Underground cell phone coverage on BART in SF

October 26, 2011 5:21 PM

Do T-Mobile cell phones get decent reception underground on BART south of Civic Center station these days?

I'm thinking of switching back to T-Mobile to utilize their $30/month 100 minute/unlimited text+data plan, but would hate to give up the relatively uninterrupted coverage Sprint has below ground throughout SF. In the old days, T-Mobile only had decent coverage between Civic Center and Embarcadero. Has that extended south to the Mission and Park stations?

posted by eschatfische to Technology (4 answers total)

I have t-mobile, and it barely works in my apartment in the mission. To be fair, verizon and AT&T don't work either.

I don't go much beyond the mission, but reception on BART and MUNI is generally spotty.
posted by lkc at 5:42 PM on October 26, 2011

Perhaps get a really cheap phone like this (or your old T-Mobile phone if you have it with a new SIM) and try it out with a prepaid number? You could also test other important places out before you make the jump.
posted by ooklala at 8:04 PM on October 26, 2011

Latest news that I could find is from 2009 which states that now there are uninterrupted coverage for all 5 carriers from West Oakland to Balboa park. YMMV.

As for general T-Mobile coverage, check out this map if you're interested.
posted by 7life at 8:50 AM on October 27, 2011

now there are uninterrupted coverage for all 5 carriers from West Oakland to Balboa park

Lies! And the coverage map sadly doesn't apply to in the tunnel.

Is it too creepy to just ask people with an obvious T-mobile only phone if they have service as you ride the BART? Yeah, probably.
posted by Gucky at 11:10 AM on October 27, 2011