Coverage comments are submitted voluntarily by visitors around the Bend, OR area.
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AT&T has 0 native service here. It all roaming off Verizons GSM network (old Unicel). I got a letter form AT&T saying my service is going to be ended due to excessive Roaming usage. O well. I guess I'm off to Verizon.
I live near 14th and Galveston and my Verizon coverage is spotless. Granted, I don't ever go to Redmond or any of the other towns much in Central Oregon. In the downtown core and the near westside (old mill, 14th street) coverage never fades (obviously though because the towers Verizon initially bought were mostly located close to the center of town). I was surprised to hear that someone on 15th and Newport got bad reception with Verizon. I previous lived at 13th and Newport and got the same, good reception there. I never had to change rooms to make a call or text whereas my friend with an iphone on ATT barely got coverage anywhere in town at all and usually had to go outside to make calls, if she could make them at all. I have encountered terrible Verizon reception in Washington D.C. where I used to live, and I always assumed my phone has a poor antenna and also that the issue was related to D.C.'s rather severe restrictions on tall buildings compared to other major cities. I have also lived in Chicago where Verizon was fine. Bend has even stricter laws than D.C. regarding new and tall buildings and cell phone towers (to preserve the natural look of Bend) and yet I have no issues, other than not being able to access Verizon's 2.5G network outside of downtown. Maybe the people experiencing issues with Verizon either have really new phones that really on 3g we don't have or really old phones which tend to have crappy antennas (unless they are external). Verizon has spent a lot of $$$ to make coverage in Bend great, as they have the most money to spend of any carrier. Now, I don't really get much coverage at all outside of town or while on rural highways, and even coverage on highways between Bend and Portland is quite spotty but since I'm mostly out of town while hiking, I don't really need my cell phone while I am doing that. Granted, I will admit the coverage drops off REALLY quickly as you head out from downtown, like outside of a 10 mile radius of Bend its pretty minimal apart from Rt 97 but I guess that hasn't really bothered me. I didn't get ANY reception in my neighborhood in D.C. such that I would drive my car 10 blocks to the nearest hill to check my voicemail it was so bad. But, here my coverage is practically dreamy in town. So I guess it depends on where you intend to use your phone. I mean would people in Bend really want Cell Phone towers dotting the hillsides and natural areas? Deschutes county is over 50% government forest so what do you expect? I'm sure there are better or at least equivalent carriers for rural coverage but for "urban" coverage, Verizon is best in Bend, I think. Also, I don't use a "smartphone" aka something with wifi or a data plan. If I did, I might think twice. Most of my friends here have Verizon as well and I have never heard them complain about service either here.
Just switched from US cellular to Verizon. So far, one week and 6 dropped calls. US may have crappy phones but they do have the best coverage in the area. Before Verizon came here, they used US Cellular's towers and the coverage was great. Now I'm pretty dissapointed
Switching from Unicel since Verizon bought them out, I got great coverage on unicel and I have great coverage on verizon. to make thing even better they told me that Verizon is switching all the unicel towers to Verizon YAY. by far the best cell company in bend. NOTE: I had T-Mobile for a while, DO NOT GET IT, the coverage is really bad.
We signed up for Verizon in April 2007 because we are snowbirds and their coverage is good in La Quinta, CA. However, at home in Bend, the coverage is terrible. Our calls usually end up dropping although we have two or three bars showing. The coverage in downtown and Old Mill is fine, but on Awbrey Butte it doesn't work well at all. We would switch to AT&T, but their coverage is poor in La Quinta, and we use our cell phones exclusively when we are in California. It's a no win situation for us.
I was told when I switched from Unicel to Verizon that the reception would be the same as the great reception I had with Unicel by January 15, then I was told February, now I am told March. Not sure what the problem is but I am paying for a huge plan that I can't use. I had exeptional coverage with Unicel all over the state of Oregon including BEND. Now I have zero coverage on the East side, North side and most of the West side of Bend. I have called multiple times and they are working on it. Asked about the plan I am paying for and no follow up per email from Verizon. I have a Chocolate, my kids have a Sway and my husband has a Blackberry. None of us have coverage. Any suggestions. Oh, we have dialed *228... .2 everyday since we purchased the plan.
Ever since I got my Verizon phone ( I switched from unicel when I heard Verizon was going to buy them) The service has been better than good. Unfortunately, I went to the authorized dealer on Hwy. 20( Greenwood), for the most part they did a good job, but when my moms glyde wasnt working properly they just kept saying its not the phone, and guess what... It was the phone^_^, but in the end it was all worked out
Great service. I used to have T-Mobile and didn't get the reception I needed outside of town. I also had Sprint and had lots of dropped calls. Verizon is the best I have found in this area. I went to The WirelessSouce on Greenwood and they were very helpful. The staff did more than any other place I have ever done business with. Give them a try! You won't regret it.
