Right on VCU campus, and I constantly have problems with Alltel's coverage. I remember the plan ages ago about a dollar or something every time a call was dropped?? Figure maybe they dropped that since they probably would be bankrupt only from the amount I drop... : / But no, inside my apartment coverage is dodgy at best, voices cut out often, and on the street, where I do feel safe, (but would be much more comfortable with good coverage) Its kind of shaky getting service, and calls are dropped often. Its really frustrating; looking to switch to Verizon or T-Mobile after consulting these reviews and doing some more research.

I live between patterson and monument and three chopt. My outside signal is between 1 and 2 bars and my inside is 1. I use a booster antenna from ebay for $60 inside that only brought the bars to 2 or 3, but enough to make a call. The antenna doesn't work now. I get dropped calls around the patterson and westham parkway and of course going to charlottesville on 64 either no reception or dropped calls. Same reception problems with Motorola as with my lg. My friend who has T-Mobile gets full reception in my house and surrounding area plus other areas where I get a weak or no signal.

I just switched over to Alltel from Verizon because the building where I worked just wasn't a good area for Verizon. But the Alltel signal is surprisingly stronger and I've not been able to tell anywhere at all that it's any weaker. Alltel is definitely the way to go in this area because it seems like they have an extra tower or two somewhere around here. I'm just overall surprisingly pleased with the coverage and happy that I'm getting many more minutes for the price with Alltel compared to what I use to get since my circle to 10 numbers is basically unlimited calling for both lines in my house.

Interesting story. I really wanted to try Alltel because I was with Verizon and the service was so expensive. I call landlines and have friends with every provider and Verizon gave me the fewest minutes, no nights at 7 option, no My Circle, and I has to get a plan up around 2000 minutes. Paying for texting was even worse. I first tried Alltel after comparing all the options. Alltel gave the most minutes, I love the My Circle feature, and now I'm on a family plan with my wife who wanted her first phone and I'm paying half as much for 2 lines because I only needed 900 minutes plus My Circle. Alltel is by far hands down the best deal of all the wireless providers. They give more features, free texting on some plans, and more minutes. As for the coverage I'll compare my experience to Verizon but it is strange. I got my phone, a Motorola E815 and got her a Kyocera KX16. Immediately I saw my service was far better than Verizon. The calls sounded clearer, I had more bars than Verizon gave me all around the area and Richmond in general, and everywhere that was a problem area for Verizon was great with Alltel. No dropped or missed calls with Alltel either like I had with Verizon. I have a full signal at apartment near Parham road, at work in a huge concrete building, and all over neighborhood here. Full signal at VCU where I'm taking some night classes. All over Richmond it's really good. But my wife's phone never did as good as mine. She would hit no service in some places and I consistently had 2 more bars. I took her phone back and got her a Motorola Razr. For this area, I strongly recommend Alltel as the provider and I recommend Motorola as the phone. It's by far the best service and the best deal going around here.

Service has really been great all over Richmond. No problems in the building I work downtown. No problems in or around the Wal-Mart on Sheila Lane. Very happy with service and it's always in 5 bars. I've never had a dropped call. I thought about every provider and Alltel really seemed to have the best deals on plans and giving minutes, even free texting on my family plan. I'm really happy I didn't go with another provider that didn't give near as many minutes for the price. The best part though, is that I really don't believe the coverage could be any better here in the city or traveling. Alltel really seems to put coverage first.

We have used Alltel for years, travel to Central NY, Indy, FL etc. never a problem, no problems around here except in "no zone" areas, usually near defense zone areas. Love it, and 1 of us has old Motorola phone, either picks up signal lots of times when Nextel can't.

I recently tried Alltel because of that Circle deal they have to keep in touch with family back home and have been very pleased with the service. I am living in Midlothian but am going to school at VCU and work part-time near the hospital so I do some traveling throughout the city pretty much every day. So far, Alltel service has been great. I've had great coverage and I've never seen my phone register below 3-4 bars in the area and the calls are always clear. Typically I do stay on a full signal with 5 bars so I have no complaints about coverage. I really like the phone too. Indoors, the signal doesn't drop off like it did with Cingular so I'm no longer having to go outside in any of the school buildings or anywhere else I've been to keep a strong signal. I'm very happy with the change so far. The prices are better and I've not had any reception or coverage problems.

Poor reception and sometimes none at all! I work near the Stony Point shopping center and my phone will go into Roaming or the call will be lost

My phone is typically in constant Analog mode. I can never make or recieve calls in my dorm room, or on many places around campus. I usually do not have service anywhere in Richmond, only sometimes, and usually it is static. Alltel is terrible.

I have no reception at all in my house or in my yard. I don't even bother to cut my phone on in this location. Friends who have Verizon have no trouble with recieving or making calls.

I am very annoyed with Alltel. There are many areas of no service between Charlottesville and Richmond driving on I64. I can be having a conversation and frequently lose reception. Also, I turned on my cell phone today to place a call only to find my service cut off. I found out my service had been cut because my bill was 9 days late. Apparently it is automatic despite the Christmas holidays. I explained that perhaps the bill might take a bit longer to get there with the extra influx of mail due to Christmas cards and everything. I couldn't believe she went on to thanks me for my business. I further explained that they had just lost my business.

I work in a nearby building that faces Midlothian - outside on that side of the two-story building, I get three bars. Walk through the building to the other (North) side and I get five.

Good reception outside; average to no reception inside the first floor of a 1910 free-standing frame house nearby.

There is no ATT signal reception inside any of the West Creek office buildings. Others get reception on their Verizon, Sprint or T-Mobile phones. I am moving to Sprint and buying the iphone 4S with them just for this reason.

Recent relocation to Richmond and the ATT service is extremely work. Constantly falling off anywhere inside a building. May have to wait out the contract to switch carriers.

Strange becausewith Verizon I constantly got 4 or even perfect signal in the samespots

i don't know why, because I hear so many complain about AT&T coverage, but mine is fabulous almost everywhere in rVa. there is only 1 place I don't get mostly full bars. and that is in the bowels of a dense office complex where I work contract for one of my clients and even there I get a bar or two – i have to go to the window or outside to return calls but i'm not there enough for this to really be an issue.

1 / 2 bars outside of house. None inside. Have to sit near a window to get even 1 bar at best.

AT&T has so many deadspots that the coverage is like the Burmuda Triangle. One moment I've got "more bars" and the next minute, welcome to the dead zone!

Breaking News: Parents foul up iPhone! I guess it wasn't meant to be. My near 80 yo parents are on my family plan. Couldn't wait to switch from Verizon to AT&T after the contract expired, but, alas, not a lick of reception inside parent's house. No where. Checked every room, upstairs and down. Had to go out into street to get a weak 1-2 bars. Still stuck with Verizon and my "not-quite-an-iPhone" LG Dare:-( Great network, great reception almost anywhere, but greedy, nickel-and-dime-you-to-death policies - like crippled bluetooth, blocked ringtones, etc. Bottom line: Don't leave parents out in the cold - even for an iPhone.