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AT&T turned on their 3G service yesterday. AT&T unfortunately uses the 1900MHz band in Iowa whereas where I live they use the 850MHz band. The overall responsivenes is quite unpredictable as a result. However, in some places where I normally got poor reception- in South Duff I got 3 bars on EDGE. I still do if I turn 3G off. On 3G I get 4-5 bars and the internet response is quite good. Outside the quality has been greatly enhanced. I recommend turning 3G on in Ames becase you WILL get better reception outdoors and indoors. As for basements, I don't expect huge improvements mainly due to the inherent limitations of a higher frequency band in that it gets absorbed easily by objects. But expect in some places in Ames to have improved by 1-2 bars on 3G compared to EDGE.

Verizon has never had a problem in signal reception for me in Ames. I even get 2 or 3 bars in the basement of my lab on ISU campus, and NO dropped calls, which is amazing! Call quality is also excellent, and uniform.

Best coverage in Ames area. I would never trust anyone besides US Cellular to have this kind of service.

U.S. Cellular is a power beacon all over Ames. Economical and fair plans and NEVER A DROPPED CALL! Clarity of reception is MP3-like. Only place I couldn't raise a signal? Badlands of South Dakota (cue Twilight Zone music... .)

Always have great signal, even in the store. EasyEdge data speeds are usually slow though, probably due to all the college kids downloading the newest worthless rap ringtone...

Just about anywhere in the hospital, I have perfect reception, and even with my less than perfect phone.

Reception in the Western Iowa area is very sketchy to say the least. Denison now should have GSM coverage and the last I checked there was no GSM in Carroll, but reading through these posts, I'm glad to hear now that Carroll can provide GSM service. Here are Western Iowa and Northwest Iowa communities that service GSM- Atlantic, Glenwood, Harlan, Denison (20-30% of Crawford County), Carroll, Missouri Valley (a good majority of Harrison County). Spencer in the eastern and northern portion of Clay County will recieve GSM coverage. Spirit Lake, Okoboji, Arnolds Park, and Milford- the Dickinson County area should be covered from head to toe in GSM service. The southern, central, northern, and eastern parts of Dickinson County should provide GSM service. Storm Lake- in previous posts I've read that there is no GSM coverage in Storm Lake and in some of the Buena Vista County area. You should be able to get GSM coverage from the highway 71 and highway 7 junctions near Storm Lake and the communities of Newell and Fonda. I know GSM coverage can be very sketchy from Storm Lake to Spencer. Emmetsburg- you should get some coverage in this town, Palo Alto County though is again very etchy in providing coverage. Estherville- Emmet County needs more expanding coverage from Palo Alto and Dickinson County to provide Eastern Emmet County with GSM coverage. Western, Southern, and Northern Emmet County should provide GSM coverage. Cingular is starting to provide GSM service on the highway 60 area that stems to Le Mars.

I also have an older Cingular plan I used to use before trying the above reviewed T-Mobile in Ames. I get 3-5bars(out of 6) here in my West Ames apt. in the same places the T-Mobile phone gets 0-1(out of 4). Cingular works perfectly on campus in buildings and everywhere else I've been in Ames. I also use it in Okoboji, IA and it works very reliably there too.

My roommate had US Cellular a while ago when living in the dorms. Seemed to work okay for him and he had no complaints, used it for a year. His only problems were that in Okoboji, IA (Northwest) he couldn't get caller id to work and on the drive between Okoboji and Ames he would get charged roaming all the time.

Occasionally the phone's reception drops to only 1 or 2 bars (out of 4) but it doesn't drop calls. I think my phone is just on its last legs; its battery is held on by a rubber band. Too bad, because this phone has all the features I need, unlike some of these newer models with worthless MP3 players and cameras. The phone worked fine in most ISU buildings, except in the basements. Don't get Verizon if you have to roam. I couldn't roam (it actually said "no signal") in Minneapolis recently.