Cell phone coverage up north...

[The_Lee]

Now that I am close to coming home, I am looking a new cell phone service providers. I used to go through Cingular but I am tired of them over charging me for minutes I do not use, so I am looking at new cell providers.. So far the most suitable for my needs that I have found might be Alltel.. Does anyone out there have Alltel? If so how is your service in the mississippi river valley and around the northern lakes?

[PerchJerker]

I have a buddy that has Altel and his service is awesome in northern and western MN. I have Verizon and that's pretty good, but not as good as his Altel. I used to have Cingular but that was terrible, I wouldn't even have service and he'd have a full signal. That will pi$$ a guy off

[keyks42]

I have verizon and had great coverage on Red lake last week, also pretty good coverage on LOW this winter. I do live in Princeton and the coverage by my house is really bad, go figure.

Mark

[Nate McVey]

Verizon is useless on the North Shore for about 20 miles (north of Two Harbors) and gets better a little before Lutsen. Works well through the UP (spotty in places), not at all on the Brule and very good everywhere else I have been recently (Ely, Leech, Cotton).

[delcecchi]

I have tmobile, one monthly and one pay as you go. Around Rochester the coverage is good, and now they have a deal with cellular one in the north so that is good too. The web site has an excellent map tool to show coverage.

Midwest wireless got bought by alltel who got bought by verizon. The results of the verizon acquisition are unknown with respect to coverage or rate plans. The acquisition was just announced very recently.

[Jeremy airjer W]

I have TMobile (to go) also and couldn't be happier since they arranged the deal with cellular one. Before our coverage ended at the Laurention divide just north of Virginia. Now the wife can tell me its time to come home when I'm on vermilion!

[Jim Almquist]

I have AT&T (old Cellular One) and the service up north is good for the most part but there are spots (cut foot on winni) were it there is no coverage but on the big lake it is perfect. If you go to LOTW you will have no service.The wife's phone is Unicel and they use Verizons towers so you can get good service even on the north side of LOTW. The phone you buy can make a great difference in your coverage. At work I got a Motorola Razr and the rest picked a LG and the one guy had no service at his house and I had 2 bars and up at the cabin I never had service and I now can sit in the cabin and get 2 bars. There are a lot of choices and none are perfect. Unicel offers some good plans if you don't want to use a lot of minutes but look on line cause they will not be offered in the store but they will give them to you if you ask.

[Dave S]

If you're thinking about going with Alltel, keep in mind that Verizon has made an offer to purchase Alltel.

I have Verizon and had good service while driving up to Ely.

[Sandmannd]

I have sprint and have had decent service up north on Red and in Grand Rapids.

[rtwills]

sprint/nextel is the worst,they are ok when on the hiways but as soon as you get off no service.I just dropped nextel for that reason and went with T-mobile.So far I havent been anywhere without service, and their customer support has been great.

edit: t-mobile uses cell 1's towers when up north .

[night bite]

I have a Palm Centro from sprint and it works great on Mille lacs, Red, and Lake of the woods. My old sprint phone how ever did not work north of Deer River. My new one must pick up more towers.

[BigWadeS]

I have Verizon and when I am up in gods country I rarely have a problem. Over the past 5 years you would be amazed at how many towers have been added. With Verizon going to be Alltell, well there you go, but I know sprint works well up there too.

[Sandmannd]

I have a Palm Centro from sprint and it works great on Mille lacs, Red, and Lake of the woods. My old sprint phone how ever did not work north of Deer River. My new one must pick up more towers.

Just went to the Centro myself. When I was in Grand Rapids for a wedding a lot of folks had Sprint. Mine always worked, some of theirs didn't. Phones do make a difference as well.

[Dances with Walleye]

I have Verizon and when I am up in gods country I rarely have a problem. Over the past 5 years you would be amazed at how many towers have been added. With Verizon going to be Alltell, well there you go, but I know sprint works well up there too.

My buddy and I both have Verizon...

Through the course of a year, combined we both have traditional trips to:

Longville Area, Remer Area, Walker, Winnie, The Arrow head, Marcel...

And he and I are often the only one's who get any signal...

Winnie is a little spotty... Gotta get out on the lake and near a choice resort or two on the East Side to get full signal.

Compared to my friends who constantly ask to "Borrow" my phone to call home... I have to say I couldn't be happier with Verizon.

[Sifty]

Verizon has been great for me, up north and out west.

Sifty

[Iambjm]

Hmmmmm my Verizon is very spotty. A lot of places I can't get any signal at all.

[Dances with Walleye]

Hmmmmm my Verizon is very spotty. A lot of places I can't get any signal at all.

That might be your phone... I have 4 bars all over Grand Rapids...

[Shorelunch]

I have Verizon and the coverage is good from the Cities to Bemidji, to Grand Forks, to Duluth to LOTW. There's a few very rural spots that are shaky, but the rest is good.

[fishorgolf]

This may be one of the hardest questions there is to answer because all services have good and bad spots. If there is a specific area you want to know about that would be the best thing to ask as up north is a really big area and quality of service can change in a few miles. I used to have Verizon (I am on Mille Lacs) and service was terrible!!! I had a 4" area I could stand to talk. my brother has At&t and he could talk anytime anywhere so I switched over and have had good luck so far.

[hondavxr]

I have Sprint with the Mogul phone. I have coverage in places where most people don't, because I also have free roaming. So if it does not catch a digital signal it switches over to analog. Analog is not as clear as digital but you still could talk and hear people. I was the only one to have coverage on Red last Feb.

[bassNspear]

i have t mobile as well. Never have any problems. When they were first starting is wasnt good at all. But there getting better and better all the time. Coverage is awesome.

[Iambjm]

Originally Posted By: Iambjm

Hmmmmm my Verizon is very spotty. A lot of places I can't get any signal at all.

That might be your phone... I have 4 bars all over Grand Rapids...

What brand of phone do you have?

[delcecchi]

note that analog cell networks going down in feb.

"Regulators are poised to send the crackling and bulky analog cellphone to the scrap heap next February, denying a last-ditch appeal from a business group.

The shutdown of analog wireless networks Feb. 18 will mean lost service or disruptions for 500,000 GM car owners with OnStar emergency wireless service, up to 1 million alarm customers and a few million diehards who refuse to trade in their analog phones"

[St.PaulRiverRat]

my dad has sprint after trying several companies specifically because of this issue. he's an otr truck driver and runs between duluth and thunder bay a ton so it was very important to get the best coverage. sprint won hands down. i can always get ahold of him now. the coverage is very consistent along highway 61 but i'm not sure how he does up in the bwca.

[The_Lee]

Well, I am looking for the service that just seems to have strong coverage up north for most places. So I am just trying to get an assesment of what seems to be the best, and of of right now its sound like I will look into Verison more.

[The_Lee]

How is T-Mobil's service around Leech Lake?

How is their service around Nevis, MN and surrounding lakes?

I have narrowed it down and I am seriously considering T-Mobile for cell service.