I use a Nextel for work. Bottom line, it sucks. Not only do you have to leave a building to use it, but even then you have to walk around until you get lucky. If you don't believe me, walk around Temple and look for people with Nextel's. They'll be hovering around doorways and windows trying to make calls. I've also heard things about Philly's emergency network conflicting with Nextel's frequency, so beware...

I came to T-Mobile from Sprint (don't get me started). I love T-Mobile. I never have trouble around Philly. Center City, South Philly, Temple, West Philly. Sometimes the signal bars go down, but my phone can always make a call and hold it. The only places I have trouble are out in the middle of nowhere Lehigh Valley, but that's to be expected...

Verizon Wireless on Samsung phone A650 you get 4 bars outside, and actually 3 in my basement.

I work for SEPTA and this is the location of my bus loop and when I make calls from here I either get poor reception or calls drop altogether.

T-Mobile's reception on campus is horrid. Reception will drop from 5 to 0 by taking a few small steps. Many places have no reception whatsoever. T-Mobile needs to improve reception in this area. Not recommended.

No problems in South Philly on either side of Broad St.

This is the first complaint I have regarding VZW service; I've been very satisfied with their reception and signal quality in the Philly metro area since 1998. I moved to this address in March, and I drop many calls, calls go straight into VM without ringing, and I usually get only 1 or 2 bars for signal strength. I know I'm using an old phone - don't want to give up analog - but it had worked fine for over 4 years until I moved.

Signal strength was good until about 3 months ago, then it dropped to almost nothing. Verizon ticket #657100 was open for a month and still Verizon could not explain the loss of signal in my area.

Patchy reception in my building,even on my balcony. The (600) minutes make up for it though. Decent on most of the streets around here. Works great on this part of the I-76. The Phone has excellent battery life and only needs charging every 2-3 days depending on usage.

Great signal and reception outside, can't get a signal at all inside Temple buildings. At home (Lansdowne) I can go four days without charging my phone, one day at work and the battery's gone, it's trying so hard all day to get a signal.