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Oklahoma Cellular Reviews
Mountain Wireless presents an opinionated review of wireless
and cellular phone services in Oklahoma.
This is information gained from personal
experience, user interviews, press
releases,
advertising material, newsgroups and
wireless
web sites.For Ratings of these carriers, Click Here.
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ALLTEL
Virtually all of the Alltel network in this
state has been purchased by Verizon Wireless. In some surrounding areas Alltel has been
acquired by ATN and will continue to operate under the Alltel
name. In other areas, Alltel customers will
transition to AT&T. See the Alltel divestiture map.
AT&T Review
AT&T
AT&T is what was once Cingular, which
was part of SBC, which took over AT&T
Wireless and took AT&T's name. They have
a large GSM network, but in the west, have
a lot less developed spectrum than in the
rest of the country. That is changing with
AT&T's acquisition of Alltel Wireless
in 76 markets in the western US. They claim
that their Alltel purchases will all be converted
to 3G GSM by July, 2011. Parts of the Alltel
network already provide GSM coverage. Other
areas will be converted on a market-by-market
basis. With GSM technology, AT&T will
roam more readily internationally, but there
are areas in the US with no GSM coverage.
AT&T's takeover of several cellular networks
has improved their service in some areas
already, including Alaska. AT&T offers
a good selection of GSM phones including
the Apple iPhone. Parts of what was the old
AT&T Wireless network in the interior
west is still not among the best. They still
suffer from some coverage 'holes', but they
are updating some of these areas. Most improvements
will be made in the "new" markets
and increasing data capacity instead of adding
cell sites in older areas. In several markets
where AT&T operates at 1900 MHz only, we have been disappointed, but not all
AT&T 1900 MHz-only markets are equal.
AT&T offers a variety of plans including
Unlimited minutes and services, and 'calling
circle' plans. They have extensive data coverage.
One of their greatest assets is also their
worst problem: the overwhelming success of
the Apple iPhone that mostly uses the AT&T
network. It has overloaded their system resulting
in dropped calls, interrupted data and slower
service.
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AT&T Review
Pros: AT&T has a large network and covers
much of the nation, usage is transparent
whether on- or off-network, good digital
and data services, good national plans, "Rollover"
for those who can use it, "Unlimited"
calling plans available, a good selection
of phones. Improvements in coverage have
been substantial in some areas, lacking in
others. Excellent international roaming capabilities,
and AT&T will now supply the unlock code
for all phones, except the iPhone, after
3 to 10 months. Additions of Alltel, Unicel
and Centennial network purchases give AT&T
substantial rural coverage improvements.
Cons: AT&T plans aren't as generous as
some, customers can only access GSM networks
which are not as universally available in
the US as CDMA, customer service varies from
above to below average, some markets have
a large number of dropped calls caused by
large data users.
Get Web-Only Discounts on Wireless from AT&T.
CELLULAR ONE (MTPCS)
"MTPCS" is the corporate name of
this Cellular One, formerly Chinook Wireless.
In Montana and Wyoming they have good coverage
and they are adding new cell sites, bringing
new GSM service to several areas that include
parts of Wyoming. In Mississippi, Texas and
Oklahoma, they have acquired existing cellular
networks spun off by other companies. There
is no relationship between Cellular One/MTPCS
and any of the old Cellular One companies.
In Montana and Wyoming you are dealing with
local people. They offer all the digital
goodies and have a reasonable selection of
phones. In the south they are in transition
and have contracted out their customer service,
so you are better to deal with the their
local stores. They have many choices of plans
and some of them are quite reasonable, and
they support Lifeline plans. They use GSM
technology which offers phones that, in some
markets, are not available elsewhere. Pros: Local folks in Montana and Wyoming,
they offer a variety of competitively-priced
plans including various options of National
plans and Local and National Unlimited plans
with a 'balance' of roaming and local minutes,
a 'rollover'-type option, good customer service
local stores. Cons: Their MT/WY coverage
is weak away from main roads and outside
of populated areas, in the south their service
is 'in transition' and coverage and service
issues are confusing.
Cellular One/MTPCS Local Coverage Maps
CELLULAR ONE OF TEXOMA
A small GSM carrier in the Texas/Oklahoma
border area, formerly Amerilink Wireless.
They have a wide variety of Local and National
plans and many options within those plans,
including Unlimited Local minutes. Their
coverage area is small but they allow roaming
on other GSM networks. Their Off-Peak and
Mobile to Mobile minutes are good only on
their own network, voice mail is extra on
most plans and there aren't many phones to
choose from.
Cricket Wireless Pros & Cons
CRICKET
Cricket offers Unlimited wireless usage for one price, but coverage
may be a little spotty. For the price, it
may work well for you or your family. They
have a variety of plans. With Unlimited usage,
the circuits may become overloaded. All plans
now feature "Nationwide" service
through roaming partners, which includes
Unlimited Talk & Text. Roaming partners
include most of the Sprint CDMA network.
Cricket is the largest "Unlimited' carrier
and is adding many new markets of their own.
You can use Cricket to replace a home wireline. Plans start as low as $30 ($25 in some
markets) with Family plans starting at $95
for 3 lines. Cricket also offers reasonable
Unlimited Broadband access which is currently
limited to their own markets, and supplies
a simple USB modem that plugs in to your
laptop.
Pros: Talk as much as you want, no contract,
most data & digital services are included,
good Broadband service, Unlimited coverage
now includes all US metro markets. Cons:
You must pre-pay, "unlimited" broadband
is limited to Cricket markets, off-network
roaming is available at an extra charge,
some dropped calls when circuits are busy.
Their pay-as-you-go plans aren't available
for more than a month at a time.
Get Online Discounts from Cricket
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EPIC PCS:
Epic PCS serves the SW corner of Kansas and
part of the Oklahoma panhandle. They are
a GSM carrier using PCS frequencies so you
should expect coverage along the main roads
but not some of the areas between them. They
offer several reasonably-priced Unlimited
plans and very competitive National plans.
They have a good selection of phones including
smart phones, and a very simple "senior"
phone with an amplified earpiece, but no
special senior plans. They are related to
EpicTouch that offers internet and other advanced
communication services and is related to
the local wireline, the Independent Telephone
Company. We expect customer service to be
above average.
MOBILZ
This GSM operator is the wireless arm of
the Cross Telephone Company of eastern Oklahoma.
They have Local and National plans which
are priced about average. Nights & Weekends
and Mobile to Mobile are charged extra.
NEXTEL
Nextel is a of part Sprint and in some offers,
Sprint hides Nextel's features. The combo
has allowed the two networks to start sharing
cell sites to improve coverage. Nextel's
spectrum is made up from a bunch of 2-way
radio channels, and they suffer from marginal
audio in some markets. Their coverage is
more robust in certain areas than others.
They cover urban areas and some interstates,
but there is little roaming elsewhere in
the state. They have an efficient '2-way'
radio feature which is handy for businesses and families who want to contact
each other as quickly as possible. Some of their plans aren't very competitive,
but they do offer free incoming calls. They
use 850 MHz so they have a strong signal
in most areas. Sprint has announced they
are not improving or expanding the Nextel
network. Boost Mobile uses the Nextel network
and it a good option for Unlimited Voice and Text. Rumors come up from time
to time that Sprint wants to sell off the
Nextel network, which may or may not include
Nextel customers.
Pros: The Direct Connect is a handy 'walkie-talkie'
service, robust coverage within their service
area. Cons: Some markets have poor audio,
they also have coverage limits and very limited
roaming, most of their phones are big and
lack variety, Nextel does not have fast broadband
features, neither the network nor the coverage
are being upgraded. Sprint has not treated
Nextel customers as well as those using the
Sprint network.
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PINE CELLULAR
Pine serves the southeast Oklahoma and Paris,
Texas areas. They have a large selection
of plans including Local, Regional, 6-state,
National, Unlimited, Prepaid and Lifeline.
Their Local plans are reasonable but their
Regional and National plans are expensive.
They don;t offer many phone models, but support
most digital features.
PIONEER WIRELESS
Pioneer has good coverage, especially in
northwest Oklahoma, with some service across
the border into southern Kansas, and their
entire network is 3G. Their Local plans include
the states of Oklahoma and Kansas. They have
a large selection of phones, including Blackberry,
but not from many manufacturers. They have a large selection of plans, including
Unlimited, and they are fairly generous. Plans over
$48 allow your minutes to carry over to the
next month. Their Local plans are a bit expensive
but are good if you don't leave the 2-state
area. Prices on their National plans are
about average. Nights & Weekends and
Mobile to Mobile are available, but at an
extra charge with lower-priced plans, and
are not unlimited. Pioneer is an "affiliate"
of Sprint so crossing into and out of Sprint
areas is relatively seamless. They are part
of the local communications cooperative,
so we expect better than average customer
service.
Pioneer Wireless Coverage
PTCI CELLULAR
The wireless services of the Panhandle Telephone
Cooperative have good coverage in the Oklahoma
panhandle. Their plans are overpriced, and
outside of their 4-state primary service
area roaming is somewhat limited. Their Unlimited
Mobile to Mobile and Nights and Weekends
minutes are limited to their own Oklahoma
network. They offer a good selection of phone
models. As part of the local telecommunications
cooperative they have better than average
customer service, and bundled discounts.
SPRINT
Sprint has a national, feature-rich digital
network. Their coverage is a little "fragile",
but where it's good, it's very good. Sprint
has a good selection of phones. Their plans
include the ability to roam in many systems
when away from their own coverage, as well
as any National plan. They offer an inexpensive
"basic" plan for only $30 per month.
They also offer a few Unlimited plans with
lots of features included. Sprint has added
service by taking over parts of some carriers'
networks, and "sharing" spectrum
with others. Sprint merged with Nextel which has created some beneficial network
configurations, including sharing of cell
sites. Sprint phones normally prefer the
network which, where available, gives Sprint
customers the best data throughput. Some
Sprint phones have the ability to force the
phone to "Roam Only", helping you
use the strongest network, however there
is a limit to how much roaming you can do,
generally 50%. Also, newer phones lack that
feature. Sprint does not offer their own
branded prepaid service but owns Boost Mobile
and Virgin Mobile prepaid. Pros: Sprint gives you good value for your
money, but is not necessarily the cheapest.
Sprint covers every urban area in the US,
maintains local stores, good roaming capabilities,
their digital and data features work very
well, they have a good selection of phones.
Sprint has good roaming agreements. Cons:
You might find a weak area right where you
want coverage, some of their plans are not
very competitive, customer service is a notch below average.
Get Online Discounts on Sprint Phones
More Sprint Pros & Cons
SPROCKET WIRELESS
Sprocket is a small carrier serving the east
central part of Oklahoma just south of Tulsa.
They offer 4 flavors of Unlimited minutes
plans which do not include Long Distance,
but you can choose which features you want
included. Basic plans start at $30 and coverage
is adequate. They offer "Lifeline"
plans.
T-MOBILE
T-Mobile works very well within their service
area. While they have a slight disadvantage
with their higher PCS frequency, they make
up for it with strategically-located sites.
T-Mobile doesn't serve many rural areas,
but provides coverage along most interstates.
They offer roaming in rural areas, and the
network is still growing, although often
they're just 'filling in'. They offer some
handy features like "My-Favs" which
includes Unlimited calling to your choice
of five numbers, regardless of network, "Kid
Connect" which helps you limit the amount
of charges your kids can rack up, and an
Unlimited "Hot Spot" plan using
your home wi-fi connection. They have plans
that include unlimited voice and messaging.
Pros: Generous included-minute plans, National
and Regional plans, "Unlimited" calling plan available, good urban coverage, good choice of phones,
good pre-paid plans, good roaming capabilities,
including internationally. Good customer
service. Cons: Some weak spots, limited data
bandwidth, high international roaming charges.
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TracFone Pros & Cons
TRACFONE
Tracfone isn't an actual cellular carrier
but is a major supplier of wireless phones
and service. They are the largest prepaid
cellular company and arrange for their phones
to use whichever wireless carrier is available
in a given geographic area. As a result,
Tracfone actually has more included roaming
coverage available than perhaps any other
single company. They offer price points that
start below $9 a month and offer all the
advantages of prepaid services. They also
feature monthly plans and offer promotions
with bonus minutes, and plans with 365-day
expiration. Their service is mostly limited
to Voice and Text but does support data use
of their web-capable phones. They offer the
option of having the charges deducted from
your credit card or charge account automatically,
eliminating the need to renew on an exact
expiration date. TracFone offers Free international
calls to about 60 countries by calling a
special number, and with their International
Neighbors features, can provide a local number
in Mexico or Canada for incoming calls from
those countries at Local rates for both callers.
Tracfone offers additional plan options through
NET10.
Pros: Coverage and Local service, available
virtually everywhere in the US, good price
plans with no roaming or long distance charges,
Local numbers in all markets, included Long
Distance calling to 60 countries. Cons: They
have a small selection of phones, no smart phones, coverage is determined by the phone model
(CDMA or GSM) which may limit your roaming
coverage, no roaming outside the US.
Get Online Deals on TracFone
US CELLULAR
US Cellular is a good company that offers
good coverage, good plans and lots of features,
and a good selection of CDMA phones. Unlimited
incoming calls are available on most plans.
In some plans, Nights & Weekends begin
at 7pm, others start at 9pm. They offer a
large selection of phones including Smart
phones. They have fairly good roaming capabilities.
They have a $20/100 minute "Piece of
Mind Plan." In Chicago they use 1900
MHz frequencies which has more dead spots.
They have a number of customer-friendly features
like usage notifications and free battery
swaps.
Pros: Their price plans are competitive,
and they offer National and Regional plans,
"Unlimited" calling plan available,
good customer service, National plans appear
to be all-inclusive and roaming has good
coverage, mostly with Verizon Wireless. Cons:
Mobile to Mobile minutes are extra on lower-tier
plans, Unlimited Nights & Weekends have
confusing start times.
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VERIZON WIRELESS
Verizon is the largest cellular carrier in
the US. They have taken over a large portion
of the Alltel network and are now dominant in rural America.
Cellular service in a few of Alltel's local markets are being sold to other companies, but no
Verizon coverage will be lost. Their claim
to fame is superior coverage, especially
in the west. They use PCS frequencies only
in a few areas, but they have constructed
those networks well. In the few places where they don't have their
own coverage, they have roaming agreements
with other carriers, normally ones with superior
coverage. Therefore, their "National"
plans, which include almost all of the country,
are about as close to "wall-to-wall"
as you can get. Their reasonably-priced plans
have no roaming or long distance charges,
and they also throw in Unlimited Night and
Weekend minutes as well as Unlimited calls
among Verizon Wireless users both on and
off their own network (there are a few exceptions).
They offer fairly competitive prices, and
often have promotions. They also offer plans
that include Unlimited Voice and other features
at various fixed price levels. Data service
is excellent with various price plans. Verizon
forces their phone manufacturers to offer
a "standardized" user interface,
limiting menu and font variations. This could
mean the screen appearance may not be to
your liking or the fonts may be too small.
Smart and data-type phones require a per-Mb
plan. They have the largest area of 3G coverage in the US.
Pros: Verizon has reasonably-priced plans,
"Unlimited" calling plans available,
extensive coverage, wide-ranging National
plans, excellent customer service and 'customer-friendly'
policies. With such a large coverage area
of their own little roaming is necessary,
but their roaming partners normally have
superior coverage. Cons: Some Verizon plans
are a little more expensive, Customer Service
closes at 11pm, but technical assistance
is available 24/7, there are some billing
transition concerns as they take over other
carriers, they don't offer as many "cute"
phones, they 'cripple' some User Interface
functions like larger fonts: make sure you
can read their submenus before buying. Some
of their data services are not available
while roaming.
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