Compared to normal urban coverage, this really sucked, but could have been worse for a fringe area. Reception around the lake and on roads between it and both Hudson and Gt Barrington in general, reception is very, very spotty on AC2. (This was on both Samsung and LG phones with the Samsung having a slight edge.) Where you can get a signal, you keep it - usually around 2 bars FWIW - as long as you don't move, that is. Around the lake this often means walking right down to the lake or finding a nice clear spot on a slight elevation. Inside (a cottage-construction house), no one has ever been able to get useable service (over a couple of years.) On the smaller roads service is pretty heavily absent, but it seems to depend on topography more than anything else. Basically they need another tower or two somewhere. But again it's steady - a spot or stretch either has reception or it doesn't, it's not variable. It's something to know that "that" parking lot or stretch of road gets reception, but it's pretty annoying to have to go there to make calls! Reception in and around Hudson for several miles was great as was the area approaching and in downtown Gt. Barrington. I was surprised even to pick up an EVDO signal, apparently that's centered around Albany, which went online in August. I didn't actually test throughput. Overall, it's dealable with on vacation, but would have been really pretty bad for daily use. But then I don't know if other carriers do better around there. The coverage map for VZW's America's Choice 1 plan looks a little better, but I don't know if new subscribers can get it anymore, or if it really makes a big difference in this area.

Weak signal but somewhat reliable, depending on exactly where you are.

Occasional static when receiving, none when sending. Good sound quality. Quite reliable.