Coverage comments are submitted voluntarily by visitors around the Santa Fe, NM area.
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I have been with Alltel for more then 2 years now and I have had great coverage in pecos, las vegas, santa fe, albuquerque etc. I havent really had any trouble with then, but I have noticed that pre paid service does not work very well so I stick to the monthly pay plan. DO NOT GET THE PRE PAID PLAN, it suck on coverage wise
Reception and Service sucks big time! I have three bars on my phones but often they will not receive incoming calls. When callers leave messages I often will get them 1 to 2 hours later. On numerous occaisions I have tried to call my cell phone using my land line and have been routed to my cell phones voicemail without my cellphone ever ringing. Verizon refuses to take responsibility for this and has no solution to offer.
I got a phone with alltell two months ago and have been unable to make any calls in Santa fe or Albuquerque. The phone always indicates "Roaming" and I now know (after speaking to several CS reps) that when it's on Roaming, I can't make calls (except by charging it to a credit card, using a collect call service or by obtaining a special PIN). I use a pre-paid plan so don't know if it's different for those taht pay monthly but I am so angry with this provider. They knew where I was going to be using my phone and no one told me I wouldn't be able to make calls -- I'm working on getting a refund from them.
After trying 3 other cell providers, Sprint was the only one that worked from our house. The signal disappears at certain known points along our home street and along the road to Los Alamos but works well between our home and Albuquerque. There has been a worrysome increase in the number of places where we previously got good Sprint reception that now only have service via the dreaded "Digital Roam". Most visitors with other providers do not get any service at our home. Nextel (a Sprint affiliate) seems to be the only other provider to work at our home.
I find excellent service in and around Santa Fe, even up in Ski Santa Fe. Have used this phone for three years, including trips throughout New Mexico, and in every state in the West and Northwest. There are blank areas in really low populated sections of NM and elsewhere, but overall I have had great service with T-Mobile. In addition, nobody matches them for so many minutes for such low rates. Customer service has been responsive. I called them regarding a weak signal at my home near St. Michael's High School during a few days in early December. It was corrected within two days and the full bar display was back and functioning. If I ever were to change providers I would only consider Cingular since they also use the SIM memory card. I guess I've been lucky but I do feel someone should give T-Mobile a big hooray!
picks up good all around town. Alltel has 3 Towers in the santa fe area wile Verizon only has 1 locatel on the north end of santa fe. Alltel also has 1 at the north end of town but Alltel also has 1 downtown by the santa fe newmexican, The there biggest tower in at airport Rd and Cerillos Rd accross From the mall.
I've built out most of the major wireless networks in this state. Alltel has invested the most $$ early on, so they have the superior network, besides the Socorro area, they do not own the NM3 frequency. Analog is going away in late 06', but the majority of the analog sites have been upgraded to digital. T-mobile, Sprint / Nextel and Verizon are close seconds. Verizon and T-Mobile have kept upgrading their networks slowly over the years, which has improved their networks. Sprint / Nextel had a big push two years ago, but slowing down now. I'm currently working on the Cingular network. They have turned on 100 new sites in the last year, another 100 in development currently. Stay tuned, they will be competing soon. They roam with Platue and Commnet in the N. and SE. part of the state. These roaming partners have mediocre networks, we hope they will reclaim these areas and install their own network, about 100 sites. The only complaint I have in this state is Santa Fe! What are you guys smoking over there? It's almost impossible to develop anything, people think we are trying to implant micro chips and broadcast conservative brain washing. My solution is for all the wireless carries just cut you off. How do you like the reception now! This area is growing very fast and is supported by a sub-par network due to ignorance of its residents. You cant talk on you cell driving unless its hands free, so I have a docking station for my PDA, now I can surf the net while driving, good thing I'm looking down and not holding the phone up to my ear and looking forward. You people really frustrate me! I won't even start with Taos and Madrid, they should go back to smoke signals... .. Next time you see someone apposing a new cell site, please give your support to the cell phone company. Were trying to give you reception, but the hypocrisy is the only thing expanding, or is it ignorance? Each of these carriers has spent over $200 - $300 million in this state, they bring a lot of $$ into the state but the opposition is tremendous. I don't see anyone apposing the Labs and the weapons / hazards they develop. Out... ... ...
Just commenting that their coverage drops out completely while ascending or decending the hill just north of Santa Fe on US 84 / 285. It goes from very strong to zero and my calls are almost always dropped.
