Carrier / Rating

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The intersection of US 35 and 400 N is in a valley of sorts. Reason probably why we get only two bars here.

Can't get a signal inside the house if I move my head while talking I may lose the connection, I have to go outside to call, it hard when it's raining or snowing. Thinking about going to Sprint.

Seems to be getting better, some of the towers now have EVDO capability. Also a new tower was installed by Clear Lake, hopefully this will improve coverage downtown.

Almost worthless anywhere along 1000N. Driving between 600E and Hwy. 39, I've gotten as many as 10 "changing service area" alerts, including several "No Service" alerts. Yet Verizon claims I should see 6 towers. Maybe if I was 200 feet taller I could.

I've been with 3 companies so far and while Verizon is far from perfect, it was light years better than Centennial and AT&T. Reception in the house is always difficult but with my recent Kyocera purchase I have far fewer dropped calls and even when there are no bars of signal, my calls are still go through and are mostly understandable. My daughter tried Nextel (for the walkie-talkie) but after 5 months she admits that for $60 / month it isn't worth it so SHE is paying the early cancellation penalty and is going to use the Verizon phone I provide her with.

Tri-mode phone, alright but could do better. I travel to lots of places and was told by v-customer rep that some places are banned from putting towers up. Example 31 South has so much static, its frustrating. US Celluar has federal laws that restrict other carriers towers from being put up. Hwy. 6 has static, dropped calls and times you can hear the other person but they say your breaking up. Michigan city is fine, but sometimes dropped calls on Hwy. 212. Calls from inside locations near windows fine, but otherwise not very good. Inside MC Meijers a man was talking on (most likely nextel) and had no problems. My phone didn't get any reception til I was near the store front. In the north western region of Indiana Nextel is most likely your best bet. Driving south towards indinapolis on 31 had a lot of static, but was fine through indianapolis and didn't have too many problems when I was in the Bloomington area. Verizon says their expanding and has the widest coverage across the nation, but there's lots more room for improvement. They say their minutes plans are expensive because they invest in coverage rather than their phones. I will most likely go with Verizon again, only because they offer tri-mode phones and customer service is beyond excellent. So if your a traveler I would recommend a wireless carrier that offers more than digital (at the moment Nextel and T-Mobile are only digital). Digital limits you mostly to major highways and is reported to not always work in remote places. Othewise if your just sticking close to home in the Northwestern sector, go with Nextel.

Coverage is hit or miss, usually miss. It's not unusual to have 2 bars of digital signal and still miss calls. Dropped calls in the first 45 seconds (no noise, just poof... no more connection) are also quite common.