobile and Sprint.

Verizon has better coverage in most of the country, but as you'll be sticking to big cities and major highways the others should have good coverage as well.

Also, Verizon and Sprint don't use SIM cards, while AT&T and T-Mobile use different frequency bands for 3G. Make sure you know the device you buy will work with your choice of carrier.

Re:Very Specific Question

[Sarten-X]

According to those maps (at least the ones from AT&T), there's great coverage inside a particular canyon in Arizona, a particular valley in West Virginia, and a particular marsh in northern Michigan, all of which I've visited and can personally verify there is no usable service. Those maps don't come from the providers' engineers. They come from the marketing department, and should be trusted as much as any other advertisement.

Verizon

[commodore73]

I had AT&T in California and Verizon in both CA and NV, and Verizon was definitely better - almost no issues, where AT&T was terrible. I didn't travel extensively (mainly the bay area and Incline Village), but I would certainly avoid AT&T, and I would actually recommend Verizon,

Re:Coverage Maps

[Quantus347]

http://www.cellularmaps.com/3g_compare.shtml

This is a useful map, it compares: AT&T, Cricket, Metro PCS, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon.

One thing you should know however is that most of the companies actually share their networks to one degree or another, and there are options lesser known options that offer the same actual coverage. Check out: http://www.cellularbackdoor.com/alternative_networks.shtml

From the site: Same Network, Different Carrier - These are separate, "alternative" companies that use the same wireless network, also known as Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO), wholesale networks, or cellular "re-sellers", of the major carriers. You get your phone and customer service from these companies instead of the underlying carrier. Some companies use more than one network and the type of wireless device determines whether a CDMA, GSM or WIMAX carrier is used. All features may not be available. This is where to look if you hate your carrier but love their network.