Part V: Cell-phone reception in the Oakland Hills: The inside story on AT&T

June 1, 12:12 PMOakland Hills ExaminerMichael Libbey

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I rate AT&T a viable second choice to T-Mobile (in Part II) if you happen to live near an AT&T antenna. In the Oakland hills, Verizon has a stronger signal at higher elevations, while T-Mobile has more antennas in the canyons, but the nature of canyons is they cut off signals, so you might be better off with AT&T in certain locations. To determine that, see the list of AT&T antenna sites below.

AT&T is in the unusual position of having lost access to some towers in the past year. Subscribers used to be able to “roam” on T-Mobile towers in the Oakland Hills. This was the outgrowth of an old agreement between T-Mobile and AT&T’s predecessor, Cingular, which allowed T-Mobile customers to roam on Cingular systems in the Bay Area, in return for reciprocal roaming in the New York City area. When Cingular acquired AT&T Wireless (and took the AT&T name), the agreement was changed to allow AT&T subscribers to roam on T-Mobile's Bay Area system, but this is gradually expiring.

As a result, AT&T subscribers in parts of the Bay Area may notice gaps that didn’t exist before. AT&T has been adding its own sites to fill these gaps (as on Shepherd Canyon Road), but it’s still behind T-Mobile in total number of sites. In the Bay Area, AT&T customers were “roaming” on T-Mobile without knowing it, because their phones were programmed not to indicate roaming – an uncommon practice in the industry.

With that said, AT&T is stronger than T-Mobile in some canyon areas and weaker in others. AT&T has an edge on T-Mobile because many of its antennas use the 850 MHz frequency band, which penetrates better than 1900 MHZ. T-Mobile uses 1900 exclusively, necessitating more antennas to achieve equal coverage. AT&T uses the 1900 MHz band in some places, however.

Unfortunately, the “Coverage Viewer” on AT&T’s web site is not fully accurate in revealing areas of weakness. It’s more forthcoming than Verizon, but falls short of T-Mobile, which has the most accurate maps of the three.

The weak areas for AT&T include:

• Most of the upper hills between Broadway Terrace and Snake Road;

• Areas of upper Piedmont;

• Central Piedmont Pines;

• Some pockets above Skyline Boulevard.

As mentioned in my T-Mobile review, those interested in T-Mobile or AT&T have an ally – a local hobbyist who has mapped more than 1,100 AT&T sites and more than 1,500 T-Mobile sites in the greater Bay Area. His maps, which divide the Bay Area into quadrants, are posted at this link. AT&T’s antennas are in blue; T-Mobile’s are in pink (Allow up to 20 seconds for the map to load fully, depending on your browser and broadband speed.)

A summary of AT&T antennas serving the hills:

• Piedmont Avenue: the Mountain View Cemetery; the bell tower of St. Leo’s Church;

• Grand/Lakeshore: near Arroyo Avenue; in the 3600 block of Grand; atop an apartment building on the Warfield Avenue hill; atop the upper walls of Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, 3534 Lakeshore Ave. (photo at left);

• Broadway Terrace area: the roof of Holy Names High School on Harbord Drive;

• Highway 24: the PG&E yard at the Highway 13 junction;

• Moraga Avenue: at the 5600 block in Moraga Canyon; on a utility pole on Masonic Avenue near Heron Drive; near Medau Place in the Montclair shopping district;

• Shepherd Canyon/Snake Road: on a utility pole near Tiffany Lane; at Snake Road and Colton Boulevard;

• Park Boulevard: at the Excelsior intersection next to I-580; on a PG&E tower at Estates Drive; on a utility pole on Mountain Boulevard, 1/4-mile south of Park Boulevard;

• Piedmont: atop Piedmont City Hall;

• Lincoln/Joaquin Miller: adjacent to Joaquin Miller Road at Highway 13;

• Redwood Road: the steeple of the church at Redwood and Mountain Boulevard;

• Southeastern hills: Mills College campus near the junction of Highway 13 and I-580; Dorisa Avenue, near Golf Links Road; 8945 Golf Links Road; 10020 Golf Links Road; 10890 Golf Links Road.

AT&T uses GSM technology, which makes it a viable choice for frequent world travelers. AT&T’s nearest store is at 3333 Lakeshore Ave.

Next installment: Sprint