A Tale of Two Carriers

I believe I have found an alternative to constructing a Cell Phone Tower at 1080 Mango Ave, or Sunnyvale Middle School.

My philosophy is that I don't post things that I don't feel is right or things that I cannot quote a reliable source.

I spent hours pouring over data and multiple websites. I think I now have a clear picture of why AT&T lags Verizon in customer satisfaction. Although AT&T first claimed coverage issues, the engineer and rep changed the story to "911", "Community Service", "future" etc, when the people attending the second Neighborhood Meeting showed 5 bars on their iPhones and a coverage map from AT&T's own website showed good coverage... (see 2nd meeting)

Also, according to the document from AT&T's consultant engineering firm, that "There are no other wireless telecommunications base stations nearby" is simply not true! (see handout) There is a very prominent one less than 2/3 mile away at 1291 South Bernardo. Nearby is as very subjective indeed.

Note: To follow this post in detail, by following the links will take almost an hour. So be warn. Or you can just sit back and read.



Step 1) First I looked at the cell phone receptions page:

Cell coverage in Sunnyvale

So okay, AT&T's customers are very unhappy.


Step 2) Clicking AT&T brings up the comments page:

Comments for AT&T

Some complaints but mostly along Wolfe and 1 along Bernardo and Washington (they don't intersect the last time I checked).

Here is one of the more interesting comments:

Step 3) Clicking on AT&T Towers brings up a map of the tower locations:

So AT&T doesn't have any CPTs around here, that's why. End of story.

Well, not so fast. Because that cannot be. Because Verizon has great customer satisfaction even with no CPTs in Sunnyvale at all, according to this site:

Verizon towers in Sunnyvale

And we already know AT&T/Cingular has an undocumented CPT at Bishop Elementary School.


Step 4) Checking for coverage of AT&T voice reception found pockets of great and also almost all good coverage within Sunnyvale. These are AT&T's definition and not mine. Thus the proof that AT&T website claims no problems with data coverage.

The link to coverage map: AT&T Coverage Map

The link to definition: AT&T Coverage Definition

BEST: In general, the areas shown in dark orange should have the strongest signal strength and be sufficient for most in-building coverage. However, in-building coverage can and will be adversely affected by the thickness/construction type of walls, or your location in the building (i.e., in the basement, in the middle of the building with multiple walls, etc.) This AT&T owned network provides GSM, GPRS, and EDGE service. Learn more about our technology.
GOOD: The areas shown in the medium orange should be sufficient for on-street or in-the-open coverage, most in-vehicle coverage and possibly some in-building coverage. This AT&T owned network provides GSM, GPRS, and EDGE service. Learn more about our technology.


Step 4) Start the search again. And this time looking at website:

Another listing of CPTs

This has a few CPTs within Sunnyvale and a lot of text about GTE, AT&T, Cingular, Crown Castle, TowerCo etc. So I had to filter out all the data.

Note that AT&T and Cingular have merged. GTE and MCI are actually Verizon.

It turns out that AT&T has antennas at:
- Bishop Elementary School (Undocumented, Constructed between Jan 2006 - Aug 2007)
- 1140 N Mathilda Ave (belongs Pac Bell according to FCC registration website - Constructed Jan 1962)
- 221 Commercial Ave (whose? belongs to city of Sunnyvale according to FCC)
- 919 Hamlin Court (under Cingular - constructed Feb 2009)

On the other hand Verizon has antennas at:
- 1120 Stewart Court (belongs to Crown Castle according to FCC registration website Aprll 2004, with status terminated (?))
- 1184 N Mathilda Ave (belongs to Crown Castle - constructed Jan 1994)
- 1242 Kifer Rd (belongs to Crown Castle?)
- 1259 Birchwood (belongs to Crown Castle?)
- 1259 S Bernardo Ave (belongs to Crown Castle - constructed Jan 1995)
- 375 Pastoria Ave (belongs to Crown Castle - constructed Jan 1995)

Although AT &T is super-secretive about where its CPTs or antennas are, from the coverage map, it is clear that it does not have an antenna on South Bernardo.

I think that the real reason behind AT&T's customer satisfaction problems boils down to failed business strategy.

I think during the late 1990s, cell tower companies such as Crown Castle and American Towers started building cell phone towers, specifically in non-commercial and non-industry areas. Cell Phone Service Providers didn't bother.

Verizon continues to rent from Crown Castle (not that Verizon hasn't tried building its own towers) but AT&T seems to want to build a lot of its own CPTs. In the city of Santa Clara alone, there are at least 3 new AT&T CPTs granted in 2010 alone. I didn't look into other cities but I'm sure the pattern is the same.

- 1700 Space Park Dr (AT&T - Constructed Nov 2010)
- 500 El Camino (Cingular - Constructed Aug 2010)
- 3137 Forbes (Congular - 1273225 received Feb 2010, Status Granted)
- 2460 De La Cruz Blvd (Cingular - Constructed Aug 2006 - Status Terminated (?))
- 351 Brokaw Rd (Cingular - constructed April 2006)
- 1051 Martin Ave (Cingular - Constructed Feb 2006)

AT&T's coverage and bandwidth issues are results of its own business practices.

How can other Cell Phone Service Providers such as Verizon remain competitive with no Cell Phone Towers of its own while AT&T has to encroach on our schools to provide (what the AT&T rep and Associated City Planner Noren Caliva of Sunnyvale called) "community service"?

The bottom line is THERE IS ALTERNATIVE, as another company, namely Verizon has found.
The City of Sunnyvale should take a look at the whole picture as opposed to being lured by $25K per year and led blindly by AT&T through their deceives and dog and pony shows. AT&T has deliberately misled everyone.

I believe this is not a coverage problem but a business strategy issue. AT&T simply wants to expand its business into residential areas. There is no coverage issue as the AT&T engineer admitted during the second meeting and as proven by the coverage map and subscribers comments. AT&T can provide the same coverage and bandwidth by simply co-locating with either:

- Crown Castle @ 1291 S. Bernardo (Reg # 1018899), or
- Pac Bell Mobile Services @ Cws Site 32 1 Mi Ssw (Reg # 1013038 - supposedly terminated)


If we allow AT&T to build their infrastructure to gain business advantage, other companies will follow using the arguments of "unfair business practices". (See link)

Sunnyvale City Planner, and Sunnyvale Council Members, please vote "NO" to AT&T's proposal.