Alltel has provided me with the best coverage. I work in live in Augusta area and work in Aiken. My job requires a lot of travel- mostly rural areas. My work phone is serviced by Sprint. There have been several occasions where I have had to use my personal phone because my work phone could not find a signal. This has also been the case for many of my co-workers. My Alltel phone has even worked when my co-worker's Verizon phone could not complete a call. Hands down Alltel and Verizon have the best coverage in this area. Alltel works well in both city and rural areas of the following surrounding counties: Aiken, Burke, Jenkins, Bulloch, and Screven. In addition to Atlanta. Added my father to my line (he had been with T-Mobile), he now can recieve calls with Alltel in places (homes / stores / neighborhoods) where he previously could not.

I work for an Alltel Agent Store. I have Verizon as a personal phone through my family and have Alltel as a work phone. I constantly compare the two. Here's the deal, Alltel and Verizon pretty much use the same towers. Alltel owns more towers than any other company - "Largest Wireless Network" Verizon is fairly close still. Since both companies use mostly the same towers, The coverage is very close. Here in Augusta, Alltel is better. Verizon is very good also. Once you leave Augusta, going to Waynesboro, Hephzibah, Wrens etc.. Verizon has good signal in most areas, but spotty in some. Alltel is definately better in rural areas. At the lake, it varys which areas and which phone. The phone does make a difference in rural areas. Motorola and LG with Alltel are the best. I personally recommend an older Motorola or Nokia, the old Bar style phones. The ones that wont die! I have only been in one area near Augusta that my Alltel and Verizon did not work- leaving Lincolton heading towards Elberton on the back highways. They both had 1 bar of service for miles and they both dropped off at the same time and picked up at the same time. At&T is alright in the city, it does have spotty areas Sprint is good, spotty areas though Suncom - dont bother, only service on highways and major roads. T-mobile is very spotty Alltel and Verizon is your best bet period! Alltel plans are cheaper, but Verizon has cooler phones. Talk with friends and family and see what is best for you. Hope this helps

Might have 5 bars of reception, but I lose calls regularly. Most frustrating is that I have to turn off / on the phone on a regular basis to ensure that I'm still "connected". Just picked up 7 messages this morning dating back 3 days. No reception up near the lake. Looks like a choice between multiple evils in this area.

Never had a problem with Alltel reception anywhere in the city of Augusta and surrounding areas. If you're with another carrier, well, that's your problem!

The local mental health center has been with several, cell phone companies through the years. Currently, the caseworkers are using the Nokia 3587i under the Alltel plan and there have been no complaints about poor reception, drop phone calls, or unable to get phone service in the Augusta and surrounding areas. I dont know if it is Alltel or the phone but I am pleased with the reception. In comparison, my Sprint Samsung VI660 will start roaming or dropping calls whenever I head out toward hephzibah, appling, etc. It even will start roaming on the back streets off Jackson Road. What a joke... lol.

AT&T is the worst. I have had nothing but dropped calls from Texas all the way to Augusta. I recommend Ge Verizon or another carrier. I really like the iPhone but issues with the carrier make it a hassle.

Decent reception outside the building, but inside buildings on post, the reception is spotty at best. I was surprised to learn AT&T owns so few towers in Augusta. Overall, there are only a few spots in town where my reception drops out.

Barely any reception at ASU. Well, zero signal in the campus buildings or within 100 feet of them for that matter. Wide open areas of campus have some patches with (poor) reception. Probably going to switch to a new carrier soon.

Many, many dropped calls. Worst customer no- service I've ever experienced. If your phone malfunctions and you just bought it brand new, they will send you a "re-firbished" phone back to replace it. They're making alot of money off of this scam! AT&T bought them out for a reason. They're so horrible, in all ways, that they couldn't survive!

no reception in macy's store or the center of stores

Every night I lose services for a period of several hours before it returns to my house. I will go from full services to none at all in seconds and wont return for hours.

Nothing but dropped calls, poor reception and terrible customer service. I'm glad my 2 year contract is over

Calls are dropped daily or I get no reception, Cingular has been of little help at getting the problem resolved. They wanted me to buy a new phone. Just moved here and am dropping Cingular for a system that works. Very unhappy with their tech support and the way I was treated on store visits.

Sporatic reception. Most calls out receive the "call failed" notice. No ring most of the times on incoming calls which go directly to voice mail.

My signal strength is so sporadic. I frequently drop calls driving around Augusta. Cingular upgraded my SIM card to try to improve signal, but it only seemed to get worse. Sometimes I have full reception at home, other times it will suddenly drop to nothing and the "For Emergency Use Only" popup will appear when I try to call out. Finally, Cingular sent me a new phone because they could not find any network problems going on in my area, so they determined it was a faulty handset. This is my second day of using the new phone, and I may have 1-2 bar increase in service but service is still sporadic and patchy. My friends say that my voice drops out at least once on most calls. Driving down 95 to FL with this new handset presented similar problems. I was without service for 5-10 miles at a time. I'm to the point where I would pay to get out of my contract.

I drive several days a week from Augusta to Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta. Reception is very poor most of the way... it's a 146 mile trip.

Cingular is excellent in both Augusta & North Augusta. I switched from Sprint - best move I could've made!

Very poor reception with this phone, the service sucked too around here. Hence bad phone and service = break in contract before my 15 day cutoff.

This is awfull no reception at all and drops your calls.

Number of bars varies around town but I seldom drop calls except (Unfortunately), at home which is around National Hills, down in the river valley.