Cell Service and Weekend Warrior Departure
 

Anyone else use their cell service to identify when the weekend warriors have left and it's safe to head out?!

Seriously, Verizon is like a switch; ~4 O'Clock Friday it starts slowing down and ~3 Sunday it returns to normal speed.

Between ~11PM-5AM, it's always good.

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Interesting. I did notice more traffic to and from the area on certain times.
I realized with remote working going away that I would see more of it... just never thought of how it may affect the communications load in the area.

Interesting. Maybe that's why my phone drove me crazy downloading today!!

Nope. Have T Mobile and it’s been good


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How much of the Lakes Region have you used your phone in? I'm continuing to hear good things about T-Mobile, but I'm concerned about overall coverage area, especially since I'm often in the woods.

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I live in the weirs, yup every weekend I can only use my phone if connected to Wi-Fi. We know when they’re here and when they depart. I love winters

Cell Service and Weekend Warrior Departure
 

Going on three years. Since the Spirt merger last year it’s been terrific. We live in the Laconia area


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Thanks for the info. As I mentioned, Verizon is great for everything...except weekends in the summer. That line seems to start Memorial Day and go through Labor Day. The issue, of course, is that that's exactly when WE are here!

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I know that for many years Verizon brought in a trailer mounted cell relay tower to service the area during Bike Week and handle the additional traffic. It was set up at the Weirs fire station parking lot.

One of the biggest factors causing cell service disruption in the Gilford/Laconia area is the influx of people to the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion. The equipment at the towers has not been upgraded sufficiently to handle the increase in cell traffic.

I have some equipment in local businesses that operates using wifi on Verizon towers. I had to change one of them, that is close to the pavilion, to hard line internet because on concert nights it couldn't get a connection.

The cell companies chart the dropped calls and poor service complaints and when they get enough complaints in an area they consider adding to the capacity by either upgrading the equipment or adding a tower.

Verizon was essentially unusable this weekend. Sunday at ~6, things loosened up a bit, but it didn't really return to normal until a few hours ago.

I will say that Spotify seems to do just fine, so it must buffer like crazy!

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The same goes for NHMS in Loudon! I notice last year Verizon and another carrier had mobile towers set up on the race track during NASCAR races. If they can afford trucking towers all over the place, they should be able to upgrade their infrastructure.

Xfinity mobile is unique. Whenever they install internet the transmitters are installed with the cable. Who needs towers?

I thought Xfinity Mobile just used Verizon's network?

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4G and 4G LTE
 

I don't know about 5G but 4G/LTE, all cell phones can access the towers regardless of carrier subscription. Not sure about 5G.

Not all cell phones can access all bandwidth of 4G/LTE. The older models may have trouble.

When 3G goes away, my section of Winnisquam will be without coverage unless I am on WIFI. 3G bandwidth can 'bend' around hills and obstacles while 4G/5G needs a direct line of sight. When Comcast provide coverage in my section, folks with newer phones picked up Comcast 4G/5G. I have an older (2013) HTC that works quite well for me. I have no intention of spending big bucks just to have cellular coverage.

I'm not sure what you consider "big bucks," but I buy my phones second hand on Swappa. The last one, a Samsung S8, cost me $200 and I used it for 3 years before passing it to my daughter. I could've sold it for ~$100. My new phone is an S21FE that I got new-but-open for $300 shipped.

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New in the box HTC 10 are going for less than 100. That's cheap!

Is "HTC 10" synonymous with "soup cans and string"?!

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Yes, it is Columbus Day:)

No but iphones are synonymous with 'bricks'! My kids have a ton of them!