Best Cell Phone Service?

[cheryl]

We have been traveling in the West this year, last year was on the east coast and always had service.  We have Sprint.  We have found that in the west service is in and out.  Anyone have any suggestions as to which company has the best service.  We are in MT and have not service and from the looks of it might not have service for some time from here.  We will be spending most of our 2007 summer in the west ( OR & WA).
I have looked on the net at several and yet to have found one that has great Nationwide service.  Appreciate any information.
Thanks Cheryl

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Sprint, Verizon and Cingular all serve about the same total number of customers in America. However, in any given area, one or two will have a substantial edge over the others becasue of local licensing/franchising, terrain, etc.

The area where you are having difficulty is generally a good Verizon service area, but please don't assume that Verizon is "better" cause it simply isn't so. Anbody who travels is going to find that their carrier has "holes" here and there across the country. In one place Verizon excels, in the next it may be Sprint or Cingular.  Many Rvers carry two phones from different carriers to help deal with this. Two phones with 400 minute plans cost aboout the same as one phone with 800-1000 minutes, but you double your chances of having at least some service in any given place.

 

[Karl]

Cheryl,

No matter where you go or who you have as your service provider, it's always going to be a hit or miss proposition. Too bad, but the 'coverage' maps they provide are, how can I say it, "optimistic". I spend a lot of time close to Milwaukee, not a small town, but Verizon service is kinda iffey at Elkhart Lake. I don't know if Sprint or Singular would be any better, but I have yet to be able to get a true digital signal here. Thankfully I have a satellite link for the Internet, or I would be incommunicado - at least as far as being online.

 

[AlGriefer]

I'm curious? ???; I have T-Mobile and have been very happy with it.? Why doesn't anyone mention them?? :

Al

 

[Tom]

Al,

I'm happy with t-mobile also. We've had great coverage across the U.S. and the maritimes.

 

[ocnative1964]

Part of the problem with cell service in the west is the terrain, many hills, mountains, etc. and they all block signal.

I live in Oregon and all the major carriers are similarly lacking in various areas, you get 4-5 miles from a major highway or small cities and you will have bad service.

I live 5 miles from town and I get 1-2 bars. my kitchen is roaming and the front porch is digital. I have to talk on the front porch most of the time.

I have Sprint, and previously had ATT(cingular now) and they were about the same, many of the carriers share cell sites as well. if you lose service keep driving it will come back.

 

[Carl L]

I'm curious? ???; I have T-Mobile and have been very happy with it.? Why doesn't anyone mention them?? :

Al

I have T-mobile and Cingular.    Orignally I had two phones on AT&T Wireless.  Then Cingular bought them and supposedly integrated AT&T customers into its network.  What they actually did was .... nothing, nada.  The old net got weaker and less coverage.  I was told that if I want the hot new network I would have to junk my phone and buy new ones.

This thoroughly frosted my chops.  So I waited till my older phone contract expired.  I check with my two kids and found that the like T-Mobile, which is Deutshe Telekom by another name.    The outfit uses a GSM network with decent coverage and they carry 4 band international phones.  I am waiting for my second phone's Cingular contract to expire.  Then the second number gets assigned to a T-Mobile family plan.

In short Cingular screwed up my service, and I will be damned if I pay them a dime I absolutely do not have to.  BTW the have a couple of lawsuits against them over their cute stunts.