I finally decided to buy a smart phone. I would have really liked an iPhone being a Mac user, but AT&T clearly states on their website that there is limited to marginal cell phone service in my area (08318). Currently, we have T-mobile’s Hotspot® at Home which works superbly in an area with little to no cell coverage. Some research into cell phone coverage in our area lead us to look into Verizon’s offers. On their coverage map, it shows complete digital coverage. There is no way to toggle to an analog coverage map, but every option (V cast, push to talk, prepaid, etc) shows coverage in and around our area all the way to Philadelphia and Wilmington.

Well, it turns out that Verizon's coverage map is nothing but false advertising.

Follow up:

Jack and I signed up for a family plan and ordered our two new HTC DROID ERIS phones. The phones arrived within two days of ordering them. We activated one but not the other yet, just in case there was a problem, as the only way we have been able to make calls from our house the past few years was using T-Mobile cell phones through the Hotspot® at Home. The new phone is absolutely fantastic; handy, sleek, exciting! But oh dear… the problems begin. We have no cell phone service. On and off, a single bar shows up. We go outside. It is no different. A trip down the road… no service. What a bust.

We call Verizon and we explain the problem. The first woman I talked to was very nice. She took the time to walk me through all the steps of trying to get the phone to work. There is no improvement and we are stuck with a lack of service. Despite spending at least half an hour with me, she hands me over to the tech department. We go through some of the same steps again and again the tech lady is super nice and seems to genuinely care. She tells us to make several calls over the next two days so that Verizon can locate the tower that routes our calls. We were told, it may take 3-5 business days, so we patiently wait. In the meantime, Jack has no phone at home, where he would need it.

After not hearing anything for several days, we call again. This time we talk to a gentleman who does not speak clearly; I can’t even get his name. Nevertheless, I state my problem again and the first thing I am told is that my ticket has been closed. I politely ask if I was going to be notified but I get no response. Instead I am told that it is a known issue that my area does not get service. So again politely I ask if it isn’t false advertising on their part to state that there is coverage on the Verizon map when in fact there is none. The gentleman again tells me that there is no service and that he can’t help me. He is ready to say goodbye and hang up, so I asked if there was perhaps a way to boost the signal inside my house. I told him that I didn’t care if there was service outside the house or not. I needed it inside the house. He said no. Then I asked about the signal extender that I had seen advertised on Verizon’s site. The gentleman stated that I could buy one for $99. I told him that I was told I would get service and now I get none, then it would not be fair on their part to charge me for an extender. He told me that it was a bargain as the device normally costs twice as much. He clearly was unwilling to help and he didn’t care that we had problems. This guy was the complete opposite of the two women I had talked to before. In any case, we decided to cancel the service, as it was of no use to us. Again when I tried to cancel the service, the gentleman decided the conversation was over and wanted to hang up. I asked if there were charges associated with the cancellation, as it was my understanding that there was a 30 day worry free guarantee within which time you can return your phone and cancel your policy and pay no early termination fee. I was told the only charges were the calls we had already made, i.e. $1.45 for the few calls we had made to test the phone as we were told to do by the customer service rep. I guess I will see when I get the credit card statement.

Despite the fact that the first two ladies were very polite and friendly, Verizon does not get my vote for customer service. Once they realized they were most likely going to lose my business, I was of no value to them, so no one needed to be polite anymore. Their coverage is dismal in the entire area despite the claims on their website. Verizon’s red map was a total lie.

As I finished writing this essay, Joyce from Verizon called to close out the ticket and this woman was so very nice but she had to admit that despite the fact we are 2.5 miles from their tower, we live in a “trouble area”. As an aside, we drove the phone over to the tower, and it still did not work there.

In closing, I'm attaching a screenshot of Verison's East Central coverage map from New York to Baltimore. Surprise... it's all red.