Cell Phone Providers

[Daddy Carp]

Thom, I have both T-Mobile and Cingular (now AT&T). The T-Mobile works fair in the southern Mo. area lakes if your on a hill or near a larger city. My Cingular I have had since 1998. The reason I originally chose that service was they pulled a map up on the computer showing coverage areas for all companies. They had coverage all over the U.S. and one of the only ones who had almost complete coverage on southern Mo. I have a place on Pomme de Terre also and use that phone there totally. My T-mobile and most others will not work without driving 3 mi. up on a hill. I have many times found I could use my Cingular where others would not work. I too have had to up grade from my original "plain Jane" Motorola (analog) to one of the new "hard to see & use/slimline digitals) I don't think the range is as great as the analog but all is digital now so I have no choice. They have put in more towers to compensate so it is still the best game in town. The package usage plans are right in line with the others, difference is you can use what you pay for without driving 5 miles for a signal or holding your head in an awkward position so as not to loose signal connection. One of the worst is Verizon!! I have that as my (had) On-Star provider in the Buick. It was so worthless, I told them to discontinue and shove it along with my accumulated "free minutes". If the ever offer a better service provider, I'll put the car-phone back on line......Till then, GM can stuff it!

[Thom]

I have never had my onstar to not get a signal anywhere. I had a buick lasabre, chev truck and now a tahoe. It works on a sattellite not a tower. I have used it even at montauk and highway 10 dead spot florida, in the keys, rio grande valley, texas badlands, ..... never failed. I get a special rate since I am retired GM so it is really a bargain to me. I only use it when my T mobile don't work so I conserve minutes which don't expire after purchased. They pretty well guarantee 911 to work anywhere.

[taxidermist]

Billing problems, dropped calls, service outages, etc. are all more common with Alltel among the folks we have known that have it than with any other service.

Altell sucks in South West Mo and North Arkansas. I cannot tell you the dropped calls and Lord forbid you try to call the day of a Razorback Game in Fayetteville or Little Rock.

For 45 miles down US 65 from Bellefonte to Leslie you have almost zero service excpet hill tops and no mobile service.

Zero from Batesville to North of Salesville on Hwy 5 and from Harrison to Fayetteville forget it until you are almost to Springdale.

I have tried four different phone with Altell and they all sucked.

Here at the house you have to hold one foot up, left arm out and wiggle your ear to get receiption and we are within a mile of two Altell towers.

None of the others are any better and the public service commision dont care about cell phone service.

[Wayne SW/MO]

But everywhere else they pretty much suck.

This hasn't been our experience with Alltel. My wife is a Traveling RN and we have yet to find any place that it hasn't worked. We have had problems with dropped call on my phone in AZ, but thats because it wants to switch towers at this particular point. I got around that by using an antenna on the RV. My wifes Q doesn't have that problem. The only place locally that it hasn't worked was in Tyler Bend, but it works in the middle of nowhere out west?

We pay about a $100 for 2 phones, unlimited calls and the wifes data connection. We have NO roaming charges and we haven't had from southern AR to the panhandle of NB to the Mohave Desert.

I would find someone in your area and get some input there, obviously everyones experience isn't the same.

[Greg]

But everywhere else they pretty much suck. Billing problems, dropped calls, service outages, etc. are all more common with Alltel among the folks we have known that have it than with any other service. This has always been a MAJOR topic of comparison and discussion among real estate agents.

My experience has been exactly the opposite. Almost no dropped calls, good coverage, and good customer service. And it has been the same for pretty much everyone I know in the Springfield area.

Greg

[Steady99]

I have never had my onstar to not get a signal anywhere. I had a buick lasabre, chev truck and now a tahoe. It works on a sattellite not a tower. I have used it even at montauk and highway 10 dead spot florida, in the keys, rio grande valley, texas badlands, ..... never failed. I get a special rate since I am retired GM so it is really a bargain to me. I only use it when my T mobile don't work so I conserve minutes which don't expire after purchased. They pretty well guarantee 911 to work anywhere.

I don't think that OnStar satellite is providing regular cell service??? GM is linked to Verizon for cell phone service. OnStar would be for air bag deployment notification, possibly Concierge service for high end spenders. My VZ service has always been excellent, but no knowledge the trout areas.

[MoWalleyeguy]

I use Verizon... no drop calls and no dead areas. I have been on top of Pikes peak as well as in Northern Lake Of The Woods in Ontario Canada 30+ miles from the nearest town and still been able to use my phone. I have been using Verizon since it was Cellular One... this is my 20th year! No reason to change... many of my friends use other providers and have had problems.

"Can You Hear Me Now"!!!

[Daddy Carp]

I use Verizon... no drop calls and no dead areas. I have been on top of Pikes peak as well as in Northern Lake Of The Woods in Ontario Canada 30+ miles from the nearest town and still been able to use my phone. I have been using Verizon since it was Cellular One... this is my 20th year! No reason to change... many of my friends use other providers and have had problems.

"Can You Hear Me Now"!!!

I have had cingular since 98' and am much more pleased with it than any others I've seen & used. I also have a T-mobil which is fair. Nextel I used for business and was good if you were near a major city. VERIZON..... I got with my Buick in 06' and have never been more disapointed in a product in my life! If you check their coverages, it is only along major interstates or in large metro areas. 25 mi. south or west of K.C. or in the So. Missouri area & kansas it's worthless. After 3 mo. I told On Star to "stick it" and when they offered cingular or a reputable phone network, I would then be interested. They said," what if you have an emergency & need to contact help?" My reply was (cleaned up) your system just wouldn't handle the job so I will rely on my "tried & true" cingular system plugged into the outlet in my new Buick just below your On Star Panel!!

[Thom]

I was at BSSP today and talked on my onstar system in the car. No problem. I have had no problem anywhere with it. I do not have onstar cell phones but have on star in my vehicle which has never failed to work anywhere.

No one could meet or beat the 1000 hours with 2 phones for 50 bucks plus tax that tmobile has so I will probally keep it. It works most of the place I travel but if you get to far from the innerstate forget it. I have never had a dropped call in 9 years.

I can go to my vehicle since I am traveling anyway. I get a GM retiree rate so it is fairlyreasonaable for the service. If you have an acdident they know it from the sensors in the vehicle and will call 911 even if you are thrown from the vehicle. They also can disable the vehicle if stolen and know if it is broken into. I can call and get my doors opened if i am locked out. I can call for directions. I doesn't serve coffe though or give fishing reports.

Onstar phone is just buttons on your rear view mirror in my tahoe. You push a button and the radio is turned off and you hear a voice say onstar readly. I can say carol and it dials my daughter, home and it dials my home, cell, and it dials my cell. I can also say call and give a number etc. it is all hands free. goodby hangs up the satellite phone and turns the radio back on. It is not a cell phone it is a satelite phone.

[Al Agnew]

We're having cell phone problems right now...have had ATT/Cingular for a while and was pretty happy with it in Missouri and most places we traveled, but in Montana you might as well forget about it--I think they only have one tower in the whole state. Since we have a cabin in Montana now, that ain't working very good. Verizon works like a charm in that part of Montana, but we are giving it a try in MO and so far the jury is still out.