Sorry, I cut and paste too much from another post of mine in my first reply, please ignore the part about signal strength out at sea and contract stuff.
The following is not a result of corporate brainwashing and is not being typed on a company monitored PC. I am sitting at home typing MY thoughts about this in the middle of the night. I do tech support for one of the top 8 cell providers in the U.S. and I would recommend researching the reason behind the lack of signal strength in some areas. It's not because they don't care because believe me they would much rather fix it than to have to deal with all the complaints and the bad word of mouth advertising it causes. Signal strength is affected by many things. In large cities you have lots and lots of EMI (electro-magnetic interference) that is caused by anything and everything that runs on electricity. Not to mention all the steel and concrete that the radio waves can't penetrate. On the other hand if you're not in a large city there are probably lots of trees around. Tree leaves do a lot to radio waves. Whether they scatter the signal or absorb it I'm not sure, but you get the picture. Now the biggest problem is the answer to the issues above. The answer is more towers or putting towers closer together. The big problem is government regulations. YOU CANNOT JUST PUT A CELL PHONE TOWER ANYWHERE! You have to go through the FCC, the FAA, and other government bodies as well. In fact to cut through the red tape is the hardest part and the most time consuming (it takes over a year). From an idea in a business meeting to a fully functional, live, call-processing tower takes about 18 months. Oh yeah, forgot to mention you have to property to put it on. This isn't that big of an issue in a city where you can lease a spot on a building and no one ever notices it, but outside of the city there are lots of people that fight to keep towers out of their neighborhoods (wonder if their grandparents fought against utility poles). On another note, cell towers aren't even allowed in most state and national parks. About your experience with good signal out at sea, there isn't as much EMI, nor is there buildings and trees to get in the way, but 300 miles out to see probably has something to do with the way radio waves bounce off of different layers in the atmosphere. As for you wanting out of the contract due to dead zones, most if not all contracts state there is no guarantee of coverage, but most carriers have a 15 or 30 day guarantee to test the phone and network and still get out of the contract. I've said a lot but the main point I wanted to make was to quit complaining to the companies and start complaining to the government about how the tons or restrictions and regulations make it to build a great wireless network.
I'm glad you understand the reason behind the contract, but I would recommend researching the reason behind the lack of signal strength in some areas. It's not because they don't care because believe me they would much rather fix it than to have to deal with all the complaints and the bad word of mouth advertising it causes. Signal strength is affected by many things. In large cities you have lots and lots of EMI (electro-magnetic interference) that is caused by anything and everything that runs on electricity. Not to mention all the steel and concrete that the radio waves can't penetrate. On the other hand if you're not in a large city there are probably lots of trees around. Tree leaves do a lot to radio waves. Whether they scatter the signal or absorb it I'm not sure, but you get the picture. Now the biggest problem is the answer to the issues above. The answer is more towers or putting towers closer together. The big problem is government regulations. YOU CANNOT JUST PUT A CELL PHONE TOWER ANYWHERE! You have to go through the FCC, the FAA, and other government bodies as well. In fact to cut through the red tape is the hardest part and the most time consuming (it takes over a year). From an idea in a business meeting to a fully functional, live, call-processing tower takes about 18 months. Oh yeah, forgot to mention you have to property to put it on. This isn't that big of an issue in a city where you can lease a spot on a building and no one ever notices it, but outside of the city there are lots of people that fight to keep towers out of their neighborhoods (wonder if their grandparents fought against utility poles). On another note, cell towers aren't even allowed in most state and national parks. About your experience with good signal out at sea, there isn't as much EMI, nor is there buildings and trees to get in the way, but 300 miles out to see probably has something to do with the way radio waves bounce off of different layers in the atmosphere. As for you wanting out of the contract due to dead zones, most if not all contracts state there is no guarantee of coverage, but most carriers have a 15 or 30 day guarantee to test the phone and network and still get out of the contract. I've said a lot but the main point I wanted to make was to quit complaining to the companies and start complaining to the government about how the tons or restrictions and regulations make it to build a great wireless network.
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Sorry, I cut and paste too much from another post of mine in my first reply, please ignore the part about signal strength out at sea and contract stuff.
The following is not a result of corporate brainwashing and is not being typed on a company monitored PC. I am sitting at home typing MY thoughts about this in the middle of the night. I do tech support for one of the top 8 cell providers in the U.S. and I would recommend researching the reason behind the lack of signal strength in some areas. It's not because they don't care because believe me they would much rather fix it than to have to deal with all the complaints and the bad word of mouth advertising it causes. Signal strength is affected by many things. In large cities you have lots and lots of EMI (electro-magnetic interference) that is caused by anything and everything that runs on electricity. Not to mention all the steel and concrete that the radio waves can't penetrate. On the other hand if you're not in a large city there are probably lots of trees around. Tree leaves do a lot to radio waves. Whether they scatter the signal or absorb it I'm not sure, but you get the picture. Now the biggest problem is the answer to the issues above. The answer is more towers or putting towers closer together. The big problem is government regulations. YOU CANNOT JUST PUT A CELL PHONE TOWER ANYWHERE! You have to go through the FCC, the FAA, and other government bodies as well. In fact to cut through the red tape is the hardest part and the most time consuming (it takes over a year). From an idea in a business meeting to a fully functional, live, call-processing tower takes about 18 months. Oh yeah, forgot to mention you have to property to put it on. This isn't that big of an issue in a city where you can lease a spot on a building and no one ever notices it, but outside of the city there are lots of people that fight to keep towers out of their neighborhoods (wonder if their grandparents fought against utility poles). On another note, cell towers aren't even allowed in most state and national parks. About your experience with good signal out at sea, there isn't as much EMI, nor is there buildings and trees to get in the way, but 300 miles out to see probably has something to do with the way radio waves bounce off of different layers in the atmosphere. As for you wanting out of the contract due to dead zones, most if not all contracts state there is no guarantee of coverage, but most carriers have a 15 or 30 day guarantee to test the phone and network and still get out of the contract. I've said a lot but the main point I wanted to make was to quit complaining to the companies and start complaining to the government about how the tons or restrictions and regulations make it to build a great wireless network.
I'm glad you understand the reason behind the contract, but I would recommend researching the reason behind the lack of signal strength in some areas. It's not because they don't care because believe me they would much rather fix it than to have to deal with all the complaints and the bad word of mouth advertising it causes. Signal strength is affected by many things. In large cities you have lots and lots of EMI (electro-magnetic interference) that is caused by anything and everything that runs on electricity. Not to mention all the steel and concrete that the radio waves can't penetrate. On the other hand if you're not in a large city there are probably lots of trees around. Tree leaves do a lot to radio waves. Whether they scatter the signal or absorb it I'm not sure, but you get the picture. Now the biggest problem is the answer to the issues above. The answer is more towers or putting towers closer together. The big problem is government regulations. YOU CANNOT JUST PUT A CELL PHONE TOWER ANYWHERE! You have to go through the FCC, the FAA, and other government bodies as well. In fact to cut through the red tape is the hardest part and the most time consuming (it takes over a year). From an idea in a business meeting to a fully functional, live, call-processing tower takes about 18 months. Oh yeah, forgot to mention you have to property to put it on. This isn't that big of an issue in a city where you can lease a spot on a building and no one ever notices it, but outside of the city there are lots of people that fight to keep towers out of their neighborhoods (wonder if their grandparents fought against utility poles). On another note, cell towers aren't even allowed in most state and national parks. About your experience with good signal out at sea, there isn't as much EMI, nor is there buildings and trees to get in the way, but 300 miles out to see probably has something to do with the way radio waves bounce off of different layers in the atmosphere. As for you wanting out of the contract due to dead zones, most if not all contracts state there is no guarantee of coverage, but most carriers have a 15 or 30 day guarantee to test the phone and network and still get out of the contract. I've said a lot but the main point I wanted to make was to quit complaining to the companies and start complaining to the government about how the tons or restrictions and regulations make it to build a great wireless network.