T-mobile coverage in bay area (San Jose, Sunnyvale: live in, zip code, store)

[pps1981]

I live in Sunnyvale and work in Milpitas and was wondering how T-mobile cellular coverage in these area. I have terrible to zero AT&T reception at work and need to switch networks.

T-Mobile has some decent and cheap plans and I have an unlocked GSM smartphone which I want to use. Can any one please shed light on their experiences with T-mobile in and around Milpitas(near 880 & McCarthy Blvd), Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and San Jose?

Thanks

[sonarrat]

I had no problem using my old T-Mobile phone at Main & Weller in Milpitas, and there was a lot less call dropping than my new AT&T iPhone everywhere I went.. hate it!!

[Home Addict]

I have T-mobile prepaid in north San Jose and no problem with reception.

[bull007]

In Santa Clara my experience with T-Mobile was good. In Mountain View not so much - I had to switch companies.

[pps1981]

Hmm... Also, I heard that T-Mobile prepaid works only on T-mobile towers (In the normal postpaid plan, they automatically switch you to other available networks and you get coverage). This may turn out to be the deciding issue.

Anyway, I think I will try it for a month and see if I intend to keep it. Thanks for chipping in folks.

[rehan128]

Originally Posted by pps1981

I live in Sunnyvale and work in Milpitas and was wondering how T-mobile cellular coverage in these area. I have terrible to zero AT&T reception at work and need to switch networks.

T-Mobile has some decent and cheap plans and I have an unlocked GSM smartphone which I want to use. Can any one please shed light on their experiences with T-mobile in and around Milpitas(near 880 & McCarthy Blvd), Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and San Jose?

Thanks

My experience in Cupertini area is really bad. I purchased iPhone 4S from the apple store got Plan from T Mobile and the reception bar is almost dead in the house. It gets better when i am one the road But have great problem in the house.

[marcopolo666]

Since you are responding to a question asked over 8 months ago, I doubt that the OP (Original Poster) is going to use this additional information to decide whether or not to switch to T-mobile. But just in case somebody else might be thinking about the same issue (switching to T-mobile) ...

One can go here :
Unsupported Browser

and type in a zip code or city or even address to check what T-mobile thinks its coverage is.

My experience over the past several years has been that if you are close to a freeway in the Bay Area, T-mobile coverage is not a problem at all. (Their coverage map shows "Excellent" coverage between 880 and 680 in Milpitas, for example.) When you are further than a mile or so away from an interstate, it all depends if you are in a "pocket" of poor coverage or not. There aren't a LOT, but they do exist. Most of Sunnyvale shows "Very Strong" to "Excellent" coverage, but there are a few pockets of "good". "Good" coverage is just fine for me (no problems with phone reception, dropped calls, or voice fade-outs), but then my phone is >5 years old, and is neither 3G nor 4G, and isn't even a smartphone. I don't know how to check for "just" 4G coverage or WAN throughput.

I've never had a single problem using my phone in Cupertino, but there are some spots in southern Cupertino and north-west Saratoga with very, VERY poor reception.

[ccm123]

Office is in Santa Clara/N San Jose and it's excellent. I also work "in the field" and travel all over the Bay Area and it's pretty good. No issues with dropped calls, but some intermittent issues with "fuzzy" calls (probably multipath interference or signal refraction).