Massachusetts

Athol: MA-2, just west of US-202S JCT: Calls won't transition/maintain to the to US Cell 01484 system or whatever agreement Verizon has in place for its customers in Franklin County. Analog calls from the 00028 to the 01484 do seem to hand off, but drop westbound (from 00028 to 01484) a bit after Atholl (admittedly this is an error on US Cell's side), and eastbound (from 01484 to 00028) at the northbound JCT of MA-2 and US-202 (MA-2 and US-202 are multiplexed for a bit). Digital (apparently 01484 supports CDMA as of late 2005) handoffs fail in approx. the same areas. Last tested: 05/21/2006

Amherst: US-202, no through service along US-202, from MA-9 north to just south of MA-2, where coverage picks up again. (Cingular/CO Boston 00007 does a somewhat better job along this route.) Last tested 08/01/2006.

Wakefield: An (isolated?) drop occurred on RT-128 in the Wakefield area while crossing under the Hopkins St. overpass. Most recent instance occurred on 05/15/2006. (PENDING FURTHER INVESTIGATION)

Rhode Island

I-95 at Stonington/Westerly at CT/RI State Line: just north of the state line on I-95, coverage on the Verizon/BAMS B/00028 side is pretty poor, and the Cingular/SNET/B from CT (not the Cingular/SNET/A from RI) bleeds in and causes roaming charges to appear (on generally older plans) before Verizon phones can re-register with the RI/00028/B system. Last observed 10/01/2006.

US-6 in Scituate west of the US-6 Bypass: At the RI/CT line, calls drop along US-6 and will not hand off from the RI/New England/B-00028 market to the CT/A-00119 market, either analog or digital. There is decent coverage near both sides of the line, but for some reason Verizon never bothered to either cover or allow handoffs there. All calls with Verizon drop heading West along US-6 nearly at the state line (or a 1000 feet into CT) and resume after going up the hill on US-6 or CT-52(?) (CT Turnpike/I-395 RI Extension). Nextel has better coverage in the immediate area but generally drops further west on US-6 in CT at the apex of the road prior to the descent to the I-395 JCT. Cingular GSM is even better, but voice quality is very muffled at the immediate CT/RI border. Reported 04/25/1999, unresolved as of yet.

Connecticut

I-95 NB at the CT/RI line: Digital calls from the CT/A-00119 to the RI/New England/B-00028 tend to drop about a mile into RI due to poor RI/B coverage on Verizon in that area. Reported to Verizon on 07/17/1997, unresolved as of yet.

I-95 SB at the CT/NY line: Both digital and analog calls will not hand off and drop between the Rye Playland connector to I-95 and the Larchmont RR station parking lot underpass (near the NYS Thruway toll plaza). AT&T Wireless explained in 1996 that in terms of analog handoffs (e.g., CT-BAMS/A to NY-ATTWS/A) BAMS/Verizon did not want to pay for the extra trunks necessary to connect to AT&T's switch which covers towers serving south of Larchmont to BAMS's switches (roughly), so calls WILL hand off to NY but only as far as Larchmont, after which since areas south of that are served by a separate AT&T (now Cingular) switch, since BAMS doesn't want to pay to send trunks there as well, calls will drop. (this seems silly; BAMS/Verizon should hand a call off to Cingular/NY, and then from there Cingular should route the call via its own internal network and not expect BAMS to send trunks to all the crazy network of switches which AT&T set up in NY before their merger with Cingular.) As to digital, e.g., BAMS/CT-A/00119 digital to BAMS/NY-B/00022 digital, calls just drop near JCT I-287 SB (or slightly south of that), but almost always at or before the Rye Playland connector. BAMS/Verizon was informed of this on 06/12/1998, they have never resolved it.

CT-34, between CT-8/Derby and CT-25 Newton: Absolutely shameless lack of coverage along a (shamelessly unbuilt) freeway. CT-34 serves as the main road between New Haven and Danbury, with much greater volume than it was ever built to accommodate. Although the CT-34 freeway still remains unbuilt, there is a good deal of traffic on it, and yet Verizon and a number of other carriers have absolutely no coverage on it at all between a few miles north of CT-8 (after the Yale Boathouse) and a few miles north of the dam near Newtown and the JCT with I-84. (Interestingly, it is reported that Nextel has coverage there as of 1/25/2003; tests will be needed here.) No service at all; absolutely dead, so handoffs aren't even an issue ;(. Reported 11/19/1996, and BAMS/Verizon has done nothing at all to improve (or provide any sort of) service in that area at all since, hence, unresolved as of yet.

New Canaan/CT-106 a bit west of Valley Rd.: Large dead spot where both digital and analog drop for a stretch of about 3/4 of a mile heading either east or west on Valley Rd. CT-106 goes between US-7 and downtown New Canaan (and continues south to I-95 from there). Coverage from US-7 to Valley Rd. is "OK" to "poor", then totally dead for 3/4 of a mile west of Valley Rd., and then picks up a bit while driving into downtown New Canaan. Drops are just as bad heading west on CT-106 from downtown New Canaan to Westport. Reported initially on 03/12/1997, tested again on 06/29/2003, no resolution as of yet.

CT-8 in Litchfield County: Generally there are no handoffs between BAMS's 00119/CT-A system and the Cingular (formerly AT&T Wireless) 01001/CT-A system (BAMS/Verizon, unlike SNET/pre-AT&T Cingular, does not provide service in the entire state of CT, and shares the state with AT&T Wireless/Cingular which bought out the small A-carrier in Litchfield around 1996 or so...). Driving north of Torrington on CT-8, calls initiated on Verizon/BAMS drops at the apex of the hill, and will not hand off to the ex-ex-ATTWS, ex-Cingular, currently US Cell system. The same is true heading south, and calls on formerly-AT&T's network start to degrade along CT-8 at JCT CT-229 and drop at the apex of the hill; they will generally not hand off to BAMS. Reported to both AT&T and Verizon on 04/10/1999, no resolution as of yet.

Wallingford: Calls drop while traveling on I-91 between exits 14 and 15 and exits 25 and 36. Last occurred: 02/02/2005

Fairfield: Calls drop between Mile Marker 21 and 22 on the Merritt Parkway while crossing the Redding/Fairfield county line near the overpass for North Ave. Generally, drops occur more often in the northbound direction than southbound, and tend to occur very quickly and without much distortion upon reaching North Ave. Most recent instance occurred on 07/18/2007.

New Canaan/Norwalk: Drops occur between Mile Markers 24 and 25 on the Merritt Parkway, approximately one mile north of the town line for Westport. Most recent instance occurred on 10/01/2007.

New Canaan/Norwalk: Calls drop when traveling on CT-15 (Merritt Parkway) at exit 38, which is in the vicinity of New Canaan and Norwalk. Most recent instance occurred on 01/07/2005.

Greenwich at the Merritt Parkway/Hutchinson River Parkway line: Calls drop when traveling from the Hutchinson River Parkway in New York onto the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut. Most recent instance occurred on 02/08/2007.

New York

NYC - Manhattan - Drops occur while passing through the East River tubes which are utilized by Amtrak and the LIRR to access Penn Station. Most recent instance occurred on 03/18/2008.

NYC - Queens - Drops occur while driving on the Long Island Expressway starting in the vicinity of the JCT with Queens Blvd to slightly west of the JCT with Grand Central Parkway. Drops tend to occur more often while driving in the eastbound direction rather than the westbound direction. Most recent instance occurred on 03/19/2008.

NYC - Staten Island/Richmond/Outerbridge Crossing: On NJ/NY-440, heading east/north, calls initiated in Jersey (or DE or anywhere else and driven through NJ) will fail while approaching or passing trough the toll plaza. Digital calls drop 80% of time, and analog gets too staticky to use after passing through the toll plaza near the Richmond Parkway / NY-440 JCT. Call drop/fail rates after driving up to and passing the Fresh Kills landfill approaches 95%, e.g., VERY rarely will a call transit through from Jersey to north of Fresh Kills on SI. Verizon was notified about this on 06/14/2000, and then again in terms of Express Network drops on 11/2002, and still drops regularly occur. Express Network (1X and EvDO) appear more or less fixed as of late 2005; cellular (digital and analog) still having problems as of late 2006.

Hutchinson (Merritt) Parkway around Purchase, NY, near the CT border: Handoffs (digital B/00022 BAMS NYC Metro to either digital A/00119 BAMS Wallingford or analog B/00088 SNET-Cingular CT markets) along the Merritt will not work. Calls initiated near the JCT of the Hutchinson River Parkway, I-287 and I-684, which is in the general area of Purchase, drop after the Greenwich Mobil station near the old toll plaza. Analog 00022/B to analog 00088/B seem to work. This was brought to BAMS (and then Verizon's) attention in Jan 1999 and they have never managed to get it to work. Opened 01/06/1999, unresolved as of yet. This drop was verified again on 03/26/2007.

Dutchess County, East Fishkill: Taconic State Parkway: Calls drop south of the JCT of the Taconic State Parkway and NY-55 at Mile Marker 43/7, just south of the Park and Ride and what used to be a rest area. Last tested: 02/01/2005.

Dutchess County, Washington's Hollow/Millerton: Drops occur while driving east or westbound on US-44/NY-82 at the JCT with NY-44A (which is the western junction of NY-44A and US-44). Most recent instance occurred on 10/04/2007.

Putnam County, East Fishkill: Calls consistently drop on the Taconic State Parkway about 1/10th of a mile south of JCT of NY-82. The problem occurs while descending from the top of the hill just before the first exit "ramp" for NY-82. Cell One/Dobson TDMA has a similar problem there, while their GSM is slightly better but becomes nearly inaudible. Nextel does not drop, but will sound garbled. Last tested: 07/13/2006.

Putnam County, Mahopac: On the Taconic State Parkway near the JCT NY-301, in both northbound and southbound directions, in the vicinity of the Taconic State Park Police barracks calls will drop. Traveling up the incline to the NY-301 overpass, some calls initiated in the Orange/Poughkeepsie 00404/00486 markets will drop as they transit into the NY Metro 00022 market in the vicinity of Mile Marker 34.6. Opened 10/11/1997, resolved in part by late 2001 as coverage improved, but both analog and more often digital drops still occur. 07/06/2003 -- tested again, and it still drops (i.e., calls will frequently NOT transit between 00486/00404 Mid-Hudson systems and the 00022 NY Metro system along the Taconic). 07/13/2006 -- tested again and analog and digital seem to transition, but drops occur further south at apex of Taconic at JCT NY-301. As of 05/27/2007, problems are still being experienced in the area; while some calls will transit properly, especially in the northbound direction, calls will drop with an equal degree of frequency more often than not in the southbound direction. Overall, an area which requires additional work to assure seamless transitions between the two Verizon service areas. UPDATE- As of 07/03/2007, calls in progress while driving both northbound and southbound do hand off, although voice quality deteriorates for about 20-30 seconds during the handoff. It is severe enough that neither party can hear the other. This will require further testing before it can be moved to the corrected section.

Westchester County, Rosedale: Calls drop on the Hutchinson River Parkway about one mile south of the JCT with Mamaroneck Ave. while traveling north on the Hutchinson River Parkway at Mile Marker 13.3, which is close to Exit 22. Most recent instance occurred on 11/17/2006. It was reported to Verizon on 03/31/2005. No resolution as of yet.

Westchester County, Yorktown: Calls drop while driving south on the Taconic State Parkway approximately two miles north of the JCT with the Bear Mountain Parkway. Coverage drops just south of US-6 and approximately two miles north of the JCT of US-202 and NY-35 southbound. Most recent instance occurred on 07/16/2007.

Rockland County: Calls drop where I-287 multiplexes with I-87 near Exit 16E about 1/4 mile south of the Garden State Parkway. Last occurred on 09/21/2004, reported to Verizon on 09/23/2004, no resolution yet.

Nassau County, Greenvale: NY-25A between NY-106 and NY-107: Calls consistently drop while traveling either eastbound or westbound on NY-25A between NY-106 and NY-107. Verizon was contacted and reported back that the responsible tower in that area was at the time being worked on and that Verizon is having to "share" a cell tower which adds to the problem (Huh?!). A few weeks later, on 11/04/2004, Verizon then claimed that they did not expect to have resolved until the end of January 2005 at the earliest. (Fixing a transmitter on a tower takes over two months?!). As of late 2006 (2 years later!) drops still occur and there is generally very poor coverage on Verizon (and to a lesser extent on other carriers) on NY-25A from Greenvale west to Cold Spring Harbor -- certainly not the sort of coverage one would expect in 2007. Last tested: 01/05/2007

Nassau County, Jericho/Hicksville area: A downward-pointing (inverted) "triangle" of bad coverage: The "points" of the triangle are: the JCT of NY-25/NY-106/NY-107 to the south, the JCT of NY-25A and NY-107 to the northwest, and the JCT of NY-25A and NY-106 to the northeast. Generally poor cellular coverage there with frequent drops and distortions, and practically no EVDO coverage and very little 1XRTT coverage. Last occurred: 05/17/2006.

Nassau County, Hicksville: Calls drop while traveling south on NY-106/107 generally while crossing over the LIE / I-495 and Northern State Parkway interchange. Last occurred: 12/09/2006

New Jersey

Princeton area on Amtrak/NJ Transit: calls drop both northbound and southbound between the NY/00022 and Philly/South Jersey/00008 markets about 7 miles north of the Princeton Jct. station (e.g., wherever the handoff between the 00008 and 00022 markets occur). Drops occur on the order of 75% of the time. Last tested: 07/20/2004.

Alpha/I-78: Calls drop on I-78 just 3-4 miles east of the PA-NJ state line. Last tested: 07/26/2004

West Deptford Township: I-295 between Mile Marker 18-20, connections deteriorate and then drop. Last tested: 01/19/2006

Pennsylvania

US-1 south of Trenton: At the JCT of US-1 freeway, approaching the JCT with US-13 heading north, digital coverage begins to deteriorate and drops upon reaching the left exit for PA-32(?) just south of the US-1 Trenton bridge. Drops occur approx. 70% of the time. Last tested: 06/10/2003.

I-83 at the Maryland-Pennsylvania State Line: Calls drop heading Northbound on I-83 during the transition from the Washington/Maryland-00018/B system to the Harrisburg/Ex-Altell-00096/B system. Drops occur in both directions, e.g., northbound or southbound. Verizon has been contacted about this issue and Verizon agreed to do drive tests in the area to diagnose and fix the issue, which as of yet has not been resolved. Last tested: 09/10/2006.

Delaware

Delmarva Peninsula, both DE and MD side: Poor coverage and drops on many of the local roads between the N/S line which divides DE and MD. E.G., while traveling from US-301 on the MD side eastward to DE, there is generally poor coverage until the JCT of US-13 or DE-1, and many of the other E/W roads also suffer from drops transiting from the Atlantic side to the Bay side. Last observed: 01/16/2006.

Maryland

Rising Sun: US-1 at Westwood Rd., approx 4 miles north of the Conowingo Dam and approx 3 miles north of JCT US-1/US-222. While traveling north on US-1 after the Conowingo Dam at Havre de Grace/Port Deposit, US-1 heads into a small "valley", and all calls (analog and digital; even 3-watt analog) drop in the vicinity of Westwood Rd. Note that Nextel and SWBell (Cingular) seem to (poorly) be able to maintain a connection there, while BAMS/Verizon always drops. This is also quite close to I-95 (only a few miles "inland"), so the fact that such poor coverage exists there on Verizon is surprising. Reported 02/20/1998, last observed 01/16/2006, no resolution as of yet.

Perryville: While driving south on I-95 and just south of the Havre de Grace bridge, calls drop upon reaching Mile Marker 89. The drops occur at the point where the Philadelphia, Delaware and Cecil County Maryland system (00008 system) hands off to the DC/Baltimore system (00018 system). It has always been a problem and continues to be a problem. Calls do not hand off in that area and are dropped, even though there is plenty of coverage there. Most recent instance occurred on 04/18/2007.

Havre de Grace/Perryville (on Amtrak/MARC trains): very poor coverage from approx 6 miles north of Havre de Grace / Port Deposit (is there a Port Return on the other side? :) ) to approx 10 miles south of the river crossing; calls drop, there are areas of no coverage, etc. Note that along I-95, a few miles "inland", there is very good coverage, so this may be a local issue affecting US-40 or roads (and rail lines) closer to the water. This is a glaring hole in Verizon's coverage. Last tested: 01/16/2005.

US-1: Voice calls drop and data signals are very tenuous about 1.5 miles south of the Conowingo Dam while approaching the JCT of US-1 and MD-22. The coverage in this area is very poor and stays that way until about 3-4 miles north of MD-276 (which becomes DE-276 in Delaware). It is just not a good level of coverage and even though the data is better it also gets very, very weak. Drop occurred on 03/26/2005 and was reported to Verizon on 04/06/2005. There has been no disposition as of yet, last observed 03/12/2006.

Baltimore (train) Tunnel: North of Baltimore Amtrak/MARC trains go through a tunnel; calls often drop there or at the very least switch from digital to analog. (90% of the time calls drop, 10% there is a sloppy drop to analog.) Last tested: 05/21/2004.

Rose Haven, Eastern Shore: Almost the entire stretch of MD-261 near the Chesapeake Bay from MD-2 is completely devoid of coverage on all carriers, although Cingular does have good service there. Last occurred on 06/16/2006.

Fairfax: Drops occur while driving either eastbound or westbound on I-66 at Mile Marker 68 the JCT with US-29. Most recent instance occurred on 12/03/2007.

Washington DC Metro: Drops occur on the DC Metro Red Line between Medical Center and Bethesda and it coincides with certain 1XRTT drops. Most recent instance occurred on 03/03/2008.

Washington DC Metro: Cals drop on the Red Line between Woodley Park and DuPont Circle. Most recent instance occurred on 04/24/2008.

Washington DC Metro: Drops occur on the DC Metro Red Line between Judiciary Square and Union Station. The drop occurs closer to the Union Station side. Most recent instance occurred on 03/03/2008.

Washington DC Metro: Drops occur on the DC Metro Red Line starting from Medical Center and proceeding to Tenleytown and at the Bethesda and Friendship Heights stations in between. Most recent instance occurred on 03/11/2008.

Washington DC Metro: Drops occur while riding on the Blue and Orange lines. While traveling either eastbound or westbound in the tube which goes under the Potomac River between Foggy Bottom and Roslyn, drops occur closer to the Rosyln station than to the Foggy Bottom/GWU station. Most recent instance occurred on 04/15/2008.

I-84 between the NY (00022) and Mid-Hudson (00486/00404) markets: EB and WB along I-84, approx 3 miles east of JCT Taconic State Parkway (TSP) near EB rest stop or WB NY State Police barracks, at apex of hill on I-84, all calls (analog and digital) drop between the NY/B-00022 and Orange/Poughkeepsie/B-00404/00486 markets. Opened 10/11/1997, resolved, "only" 9 years later, by 8/2006. (Calls can even be initiated now in Beacon, and drive all the way to Mass along I-84 without a drop; the semi-bad area in Waterbury at JCT I-84/CT-8 has been fixed. Thus, both eastbound and westbound transitions on Verizon Wireless between the 00022 and 000486/00404 markets on I-84 in New York now seem to work. Resolved 01/02/2007.

I-84 North Salem EB: Handoffs (digital B/00022 BAMS NYC Metro to either digital A/00119 BAMS Wallingford or analog B/00088 SNET-Cingular CT markets) along I-84 will not work. Calls drop after CT Welcome Center west of Danbury. Analog 00022/B to analog 00088/B seem to work. This was brought to BAMS (and then Verizon's) attention in Dec 1998 and they have never managed to get it to work. Opened 12/14/1998, resolved by Summer of 2006.

I-84 at the JCT of I-684, Brewster: Calls drop right at the state line when proceeding eastbound transitioning from the NY/B-00022 system to the CT/A-00119 system. Interestingly, the handoffs between systems work fine when traveling westbound and transitioning from the CT/A-00119 system to the NY/B-00022 system. Coverage is relatively good on either side of the state line, so the drops must be occurring due to a handoff issue between towers. When contacted, Verizon agreed that such a situation was ridiculous and that if it works in one direction, it should work in the other. Last observed on 05/25/2004, reported to Verizon on 05/26/2004, no resolution yet.

I-95 Port Chester NB: Handoffs (digital B/00022 BAMS NYC Metro to either digital A/00119 BAMS Wallingford or analog B/00088 SNET-Cingular CT markets) along I-95 will not work. Calls drop near the Greenwich truck scales. Analog 00022/B to analog 00088/B seem to work. This was brought to BAMS (and then Verizon's) attention in Dec 1998 and they have never managed to get it to work. Opened 12/14/1998, resolved by mid-2005.

Nassau County (Long Island): Poor voice quality and occasional drops for digital and static for analog calls while heading westbound on NY-25A at the Roslyn viaduct (bypass over the town). Calls initiated in Greenvale will deteriorate at the LIRR bridge and continue to have problems and/or drop completely as while driving west downhill over the viaduct. Reported 10/17/1997, retested 06/25/2003, appears to have been fixed as of 02/06/2007.

US-206/Princeton: calls initiated in the NY/00022 system drop upon entering the Philadelphia/South Jersey/00008 system, generally upon entering Princeton proper on US-206 south. Calls will then drop again 1.5 miles south of the JCT with NJ-27 and US-206 (i.e., the center of town) while traveling southward on US-206. Additionally, system "bleeds" from Philly/00008 towers (same market, but towers south of Trenton on the PA side of the Delaware River in PA) may result in roaming charges for older rate plans despite being clearly in NJ. Last tested: 01/14/2006, appears to have been fixed as of 04/18/2007.

I-95/I-495 SB split: At the PA/DE state line, where I-495 (Wilmington Bypass) splits off of I-95, digital calls (CDMA) will get somewhat distorted at times and drop approx 40% of the time. Coverage is VERY good in the area so drops are hard to understand. Last observed, 04/10/2006, appears to have been fixed as of 04/18/2007.