[Question] New AT&T tower near Disneyland Resort?

[Bencredible]

One of the very few gripes I have with living in Anaheim is the complete mass of people all swarming together. This easily overloads the cell towers and creates a sub-par phone/data experience. I'm currently on AT&T and while in the parks have noticed even with full bars my data connection may be completely dead.

To combat this issue I keep using the 'Mark the Spot' app that AT&T offers allowing me to tell them where the network is weak. Never expected any reply or any form of action. However, last week I got a notice in the app that within the last 60 days a new tower has gone up servicing the 92802 zip code or 92806 zip code!

Recently I was at the park and noticed... Nothing. No difference. Full bars, no data. Wondering if other AT&T users have seen any improvement at all? Maybe the tower went up but isn't live? I was hoping it would split the area a bit offering more channels for additional users, but maybe this just hits existing dead zones which won't really help the over-saturated network that much.

Obviously this is a bit subjective. On really busy days is when I'll see the issue. Light days data works fine (not great, not bad). If you're on AT&T have you seen any change at all on heavy or light days?

Thoughts?

[Executioner]

Re: New AT&T tower near Disneyland Resort?

I too am on AT&T. The network is really bad around the parks. Even on light days it sorta takes forever to do much. They really need to add more bandwidth and not another tower. With so many people swarming into an area one would think al providers would bolster that area's bandwidth. I am not happy on busy days there at the park and will place my phone on airplane mode to avoid my battery dying even while doing nothing. Leap Day was horrible with this.
But on the flip side I can see this as a good thing they don't. It does force me to not use my phone and pay more attention to my surroundings and the people I am with. I can post pics later or catch up on news and such at later times. I certainly don't do it at the movies I can go without it at the parks for the day.

[jsmith11618]

Re: New AT&T tower near Disneyland Resort?

I find AT&T just are lousy in general. I recently got them and I have never experienced such a horrible cell phone service before.

[Quentin]

Re: New AT&T tower near Disneyland Resort?

I have no problem whenever I am there. Except I have Sprint not AT&T.

[atbsfire]

Re: New AT&T tower near Disneyland Resort?

I use MetroPCS and always have a great connection. You would think AT&T would be a lot better :/

[swampymarsh]

Re: New AT&T tower near Disneyland Resort?

Cell phones find the nearest tower not their company's towers. Difference in experience at the park only has to do with your phone and crowds when you are there.

[Disneytwins]

Re: New AT&T tower near Disneyland Resort?

Hey Ben! Welcome to MiceChat! I'm a huge fan of SpaceVidCast! :bow::bow:

Have you tried to contact AT&T about this issue?

[WannaCub]

Re: New AT&T tower near Disneyland Resort?

Why would anyone be using data in the parks? Aren't you there to spend time experiencing the magic and not your phone?

Sorry, my phone is only for emergencies when I'm at the Resort, NOT for anything else. Ok, maybe checking in before going inside and posting pics to facebook while I'm eating, but not in any of the queues!

[RatherBeAtDLand]

Re: New AT&T tower near Disneyland Resort?

Why would anyone be using data in the parks? Aren't you there to spend time experiencing the magic and not your phone?

Sorry, my phone is only for emergencies when I'm at the Resort, NOT for anything else. Ok, maybe checking in before going inside and posting pics to facebook while I'm eating, but not in any of the queues!

If we could try to stay on topic I bet the mods and OP would appreciate it. It's a good debate, but not one the OP meant to start. The cell phones at Disneyland debate turns into a holy war, and the OP may not want that. I'm not trying to chew anybody's head off but I just like everything to stay nice here at MiceChat I'm sure you understand

I think that what it comes down to is that there isn't enough bandwidth for all those people, there won't be enough bandwidth, and there probably will never be enough bandwidth. So even adding 10 towers won't make the issue better, because it's so overloaded that it has resorted to completely locking some devices out and the devices having to take turns. That said, I think Anaheim would be a great city to put in LTE. LTE uses the bandwidth it has better and can deliver faster speeds, so it would be ideal to try in Anaheim.

---------- Post added 07-20-2012 at 12:21 AM ----------

Cell phones find the nearest tower not their company's towers. Difference in experience at the park only has to do with your phone and crowds when you are there.

Definitely not true. First of all, AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM carriers, using SIM cards and the 850 and 1900 MHz bands. Verizon and Sprint are CDMA carriers, with no SIM cards and running on the 800 MHz band. These two types of networks are fully incompatible with each other. Second, the carriers, as a marketing strategy, do not and wouldn't even think of contracting with each other to make each others' towers compatible. So sorry, but that is 100% false. AT&T phones connect only to AT&T towers unless AT&T tells them to do otherwise (usually in foreign countries--for example, Mexico service through AT&T is provided by Telcel). This goes double for all the carriers.