On Colington Island, I have 5 bars, but everyone says that I sound really bad.

Sprint reception is great throughout the major "metro" area of the Outer Banks. (ie. Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Nags Head. If you are going South of Oregon Inlet, forget it. Sprint does not work AT ALL past this point. If you are taking US64 Past Manteo there is no reception West of the Manns Harbour bridge on US64 until Williamston. Also, heading on NC12 North toward Corolla, reception is sketchy going thru Southern Shores. There is a new antenna cluster that Sprint installed on the water tower in Duck. That is your last chance to make any Sprint calls before you head to Corolla.

I'm don't know a lot about cell phones so I'm not sure if it's because of the water or because it's a tourist destination, but Alltel has great coverage all over the Outer Banks. Alltel really covers this area better than I know of any area being covered by any provider. It's a full signal, 5 bars all over Kill Devil Hills, where I live and work, but the signal is full all over Nags Head and Kitty Hawk too. It really doesn't even drop off that much indoors. I know people that have pretty much every provider down here and if you want the best signal here and all over Eastern North Carolina, I would go with Alltel. I have been very surpised how good the signal has been and I really like the plans too.

In the majority of Kill Devil Hills the best I get is poor coverage, but in a major portion surrounding 3rd Street, I get NO coverage. There is sporadic and inconsistent in all areas of the Outer Banks.

Verizon launched PCS service on the North Carolina Outer Banks around two weeks ago. Reception is uneven. On the beach and in the "tourist zone" east of Route 158, reception is close to excellent. As you move west of Route 158, reception falls off very quickly. In this area, there are many dead zones and many dropped calls. Sounds like Verizon has developed a directional system. Let's hope that the company can spread its good service to the entire island.

Since Alltel's big Kitty Hawk tower went down in a spring storm, the company has had to up the power output on its remaining towers. And the results have been good. Reception is actually better than before in many places in and around Kill Devil Hills. Reception in Kitty Hawk, however, remains weak due to the low elevation of its temporary tower unit.

Great phone, wonderful reception. In the harbour though, the signal fades some. Much better service with the Sanyo phone though then when I had the Samsung SPH-N240. The Samsung phone had zero, nada, zilch for a signal on most of the beach.