Two weeks ago, I bought an iPhone for Gabi’s birthday. She insisted that I get one as well, since I enjoyed playing with her iTouch that she got last year so much. The big problem with the iPhone – AT&T service is terrible. I used to live in Los Angeles, across the street from the Directors’ Guild building on Sunset Blvd. I couldn’t imagine many more central places to have a strong cellular signal, but AT&T never got any reception anywhere near it. European’s traveling in the US are usually stuck with AT&T service, since their GSM phones are compatible with that service. One European friend broke into tears when he realized that in the middle of Disneyland he had no service whatsoever.
Temecula is somewhat better served. The central parts of town have strong AT&T signals, but where I live and work in the close developments on the northeast side of town, the signal strength is quite poor. In the two weeks we have had the phones, Gabi has missed half of the calls made to her simply because the phone never rang.
What you see above is the antenna from a Dual Band YX510 PCS/CEL cellular phone booster, installed in our attic and available from Amazon for about $310. We installed and tested it earlier this week, and made a final installation this morning. We’ve gone from no service in the Family Room, Dining Nook, Kitchen and backyard to 4 and 5 bars of service.
Gabi handled the power drill and laid the wire from the attic, through my office, into the Family Room. The unit rests behind some pictures on a bookshelf, nearly invisible but giving us full service in the house and home office for our wireless.
If it weren’t for the iPhone, I would have just stuck with Verizon, which gives better service nearly everywhere I’ve ever been, both rural and urban locations. After seven months of pristine, uninterrupted service in Hungary and Greece, it was kind of a let down to be faced with these problems.
uuuummmm a picture of your visa and your driver’s license? can you say “identity theft?”
I’m having the same issue. No way I should have have to spend $300+ ON TOP of the normal cost of service to make a phonecall in my home right outside of Phili.