I've used Alltel here in Monroe and all surrounding areas for four years. I have had little to no problems in any local areas, lowest number of bars used to be two in some friends homes but are generally four to five now (guessing towers were added over time.)

Poor reception away from the I-20. Looking to change carriers soon.

I live in the ULM Dorms and signal is horrible especially when the phone towers are down. It seems like the Cingular is down right now because I have absolutely no signal and can't even listen to my voicemail messages. I would recommend a different mobile phone carrier if you are going to live in Northern Louisiana and especially at ULM.

I get amazing reception whereever I go. Inside several homes where my friends leave their phones off, mine stays on and get a crystal clear signal. It's great to travel with as well. I've been to Baton Rouge, TupeloMS, and Shreveport recently. I have gotten great reception for most of the areas in between. I love it.

Altel give me great reception in Monroe and West Monroe, LA

Always have gotten good service here - even just a few days after Katrina / Rita, unlike my T-Mobile phone which couldn't receive calls for over a month afterwards. The only place I find coverage spotty in Monroe is inside buildings, but the buildings at ULM are constructed from cinderblock which isn't too friendly to cell phone signals - even in those I normally have one or two bars, though, and pretty good voice quality. The network does seem to be overloaded down here - almost every 5th call I try to make results in a "Network Busy" error message and I have to try it again, but I imagine there aren't too many Cingular customers (and therefore towers) in Northeast LA.

I have received good reception in the Winnsboro and Crowville area. Reception is surprisingly good at the Tensas refuge, especially down at the Ben Lilly Bridge area.

Cingular is poor all over town. Its like having an expensive pager

Occasionally I will get service when I'm in this area. Usually, I have to drive toward U.S. 165 or I-20 in order to get any signal strength. Thankfully, I don't live in the area. I live in metro Atlanta but visit Monroe frequently.

As soon as you get out of the I-20, you start losing reception. I usually go to Baton Rouge and when I get out of the I-20 towards Winnsboro, I completely lose reception all the way to Baton Rouge.