Can this ATT coverage problem be solved?

[waynemcfarland]

Love my IPhone, of course! However, I travel to the Mid-West for business, specifically South Dakota, and right now have to bag my IPhone and use an analog phone as my IPhone just gets no signal for most of the state (outside of a few "major" cities). The analog phone, however, works fine. Am I missing something here or am I just out of luck 'cuz ATT simply doesn't have a signal there? If this is the case, are there any alternatives which would allow me to use my IPhone in the wilds of South Dakota? Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Wayne McFarland

 

[aureatenova]

it sounds like you're screwed until they work on their network in SD

AT&T Coverage Viewer

 

[Jeremy]

Have you tried putting the phone on EDGE only and turning off 3G. I know it defeats the purpose of a iPhone 3G but it's really the only way to go in your situation.

 

[waynemcfarland]

Turning off 3g

Thanks for the suggestion; much appreciated! I've been doing a bit of reading on this and a number of folks have said that they got "a lot more bars" when they shut off 3G. Do you happen to know why that is? Anyway, I'll give your suggestion a shot and see what happens next time I journey back to South Dakota. The ATT coverage map shows that I should be able to get coverage there...could part of the problem be that the coverage in the area of SD I go to does not include 3G?

 

[waynemcfarland]

Is Edge always on?

I'll be turning off 3G, but have a question: when I turn off 3G, do I have to do any configuration of Edge? It is my understanding that Edge is always on, so by turning off 3G, Edge becomes dominate. Am I correct? Thanks!

 

[Jeremy]

Just shut 3G off and you are good to go. No other changes are needed.

And the reason a lot of people get better signals on EDGE is simply because EDGE and 3G are not the same radio frequencies and AT&T is still working on rolling out the 3G signal. So a lot of people may not have a great 3G signal until AT&T keeps adding to it.

 

[waynemcfarland]

I'll let you know what happens in SD

Thanks Bad Ash! I'll let you know what happens.

Onward!

Regards,
Wayne

 

[JasontheGreat]

SoCal does okay for me i suppose. Not everywhere. Just to many people!