Is it me or does cell phone reception SUCK in grocery stores?

[PsychoAndy]

I've had a friend who gets bad reception in one store and another who told me I'd get dropped calls galore when in one. Gave it a shot and found out they were right.

The signal was ok in the front of the store, bakery, and deli. As I progressed to produce and meat, I started getting dropped calls and when I reached the frozen foods, bread aisle and seafood, I lost total digital coverage and it went into analog roam mode.

Is this an isolated incident or is it a common thing?

-PAB

 

[aphex]

Its because your on SprintP(iece of)C(rap)S(ystem)

My voicestream/tmobile phone works everywhere. Even here in europe

 

[PsychoAndy]

Originally posted by: aphex
Its because your on SprintP(iece of)C(rap)S(ystem)

My voicestream/tmobile phone works everywhere. Even here in europe

2 words: Deutche Telecom.

-PAB

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: PsychoAndy

Originally posted by: aphex
Its because your on SprintP(iece of)C(rap)S(ystem)

My voicestream/tmobile phone works everywhere. Even here in europe

2 words: Deutche Telecom.

-PAB

Actually 3 letters: KPN

 

[gopunk]

i get it just fine... i have verizon.

i swear sprint has some pretty bad coverage... i dunno how they can make those commercials with a straight face...

 

[Cyberian]

Is it me or does cell phone reception SUCK in grocery stores?

Not ariond here. At any given time about half the people in the stores are on their phones.

 

[AreaCode707]

Dunno, my AT&T service picks up bad static in one of the grocery stores I've been in, and was fine in another in another part of town. I think it was the lighting in Albertsons.

 

[BillGates]

2 things that could cause the problems:

- All the refrigeration/freezer motors running all the time.

- Fluorescent lighting fixtures in grocery stores often use HO (high output) or VHO (very high output) bulbs which use special bulbs and transformers that can possibly cause more interference.

 

[PsychoAndy]

Originally posted by: Cyberian

Is it me or does cell phone reception SUCK in grocery stores?

Not ariond here. At any given time about half the people in the stores are on their phones.

Mmm. Part of the reason might also be the grocery store I happened to be in was in the middle of nowhere.

Literally. The middle of nowhere. The land it sat on was nothing but grass for the past 15 years and they decided to build a Correctional Institution, oh I meant High School when a lot of new development kicked in a couple years back.

-PAB

 

[bmacd]

for whatever reason, every kmart i've ever worked in is a dead-zone for cell phones with AT&T. My friend has verizon and gets a really low tower count.

-=bmacd=-

 

[LordMaul]

Yeah, it sucks nuts. Of course, my phone sucks nuts just about everywhere unless I'm practically standing next to a freaking cell tower thingie, but I digress...

 

[bmacd]

Originally posted by: LordMaul
Yeah, it sucks nuts. Of course, my phone sucks nuts just about everywhere unless I'm practically standing next to a freaking cell tower thingie, but I digress...

my phone is awesome outside of kmart. AT&T is the best!

-=bmacd=-

 

[Spac3d]

My phone never works in a Walmart, but it works in normal grocery stores.

Spac3d

 

[dbzwukan]

It's your phone...

I got the latest colour phone provided by Sprint PCS... thanks to some hotdeals..... It works everywhere I go....

 

[RossMAN]

I can't remember using my Samsung N105 (broken) in the grocery store. However my Nokia 6190 (if I could make love to this phone, I wouldn't but I'd consider it for half a second, I love this phone) on VoiceStream Wireless works ok in Albertson's.

 

[pulse8]

It's because of all the milk.

 

[Comp625]

I was browsing CompUSA the other day and saw "cell phone enhancers"...those little sticker things that you peel and stick onto the back of your cell (adjacent to the battery). Do those things actually work? Does anyone have a site that goes into more detail about this?

 

[Cyberian]

Originally posted by: PsychoAndy Mmm. Part of the reason might also be the grocery store I happened to be in was in the middle of nowhere.

Literally. The middle of nowhere. The land it sat on was nothing but grass for the past 15 years and they decided to build a Correctional Institution, oh I meant High School when a lot of new development kicked in a couple years back.

-PAB

I thought you were in South Florida?

 

[Hammer]

not at all, mine works perfectly in grocery stores.

 

[dbzwukan]

Originally posted by: Comp625
I was browsing CompUSA the other day and saw "cell phone enhancers"...those little sticker things that you peel and stick onto the back of your cell (adjacent to the battery). Do those things actually work? Does anyone have a site that goes into more detail about this?

I got a bridge to sell you...

 

[Comp625]

Originally posted by: dbzwukan

Originally posted by: Comp625
I was browsing CompUSA the other day and saw "cell phone enhancers"...those little sticker things that you peel and stick onto the back of your cell (adjacent to the battery). Do those things actually work? Does anyone have a site that goes into more detail about this?

I got a bridge to sell you...

What?

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?description=75-881-001&DEPA=2

 

[dbzwukan]

it doesn't work... even if it's for sale at newegg....
they should move it to refub section with a disclaimer...

also do a search here, and you may see 4-5 posts a month asking if that cell phone booster things work or not... follow by negative reactions.

 

[dbzwukan]

oh yeah... i was just too embarassed to admit that I actually got one when it was $10.... I got ripped... there's no difference.

if it actually worked... wouldn't the cellphone company use that technology in the first place?

 

[Thegonagle]

The 1900 MHz PCS band doesn't have quite as good building penetration as the 800 MHz cellular band, which is why you got an analog cellular signal, but no PCS signal.

Ideally, cellular shouln't really be on 800 MHz either, but anything lower is taken by TV, radio, and other communications systems. In fact, really old TVs used to go up to channel 83 instead of 69, but those 14 TV channels were reallocated by the FCC in the early 80s for cellular. I used to be able to tune in to telephone conversations on the old 12" B&W RCA TV I had in my room as a kid by using the fine tuning dial. I thought thought that was kind of cool.

 

[PsychoAndy]

Originally posted by: Cyberian

Originally posted by: PsychoAndy Mmm. Part of the reason might also be the grocery store I happened to be in was in the middle of nowhere.

Literally. The middle of nowhere. The land it sat on was nothing but grass for the past 15 years and they decided to build a Correctional Institution, oh I meant High School when a lot of new development kicked in a couple years back.

-PAB

I thought you were in South Florida?

I'm in central. Basically, the majority of my county's 16 sq miles is mostly undeveloped land. However, I live in a city of 80,000 or so adjacent to another fairly sizeable city.

What happened about 20 years ago was a development company bought up tracts of land like mad built cookie cutter houses and roads. They went bankrupt, so there were large expanses of roads and land that existed for no visible purpose. The area only started growing withinn the last 5 years.

-PAB