ATT vs Verizon

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

So will ATT work better then Verizon up north in the near future?

AT&T and Verizon Wireless have completed the transfer of the Verizon assets in 79 service areas across 18 states. The $2.35 billion deal was part of the regulatory approval deal that enabled Verizon to purchase Alltel. The acquisition gives AT&T a stronger foothold in mostly rural areas, picking up former Alltel properties in addition to some assets from Verizon Wireless and Rural Cellular Corp. While AT&T completes the network integration work, customers will not have to change phone numbers, rate plans or existing contracts. Eventually, customers will be able to choose a handset comparable to their existing phone at no charge, or upgrade to another AT&T device.

[deadeye]

It sounds to me like Verizon had to hand over some of what it bought when they acquired alltel. So at&t gets 2.35 billion worth of the alltel stuff out of the $28.1 billion purchase Verizon made to make it more fair.

Either way it is pretty much all on the west coast from what I read so I guess its kind of moot for us here. It doesn't sound like there will be any decrease in service for either party so I guess its not a bad thing whomever your with.

[upnorth]

I live and work in the Northland and had a Verizon phone for work and the service was so bad I had to switch to AT&T. There are spots up here where Verizon works better than AT&T, but they are few and far between, especially out of town or off of hwy 53.

I am no fan of AT&T, but it works up here.

[Jim Almquist]

You almost have to own one of each depending on where you go. If you head up to Red Lake or LOTW you need Verizon but head up to NE Minnesota its AT&T. It sure would be nice if they would use one type of service and shared the equipment but that more then likely will never happen.

Unless its changed once you get out of the coverage area north of Deer River heading towards Red or LOTW you will not get service again with AT&T. It just sorta bugged me that my buddy was using his cell when we were out in the fish house at the NW angle on LOTW and had perfect reception with Verizon.

[Harmonica Bear]

Unless its changed once you get out of the coverage area north of Deer River heading towards Red or LOTW you will not get service again with AT&T.

Except in Squaw Lake, for whatever reason they an AT&T tower there (makes no sense to me). Excellent coverage there but it is a small coverage area.

[deadeye]

I have always had good luck with Verizon wherever I have been. I lived in Ely for a few years and up in that general area was good even up to the border. Between Ely and mpls I always had service when drove through. When I have gone to Crookston hunting, LOTW, Leech and the Finland area fishing I have always had good service.

From my own experience Verizon has had really good service that's why I have always had good things to say about them.

I wouldn't be opposed to trying at&t if they had a phone I wanted. Its kinda hard to change when you have never had a problem though.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I'm with you Jim on the shared tower thing.

I think the counties should own the towers and lease them to the carriers. I bet you will see that in the next 10 years. It makes no sense for each company to have it's own towers since they are such an eyesore.

People depend more & more on cell coverage and I think the uncle will step in and mandate some changes to balance out the coverage areas.

[LMITOUT]

You want the government to own and maintain cell phone towers? yikes. And people think cell coverage is bad now....

[PierBridge]

I think Upnorth's situation is extremely rare. Frankly other than a couple instances I've never heard of ATT having better reception anywhere in the state. Verizon still has the best over-all coverage but the other providers have caught up considerably. Like stated above there is practically no reason to switch from Verizon and if you do the internet on your phone it's a no brainer, Verizon crushes ATT's network.

[BobT]

Quote:

It sure would be nice if they would use one type of service and shared the equipment but that more then likely will never happen.

I thought I heard once that there was a bill introduced to force cell companies to share towers similar to the one(s) that forced land phone companies to share lines. Was there any truth to that and if so whatever happened to it?

[Scott K]

There is 0 reception with Verizon at my cabin, and At&t has full bars. At my house Verizon is very sketchy, At&t I get good reception, at my wives office in Shakopee, Verizon, 0 reception inside her office, At&t good reception. So I wouldnt say Verizon works everywhere alot better. I wish I could switch to Verizon, they have cheaper contracts, it just doesnt work anywhere I need it.

[Scott K]

BobT, I remember something like this about a little over a year ago, I read all networks were switching over to the same type of phones that att uses. But I havent seen, or heard of anything since then.

[Jim Almquist]

BobT, I remember something like this about a little over a year ago, I read all networks were switching over to the same type of phones that att uses. But I havent seen, or heard of anything since then.

I thought I had heard the same thing that they would all switch over GSM because of all the great apps and the fact that all of Europe is GSM.

Would be nice but who knows when.

[PierBridge]

There is 0 reception with Verizon at my cabin, and At&t has full bars. At my house Verizon is very sketchy, At&t I get good reception, at my wives office in Shakopee, Verizon, 0 reception inside her office, At&t good reception. So I wouldnt say Verizon works everywhere alot better. I wish I could switch to Verizon, they have cheaper contracts, it just doesnt work anywhere I need it.

Not everywhere but for the most part it does...

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I'm surprised you don't have trial lawyers all over this coverage thing. If you are in an area that is supposed to have coverage, but doesn't and get injured and can't get help. Surely this has happened to somebody.

[LMITOUT]

I'm almost certain if you read in any cell provider contract it says that service is not guaranteed.

[simple1]

First, GSM is the world standard with the exception of Japan with uses a totally differnet standard all together. So if you go to Russian, Amsterdam, England, Germany, Spain, Poland and pretty much any other European Country, your GSM phone will work. Verizon, ONLY operates in the USA and if you would like to use you phone while on vacation in another country u need to buy a Verizon WORLD phone or you can get a roaming package on your GSM phone.

Your Choice,

Simple1

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Personally, I could care less about about the rest of the world. I just want a phone to give my coverage everywhere I go in the USA.

[deadeye]

Personally, I could care less about about the rest of the world. I just want a phone to give my coverage everywhere I go in the USA.

LOL 1+ this.

My phone worked in both Canada and Mexico which is as far and exotic as I am willing to go.

[Big Dave2]

I'm happy if my phone works in Remer, MN!

[PierBridge]

I can think of one spot Steve Jobs wish's his I-Phone would have worked!

We'll call it the moment of truth spot...

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I can think of one spot Steve Jobs wish's his I-Phone would have worked!

We'll call it the moment of truth spot...

Ha! How true!

[LMITOUT]

I can think of one spot Steve Jobs wish's his I-Phone would have worked!

We'll call it the moment of truth spot...

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

ATT's old slogan of "more bars in more places" was nabbed by Wisconsin.

[minndonn]

ATT may have better coverage in StLouis County since in the earlier days the service companies had territories set by the metro area status. Unicel (Cellular 2000)owned the rights to all of minnesota for all but the METRO area counties. Because Duluth was a metro area the whole ST Louis County was covered by another provider. UNICEl put up many more towers in their areas since they were owned by many smaller rural telephone companies. That is why I always had much better service in the outlying areas of the state that were not in metro counties. UNICEL and Verizon have shared towers for many years and Verizon bought out UNICEL to get their existing towers.