Best cell phone coverage?

[SaltwaterSlick]

In the Del Rio area, my Verizon service is good, and my buddy's Cingular service is good also. Sprint, no workie... I have been with Verizon since they were GTE MobilNet in 1982, and I have always had better service than almost all my buddies when we travel together. If anyone can get out, it's usually me. Having said that, I absolutely HATE to deal with them. I had made up my mind that I was going to switch to ATT when my current contract is up, but now I'm not sure. I guess what others have postes pretty much sums it up... they all try to put the screw to you, and you just need to put up with whichever network gives the best signal for the geography you normally are in...go with the best of the worst.

[JohnnyI]

Agree with the above. I have ATT/Cingular I choose based on the calling group of people, family and friends I talk to... I can get the cheapo per month service with the mobile to mobile not taking minutes. However, on the road we have to use one of our running buddy's Verizon since he always has coverage...so that is another way to save minutes

Now if you are talking about the Phone themselves... I have an early release version Razor that is no where near as good as the nokia's i have had... I had less issues with dropped calls with the nokia compared to the Razor.

[txpineywoods]

I switched to Verizon from Cingular over 2 years ago because Verizon is the only service out in the sticks east of Jasper.

[Tommyh]

I have Cingular/ATT and my signal was working in dead zones in Iraq .

That said, digital Verizon doesnt work in certain areas where i travel around Cameron Parrish where i get strong signal strength with digital/analog Cingular. The further off the beaten path you go, the less likely verizon will work.

[Fishndude]

I run all over Texas and Cingular is by far the best!

[Keith]

The contract Audra and I have with Sprint PCS has just ended. We are considering changing to Alltel. According to the Alltel rep, they have contracts to use AT&T/Cingular's towers, Sprint's towers, along with their own towers. They say they have the largest coverage are of anyone. Does anyone have Alltel, and if so are you happy with it? Also, I've been told you can use an external antenna with the RAZR. I had an ATT phone about 5 years ago with and external antenna and it made a huge difference in areas of weak signals, such as the lease I had at Ft. McKavett. Is the RAZR a good phone? Audra has not found a phone she really likes, so if you have any suggestions, they would be appreciated.

[BrianL]

Phone technology is changing too fast for the towers to keep up. I had Cingular and they would not renew my contract because I live in a non cingular coverage area, but still had better service than any other providers in this area. I have Sprint now, and just not impressed. I have several friends that come out to the house from Dallas and they have full service, while my Sprint phone has little to none.

[Stins]

I have Verizon and AT&T(formerly known as cingular) and verizon has better customer service but AT&T had much better service. I have not been anywhere in the world that I have not been able to use my AT&T phone.

Every ranch I have been able to get service at some point on the ranch.

[KRB]

T Mobile Sucks, fyi

[Graybow]

I have nothing but trouble with Cingular. Everywhere I go for some reason. I've seen people with Verizon be able to talk in some extremely remore areas where I had nothing on my Cingular phone.

[bdphunt]

Does anyone have Alltel, and if so are you happy with it?

I have Alltel. We use it for our small business and we run about 15 phones and about 50,000 minutes a month. Alltel has been good to us about working out billing issues etc, but I am not crazy about the actual cell service. Here in Waco and around it works great, but I travel to Abilene and back and to my ranch in Taylor County and it does not work great in the areas in between the towns. Also it really stinks at my ranch and At&t/cingular works great there. I guess with Alltel it depends on where you are gonna use it. I wish that tower thing with AT&T was true, but I don't think it is because I cannot get coverage in places my dad does with AT&T/Cingular.

[Keith]

I am sure a lot of the problems with weak signals have to do with the brand and/or model of phone used. I know that Audra and I both have the exact same brand AND model of phone and her phone always gets better reception than mine does.
I've been told that Motorola and Nokia have the best signal and LG is the worst. Can anyone comment on this?

[texag93]

AT&T by far has the best coverage I have found. Alltel sucks here in west Texas. Dropped calls, missed calls, bad signals within 2 miles of tower. I have AT&T but must deal with Alltel tower in DC. Its worse than bad. All cell companies want your money and will bend you over if they can. I can't complain much about ATT cell service, just don't like dealing with CS.

[huntmaster]

Kieth, you right about the type of phone. I had to upgrade phones recently because of ATT switching to the GPRS towers and they said my old phone wouldn't work after that happened. After a couple of new phones with poor service at my place in Jack county I got the RAZR it works and my wife liked the phone so much she went and traded for one. Now if I could just figure out how to get a signal thru my metal bldg..

[ShedSeeker]

AT&T by far has the best coverage I have found.

Just switched back to AT&T after a few years with Verizon.

Verizon has been letting their leases go on some rural towers (I have heard) and I had stopped getting coverage in many places I used to. On my ranch where I was getting 1 bar or no signal with Verizon, I now get 5 bars with AT&T. The wireless card for the laptop works also well on the ranch and traveling rurally.

Keep in mind that the type of phone you have has a major impact on reception.

I like the Motorola 325/365/815 for good reception and features. I have the 365.

I little searching on Google will help you find a phone with the best reception by carrier.

My .02.