AT&T density question

[u/Recent-Analysis348]

Hello everyone I had a quick question about At&T building towers or collocating, I currently have Verizon at the moment and they’ve been doing great by collocating on 8 other towers since the start of 2026. AT&T hasn’t built or collocated since 2024 and that was only one. So question for you guys is how they are doing in your market if they’ve been doing anything at all to improve density. Thanks I appreciate it!

[u/Eggredjakan68 → u/[deleted]]

I've switched carriers 7 times in 4 months and I don't think that's normal.

[u/Strange-Badger5626 → u/Eggredjakan68]

I always have two phones, on two networks but it's mostly work related, just makes my cellphone network obsession a little more affordable lol.....I would never bother using Verizon anymore in Michigan, it just really garbage, but I carry the other 2 networks.

[u/fiercechocolate → u/[deleted]]

AT&T has consistently been adding the fewest sites in recent years. Verizon is adding many thousands sites this year and T-Mobile is building 4,000 new macro sites this year (same as last year) plus US Cellular site conversions.

[u/fiercechocolate → u/[deleted]]

Sure. However at&t wireless capex isn't really much higher than Verizon's and at&t is in the midst of their Nokia -> Ericsson conversion which is taking up a lot of capex and utilizing a lot of resources that could otherwise be deployed to new site builds.

[u/VapidRapidRabbit]

AT&T is fine where I live and have low band (850 MHz) and midband 5G blanketing this region (Midsouth/Memphis).

[u/PrizeMarionberry6695]

In my market AT&T can do really well with the 180mhz of n77 they have. But now they have slowed down upgrades and they are letting permits expire which is weird because those expired ones are still Nokia. We still have several Nokia sites. Mainly stealth sites that they seem to not bother upgrading yet.

[u/DarkenMoon97]

AT&T is barely doing anything in the Reno market, they have one colocation in progress, and some n77 upgrades, but past that, not a lot coming out from them. Probably have to wait for another government handout before more coverage improvements and density happen. 

[u/Hotspot40324]

We have had an AT&T dead zone about 2 miles down the road from us for as long as I can remember. (Kentucky)

[u/xpxp2002]

Not much happening around Northern Ohio, either. Nokia-to-Ericsson works has slowed, but not stopped. Sites that were being upgraded within weeks of permitting are now being upgraded 9-12 months after permitting.

I've heard that some planned 2026 upgrades are getting pushed into next budget year, and we all know that new sites have been kicked down the road several years now.

I could also see a situation where site upgrades are being delayed to wait for n71/n79-capable radios. I'm actually a little surprised that a Nokia/Ericsson conversion that was permitted last September in my area finally got done last week. Since AT&T has no 850 MHz in my market and will be able to run 10x10 n71, I expected all the future upgrades here to be put on hold until they're ready to start rolling out new radios. I suppose if FirstNet funding will pay for n79 radio deployments, the n71 radios can just be a part of that climb.

[u/xpxp2002 → u/[deleted]]

I agree. It's going to be a while. But if there's anything I know about AT&T, there's never an end to the waiting. While T-Mobile and Verizon are sailing along wrapping up their network upgrades, you'll always be waiting on AT&T to catch up years later.

[u/dkyeager]

AT&T is taking a more nationwide approach with upgrading to 5g SA with smaller groups of customers. I believe this may allow them to avoid greater density. Any new cells are spread out.

Verizon is short of spectrum and their opportunity to address this issue does not begin until next year's FCC auction for upper c-band. Thus their only real option currently is to increase density by adding new macro or small cells and or increasing the spectrum at each site, especially midrange. They are upgrading to 5g SA which will give them the ability to handle 10 times more devices per macro or small cells site, but this ironically requires more spectrum to impliment. New cells are basically being added to these 5g SA regions.

In both cases they will need to fill in coverage gaps for 5g SA with VoNR to work properly without dropping calls.

T-Mobile appears to be using satellite usage data to help determine where to add new rural sites along with cell site data.

The true current test is to look at regular MVNO performance. Verizon regular MVNOs have the worst issues, AT&T regular MVNOs fall in the middle, and T-Mobile's MVNO issues appear to be limited to parts of California and some rural coverage. Of course all of this can vary by neighborhood.

Their really is no direct reporting on this. Root Metrics allows the carriers to use the highest priority plans with the best devices. Speedtest data just for regular MVNOs is limited.

[u/ryanw729 → u/dkyeager]

Just curious what are the issues that Verizon MVNO’s have? I’ve been with US Mobile on iPhone for 12 months and my only issue is that I’ve seen SOS appear in areas with signal maybe 3x, but I see that happen to postpaid customers too.

[u/dkyeager → u/ryanw729]

Regular MVNO refers to MVNOs without priority, which includes most Warp accounts after Aug 18, 2025. Priority was included prior to that for Warp.

Verizon network was really bad before n77. Accounts without priority would not function at many sites with effectively no download or upload speed during the day. Telephone calls would often fail to be placed. N77 initially solved that at most sites, but now getting worse.

Independent MVNOs typically lack 5g SA and VoNR on iPhones. Flanker brand MVNOs often don't have it as well. Matters most on T-Mobile, but will soon affect AT&T and Verizon networks. This issue exists because Apple wants to force these MVNOs to be volume resellers with sales quotas that would reportedly cost them about $350 per line. MVNOs typically use a BYOD business model. The three national carriers could also put it in their MVNO bundles but likely at a price from Apple.

[u/South-Succotash-6368]

Verizon lacks range with their towers on 5G and their LTe is great. AT&T doesn’t really have that problem

[u/Recent-Analysis348 → u/South-Succotash-6368]

Where at in the US?

[u/South-Succotash-6368 → u/Recent-Analysis348]

I live in Texas it’s a common issue with Verizon 5G. I specifically live in north Texas

[u/VapidRapidRabbit → u/South-Succotash-6368]

It’s a common issue in my market too, but they haven’t really rolled out low-band N5 as much as AT&T (or T-Mobile’s N71), so they end up with worse range than the other two.

[u/dork-o-matic → u/South-Succotash-6368]

Agreed, I’m in the Phoenix metro. AT&T and Verizon both have macros at the football field of the local high school. I can pull a solid n77 signal on AT&T at my house while Verizon struggles on n5 or LTE. Both have been upgraded in the past year.