The MiFi 2200 is a data card for your PC. Typically, the weaker the signal - the slower the download speeds. While reception isn't as strong here as in Waynesboro or Staunton, download speeds average between 300-700k (sometimes even in my basement!). Last Thanksgiving I surfed the web while my wife drove the back roads from Statesville, NC to Waynesboro, VA and we hardly ever lost service.

3 bars doesn't seem like much, but for Mt. Torrey Rd. it's the best I've seen so far. With nTelos we could barely get a signal South of Sheralynd church but with Verizon, voice and data works at least a half mile South of Sherando Grocery. By comparison, AT&T and T-Mobile are dead in the water out here.

In Augusta county, AT&T is like nTelos - if they had as many towers as they have buildings, they'd either put all their competitors out of business or cause a 400% increase in per capita brain tumors. Overall it seems like AT&T's coverage is all or nothing. Either you're getting 5 bars or no signal, and aside from nearby major interstate roads, it's mostly the latter. SMS worked well, but voice and data quality is terrible. Voicemail would sometimes take literally days to arrive.

My employer has corporate cell service through T-mobile, so I knew beforehand that their coverage is spotty the further you get from I-81 and I-64, but this is pretty lame. With AT&T I could at least pick up a signal while standing in my driveway (about a mile north of Sherando Grocery), but with T-Mobile it's dead until you get within a half mile of I-64. Also, prospective iPhone buyers beware: AT&T's data service is terrible in Augusta county and they absolutely will not activate your iPhone without a data plan - even if it's an unsubsidized phone that you purchased at full retail price (hence the reason I'm a T-Mobile customer). Side note: the portable data card I have through Verizon works very well throughout Augusta / Nelson / Albemarle counties.