Ackislander

On a number of recent trips, our Cingular phone has been next to useless. In Montana last week we got a connection only twice, both in Missoula in parking lots or parks, never indoors. On I-95 to Florida in March, we had extensive periods of no coverage or low signal strength.

We are interested in changing to a carrier with real national service. Any recommendations?

ChristieP

Unfortunately, when you get out into less-populated, or more remote areas, you will lose signal with ANY carrier. There are large areas of West Texas that have NO cell phone coverage at all because they are so remote, and there are so few people there. Simply put, the few calls made in a remote area does not justify placing towers and their expensive equipment out there.

Unless you are willing to go to a satellite phone ($$$$ and a big, bulky handset), there is no carrier with perfect coverage everywhere.

Jed

Consumer Reports did a large study of this question. The results are in the Jan 2006 issue.

They studied 18 metropolitan areas, and their conclusion was that Verizon had the best service generally. Cingular was rated lowest.

That said, we had some problem with our Verizon connections in Montana, and even at home.

dfr4848

We had the same problem. It became particularly bad when we found out that the area where our daughter is going to college (central Ohio near Columbus - not exactly the middle of nowhere) didn't have coverage with Cingular. We switched to Verizon and have noticed a considerable improvement in many areas where we couldn't get connections before.

Jayneann

We have almost always had good coverage with Verizon! Like you, we live on the East Coast and I can honestly say we've been able to use our cell phones everywhere EXCEPT in the mountains of VT and sometimes NH when we are skiing! My sons travel alot (one is in the Coast Guard) and swear by Verizon!

AustinTraveler

I don't think it matters much which carrier you have when you're in Montana or other remote places. Try driving through Idaho! LOL.

Even though I don't have Verizon, I will tell you that after the last hurricane I went through (and I do mean the last), the only people with cell service were those who had Verizon.

kamahinaohoku

Unfortunately, I have very poor service with Verizon. I always want to laugh when I see their commercial about "can you hear me now?" I can't send or receive calls while sitting in my office, while people with other services are calling right outside my door. Worse, if I'm sitting in my house, I have to face a certain direction, or the calls cut out...and it happens all the time. Personally, for me, I think it's time for a new carrier.

travel_addict

I've had Sprint for over 7 years now and I am very happy with it. Obviously, in very remote places it doesn't work, but almost everywhere else I go, I get a great signal. Now that Sprint has merged with Nextel, I think the service has even improved.

My husband has tried both T-Mobile & Verizon and had bad service with both. He's now with Sprint, we're on the family plan and can call each other for free.

BayouGal

I think Christie and Austin hit the nail on the head. If there are not any cell phone towers, you won't have service regardless of which carrier you have. Also, many providers have maps in stores and online that show where their coverage extends. You will see that most of their coverage, if not all, runs along interstate systems and close to cities and towns - can be a problem in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, etc. And if you try to use your phone in the hurricane affected areas, they are STILL trying to get towers back up and service restored. Who knows how long that will take.

Andrew

I had Verizon for a couple of years. They had great service whereever I was (though I was not in Montana). However, I had issues with their customer service - long story, but I found them unprofessional and annoying, so I switched to T-Mobile. I haven't been to rural areas much since I switched, but they have had great coverage in the cities I've visited and even in a semi-rural area in Pennsylvania where I'd had coverage problems in the past.

Andrew

cantstayhome

Check the coverage area map - most if not all the carriers have them on-line - to see if where you want to go is in range for the carrier you want. I hear Verizon has the best coverage around here in New England and am planning to switch to them. Had Sprint for years and found coverage bad when I moved to the burbs. Am very excited to be getting rid of T-Mobile. T-Mobile is great when traveling if you don't want to deal with the whole get a SIM card business or whatever people do, but I have deeper issues with them that are causing me to leave. Coverage is improving with them, though, but it's nowhere near the coverage of Verizon, based upon what I've heard from locals with Verizon.

kamahinaohoku - sounds like it may be your phone that is the problem, not necessarily the service provider. My husband and I had different phones (I tried out a Sidekick - what a waste). We were sitting literally next to each other on the bed, same service, and his phone worked, my Sidekick didn't. I got rid of it within the 2 week trial period.

BetsyinKY

I think it all depends on who has the most towers where you are. I have Cingular and I've never had a problem in the Southeast US or when I was in Seattle last spring. We recently haWe live in the southeastern corner of KY where there are lots of mountains, so there are areas where you get NO signal, because the mountains block it. Even my XM satellite radio can't get through in some spots! We recently had houseguests from Washington DC, who had Verizon, and they had no service while they were here, because Verizon has no towers in this area.

npurpleh2

I've had Verizon for 10 years and have always been happy with the coverage. I've found that when I don't have coverage, pretty much no one does, but I've actually had coverage in areas that were surprising, for example East Glacier Park, Montana.

starrsville

I had two other cell phones and providers but got a Verizon phone for my mountain place. I can get coverage when others can't at all. I also have a VERY unglamorous phone, but it's a Kyocera that the fire and emergency and sheriff departments use. I need to get another phone and the Verizon person knew what I needed (maybe a techie will too). I'm going to get a new phone when I get home.

I'm ALWAYS able to get a signal before others I travel with are. In my experience, Sprint has been the worse. They have towers just along the interstates and not out in the "boonies" - where I spend most of my time.

claire_bluesky

I started to tell a tale of doing business with SprintPCS since I am angry with them. I was going to talk about their business practices, but it would take too long. I will tell you that I would advise any friend of mine to find another carrier.

happytourist

My son has T-Mobile in Dallas and once he leaves the city his coverage disappears. We have been very pleased with Alltel, but it's a small company and probably not available where you live. It generally covers interstates but there are definitely gaps in coverage in low population areas--that's true of all carriers.

sparkerlaw

I have T-Mobile, and I don't have a signal in my kitchen!! During Hurricane Wilma when most cell phones were out due to downed towers, the only cell phones that were working were - Verizon - as soon as my contact is up in Sept., I'm switching.

Andrew

The most important thing for any cell phone is knowing it has good coverage where you live and work plus where you might need it frequently. When I switched to T-Mobile a few months ago, I made sure it worked at home (since my next door neighbor had told me his T-Mobile worked fine there, I assumed so). I also tried it within my 14-day trial period at my folks's house back east and it also worked fine there. If coverage hadn't been adequate where I needed it, I would have canceled within the 14-day trial period with T-Mobile.

That being said, not all phones are created equal, either. Some phones have better reception than others even with the same carrier. Nokia phones are generally considered to have the best reception - I reluctantly got a Motorola instead when I switched to T-Mobile because that was better than the Nokia phone of the same type. If you are unhappy with your current phone's coverage you could try upgrading the phone when the contract is up and, if it's no better, bailing out within 14 days and switching to someone else.

Andrew

BarryK

I've been happy with Verizon's coverage. Their customer service is another issue. I recently added a couple of lines to the family plan and I'm still waiting for the correct phone on one of them (2 weeks and 6 calls later.) The Fedex person laughs each day she comes saying "how many more times will this be going back and forth?"

kamahinaohoku - Regarding signal strength, you may want to try another phone. I just replaced a 2 year old Audiovox with an LG 8300. The Audiovox was spotty in my house. The LG is even solid in the basement!

Andrew

I was happy with Verizon's coverage too - I switched to T-Mobile mostly because of the unprofessionalism of their customer service. AT&T (before Cingular) was just the opposite: helpful, professional customer service but ever-deteriorating service. I concede that T-Mobile's coverage nationwide most likely isn't as good as Verizon's, but rock-solid coverage everywhere is not crucially important to me. I hate the feeling of being lied to and misled and am not willing to put up with that with any company, coverage be damned.

Andrew