I have a LG Chocolate phone, which is pretty much a basic phon, and it gets excellent reception pretty much anywhere I go inside or out, even in the wood when I am hiking around the area

VERiZON iS THE BEST, it works everywhere. if anyone gets a phone I recomend verizon

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

Since moving here, I have had no problems with dropped calls or poor call quality. My husband has Cingular and continues to experience dropped calls. Thank goodness for VERIZON!

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!

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

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.

Shows less bars but all is 4x4. Never dropped a call. Never had a problem. Never had to move to transmit or receive.

I've had T-Mobile in augusta since early 2004, and have had pretty good service. Right around walton way / ASU the signal is a 3 / 5 bars, but otherwise the signal is 5 / 5 bars all around town. I recommend T-Mobile to anyone in augusta looking for a cell phone service.

I use my phone for business and I've been all over. Coverage is great! Played golf in Lincolnton and I was the only one with a signal. Visit friends off Furys Ferry Rd. and Evans to Locks, works great. Visit my parents in Thompson and never had a problem. I had my home service turned off for over a year and have saved me a lot of money doing so. Tried all carriers from Sprint to Cingular, Alltel was the best until Verizon came into town. Sprint the worst by far.

Reception has been great until recently. Carrier says 1 1 / 2 yr old vx6000 needs to be replaced due to Verizon software changes. Verizon has strong Augusta signal and has reception going to Atlanta and its' surrounding areas.

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.

Verizon: a few calls were dropped in the local area of Augusta, GA. I had no problems while in rural areas of IN. The reception is minimal in rural areas of LA. I never had a problem with Alltel so I will go back to them.

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.

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!

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.

This is the worst reception I have ever had, inside no reception hardly at all, no internet, and when I get internet(rarely) it is slow as could be. Outside it doesn't get much better.

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.