I use to have US cellular and made to switch to cingular. I have found more dead spots with cingular. It's amazing what good marketing can do to sell a bad signal. "raising the bar" How about going to the bar. I'm told that they are currently in the process of merging AT&T and Cingular to make a better signal "be patient" I guess I have 2 years to wait now... .. :-(

US Cellular owns 90% of the towers in Wisconsin, so it is therefore the best choice for both reception quality and price (you pay more with any other company because they all use US Cellular's towers, its like bypassing the middle man). Also when my single mode CDMA didn't work in my new apartment (Kyocera SE-47), they hooked me up with a free Motorola v265 which works great, 5 bars. The slider would erratically ring for 5 minutes with no caller info and no ability to answer or stop the noise. I'm so pissed I got the slider to begin with.

I've been a US Cellular customer for the last 6 years - going on my third two year contract this week. I laugh at all of my friends and colleagues who use Verizon, Cingular, or Sprint phones and can't get reception anywhere. I find myself challenged to find a place where I do not have excellent reception with US Cellular. I use my phone frequently for business communications and don't hesitate at all to call clients on my cell - my calls are always clear and they never drop. I think that US Cellular has really put their resources in the right areas. Over the last six years the excellent customer service at US Cellular has just kept getting better. My coverage area has expanded significantly. Further, my monthly bill just keeps going down. I may not be able to download every stupid ringtone out there with US Cellular, but at least I can use my phone for what I originally bought it for - to make and receive phone calls. If you are not getting good reception and you have US Cellular you have a crappy phone.

Phone as been working great thaks to Robert Shorette at Mobile One Wireless in Madison. I had a hard time getting the phone to work until I took it to Mobile One and they fixed my reception problems in about 10 mins.

Bars mean nothing as long as you can use your phone. That is what is important

Can you hear me now? No.

Never any trouble in or around my apartment near W. Main and Broom. Love the Nextel!

Verizon reception is pretty good.

Sprint has neat features that frequently don't work. The internet browsing is a joke. Dropped calls. Major problem. Frequently around the Hwy. 30 / Thompson Drive area. Sometimes in my house I get 1 bar, and my phone will not ring. Other times in the same exact spots I have all of my bars and it works great. Sprint customer service is poor at best. I advise to avoid Sprint in the Madison area. They agreed their coverage is below par and gave me an hour of free roaming a month, because in many places you can not get a Sprint signal. I was spoiled with Cingular (TDMA, not GSM haven't used that yet). I am switching back at the end of my 2 year Sprint contract (13 more days, yay).

Nextel is a good service if you don't mind dropped calls and large areas of the country without reception.