Can You Still Hear Me?

Story and photography by Sandy Steers

Nearly everyone continues to have questions about which cell phone service is the best to meet their individual requirements. And especially in the mountains, where service can be spotty, knowing which signals come through is key to being satisfied with mobile phone selection. In the 2003 January/February issue, we conducted a study to determine which services had the best connections in Big Bear Valley and where. And now we have updated it, to bring you the newest data on whether “you can still hear me” at various locations around Big Bear Valley.

The Parameters

Our tests were again run mid-day on a weekday, Monday, June 27, 2005 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The weather, which some say makes a difference in the service, was sunny and dry with temperatures in the low to mid 70’s (degrees Fahrenheit) during the run of the test.

Test Locations

This time 20 locations were tested (one additional from last time), and most of them were at or near the locations from 2003. 1) Fawnskin, at the post office, 2) Discovery Center parking lot, 3) Northshore Elementary School, at the intersection of North Shore Drive and Stanfield Cutoff (the new location), 4) Church of the Latter Day Saints parking lot, at the intersection of Paradise and North Shore Drive, 5) Baldwin Lake, at the intersection of Baldwin Lane and Golden Rod, 6) Erwin Lake east, at the corner of State Street and ‘G’ Street, 7) Erwin Lake west at the south end of Mitchell Lane, 8) at the entrance to Lake Williams on Lake Williams Road, 9) lower Sugarloaf, at the fire department on Baldwin Lane and Maple Drive, 10) upper Sugarloaf, at the south end of Dixie Lee Lane, 11) Big Bear City fire department, 12) the Convention Center, 13) lower Moonridge, in front of Wild Wings in the Moonridge shopping area, 14) upper Moonridge, at the intersection of Villa Grove and Fenway, 15) the Bear Mountain Ski Resort parking lot, 16) the Snow Summit parking lot, 17) Big Bear Village, in front of the Village Theaters North, 18) Big Bear Lake City Hall, 19) Boulder Bay at the Boulder Bay park, and 20) at the dam, in the south shore pull out. All the calls were made from the location back to the Big Bear Magazine offices in the Big Bear Lake Village.

The Service Providers

Once again, five service providers were tested, but with a slight variation from the previous test. Since 2003, AT&T merged with Cingular, so it no longer exists as a separate wireless provider. So, the services tested included, in alphabetical order, Cingular, Nextel, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. This is the first time T-Mobile was included.

The Results

The various new tower locations throughout the Valley that have been reported over the last two years have definitely improved the cellular service here. All of the services that were included in both tests had less ‘no service’ areas this time than before and overall better service. The ratings used were ‘good’ when the connection was made without trouble and the voices were clear to both parties, ‘poor’ when a connection was made but either was not made the first time or had static or echos on the line, and ‘no service’, when no connection could be made.

This time Verizon, the winner last time, tied for first place with Sprint, the booby-prize winner of the 2003 test. Both had 18 ‘good’ ratings, one ‘poor’, and one no service. Compare this with the last test, where the best service had 14 ‘good’, two ‘poor’ and three ‘no service’ ratings. The next best service in this year’s test was Nextel with 15 ‘good’ ratings, five ‘no service’ and no ‘poor’ ratings—there were places where Nextel could not make calls, but whenever the calls went through, the quality was good. Cingular was next with five ‘no service’ ratings, 12 ‘good’ and three ‘poor’, and T-Mobile brought up the rear this year with six ‘no service’ ratings, 13 ‘good’ and one ‘poor.’

Location Results

Different services might serve better, depending on which locations in the Valley are most frequented by the user. Good news for Lake Williams. While last time none of the services had coverage out there, now they have a choice of two. The east end of the Valley still had the spottiest service overall, but this time Baldwin Lake was covered by all the providers. Upper Sugarloaf turned in the worst record with only one provider covering that area well. Anywhere on the north shore is a good place to make a cell phone call since all the services provided clear calls from the dam to Baldwin Lake. The south shore was not so lucky with the biggest problem areas being Moonridge and Boulder Bay. And this time the ski resorts faired better with at least three choices available for both of them.

Service Results By Provider

Even though the east end of the Valley had the least coverage overall, both Verizon and Sprint cover those areas without a problem. The only area Sprint did not cover was upper Sugarloaf. For Verizon, Boulder Bay was the only place where service was lost completely. Nextel service was very good everywhere except the east end—Sugarloaf, Erwin Lake and Lake Williams, but it did have coverage in Baldwin Lake. Cingular had several areas where it got either no service or poor service—especially Lake Williams, Erwin Lake and Moonridge. And with T-Mobile, the service outages were a bit random. For example, west Erwin Lake was fine, but east Erwin Lake and Lake Williams had no service. Lower Sugarloaf was fine, but no service in upper Sugarloaf, but reverse that in Moonridge—the lower area had no service and upper Moonridge was good. It also had no service at either ski resort.
The providers all seem to have been working hard in the past couple years. Overall, it is much easier to make a call from a cellular phone in Big Bear Valley than in 2003. As you drive around the Valley, no matter which service you choose as the best option for your needs, you will much less often have to be saying “Can you hear me yet?”

Special Thanks

We would like to thank the individuals who loaned us their cell phones, along with the often precious service minutes, to conduct this test: Bill Botte, Gina Robinson, and Lorren Repton. And thanks also to John Votava, of Nextel, who generously sent us a loaner phone to include.

The Results Chart

LOCATION Cingular Nextel Verizon Sprint T-Mobile
Fawnskin: Post Office G G G G G
Discovery Center G G G G G
Stanfield & North Shore Drive G G G G G
LDS Church: Paradise & North Shore G G G G G
BaldwinLake: Baldwin & Golden Rod G G G G G
Erwin Lake-East: State Lane & G NS NS G G NS
Erwin Lake-West: Mitchell Lane P-static NS G G G
Lake Williams NS NS G G NS
Sugarloaf-Lower: Maple & Baldwin G NS G G G
Sugarloaf-Upper: Dixie Lee Lane NS NS G NS NS
Big Bear City: Fire Department G G G G G
Convention Center G G G G G
Moonridge-Lower: Wild Wings NS G G G NS
Moonridge-Upper: Villa Grove & Fenway P-static G G G G
Moonridge: Bear Mountain NS G G G NS
Big Bear Lake: Snow Summit G G G G NS
Big Bear Lake: Village G G G G G
City Hall / PAC G G P-static P-static G
Boulder Bay Park P-static G NS G P-echo
The Dam G G G G G

Totals 5 NS 5 NS 1 NS 1 NS 6 NS
3 P 0 P 1P 1 P 1P
12 G 15 G 18 G 18 G 13 G