Was told Verizon shut down their analog tower(s) in this area - suspect in anticipation of the Feb 2009 date where all broadcast signals have to be digital.

Cell reception can be spotty around here but since I switched to Alltel the signal is so much better than it ever has been before. I don't know what the difference between Alltel's signal vs. Cingular is, but it's like the Alltel signal sticks around longer as you drive away from a tower or go indoors. The calls sound a little clearer too and I've heard they use some kind of a different signal my son was trying to tell me. I don't know a lot about it but the coverage and calls around here do sound better with Alltel. The sales lady at the store at the Springdale Plaza in Camden also spoke highly of the phone I got so that might have something to do with it too. I don't have any reception problems shopping around at Wal-mart or Kmart or wherever or traveling when I go to Camden or Columbia, but I kind of expected that. The good part is that there's always enough signal to make a call even in Lugoff. Even indoors it hangs around and if it does drop down to 1-2 bars the calls still sound fine. The plans from Alltel seem like a good deal compared to what I was paying and I get more minutes so overall I'm really happy with the service and would recommend Alltel to others living in this area.

I can use it in downtown Lugoff in front of Piggly Wiggly... very poor. I can use it in downtown Camden... very spotty

People hate calling me because they can never understand me. If I breathe wrong, I lose reception. Sometimes, I have to get in my car and drive to get reception. I guess this area is bad overall for tower coverage.

Lucky to get 1 bar and if you try to make a call it comes up call failed. I've spoke to Cingular and they told me that they would send me a stronger signal (not sure how they would do that) but it did nothing. I called Cingular back and they told me the same thing again- still nothing. I told them that there advertisments on TV stated that they were "Raising the Bar" and it was a shame that I could not even get 1 bar. They told me that my area just had a weak signal. They did not care one way or the other. I told them that I was going to cancel my plan with them but they didn't seem be concerned.