I moved back to Richmond 2 years ago and foolishly traded in my Nokia phone with AT&T / Cingular for a Sanyo with Sprint, thinking I was in a major city again and should have no problems whatsoever with cell service. WRONG! I had far superior national coverage and almost zero dropped calls in the wilds of Northern Idaho with AT&T (and later in Providence, RI) on my Nokia phone, plus its battery lasted 5 hours. In my apartment I have to go upstairs even to get an erratic 3-4 bars with Sprint. Dropped calls are frequent. Dead spots are numerous. Coverage wasn't much better inside my office at Glenside / Forest. I've even missed some important meetings with people when in the Annapolis area because I did not get their calls live (the phone did not ring), nor was there an indication they'd left a voice mail until THE NEXT DAY! Finally, my contract is up and I am free to say sayonara to Sprint and do my homework this time. I read Sprint lost over a million customers last year alone. Meanwhile, in the online consumer surveys, T-Mobile and Verizon consistently tie in the Mid-Atlantic states as having the best service and coverage, so I'm surprised some people in the 23226 area haven't liked them either. I realize the phone makes a difference, too, of course. As irrelevant as it sounds, I HATE Alltel's commercials, so I don't think I could go with them purely out of principle! Bottom line, based on my experience, don't go with Sprint.

No problems at all with the AT&T reception. Initially when I shifted I used a T-Mobile for 2 months. The reception was strictly OK. I realised how much better it could be when I shifted to at&t, though the customer service was not tht great. I had no problem with the coverage in Richmond or while roaming.

Had to switch to AT&T because reception was erratic to non-existent

Excellent reception indoors and out. Perhaps 3G phone helps

Absolutely no problems. TV, mobile web, GPS work without a hitch. Hint to those that do have problems: update your software one a month.

I get excellent service all throughout the west end generally 3 to 4 bars(max) I get 1-3 bars in my house which is good enough to not drop calls.

Worked great for 3 years, 4 months ago signal lost power and won't work for any Sprint phone.

It's not just Sprint; according to T-Mobile and AT&T's websites their reception is shaky at best. I cannot get a straight answer from Verizon on their reception in this area to save my life.

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.

Works great even though only 3 bars, sometimes 4. No problems, would use Verizon in Crown Grant area.

I've had Sprint for about 10 years and never much liked it. Rarely can I be in the car traveling and not experience dropped calls or bad reception. Reception in West Creek (Goochland) is horrible. Taveling along the Wiley Bridge near Stoney Point is a guaranteed drop call. Reception in my house in Westover Hills is OK, and better than Sprint. When my contract expires in August, I'll be switching carriers. Bottom line: I do not recommend Sprint.

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.

I wonder if the Radio tower affects the signal

Bars don't mean much. I live 1 / 2 mile from I-95 on Parham Rd.and it is NOT possible to have a phone conversation over 10 minutes without the call being dropped over and over again. Nearly every call gets dropped and picked up again, it's so frustrating I want to throw the phone out the window. I am not sure if the problem is Verizon or the phone model.

Although I get only 2 bars in my basement office the reception is far better than what I got with my Nextel service which was no reception

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.

Had Alltel for years and was just used to going outside to make calls. Phone never worked in my parham road office (although would sometimes roam on the Sprint Network). Never worked inside any schools (Not that we should be using the phone in schools). Never worked in my home. Had just gotten used to it over the years. Well, I decided to change to Verizon, and there is no looking back. I have yet to have one dropped call. I have yet to find one place where it says searcing for service. I feel like I have finally joined the cellular revolution. I am sure each company has their strong and weak areas, but let me tell you living in this neighborhood in Richmond Virginia Verizon is the only way to go.

Everything forwarded to voice mail. NO reception!

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.

Spotty reception. Sometimes dropped calls... sometimes not. Sometimes great.