Cellphone ?????

[Silverbullet]

I am curious as to the phone service all you nationwide commuters use? AT&T just let their contracts with sprint and verison fall. This means no service in Neb. or where everelse I seem to drive. What nationwide services are there that are good in the boonies? And in town.



Brian

'02 2500

 

[JWChessell]

I have the AT&T prepaid cell phone acct, and there's no service in Bend, Oregon where I go about twice a year.

 

[AggieJustin]

You mean my AT&T service is going to get even worse outside the big cities?? Wonderful... .



I've got a lot of co-workers on Sprint, they used to have a lot of problems with dropped calls and spotty service outside of metro areas. But I have the same problems on AT&T.



In the boonies of Texas, I think Cingular is the best thing going. But then their nationwide service isn't as wide-reaching as AT&T or Sprint. Maybe I should just get two different phones to cover all the areas.

 

[klenger]

I have Verizon and am very happy with it. I don't travel much, but it works most places I go.



#ad




You may notice that Alaska has been moved to the Baja because customers were complaining about the cold weather in the north. I think they move Hawaii because it was too far away.

 

[zari]

Wow... That must be a Verizon <b>marketing <em>wish</em> map</b>... I'm located about 30 miles N of Omaha, NE in Western IA and have positively no service from either Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T. THe only one that gives me spotty service around the house is Nextel... Used to have great service with analog, though



Alain.

 

[yogibear]

I've got Alltel Total Freedom, get all over the 48, and have real good service. What ever you have, you will find areas where you will have trouble, especially with voicemail. I do have a kicker for my phone, which helps a bunch, it boosts output to 3+ watts, and increases recieve 20 to 25db's.



Larry

 

[RMcCulloch]

Originally posted by zari

Wow... That must be a Verizon <b>marketing <em>wish</em> map</b>... I'm located about 30 miles N of Omaha, NE in Western IA and have positively no service from either Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T. THe only one that gives me spotty service around the house is Nextel... Used to have great service with analog, though



Alain.

Analog is still available in a lot of areas - the trick is to get a tri-mode phone that can use it.



The "digital-only" phones are pretty well limited to urban areas and interstates.

 

[Silverbullet]

ALLTEL looks ok. It dosent seem they have any locations in CO. I wounder if they can supply local numbers? May have to investigate. If only NEXTEL had analog roaming. Is the phone selection Ok with ALLTEL?



Brian

 

[PLaFrombois]

Brian,

Did you go to alltel.com and check out the Local Freedom plan? or call 1-800-ALLTEL-1. I checked them out when I was thinking about moving to the Denver area. Unless they changed their maps CO, NM, AZ, and part of lower CA were in the coverage area. They were giving a $10. 00 credit for any plans over $39. 95 for the Local Coverage Plan. Might not be available anymore. I don't know how well reception will be with the mountains, but you need to make sure you get a Tri-Mode phone.

Paul

 

[yogibear]

They have a good selection I think. I'm no expert on cell phones, but I've had Motorola tri-mode phones, and just got a new T720 last week, and they have been real good to me. I've used it all over Co. and have had no problems. What Alltel does is use other towers in locations where they don't have any, this can cause your voice mail to be a little slow showing on your phone, but if you call your voice mail every so often, they will tell you if you have any. This just happens in some areas.



Larry

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

I have the Alltel total freedom plan too. If there's a signal (analog or digital) with any company you'll get through. The only time I've ever not had a signal was inside a building. I've used mine on the ski slopes of CO and all over the country. With the total freedom plan you have NO roaming charges and NO long distance charges either. I'm on a 2000 daytime minute a month plan so as you can tell I use mine a lot!

 

[TPCDrafting]

I have Verizon. They seem to be the service to use around here. I take it to CO all the time and have had no trouble. I bought a $35 external antenna that's only 3" tall. With it plugged in I've never dropped a call, even in the house. Without it, I only have one bar of service at home and always have trouble. I took it to a friends cabin in the mountains and used it there where his bag phone doesn't even work. I have 3 phones on a shared plan and the extra phones only run $20 a month, $25 with nationwide long distance.

 

[CFAR]

I have the Verizon plan with nationwide long distance. Make sure you read the fine print. Some plans on all carriers say they have free nationwide long distance, but its only from your home calling area. I always ask if I'm in New York and I call California is it free. Verizon is if I am in a Verizon zone. If I am roaming its not. There are quite a few areas where you roam, even on the Interstates. Still its not a bad plan overall. I used to have an AT&T pre paid, thats when you got to keep your minutes for 6 months, last time I checked they are down to 45 days and you have to recharge. Most prepaid plans are the same some are as bad as 30 days.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

That's the beauty of Alltel's total freedom plan. As long as you are in the US there are never any roaming or long distance charges. Doesn't matter what carrier you connect on. Here's the coverage info from their website:

LARGEST COVERAGE AREA

Anywhere. Anytime

No Roaming Charges

No Long-Distance Charges

All 50 States

 

[TomGolden]

Originally posted by yogibear

I do have a kicker for my phone, which helps a bunch, it boosts output to 3+ watts, and increases recieve 20 to 25db's.



Larry

You wouldn't care to elaborate a little, would ya??? pleasepleasepleaseplease.....



Like what phone do you have, any details about this kicker, do you have any external antenna, ???

 

[yogibear]

The kicker is called a "Smoothtalker". Go to www.smoothtalker.com/Public pages/products , you will get"this page cannot be shown, but down in the middle of the page, click on www.smoothtalker.com click on products, then for CDMA phones, and there it is. Yes I have an external ant. , just a glass mt. I started out with a Startech ph. , then went to a V60, now have a T720, all Motorola. I don't own any Mot. stock, just like their flip phones. I've had the Smoothtalker for almost 3 yrs. , and no problems. Where I live I only have 1 bar on the signal strength meter, when I turn the Smoothtalker on it goes to full strength, 6 bars. If you don't have any signal strength, it will not help, it has to have a signal to boost. If I can help anymore, let me know.



Larry

 

[TomGolden]

Thanks Larry, I'll check it out.



I have a Nokia GSM phone, and I just added a Wilson Cellular truckers antenna to the truck, but it hasn't made any difference. I'm looking for anything I can get to help with service, as I'm about to head off into the wilds of northern Utah on a hunting trip, and would like to be able to use the phone if I need to...



I'll check out the site you listed.

 

[WyoJim]

Can I call forward my home phone calls to my cell phone?



If I do and my cell phone is local to my home phone, is the cell phone charged local or long distance for a long distance call?

 

[TomGolden]

Jim, As to your first question , that all depends on your local [home] phone provider. Most local phone companies these days do have call forwarding plans, but you'd need to confirm that with them.



As to the second question, I have no idea since I've never done such a thing... ???



Tom

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

If you have call forwarding you can forward it to any phone number (ie cellphone). As to how you'd be charged on your cell it depends on your service. If you are in your home area then it would be billed as a local call. If you are out of your home area (roaming) then you would be charged as you would for a roaming call (ie possible long distance and roaming charges).