Best cell service & company

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I have T-Mobile. Great in town, but no service many places up north.

Who has the best coverage & plans that would allow me to use my phone almost anyplace?

I'm, not talking about 3G coverage (that would be nice), just to be able to make a call would be enough.

I get a kick out of 24; Jack's phone works even in underground bunkers & the jungle

[Sandmannd]

I have the Instinct and it's pretty sweet. Not as good as an iPhone, but still pretty sweet. Turn by turn nav on it is the best!! Yea, you don't get the 3G coverage in all areas, but I was surfing the web on Mille Lacs to check weather and places to eat.

[Orlip]

I have also had Sprint for a long time (8 yrs) and have service everywhere my in-laws Verizon does. Sprint use's Verizon towers for there roaming. As for the guy with the BB, he might have one that does not roam and that's why the kids rant worked.

Had AT&T 8 yrs ago worked great up north terrible at home (South Metro) friend still has them and everytime we talk he says "I'm going to lose you in minute, hitting a dead spot". Humm maybe he just don't wanna talk to me. Oh well my .02 worth.

[delcecchi]

The tower in cook was cellular one, but now is ATT. My Tmobile works on it, at 850 MHz.

[brainard6]

Verizon is well into the process of buying out Alltel. Should be a done deal by the end of summer. Be tough to beat that coverage package in the midwest.

From the billing I get. That has already been done.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

How do guys like AT&T??

I think I would love an iPhone

[jwhjr]

I've been happy with AT&T and it works everywhere I've needed it.

[WARRIORBOATMAN]

Right now with AT&T

I have 3,800 ROLL OVER Minutes (I'll Never use them)

Free Nights & weekends.

450 daytime minutes

My bill is always within $1.00 of $51.66 per month

Wish I could trade in those minutes for a lower payment.

Very few dropped calls. (if any)

[solbes]

I have AT&T and like the coverage. 4 bars about 10 miles from Walker MN. The only area I've had no coverage is north of Leader on Hwy 64. But there is no one to build a tower for in that stretch of road.

Rollover is nice if you don't use a ton of minutes. Go with a cheaper plan and then you just use those minutes when you make a lot of calls in a month.

[hanson]

I've been with AT&T since 2001, gave up on them and switched to Verizon this year. I couldn't be happier now.

I went through the AT&T to Cingular back to AT&T switch, they unexpectedly switched the terms of my plan, coverage areas changed, roaming changed, and it happened to me TWICE!!

My biggest complaint was when the switch from analog to digital was made. I bought an LG flip phone that was digital only and I lost ALL coverage in NW MN. I ALWAYS had coverage up there but it was analog signal, when I could only use digital only, I had no signal.

I'm VERY, VERY happy with my Blackberry Storm on Verizon now, you couldn't pay me to go back to AT&T.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I've been with AT&T since 2001, gave up on them and switched to Verizon this year. I couldn't be happier now.

I went through the AT&T to Cingular back to AT&T switch, they unexpectedly switched the terms of my plan, coverage areas changed, roaming changed, and it happened to me TWICE!!

My biggest complaint was when the switch from analog to digital was made. I bought an LG flip phone that was digital only and I lost ALL coverage in NW MN. I ALWAYS had coverage up there but it was analog signal, when I could only use digital only, I had no signal.

I'm VERY, VERY happy with my Blackberry Storm on Verizon now, you couldn't pay me to go back to AT&T.

Don't hold back, how do you really feel

[hanson]

I won't hold back, AT&T sucks.

It took 3 years of my Verizon buddies chirping in my ear to finally make the switch.

Like I said, I was an 8 year customer with that company (since 2001).

I STILL had ROAMING charges on my last plan with them, which meant when I drove to my parent's house (Crookston, MN), I was incurring roaming. Not cool!

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Great to hear the good and bad.

So what is the "bad" about Verizon?

[crothmeier]

i dont think thre is bad! i had at&t when i live in st cloud. i went "home" to the parents on the weekend and had $400 worth of roaming charges incurred from Mitchell, SD which was 180 miles away. figure that one out. everytime i went home i battled for hours with them, they never fixed it, so i fixed them and switched to verizon. Havent looked back since.

[knoppers]

I have T-moble and it works great anywhere in the north. T-mobile partnered with cingular, which covers all of northern minnesota. if your phone is older, it will not be able to use this new service. I was just at burntside lake in ely, and had full bars.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I have T-moble and it works great anywhere in the north. T-mobile partnered with cingular, which covers all of northern minnesota. if your phone is older, it will not be able to use this new service. I was just at burntside lake in ely, and had full bars.

No way. My phone is a year old. Just past Virginia going east on 169 to Ely, there is no service.

I just talked with customer care and they acknowledge that their service is not good up north except in some small pockets. It is a roaming area, you can see it on their HSOforum coverage map.

What model is your phone?

[Tippman]

I was with Sprint for about 10 years and switched to At&t because of the iphone. I've noticed in northern Mn my service seems to be a little worse than Sprint but the phone WAY more than makes up for that. It's just amazing how much you can do with it and use it while you're out on the water even. I use the radar and weather apps all the time, moon rise apps for muskie fishing, and anything internet related is fast and so much easier to work with than Blackberries.

[ranger20]

i have had most companys and i stayed with sprint,i travel all over minnesota and have service even 15miles out on lake of the woods

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Great post guys, keep it coming

[Blaze]

Everything Hanson said +1. He nailed it IMO.

Here's my officially unscientific cell coverage review based on my experience and that of my friends:

AT&T: best phones available (ie, iPhone), fair coverage around town and up north.

Sprint: clearest signal I've ever had, but their phones suck (up to a couple yrs ago anyway) and their north woods coverage was mediocre at best.

Verizon: best coverage statewide, but a bit more expensive. Decent phones available.

After many years with Sprint I switched to AT&T 2 yrs ago to upgrade my phone and family plan. BAD IDEA. I hate AT&T and can't wait to dump them for Verizon after having to borrow my friends' Verizon phones anytime we're off the beaten path.

[Scupper]

I had AT&T per work contract. I retired 2 years ago and kept the AT&T service at my own expense with a new phone. My 2 year AT&T contract recently came up for renewal and I opted out for Verizon service.

I noticed some time ago even with my AT&T work phone that there were many dead spots where I frequent in northern Minnesota. I inquired on more then one occasion with AT&T if they were going to expand there coverage in northern Minnesota and was assured for the last couple years they were going to. What made me switch was when we were fishing up at Red Lake this past winter and during the usual fish house banter I was prodded into calling AT&T with my brothers cell phone. He has Verizon service and his phone has worked everywhere.

While I was explaining the lack of coverage problem with the AT&T representative my brother piped in and let her know we were looking at a cell phone tower with a flashing red light on it to which the women exclaimed, if you can see a cell phone tower you should have service. We do, Verizon but not AT&T. She went on to say she couldn't explain the technical discrepancy but assured us we should have a signal.<deal breaker<.

In all fairness to AT&T, I'm confident they are going to have better coverage in the future in these particular areas but I just ran out of patients waiting.

Good Luck...

[MN Shutterbug]

I used to be with Cellular one down here. Then they got bought out by Alltel and then resold to Unicel, and then Verizon bought them. However, we are still Unicel and because Verizon bought Alltel, they now have to sell Unicel. The only problems I've had with Unicel was last week when I was on the Echo Trail from Ely to Orr, and then south to almost Hibbing. Otherwise, I'm not complaining and customer service is good. If I'm going to head out of state, I switched to their national plan for one month, and when i get back, I switch back to the regional plan.

One reason I'd never switch to Verizon is because my annoying and arrogant brother in law sells for them.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I used to be with Cellular one down here. Then they got bought out by Alltel and then resold to Unicel, and then Verizon bought them. However, we are still Unicel and because Verizon bought Alltel, they now have to sell Unicel. The only problems I've had with Unicel was last week when I was on the Echo Trail from Ely to Orr, and then south to almost Hibbing. Otherwise, I'm not complaining and customer service is good. If I'm going to head out of state, I switched to their national plan for one month, and when i get back, I switch back to the regional plan.

One reason I'd never switch to Verizon is because my annoying and arrogant brother in law sells for them.

Now THAT is funny right there

[Orlip]

i dont think thre is bad! i had at&t when i live in st cloud. i went "home" to the parents on the weekend and had $400 worth of roaming charges incurred from Mitchell, SD which was 180 miles away. figure that one out. everytime i went home i battled for hours with them, they never fixed it, so i fixed them and switched to verizon. Havent looked back since.

Very similar experience here also exept i went to sprint.