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Cellular Carrier Reviews
Mountain Wireless presents an opinionated review of wireless and cellular phone services in the U.S. This is information gained from personal experience, user interviews, press releases, advertising material, newsgroups and wireless web sites. This list includes all the wireless carriers we review. For Ratings of these carriers, Click Here.
AIRPEAK
This is a small carrier in the Reno/Tahoe area
that combines your cellular phone with a
2-way radio for instant communication, similar
to Nextel. Pros: A local company and claims good coverage
in their service area. Cons: Roaming outside
their local area is limited to 6 other western
cities, their plans are pricey for such limited
coverage..
AIRTEL
They are an iDen technology carrier serving
the four largest urban areas of Montana.
They call themselves, "Montana's answer
to Nextel..." So expect a combination
cellular phone and walkie-talkie with variations
of service available. Their price plans are
very simple: Unlimited, then with various
inclusions like Long Distance, Text and Voice
Mail. Pros: Unlimited rates, very simple pricing,
digital features. Cons: No roaming, no National
plan, limited coverage.
ALLTEL
Alltel has agreed to be purchased by Verizon Wireless. This transaction is not expected to be
completed until 2009. While we feel this
is not a good deal for the cellular consumer,
there is no reason to avoid signing up with
Alltel for now. Most plans will be honored
and the changeover will be relatively painless.
We are following developments on the Mountain Wireless Blog. In the meantime, Alltel covers more real
estate in the US than any other carrier.
Most of that territory is rural and in those
areas they are often the best carrier available.
Both in the rural and areas and the large
cities they serve they have very good coverage,
good customer service and utilize a fairly
advanced network. You can take your Alltel
phone into most urban areas and still get
excellent coverage and reliable data service.
To achieve this goal, Alltel phones will
roam on Sprint more often than other carriers.
Sprint has good broadband services, but after
the ownership change you will be roaming
on Verizon's huge network, which covers more
territory that Sprint. Alltel offers "Local"
and "No-Roaming-Charges-Anywhere"
plans, and is the only large carrier that
offers a "North American" plan
which includes roaming calls from Mexico
and Canada. Expect this to go away under
Verizon, but may be 'grandfathered.' With
Alltel's domination of rural coverage, they
are the king of roaming carriers, serving
roamers from most of the other carriers,
primarily in the western half of the US.
They offer CDMA service to their own customers
and roamers, and GSM service for roamers,
but not in all areas. They have been aggressive
in pricing their plans and features, and
also offer a basic, Unlimited plan. Pros: Good coverage, very good prices, a
variety of plans, good customer service,
good broadband services including while roaming.
Cons: Roaming may be a problem when favoring
Sprint, fewer phone choices, Alltel isn't
aggressively adding new towers.
Get Online Discounts on Alltel Phones
ALL WEST WIRELESS
All West is a small local wireline co-op
east of Salt Lake City that also offers wireless
service. They offer unlimited calling within
their Local coverage area which includes
the service areas of several other wireless
co-ops, but not in Salt Lake City itself.
Statewide and nationwide roaming is available,
but it's not unlimited.
AMERILINK
A small GSM carrier in the Texas/Oklahoma
border area. They have a wide variety of
plans and many options within those plans,
including lots of almost-unlimited options
(5,000 minutes). Their coverage area is small
but they allow roaming on other GSM networks.
Their downsides are that voice mail is extra
on most plans and there aren't many phones
to choose from.
AT&T
AT&T is what was once Cingular, part
of which once was AT&T Wireless. Try
not be confused. Today's AT&T has a large
network, but in the west, has a lot less
spectrum available than in the rest of the
country. They continue to expand, but outside
of urban areas and off interstate highways
they depend on other carriers to provide
coverage. Fortunately, the 'roaming' coverage
is as good as being on the AT&T network,
and most of the coverage is included within
your plan minutes. With GSM, AT&T will
roam more readily, internationally.
Much of the AT&T network in the interior
west is made up of the old AT&T Wireless
network which was not among the best. They
still suffer from some coverage 'holes',
but they are updating these areas. Notable
is their
"Corridor" project which provides excellent service along several
stretches of interstate highways. AT&T's
current plans include only the GSM network,
thus have some areas of the country with
no service due to a lack of GSM coverage,
or the inability to access existing analog
networks, even for 911 service. In several
markets where AT&T operates at 1900 MHz
only, we have been very disappointed. The
biggest surprise is where Cingular combined
with the old AT&T Wireless. We would
have expected coverage to improve dramatically,
but that is not the case. Not all AT&T
1900 MHz-only markets are equal, though.
In Arizona AT&T is generally as good
as the others, but in northern Ohio it is
disappointing, to the point of being unusable,
although they have covered the major roads
adequately in those areas. This map shows
AT&T 1900 MHz-only areas. AT&T offers a variety of plans including
unlimited minutes and services.
Pros: AT&T has a very 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 plan available, a good selection
of phones. In some areas, like California,
there have been big improvements in coverage.
Excellent international roaming capabilities.
Cons: AT&T plans aren't as generous as
some, customers can only access GSM networks
which is not quite as universally available
as CDMA, customer service is sometimes below
average.
Get Online Discounts on Wireless from AT&T.
BLANCA TELEPHONE WIRELESS
Based in Alamosa, Colorado, Blanca is part
of the local telco, Blanca Telephone Company.
They have good coverage in Costilla and Conejos
Counties. If you had a home in their service
area, using Blanca Wireless would be an excellent
substitute for wireline service. The phone
would also work outside of the home area,
mostly roaming on Verizon Wireless. You could
sign up for their local service, but you
could roam on them for free if you sign up
for a Verizon plan in any other city in the
area, like Alamosa or Pueblo. Pros: Small means good, personal service,
they're all-digital and the only plan they
offer is for unlimited local service for
about $20 per month. The phone will work
nationally. Cons: They don't offer any fancy
features, just the basics. Limited phone
choices. Roaming fees, while reasonable,
are not predictable, they are extra, charged
by the minute, and the rate depends on the
roaming carrier.
Blanca Wireless Coverage map
BRAZOS CELLULAR
Based in Olney, Texas, Brazos offers digital service and good coverage.
They have a variety of Local, State and National
plans with roaming mostly on the Sprint PCS network.
Their prices seem to be a little high, but may be the best offer in the area.
CAPROCK CELLULAR
Centered on the town of Spur, Texas, Caprock
offers digital service and good coverage.
They are the local phone coop, so we expect
customer service to be better than average.
They show Local, Regional and National coverage
maps, but only offer a "National"
plan. Prices are reasonable but with those
plans, 50% of your calls must be made on
the Caprock network. If you exceed 50% while
roaming your per minute charge is then .20
per minute.
CAROLINA WEST WIRELESS
Good Local coverage. They offer plans that
include free national roaming and very economical
local plans, with a Local "Unlimited"
plan for $50.
CC COMMUNICATIONS
CC covers the the interior of Nevada. They
have good coverage with plans that cover
the whole state without roaming charges.
They offer Unlimited Local plans that include
a few roaming minutes. Their National plans
are expensive, however, their Unlimited National
plan is surprisingly affordable. Pros: They offer good no-roaming plans across
the whole state, National plans, reasonable
Local and National Unlimited plans. Cons: $5 fee to change plans
or features, Follow-Me Roaming may need to be initiated daily.
CC Communications Coverage Map
CELLULAR ONE (DOBSON)
Dobson has been purchased by AT&T.
CELLULAR ONE OF EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS
Cellular One offers generous plans for their
two-state home area ("Illiana"),
and plans comparable to Cingular for national
plans. A GSM carrier.
CELLULAR ONE OF EAST TEXAS
Cellular One of East Texas was created to satisfy the requirements of
divesting the Cingular and AT&T Wireless properties around Nocogdoches County.
Their plans and coverage mirror
those of AT&T.
CELLULAR ONE (Montana)
Cellular One is the unfortunate choice of
a new name for Chinook Wireless. It is unfortunate
in that there was a Cellular One in Montana
before, and there is no relationship between
the two, but there is still a perception
of what Cellular One once was, for better
or worse. This Cellular One has aligned itself
with a few other small "Cellular One's"
elsewhere in the country with no benefit
to Montana customers. We like to deal with
a local company more than a big, ugly "national"
company, but we'll deal with it. Cellular
One seems to be identical to the old Chinook
which includes a usable network that operates
on PCS frequencies which limits coverage
to in-town and along main roads. They offer
all the digital goodies. They use GSM technology
which offers phones not available elsewhere
in the state. Pros: Local folks, they offer a variety of
plans including various options of National
plans and Unlimited with a 'balance' of roaming
and local minutes, a 'rollover'-type option,
good customer service. Cons: Their coverage
is weak away from main roads and outside
of populated areas, with no GSM roaming agreement with Alltel there are huge areas with no coverage
across the west.
Chinook's Final Local Coverage Map
CELLULAR ONE OF NORTHEAST ARIZONA:
They are a very aggressive operator.
They have the best, or only coverage
among the largest Arizona Native American reservations. They also expanded into western New Mexico, added PCS licenses, added new sites
across the 4-Corners area, added an 850 MHz GSM overlay, and plans to add more cell sites.
They have special low-cost wireless programs.
They also encourage fixed wireless service
for homes away from wirelines. Their
web site has improved and actually shows indigenous pictures and a detailed coverage map.
A change in web address implies a forthcoming name change: 4CornersWireless. Pros: Excellent coverage, big selection of
plans including Regional and National plans,
locally-owned, good customer service, life-line
plans. Cons: Some areas are still analog which means users with digital phones can only access parts
of the network (there are no GSM + analog phones),
their National plans are expensive.
CELLULAR ONE OF NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
This Cellular One serves two counties and
has plans that start as cheap at $19. They
have Local, "Tri-State" (PA, NY,
NJ), and National plans and they are reasonably
priced. All plans, except the cheapest, include
all features. They have good coverage and
good roaming agreements.
CELLULAR ONE-SAN LUIS OBISPO
A very good carrier. Good customer service. A local company.
They now offer Unlimited Minutes for $35 which does not include Long Distance
charges or roaming outside the county. It appears you can roam with your phone,
but you'll have to ask what the charges will be.
CELLULAR 29 PLUS
They have plans that start as low as $20/month.
Some plans are generous but more money per
month doesn't buy you at lot more minutes.
Mobile to mobile area is limited to their
southwestern Iowa service area.
CELLULAR SOUTH
Cellular South has a variety of plans, and
now offers their Unlimited plan for nationwide
calling. Their unlimited plan isn't cheap,
they start at $80, but you can roam over
most of the country without any charges for
roaming, long distance, or features like
voice mail. We have received few reports
on them, good or bad, so it should be a sound
choice if only to check out their unlimited
service. It may be time to drop that wire
line.
CENTENNIAL WIRELESS
Centennial is a regional carrier with several
flavors of "National" plans. One
offers service virtually anywhere you can
receive a GSM signal, the others are limited
to their own network and "preferred"
roaming partners. They also offer "Local"
plans. Their plans appear to be expensive,
but their web site is hard to navigate and
seems to be lacking some information. Mobile
to mobile and incoming calls may be free,
but it depends on how they define their "Blue"
network. They offer several phones and services,
but most features. like voice mail, caller
ID, etc, are extra.
Get Online Discounts on Centennial Wireless Phones
CHARITON VALLEY WIRELESS
Chariton serves the north central part of
Missouri. They have little online information
other than their prepaaid plan. Since they
are a local telephoone cooperative we expect
customer service to be better than average.
CHINOOK WIRELESS
Chinook is now known as Cellular One (Montana).
CINCINNATI BELL
Cincinnati Bell is a nice little company
that has fairly good coverage across their
southwest Ohio/northwest Kentucky area. They
have improved their pricing and offer
national roaming on Cingular, and an Unlimited
plan. Cingular has their own coverage in
the area so you need to choose one over the
other based on features and price. Cincinnati
Bell offers bundle pricing.
CINGULAR WIRELESS
Cingular is now known as AT&T.
CLEARTALK
Cleartalk serves small communites in several
states. If you live there, you'll be doing
business with locals. They offer some of
the features of an all-digital system, but
no data. They have a reasonable plan that
give you thousands, or unlimited, minutes.
Some customers have roaming service available
on Sprint. Pros: Good prices and responsive local service,
some digital features, Free Mobile to Mobile
calls. Cons: Limited roaming, No national
plans, poor selection of phones, some plans
charge extra for voice mail.
COMMNET WIRELESS
Commnet has been building cell sites in locations
that have been overlooked by other carriers.
You can't sign up for service with them.
Their sole existence relies on roaming by
other carriers' customers. Some carriers
include Commnet in their Roaming Lists, others
allow roaming if their phones access Commnet's
sites, and some forbid roaming on them. So
if the closest, or only, cell site near you
is owned by Commnet, you need to find out
if you can sign up with a different carrier,
possibly at another address, making sure
their service will allow roaming on that
Commnet site. They are also known by other
names, and their sites offer a different
combination of CDMA, GSM and analog technology.
Commnet has been searching out areas with
little or no coverage and is credited for
adding new coverage there. In most cases,
you'll have no idea you're using a Commnet
site.
Commnet Coverage Maps
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. Plans with nationwide roaming
are available but those minutes are not unlimited.
Cricket is the largest "Unlimited' carrier
and is adding many new markets, and your
minutes can be unlimited in each of those
markets. You can use Cricket to replace a
home wireline. In some markets, coverage
is being expanded. Pros: Talk as much as you want, no contract,
most data & digital serves are included.
Cons: You must pre-pay, "unlimited"
coverage is limited to just within their
home area(s), roaming is available but at
an extra charge, some dropped calls when
circuits are busy.
Get Online Discounts from Cricket
DIGITAL CELLULAR OF TEXAS
Digital Cellular of texas has been sold to
AT&T
EDGE WIRELESS
Edge is in the process of being purchased
by AT&T. This is a small system that would work
for you if you use your phone around OR,
ID, N.CA, & WY. Pros: They are all digital, and aside from
competitive local plans, they offer the same
type of national plans as AT&T/Cingular.
Cons: The are using PCS frequencies to cover
large rural areas and don't have great coverage
off the main roads.
Edge Wireless Coverage Map
EPIC PCS:
Epic PCS serves the SW corner of Kansas and
part of the Oklahoma panhandle. They are
a GSM carrier using 1900 MHz frequencies
so you should expect coverage along the main
roads but not some of the areas between them.
They offer a basic "unlimited"
plan for local calls. They try to serve customers
with a similar experience as a wireline in
that if it's a long distance call on wireline,
it is on Epic PCS as well. They are related
to EpicTouch that offers internet and other advanced
communication services and is related to
the local wireline, the Independent Telephone
Company. As of 2007 they have 36 cell sites.
As usual, we recommend that you give a local
carrier like this a try.
ETEX CELLULAR
A nice local carrier in the east Texas area
around Gilmer. They offer digital service
and National and Regional plans. The plans
are reasonably priced.
FARMERS MUTUAL TELEPHONE COMPANY
Wireless from FMTC serves small towns on
the Idaho/Oregon border including Fruitland,
ID. Their Local plans include a few rural
areas in WY, CO and UT. Their plans are expensive
but include most features, Roaming is very
expensive, but roaming packages are available
and they access most CDMA carriers. Only
a few plans are available but they start
at $20/month.
FMTC "Extended" Local Coverage
Map
FIVE STAR WIRELESS
A cellular provider in the Texas Hill Country
with good coverage and Local, Texas Statewide
and National plans. Except for the Local
plans, they don't offer many minutes for
your money, but their Local plan's roaming
charges are reasonable.
GOLDEN STATE CELLULAR
Located in Yosemite National Park and surrounding
areas, Golden State's Local plans include
some free National roaming. They have plans
starting at $30, and national plans are about
average in cost. Their Mobile to Mobile and
Free Nights & Weekend minutes are available
only in their home area. They have good coverage
outside of Yosemite Park, and a few sites
within. Some sites may still be analog. If
you can't find their local coverage map,
here is a link to
Golden State's Coverage Map.
ILLINOIS VALLEY CELLULAR
Illinois Valley serves a small area outside
of Chicago with reasonable plans, including
Unlimited and National plans, but charge
extra for voice mail and Text.
INDIGO WIRELESS (Nebraska)
Indigo covers most of the panhandle of the
state. They only offer Unlimited minutes
for $19.95. Pros: Plan is cheap, Coverage is good, National
service is available. Cons: Phone selection
is small, roaming is expensive, there are
few local stores, Long Distance charges are
extra, service uses TDMA technology which
is shrinking across the country.
INDIGO WIRELESS (Pennsylvania)
Serving 5 counties in northern Pennsylvania,
Indigo has very reasonable plans. For $30
you can get Unlimited calls within their
local service area, and 450 minutes to be
used roaming anywhere in the U.S. on other
GSM networks. No reports on coverage, but
if it's adequate, this is a very good deal.
They have a nice selection of phones.
INLAND CELLULAR
A small company serving southeast Washington
and north central Idaho. They have added
CDMA digital service to their sites. Off-peak
and Mobile to Mobile minutes are available,
but on-network only. They offer packages
with data included. Roaming was a challenge
with Inland, we can only hope they have automated
the process. Pros: Good coverage, their plans include
several price levels with regional and "National"
coverage. Cons: Their plans are a bit pricey,
they imply roaming coverage is limited.
I WIRELESS
This is Iowa's affiliate of T-mobile. Plans
are similar to T-Mobile's and promotions
include lots of minutes. Most coverage is
in the eastern half of the state, with Des
Moines served mostly by T-Mobile.
LAMAR COUNTY CELLULAR
Located in Paris, TX. Lamar has plans that
include several counties around Lamar including
Dallas/Fort Worth. No online information,
the link is to info from GSM World. Their
number is 903-785-8852.
LEACO WIRELESS
This carrier covers southeast New Mexico.
They offer Local and Regional plans including
Unlimited Local plans. National plans are
a little expensive. They have plans as low
as $16 and "Lifeline" service starting
at $5 per month. Our information is a bit
dated and their web site does not provide
many details beyond price plans. Leaco is
a local phone cooperative so we expect customer
service to be above average. PROS: Good coverage outside of town, several
phones from which to choose. CONS: Some over-capacity
problems in town, voice mail and the voice
mail indicator are (were?) extra.
LONG LINES WIRELESS
A small GSM carrier in Iowa. Plans start
at $30 and they offer "unlimited"
plans with various amounts of nationwide
roaming minutes included.
METRO PCS
A 'flat rate' carrier in a handful of cities
including Los Angeles. They offer unlimited-minutes
wireless coverage for one price including
text messaging, but their coverage area is
limited. For the price, it may work well
for you or your family. Plans start at $30
per month and Family plans as low as $100
for 4 handsets. Metro PCS allows "unlocked"
CDMA phones from other sources to be activated
on their network. Pros: Talk as much as you want, and feature
all the digital features. Cons: You must
pre-pay, and unlimited coverage is limited
just to in-town. Voice mail and LD are extra
in some plans, roaming is available at extra
cost but is free in other Metro PCS markets,
roaming must be activated and deactivated
each time you travel, they are still growing
so there are still some areas with poor or
no coverage.
Get Online Discounts from Metro PCS
MID RIVERS CELLULAR
Mid Rivers covers the east central part of
Montana. They offer some somewhat-dated digital
phones and an analog bag phone. They are part of a local telephone co-op,
so they are pretty friendly, and easy to
deal with. Their calling plans are a little
overpriced, but they offer lots of roaming
minutes, presumably national. There are extra
charges for each different feature like Caller
ID, Voice Mail, Long Distance, etc, but are
free, if you ask for them, with some plans. No contract is
required.
MID-TEX CELLULAR
Good coverage and they offer plans that allow
you to choose the features you want including
Unlimited Local calling and All-Texas plans.
Plans start as low as $15 per month with
lots of "a la carte" selections
to customize your plan. They offer mostly
Nokia and Motorola GSM phones to their own
customers, but also support CDMA roamers.
Their National plans are little expensive
but you can save by adding only the number
of roaming minutes you need.
MOBI PCS
Hawaii's own 'home-grown' carrier. They offer
various levels of unlimited service with
prices starting at $40. They use the more
"fragile" PCS frequencies and coverage
is limited to the more populated areas of
the four main islands. Mainland roaming is
available as an add-on item. They offer a
relatively large number of phones, but not
many data units.
MOHAVE WIRELESS
Covering northwest Arizona, Mohave (also
known as Citizen's Mohave) is small but real
people answer the phone on the first or second
ring. They have upgraded to CDMA digital
at all of their sites, so most digital features
are available. Mohave is 40% owned by Verizon.
Pros: Very personal service, they offer Regional
and National plans, a local "unlimited"
plan, and digital features. Cons: Their plans
are expensive. We receive complaints about
poor coverage. We advise if you are a customer
of another carrier and are having problems
with Mohave, make sure you're using the latest
PRL.
Mohave now has a good coverage map on their
web site, but here is our copy of the Mohave Wireless Coverage
Map.
NEX-TECH WIRELESS
Based in Hays, Kansas, Nex-Tech is a new
carrier that was formed with help from the
Sprint Roaming Alliance. Nex-Tech is not
like the old Sprint "affiliates",
they seem to operate independently and allow
their customers to roam on the Sprint network.
They also seem to be inking their own roaming
agreements with other wireless carriers.
Nex-Tech in turn will fill a big gap for
Sprint customers across western Kansas and
along the I-70 corridor in Colorado to near
Denver. Nex-Tech is aiming for CDMA coverage
in every western Kansas town "with more
than 300 people." They are a partnership
of several local telephone co-ops so we would
expect customer service to be above average. Coverage is at 1900 MHz, but
with their projected number of sites, that shouldn't be a disadvantage.
They may have coverage where other carriers
have none. They have opened several retail
locations. While they offer local coverage
along I-70 in Colorado, they are not soliciting
Colorado customers. They seem to hope to
operate under the radar of another major
carrier by offering similar features, like
"Rollover Minutes" and "2Go-Phone", which are close to, or identical
to registered trademarks of another carrier.
NEXTEL
Nextel has merged with Sprint. This creates
new potential network configurations, and
has already 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 a business
or a family. 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. Pros: The Direct Connect is a handy 'walkie-talkie'
service, they are still improving coverage,
good digital features. Cons: Some markets
have poor audio, they also have coverage
limits and very limited roaming, most of
their phones are big and lack variety.
Get Online Discounts on Nextel Phones
NNTC WIRELESS
A small PCS carrier from the Nucla-Naturita
Telephone Company in western Colorado. "Home"
coverage is available on a few other rural
systems in CO, UT, OR, ID and WY. Roaming
coverage provides service elsewhere, their
primary roaming partners are Sprint and Alltel.
They have Local, Unlimited, National and
Business plans. Many features, like voice
mail, are extra. They have no web site. Their
phone number is (970) 864-7335.
Click Here for NNTC's Extended Local Coverage
Map.
NORTHWEST MISSOURI CELLULAR
Northwest has an extensive network in their
home area and offers reasonably-price plans
for Local, regional and National plans. They
have 2 versions of Unlimited-minutes service
based on the number of counties you can call
from. they offer Fixed Wireless and Lifeline
plans. They have several phones to choose
including a "bag" phone.
PACE CELLULAR
Pace is a division of the Kaplan Telephone
Company and is offered as a wireless extension
of their business. They offer both Local
and National Plans. The Local plans offer
lots of minutes for the money but only in
a small area, mostly the Vermilion Parish
of south Louisiana. The national plans are
expensive and they claim incoming minutes
are free. They offer many models of GSM phones
and lots of data features.
PEOPLE'S WIRELESS
This small carrier, based in Quitman, Texas,
has reasonable plans and they include free
long distance and national roaming. Their
plans are reasonable and start as low as
$22. They offer some fairly recent phones.
"Unlimited Night & Weekend Minutes"
are available in their 2-county home area
only.
PIONEER WIRELESS
Pioneer has good coverage in OK. Prices are
reasonable for service in and around the
state, but national service is pricey. Off-peak
services are extra or included with the more
expensive plans.
PLATEAU WIRELESS
This cellular carrier covers much of eastern
New Mexico and west central Texas. They offer
both analog and digital service, and a wide
range of plans. They support both TDMA and
GSM, but we don't know if digital is available
throughout the system. While their coverage
seems to be good, we hear of complaints that
there are problems. They have added many
new cell sites lately which should improve
that situation. Their rate plans are fairly
expensive, but they start as low as $20/month
although not all features are included with
the cheaper plans. Plateau has notified the
FCC they will not be shutting off analog
for the foreseeable future.
POKA LAMBRO:
The Wireless division of Poka Lambro has
been sold to AT&T.
POCKET COMMUNICATIONS
A local PCS carrier in San Antonio and Laredo,
Texas. They offer Unlimited calls on their
own network starting at only $24 per month,
with options that include digital features
and free Long Distance. They are adding new
sites, so expect coverage to get better.
Roaming is available over most, but not all,
of the country. Most notably missing is roaming
on Alltel which covers most of the western
half of Texas. Hopefully, this is a problem
soon to be corrected or just a quirk in their
roaming coverage maps. Some of their plans
includes free Text Messaging to Mexico.
RAMCELL
They are the original cellular carrier of
the southwest part of Oregon and recently
have upgraded to digital. They have agreed
to be purchased by Verizon Wireless. This should improve service for current
Ramcell customers as they have been slow
to adopt digital features like EV-DO service.
Ramcell also offers TDMA service in Kentucky
which means all Kentucky customers will get
new phones and greatly expanded roaming opportunities.
Ramcell will continue to operate in North
Carolina.
REVOL
Revol markets themselves to the young user
who may care more for the appearance than
the service. Plans start at $27 and include
Unlimited minutes, and they offer "Push
to Talk" service. They have coverage
across several cities around the Great lakes, but their service is sometimes spotty away
from main roads and larger neighborhoods.
QWEST WIRELESS
Qwest has decided to no longer sell Qwest-branded
wireless service (as an MVNO). Until Spring, 2009, they will support
their wireless customers who utilize the
Sprint network. Instead, Qwest will offer
Verizon phones as part of their "bundles".
You will be able to save on the combination
of Qwest services and a Verizon phone, and
Qwest will continue the integration of your
Qwest home phone with wireless including
consolidated voice mail, but only for Verizon
customers who subscribe through Qwest. When
Qwest no longer offers "Qwest"
phones we will probably delete them from
our Reviews. We have already removed them
from other parts of our web site as they
will no longer offer services we considered
useful as a separate offering. See Verizon Wireless for information about their network.
SAGEBRUSH CELLULAR
They cover northeastern Montana. They have
good coverage across their area, and have
regional and Unlimited plans. They have added new
CDMA digital sites, but don't appear to be converting existing sites,
you can roam in adjacent states
and provinces.
Pros: Good coverage, a variety of plans, Unlimted plans available. Cons:
Voice Mail and long distance charges are
extra, their non-Unlimited plans aren't very generous,
most of their towers are still analog-only, no national plans.
SOUTH CENTRAL COMMUNICATIONS
South Central has a small PCS wireless network
designed to cover Southwest Utah along the
I-15 corridor and surrounding towns. Their
plans include more minutes than average,
and their "Regional" plans include
a certain number of roaming minutes, first
incoming minute free and 6-second billing,
but we don't know what their "region"
is unless it's their own network. They have
a local "Unlimited" plan, with
no features included. There are 4 levels
of voice mail. Pros: As a local telephone cooperative, we
would imagine customer service is above average,
they have reasonably-priced plan starting
at $30 and offer "Telular" service,
Regional and National plans. Cons: Long distance
charges may apply while roaming, you need
to re-program your phone to avoid accidental
roaming, phone selection is good but limited.
Click Here for SCC's Extended Local Coverage
Map
SILVER STAR PCS
This is a very small system set up by the
local telephone (co-op?) company south of
the Jackson Hole, WY area. This is a very
mountainous and sparsely-populated area.
They have a good selection of CDMA phones.
They offer a wide range of plans that include
just their own coverage area, just a few
counties in east central Wyoming, the 2-state
'border' area, a multi-state region that
includes the mountain states, California,
and an eighth state of your choosing, or
a National plan. We don't know much about
this company, but systems like this eventually
suffer from a lack of customers and may have
maintenance and expansion challenges. Pros: They may have the best coverage in their
small area where other providers have many
dead spots, they offer most of the latest
digital features, they have a large selection
of plans, they should have good customer
service, 'bundling' should be available.
Cons: Their service area is tiny and at PCS
frequencies they may have quite a few 'holes',
their plans are overpriced.
SNAKE RIVER PCS
Based in the Boise area, you can use your
phone without roaming charges across the
Northwest. It appears as though you'll be
roaming on the Sprint PCS network when
outside of Boise. Pros: Continuous coverage among larger Northwest
cities, digital service and features, they
appear to have a regional no-roaming plan
that includes service in the three NW states, they are owned by the
local phone co-op so should offer good service.
Cons: Not very competitive prices, some
roaming is available but at varying prices.
Click Here for Snake River's Extended Local
Coverage Map.
SOUTHERNLINC
An iDEN carrier similar to Nextel with reasonable
plans. They have adequate coverage across
several Southeast US states. They have a
walkie-talkie feature. They have an Unlimited
plan but it's expensive. A "Nationwide"
plan is available, but coverage is very limited...mostly
major cities and highways.
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
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.
Basic plans start at $30 and coverage is
adequate.
SUREWEST WIRELESS
SureWest has been purchased by Verizon Wireless.
SureWest Coverage Map
SUNCOM WIRELESS
Even though Suncom has been purchased by
T-Mobile, they still operate as if they are
a separate company. They have good coverage,
very reasonable plan prices, regional, national
and unlimited plans and sophisticated features.
T-Mobile claims they will support Suncom's
existing plans, some are very competitive.
Overall, service has improved for Suncom
customers, but grab one of the great Suncom
plans while you can. T-Mobile could decide
to change these plans at any time.
SYMMETRY PCS
A very small carrier in the Quincy and Macomb
area of Illinois. They have some very cheap
plans and Unlimited Local calling. They also
offer national coverage through roaming agreements
with other GSM carriers.
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 Regional
and National plans, but they are a bit overpriced.
They have a $20 plan as well as Unlimited
plans. Coverage is good but very limited.
They are very local so customer service should
be above average. The company is named after
the Idaho state flower.
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 many 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.
Get Online Discounts from T-Mobile
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.
UNICEL
Unicel covers a large part of rural areas
of the state. They offer more competitive
plans than previously, including Local and
National plans. Unicel is now offering GSM
phones and offers "Telular" service,
a good substitute for plug-in wireline phones.
"Lifeline" plans are available. Pros: Good coverage, Local and National plans
available, reasonable plan prices. Cons:
Off-Peak minutes are capped at 500 to 1,000
minutes and Mobile to Mobile is included
only with Family plans. Unicel has agreed to be purchased by Verizon Wireless. This will improve current customers' overall
network, but will reduce the variety of plans.
Don't sign up for Unicel if you don't like
Verizon's plans. While all existing Unicel
GSM customers will be converted to CDMA phones,
Verizon will maintain the GSM network for
roamers.
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.
US CELLULAR
This is a good company that offers good coverage,
good plans and lots of features, a good selection
of CDMA phones. Unlimited incoming calls
are available, it's an extra feature on Regional
and Family plans. In Chicago they use 1900
MHz frequencies which have more dead spots. 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 except
on Family plans, and Night & Weekend
minutes are extra on Regional plans.
Get Online Discounts on US Cellular Phones
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
VIAERO WIRELESS
Viaero is a GSM carrier that uses 800 MHz
Cellular channels in northeast Colorado,
and 1900 MHz PCS channels in Nebraska. Colorado
coverage is excellent, but the Nebraska part
of the network is still being expanded. But
get this, you can request to have them build
a tower near you, and if you can come up
with 200 neighbor's signatures...they'll
build it! They offer a very reasonable on-network
"Unlimited" plan intended for fixed
location (home) use. They have discounts
for people on various support programs. They're
a good subsitute for a wireline in areas
where there aren't any. Pros: They offer lots of price points in their plans, including Local,
Regional and National plans,
excellent coverage in northeast Colorado, good customer service, many local stores.
Cons: The Nebraksa part of the network is still in the building
stages and may have some areas of poor signal, but gee, you can ask them to add a tower!
WEST CENTRAL WIRELESS
Based in San Angelo, Texas, West Central
offers a large selection of plans, with generous
Local plans, but their Regional and National
plans are overpriced. Some plans include
"Unlimited" Local minutes. They
have excellent coverage. Also, there are
a large number of add-on features and feature
combinations, most available at extra cost.
They also have specialized plans, including
"Senior" plans. They have no coverage
maps on their web site.
WESTLINK:
Westlink serves the SW corner of Kansas.
They are a GSM carrier using 1900 MHz frequencies
so you should expect coverage along the main
roads but not the large areas between them.
They offer a few good phones and their plans
are fairly reasonable. We're guessing they
have a large percentage of roaming users.
Small, local companies like this usually
have better service than most, especially
those who are part of the local wireline
co-operative. We always recommend you give
a local company a try.
WUE WIRELESS
WUE Inc. owns the "B" channel license
for cellular service in and around Lincoln
County, Nevada. All service there is operated
by Verizon Wireless. You can get all the features and plans
of Verizon, but if you want a local phone number, you'll
have to drive over to the Pioche, NV WUE office and sign up. They don't have a web
site, but you can call them at (775)962-5161.
All sites but one offer CDMA digital service,
and they plan to maintain analog service
for the foreseeable future, including the
analog-only site near Area 51. Make sure
your phone is "tri-mode" (digital
& analog) if you plan travel in this
area.
WUE Inc. Coverage Map
XIT WIRELESS
They serve the extreme NW corner of Texas.
They have GSM service with Local, Regional
and National plans. Coverage is excellent.
Since they are the local telephone co-op,
we expect customer service to be above average.
Prices are reasonable and start as low as
$29.99 for a "Local" plan. While
their "National" plans are generous,
coverage does not include as many roaming
partners as larger carriers, however, major
highways and cities are covered.
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