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Cell Phone Coverage In San Diego

All three major networks are expected to offer good cell coverage in San Diego. Check coverage at your location with the map below.

Recommended Low-Cost Carriers In San Diego

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San Diego Coverage Maps

Coverage maps draw on data from the FCC's Broadband Data Collection and Coverage Critic's crowdsourcing.

Coverage maps draw on data from the FCC's Broadband Data Collection and Coverage Critic's crowdsourcing.

  • Visible Runs Over Verizon's Network
  • Unlimited Plan Is Only $25/Month
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  • Unlimited calls, texts, and data
  • Excellent coverage expected in San Diego
  • Service over Verizon’s network (coverage map)
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4G LTE & 5G Coverage In San Diego

The table below shows the proportion of San Diego with coverage from different cellular technologies.
Network4G Coverage5G Coverage
AT&T97%93%
T-Mobile98%91%
Verizon100%97%
Dish0%54%
Don't be alarmed by Dish's lack of 4G coverage in San Diego. Dish has a newly-built network that's 5G-only.

US Cellular And Dish Roaming Coverage

US Cellular does not have native coverage in San Diego. However, some US Cellular subscribers may still have coverage in San Diego thanks to roaming agreements.

The 54% figure for Dish may understate what subscribers in San Diego experience after accounting for roaming agreements.

Millimeter Wave 5G

Parts of San Diego have millimeter wave 5G coverage. This novel celluar technology offers extremely fast speeds, but the coverage potential is limited. Millimeter waves aren't well-suited for traveling long distances.

Network Millimeter Wave
Verizon
AT&T
T-Mobile ?

Millimeter wave coverage in San Diego is likely sparse (mostly limited to dense, outdoor areas like popular parks or sports stadiums).

San Diego Cell Signal Strength

There are 7,364 map hexes within the census-defined boundaries of San Diego. The table below shows the proportion of hexes at various levels of signal strength. Where both 4G and 5G coverage is available, data is drawn from whichever technology offers a stronger signal.

NetworkStrongDecentWeakNone
AT&T12%61%24%3%
T-Mobile33%50%15%2%
Verizon34%58%8%0%
Dish2%33%19%46%

For most purposes, decent signals are perfectly sufficient. Weak or non-existent signals cause far greater degradation in user experience.

Due to data-reliability concerns, 319 hexes in San Diego that fall in bodies water, along rivers, or near shorelines are excluded from the table above.

Crowdsourced Coverage Data In San Diego

Coverage Critic has 245,886 crowdsourced data points from 3,322 map hexes within the boundaries of San Diego. Data is available for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

NetworkUnique HexesTotal Observations
AT&T2,60995,359
T-Mobile2,48195,632
Verizon2,32954,150

Click here to toggle to the map's crowdsourced data layer.

California State-Wide Coverage Scores

Network Coverage Score
Verizon 8.8 / 10
AT&T 8.6 / 10
T-Mobile 8.2 / 10

Data Confidence

The coverage information for San Diego is rated as medium-high confidence. Documentation is available elsewhere covering limitations of Coverage Critic's approach.

Last updated: February 27, 2024