Mobile Phones

     (Redirected from Cellular Phone)
 InfoInfo
Search:    

AndrewChens_phone.jpg

  1. Service Providers
    1. Pre-Paid Providers
    2. Retailers
  2. Coverage
  3. Other Issues
    1. Mobile Phone Recycling
    2. Phone Spam
    3. Driving
    4. WiFi on Your Cell Phone

The following cellular providers are available in Davis:

Service Providers

Lots of people moving to Davis for the first time want to know the track records of various cellular providers, and how good their service is in Davis. Please comment on your experiences.

Cingular and T-Mobile share 1900MHz GSM towers in California. Cingular also has its own 850MHz GSM towers in the area.

Pre-Paid Providers

Retailers

When shopping for a new phone and/or service, the magic number is $39.99. If you get a plan at this monthly rate or higher, the dealer gets a much larger commission than for lower plans. Thus, they will offer lower prices and/or larger rebates.

Note that there may be an activation fee for new accounts. Also, the monthly rate does not include fees and taxes, which may be anywhere from $3/month to over $10/month.

Coverage

Cellular coverage within Davis varies considerably, especially indoors. If you're looking for a new phone or service, try and find someone who already has it or take advantage of the 14-30 day trial period to make sure it will work where you want. If you're curious where the towers are located, you can see them on the [WWW]City of Davis' Telecomm Site guide.

Verizon: Signal is poor to non-existent in northwest Davis. Signal is poor around campus and A street.

AT&T/Cingular: Signal is (usually) very good in northwest Davis. Signal is poor on campus, although there are a few spots (mainly towards the tops of buildings) where it is reasonable. Signal is moderate downtown.

The newest GSM frequency is 850 so if you are using an older T-mobile/Cingular phone they won't be able to pick up the new signal. This is why some phones work better than others in certain areas. When purchasing a new phone make sure to pick up a quad band, for continous coverage in America and abroad.

In Kemper Hall, you can pick up a very strong AT&T signal, but not be able to make a call at all! There is supposedly a microcell or picocell installed in the basement of Kemper, which is the source of the signal.

To post and read information about cellphone reception in Davis, search for "95616" on [WWW]Deadcellzones.com. It might also be useful if someone wanted to summarize postings here.

see also Improve Campus Cell Coverage

Other Issues

Mobile Phone Recycling

Some e-waste information:

In 2005 [WWW]SB 20 (Sher, 2003) Electronic Waste Recycling Act was signed into law, ensuring consumers cost-free recycling of cell phones at all retailers and making improper disposal illegal. Check out the [WWW]California Aggie article and campus Multi-bin locations.

Charitable Recycling of Cell Phones, Enviromentally Friendly and Socially Conscious:
[WWW]http://www.charitablerecycling.com/CR/home.asp
[WWW]http://www.collectivegood.com/donate_phone_redjellyfish.asp

For more information on telephones in Davis generally, see Telephones.

Phone Spam

Telemarketing to cell phone numbers has always been illegal in most cases and will continue to be so. [WWW]Reference

Driving

WiFi on Your Cell Phone

Some cell phones, such as Apple's iPhone, offer internet access via WiFi access points. On campus, this allows you to browse the web and check e-mail rapidly, without needing a laptop or going to a computer lab. You have two choices for access: Moobilenet, and Moobilenetx. Moobilenet requires authentication every time you connect to it. On a handheld wireless device, this means that you may need to reauthenticate quite frequently, since your device will probably go to sleep and give up its connection while you are not using it. Moobilenetx allows you to store a username and password, and is also much more secure. Because your device can send the correct authentication information, connecting to Moobilenetx is a much better choice, if your handheld supports it. The iPhone will connect automatically after you set up Moobilenetx for the first time.

Comments:

Note: You must be logged in to add comments

2005-01-03 20:41:07   My phone switches between cingular and AT&T. Even though the two carriers share towers, i tend to get different reception depending on which carrier my phone selects. However, I tend to get coverage everywhere in Davis. The weakest coverage is around campus, but is not terrible. —JaimeRaba

2005-01-03 21:02:22   In north-east Davis (north of Covell), indoor reception is pretty poor with T-Mobile and Cingular. I can get a strong signal outside but it drops to 0 once I step a few feet away from any windows. Maybe my walls are lined with lead or something. —AndrewChen

2005-01-04 00:43:02   I used to have horrible coverage (AT&T) in north davis, but since they combined with cingular, I get good to great coverage all over davis —PaulLanzi

2005-01-05 14:29:16   I use cingular, and don't get reception in some places in Kemper Hall, and inside other large buildings like the MU —KenBloom

2005-03-05 11:26:10   If you have free roaming and a phone that is not locked to a particular network, GSM is the way to go. So that means AT&T or Cingular (basically the same now) or T-Mobile. —JaimeRaba

2005-10-05 22:38:17   I have cingular, but my reception is really crappy around campus (no bars at all in many places) and at my house (along 8th street). I DO have a really cheapy flip phone...does anyone know whether the quality of the phone makes a difference? —YumikoHenneberry

2005-10-08 13:53:15   I have a pretty good Verizon plan, but I get poor reception around campus. Outside reception is 2-3 bars give or take. Indoors you might get lucky and get 1 bar, but don't count on it. Other people in my building have Sprint and they get much better reception. —RyanCoates

2005-11-06 10:06:13   I hate this to sound like a plug, but I never have bad reception with my cheapie Siemens phone on T-Mobile and I always hear of people complaining with the other carriers. I recommend T-Mobile. —SteveDavison

2006-01-14 21:48:36   I live near the high school, have Verizon and lousy reception. We're changing to Cingular but having both services for a month just in case. I got Verizon to waive my early cancellation fees by asking to speak to your supervisor 3 times. But they won't port my numbers. They "own" them. Its a catch 22 with the early cancellation concession. Would like to know if there is Nextel coverage in Davis. —BarbaraClowers

2006-01-14 21:50:34   There is Nextel coverage in town. Fairly good on campus and around town. —JasonAller

2006-05-15 14:25:41   I'm in the Tercero dorms and I have T-mobile. I always have service outside (1-3 bars) but I might lose it inside (usually it's 1 bar max). Whenever I speak to my parents, they complain about a "wooshing" sound that I can't hear, but I'm not sure if that's my phone or my phone service. I have one of those free phones they give you when you sign up. Bleah, but it's my first cellphone and I didn't want to waste money in case I had to cancel. T-mobile is okay... I think I'll try Metro PCS next year, though. My dad has that... —NumiaCairaguas

2006-05-15 15:00:38   If you have a Motorola go to settings>>Network>>>network set up and set the band to 1900/850, search to manual and search speed to continuous that will help..... —JonathanNasca

2006-08-02 00:35:13   I lived in Alder Hall and I have t-mobile. Worked great! I had full reception in the dorm halls. No reception in lecture halls though. —WaylandLee

2006-09-01 18:19:19   I have sprint/nextel and the coverage is very good. My boyfriend just got a cingular razor phone and seems to have good reception too. So far I've had good reception with Sprint most places I need it (the Bay Area), so I would recommend them, except they just cut their minutes so now I'm looking around. I used to have at&t back when the network sucked. How is it now? —GreenThing

2006-10-29 21:35:28   I live at Fountain circle and I get horrible reception with T-Mobile. I'l have 1-2 bars, then itll drop to 0 or even die on me. :/ Cingular has pretty good reception up here though. —WaylandLee

2007-05-28 14:52:20   in my opinion, t-mobile has the worst service for on-campus usage other then that, t-mobile is really great around davis —DonaldJaye

2007-09-08 08:40:19   I totally agree with the above user, I barely get service in Tercero and Olson, and in no other campus buildings, but in the U Mall I get five bars. I've been all over Davis with excellent reception. A note about campus usage though, usually once you step well outside whatever building you were in, service will return. —KellyCorcoran

2008-03-12 20:07:30   I have AT&T and live near Pole Line & Covell...not sure what changed in the last couple of months, but cell reception at my place went from 1-3 bars, to 4-5 bars on my phone. —DukeMcAdow

2008-05-01 12:14:45   T-Mobile Update for on Campus reception: T-Mobile has a new tower in the center of UC Davis Campus scheduled to go on September 1st. This will help T-Mobile become one of the best options for reception throughout Davis. Please let us know if when you see a drastic improvement on campus. Go here for a picture: [WWW]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=448840&id=5671963257 —Aaron.Vorbau

2008-06-18 21:40:50   T-Mobile on G Street was most accomodating to a particular problem I had. I want to give kudos to their employees and manager. —bar775 (This review is the only edit this user account has made on the wiki. While it does not invalidate this review, please keep this in mind)

2008-06-26 12:45:59   Around 8th & J (College Square Apartments), Sprint has some pretty spotty coverage. I am unable to place or receive cell phone calls unless I am roaming :( —BrandonMinow

2008-10-06 07:59:57   Where is That new tower in ucd? another scam?I just wait till end of october and then change it to AT&T —Frederick

2008-10-09 17:19:09   In the past several months Verizon service has gotten much worse in north Davis, to the point that I can't even make a call from inside my house. There is a huge area around Drake Dr/Sycamore/Alvarado which is pretty much dead. Is AT&T any better in north Davis? —twblalock

2008-12-08 18:15:49   I live in the Tercero buildings and all of a sudden about 3 days ago, many students that have t-mobile have been getting service everywhere from wellman underground floor to the social science humanities room 1100 where hardly anyone gets reception. so I'm pretty happy with t-mobile right now. —rmsanchez

2009-04-18 17:07:15   I use Virgin Mobile and I have never been disappointed. This service doesn't have any contracts and you can change your plan every month. It is a prepaid service and you can recharge with top up cards from [[Radio Shack]] or through their website. This helps me a lot since I can switch plans. When I will be working in the summer, I will have a desk phone in my office and I don't require a lot of minutes. Also, their website has a feature called SugarMama through which you can watch ads and earn airtime. I live in East Davis and the quality of their network (Sprint) network is excellent. Phones can be bought from as less as $30 from either Radio Shack or Wal-Mart. —Praveen

2009-06-09 22:43:36   metropcs sucks if you enter a building, or your own apartment for that matter. It is suppose to have good service in Davis, but I guess they omitted the part about zero service inside your own room! —blastoff

2009-11-03 15:37:20   T-Mobile seems to be at least partially broke today. My wife and I get "number not in service" if we call each other on our cell phones, but we can still call to landline numbers. Get some sort of "not available" message if I call 611. Very strange. —JimStewart

This is a Wiki Spot wiki. Wiki Spot is a non-profit organization that helps communities collaborate via wikis.