|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Mountain Wireless presents an opinionated review of the wireless and cellular services in Wyoming. 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.
ALLTEL EDGE WIRELESS
NEXTEL SILVER STAR PCS |
SPRINT
Sprint has a national, feature-rich digital
network. Their coverage is a little "fragile",
but where it's good, it's very good. You
can roam over more territory than any other
single carrier. Sprint has a good selection
of phones. Their plans include roaming over
most of the country, and work about 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 PCS merged with Nextel which has created some beneficial network
configurations, including sharing of cell
sites. Sprint roaming often prefers the Alltel network which, where available, gives Sprint
customers excellent data throughput. Many
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%. Pros: Sprint gives you good value for your
money, but is not necessarily the cheapest.
Sprint covers every urban area in the U.S.,
maintains local service stores, very good
roaming capabilities, their digital and data
network work very well, good selection of
phones. Sprint has excellent roaming agreements,
while some other carriers are restricting
theirs. 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.
Click here for more Sprint Pros & Cons
Get Online Discounts on Sprint Phones
SYRINGA WIRELESS
This small carrier is a combination of local
PCS carriers and co-op telephone companies
in SE Idaho and western WY. They offer Local,
Regional and National plans, but they are
a bit overpriced when any extra-minute features
are added. Their Regional plans include 7
nearby states and one more of your choice.
They have a $20 plan as well as Unlimited
plans. Coverage is good but limited. They
are very local so customer service is above
average. The company is named after the Idaho
state flower.
UBET WIRELESS
This division of the Uintah Basin Telephone
Association covers a small part of the northeastern
part of Utah around Vernal and surrounding
areas of Wyoming and Colorado. Their cellular system has good coverage
and offers free LD. Their PCS plans have
more features and coverage. They have many
plans including a $20 "Security"
plan, National plans with no roaming charges,
and an "Unlimited" plan. Pros: As a local coop, customer service is
better than average, they offer a variety
of plans including Unlimited. Cons: Extended
and National plans are expensive, their web
site offers no idea what selection of phones
they offer.
UBET Coverage Map
Click Here for UBET's Extended Local Coverage
Map.
UNION WIRELESS
Serving Wyoming and Northwest Colorado, Union
has a good network in most areas. In some
they are the only game in town. They are
using GSM technology and are one of the few
companies still offering "Telular"
service, a wireless service connected to
home wiring. They offer reasonable Regional
plans, but their National plans are expensive.
Bundles are available. Pros: It is a small company and has a personal
touch, they are the only carrier available
in some areas of Wyoming, they offer some
digital features. They have reasonably-priced
Regional plans. Cons: While their western
WY coverage is very good, coverage in the
eastern half of Wyoming is limited to in-town
and interstate highways only.
VERIZON WIRELESS
Verizon's 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 the carriers
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 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. Pros: Verizon has reasonably-priced plans,
"Unlimited" calling plans available,
extensive coverage, wide-ranging National
plans, excellent customer service, all-digital
service, and 'customer-friendly' policies.
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 oddities, 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.
Click here for additional Verizon Pros & Cons
Get Online Discounts from Verizon Wireless
Find a cellular store near you:
| HOME | SITE MAP | DISCOUNTS | ABOUT US | CONTACT US | PRIVACY |