We have had Verizon for 6 years and we have not ever had an Albuquerque reception problem. We have traveled to many different parts of rural New Mexico and have had good coverage. There were places that were dead spots, but you would expect them to be dead (middle of a canyon, next to mountain, etc.). I think the reception problems people have may sometimes be due to their cell phones rather than their location. From my readings about coverage, it seems Verizon is #1 hands down, then T-Mobile is #2, and AT&T is #3. Disclaimer: We have family that come and visit with their AT&T phones and T-Mobile phones, and they have not had a problem when being here.

I travel across US with my Sprint Phone, I did not have any problem at all during my visit to NM, great reception... no dropped calls... love my Sprint Phone... .

The service is great in the foothills. We started with Alltel when we lived in Gallup and have found that the reception across the state is equal to Verizon and surpasses all the others. If you are going to buy phones, you get a big price break by purchasing on-line as opposed to buying from the nearby stores, on Paseo del Norte or even at ABQ Uptown.

I have been really happy with Alltel they arent perfict but they are better then any other carier iv had before, in Pena Blanca Alltel and Cingular are the only cariers that have towers out there not even my freinds Verizon phone worked out there.

I have been with Alltel under various names since 1991. Most of the people I work with are with Verizon, between Albquerque and Taos, Alltel has constantly given me good coverage. In agreement with another review though, Wyoming and Osuna is a dead spot and will drop any call in progress. Must be the Police sub-station I have guessed.

Tried them all over the past 8 years... Verizon, Tmobile, Alltel, Sprint, Cricket, and now Cingular... I do business all over Albuquerque and Cingular is by far the best!

Never have a problem with the Verizon signal even though the village says I live in the "Dead Zone."

I have been with AllTel in ABQ for 8.5 years and have been relatively happy. Coverage and service around the metro area has been excellent. Also, cell coverage and service in Las Vegas, NV, Wash., DC, NY, NY, Philadelphia, PA, Salt Lake City, UT, throughout California, Arizona and everywhere else I've been in the continental USA has been GREAT. My current 2-year contract with AllTel is close to expiring and I was looking at carrier / service incentives, considering switching to a another carrier who might have more aggressive incentives. However, after reviewing this Website and seeing the comments on other carriers, I'm now very seriously considering staying with AllTel because of their better cell coverage, inter-carrier roaming agreements and overall service quality.

Had Sprint for 2 years, and service was adequate in Albuquerque, but almost nonexistant outside of cities, and roaming wasn't included free (69 cents a minute). Switched to Verizon, and have been very impressed, phone works just about everywhere, and no raoming fees, plus I was able to go with a cheaper plan because most people I talk to are already on Verizon, and I get unlimited mobile to mobile to other Verizon customers. I travel a lot, and could only use my Sprint phone in very limited areas, which made it almost useless at times. Though I rarely got dropped calls at home with Sprint, my reception was 3 bars max, with Verizon, it is always very strong. Verzizon has better customer service, customer web site, and seems overall to be much more professional. When I switched, Sprint started offering roaming (as a $5 a month option), but beware that this is limited to no more than 50% of overall minutes used, and they can terminate service if you exceed this. Had to read the fine print very closely for this. Have been a Verizon customer for 3 months now, and no major complaints. They aren't the cheapest, but you get what you pay for.

i have had Sprint for 5 years and I live in the 87109 and 87111 areas - I have never had problems with my Sprint service... .. fyi whoever commented on Wyoming and Paseo del Norte - look at the building on the SE corner of that intersection... .. ALL cell phone coverage is blocked to an extent in that area due to that building. I am not going to say what the building is, but anybody who lives in that area is familiar with it.