I am 1.5 miles from the tower and have a repeater going into my house giving me at least 4 bars of reception at all times. I can not get data transfeer fast enough to load a web page most of the time. after many calls they tell me that they know they have a problem in this area but dont know if or when they will work on fixing it. Looks like one more case were they dont care about the customer.

I've been a Sprint customer fro 10+ years. I always get good reception and have never had a problem with voice calls. But the number of bars (believe it or not) does not effect the quality of the 3G data (unless of course you get 0 bars). I can have 5 bars and the data will simply drop out or drag at less then 100kbps, maybe 20-40kbps. This is not enough to listen to even a low quality audio stream for internet radio, causes browsing, etc. to drag painfully slow. While I have friends standing right next to me who consistently show me their getting a solid 2MBs! from Verizon. I thought is could just be my phone because the Sprint data rate is this awfully poor everywhere I go. But it's not my phone for two reasons: 1) I work with a buddy who has an HTV EVO 4G and his gets the same consistently awful speeds. 2) we both rooted our phones and reprogrammed the PRL (preferred roaming list) that the phone uses, allowing us to give Verizon towers priority and now we get awesome speed as well. Sprint needs to fix their problems ASAP, or they won't be around much longer.

No signal and no 3g, its usually 1x... such a downfall... i love this phone but I can't even get signal ay my own house

no phone service! have to stand in the back of my truck on top of a tool box and still have dropped calls! hope to find a complete package one day?

I switched back to Verizon after 5 years with poor service from other providers. Boost has the Worst phone service Prepaid. the 9 Verizon towers that suround aiken Batesburg leesville blacksville, orangeburg and others Keep Verizon running smoothly. Very Reliable !

It is interesting reading all the comments regarding carriers in the Columbia area. News flash... .every carrier is going to have weak spots! That's the nature of wireless. And just because there is a tower near you, doesn't mean your specific carrier is on that tower. I have utilized Alltel, Verizon, SunCom and now T-Mobile in the area. I can't say many positive things about Alltel (except that Verizon is buying them out and their coverage should improve). I know Sprint's coverage is very spotty as well. Nextel two-way in nice, however their call areas are restricted to major interstates (mostly). Verizon has good coverage and so does T-Mobile, but I've dropped calls on both systems in different areas. I do know that T-Mobile has built several hundred new cell sites in the last few months in the Carolinas and I've seen a vast improvement in their coverage. Remember this... .before chosing a carrier, make sure they offer a "grace period" so you can test the coverage in the areas YOU will be in. I will say that I am a very happy T-Mobile customer at this time!

over all pretty good service. if you own a nextell phone with the two way built in... ... .. be prepared these use losts of power. save your money and buy an "Extended" battery, you can get them Cheaper at Radio shack I own a prepaid phone and the service is good for what they usaly run around 40.00 on ebay

AT&T / Cingular has Ok reception in the area with lots of pockets of poor or no reception. We live near exit 51 off I-20 between Nazareth and Platt Springs. There is a huge coverage hole on Longs Pond then it ranges between 3-1 bars for most of the area. Lots of dropped calls throughout LexCola. several Zero spots on I-20 I-77 and Platt Springs. Does better in NE side, 26, Harbison, Lake Murry, Balintine, Chapin. But I don't live in those areas, so my experiance may vary from those locals. Bottom Line I am switching after 10years w-them. Great Customer Service - Poor reception.

Signal dies in this area and will not pick up.

I can't get reception in my house. Have to go outside to talk (rainy days... .) on my cell phone. My cordless phone gets an extreme amount of static if I step outside or in my garage. I just moved here in June 2005. I can't imagine why this area is so horrible with wireless signals. What in the world is causing this problem? Is there any hope or do we continue to pay and get far less than acceptable service?

The only thing worse than Alltel's reception is their Customer "NO" Service.

Verizon is tops for this area. Suncom is the pits. Suncom has dropped towers in SC. I switched our company to Verizon from Suncom.

SunCom AT&T is my service provider. I travel the entire state of SC weekly. I've learned to stay close to the major highways, or I will most likely be in deadzoneville very quickly.

Good to average reception on and around major metro and interstates. Bad to no reception off the beaten path. Not a good service if you travel alot