Coverage Reviews for Milwaukee, WI

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Rating | Carrier | Location

AT&T

I can't make any calls inside my building. When I do get through, I can barely here a thing and it drops my call after a few seconds.

Verizon

Its common to get only 1 bar or no bars in my home. Can only use my phone on 1st or 2nd floor. The basement is impossible. Often the phone rings and when I go to pick it up the call is gone. The ironic part is that in every other city in which I travel my reception is good to excellent. I will have to be hard on Verizon though. In my view, they need to change their slogan. It's definitely not America's Most Reliable Network if you live in Milwaukee.

AT&T

Tired of trying to make call with AT&T and getting "circuits busy, try again later" this happens all the time to me and I'm in a big city. I've called numerous times to complain - after all my cell was purchased for emergency calls - no good if I can't even get the call out! AT&T was never like this in the past, I too started out with AT&T which inturn was Cingular and now back to AT&T. I can't get satisfaction with this group - looking elsewhere for a dependable service.

T-Mobile

Sometimes I have to reboot my phone to get a signal in my apartment, all other times its at 1 bar. Having recently moved here I have learned that T-Mobile is generally bad all over Milwaukee.

AT&T

Occasionally I get one bar but usually not enough to make or receive a call. 3G picks up but switches quickly to edge. I had poor service in this area with US Cellular too, but this seems worse. Too bad, only way to get an iPhone.

AT&T

absolutely no bars in my house. need to go to neighbor across street to get any signal. great! So much for replacing lland line

US Cellular

I had always had AT&T with horrible service switched to uscellular I get great service even at our home in Little Sturgeon in Door County. Us cellular has truely wowed us with the service and custoemr service

Nextel

Living in an area where Nextel was the worst, I was suprised when I moved to Milwaukee that wherever I went in town, I had perfect recption and not a dropped call. I still keep my Verizon line for when I go up north... but not bad at all.

Verizon

For being the best coverage in the nation, I was very dissapointed moving to Milwaukee where even outdoors on both my phones I only have one bar of voice coverage. I was so dissapointed I went and got Nextels, and now I have coverage all over town (never less that 3 bars)

Sprint

Is anyone else having problems with Sprint near the lower east side? every so often (monthly?) we get "signal faded, drop call" after about 40 seconds. SO FRUSTRATING! I have tried turning the phone off, taking the battery out, and visited the Sprint store many times to update our software. And it is not our apartment because it works except for these times. It is so frustating. If you are having problems or know of the problem, please let me know!

T-Mobile

out and about either of my phones work pretty good. Anytime I am near tall building however service is aweful. This includes my home and work. Texting is as bad. Neither of the phones automatically resend text, so it isn't like I can just walk away after hitting send. I have to wait till I get signal and then hope it works. I do a lot of bulk texting and if it doesn't go out to all recipients then I have to resend and usually barrage the first couple on the list with repeat copies. I have a "free roaming" plan with tmobile, but because I am supposed to have service near my home they will not allow my phone to roam. This is a joke and my biggest complait with tmobile. The roaming works fine in areas where their maps don't say I whould be fine. I started with the sidekick for the features. I hated the coverage and was going to switch services. I then learned about the hotspot at home availability and purchased the Samsung t409. the service of the Samsung is better. The hotspot feature is a GREAT idea (it allows you to log into a wifi instead of a cell tower to make calls) and that is far from perfected. It sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. The t409 is featureless so I am currently back to the sidekick and contemplating canceling my subscription with tmobil. For the record, Sprint was also aweful for me but did allow me to force roaming and use the (us celular I think) network but I didn't get all my messages and voicemails when roaming. I am now thinking of going to us celular although their plans are much more expensive than the T-Mobile plans... I guess you get what you pay for!

US Cellular

US CEllular is the best, especially in the Milwaukee area. I have no problems with calls ever dropping and I have been a customer since 1996. I also took a trip to NC and my phone was not roaming and the signal was still perfect.

Verizon

I use Verizon and have no problems anywhere I've tried to use it - i.e. it also roams really well. I believe that what makes the biggest difference is truly the phone. I have had service with the original PrimeCo, Nextel, Alltel up north, and now Verizon and every time I did my homework and got a quality Motorola phone I have been able to make calls on as little as 1 bar with no noticeable loss of quality. I can be in a basement on the UWM campus and my colleagues will be standing on top of their desks to try and get a signal with T-Mobile or Sprint and I calmly pull out my phone at 1 bar with Verizon and sit to make a call no problem. When I used an LG model with Alltel I had the worst time trying to complete any calls but my coworker had no problems with his Motorola on the same network- I definitely would have switched back to my loyal brand if I hadn't moved down to Milwaukee. Not all phones are created equal (even Motorola) so do your homework and look at user reviews before you buy.

Sprint

My only complaint, is if you drive any where North of Sheboygan, you can't even roam. No coverage off the freeway in the Chenequa / Waukesha County Area, no Coverage in Door County... Sprint, dont' be silly, give the customers with $$ coverage where they need it when they go on vacation

Verizon

I've only been with Verizon for a week and I will be cancelling. I have only had full bars at the WatertownPlank Swan Blvd.Intersection. Once I get onto Swan and drive for a quarter mile, my calls drop I'm down to 0-1 bar. Once I'm inside my house, I can hear the call, but the person on the other end tells me that I cut in and out, and the call eventually dropps.

Sprint

Everyone complains about sprint, but I travel the state and don't have a problem. Even up toward green bay, and adams county, I may go into roaming but it's like 5 bars. I have to say of all the carriers I've had Sprint is by far the best reception!

Verizon

In my office I had full bars and never had a drop out with Cellular One. With my Verizon, I usually have 0 to 1 bar and have to step outside if I want to complete a call. Usless for me.

T-Mobile

used to get good reception. since november 1, 2007 reception has gone to poor. 0 to 1 bar inisde, slightly better outside. tried multiple phones without any luck. don't go T-Mobile if you do not have a land line as a back up.

Verizon

I travel throughout the country and owned them since Air Touch days. Recently moved from Waukesha to downtown (East Side) area. I have to say that Verizon has serious issues with service from the east side all the way to the lake. I've complained at stores and at corporate... no suggestions other than sign another 2 year contract and talking about "new every 2." I requested an area survey 4 times and each time they can't find my request in my notes. Friends with Verizon phones drop like crazy too when in the area. Now my work cell "cingular" has no problems indoors or outdoors on the east side. Sad... but I now plan to leave the "network that works for you."

T-Mobile

I used to have Cingular. I was totally in love with their coverage. I never had a dropped call or any problems with volume of the call or static. But then when AT&T and Cingular merged my coverage started to suck, so I canceld my contract. Right now I use a T-Mobile phone and the coverage seems to be pretty decent, I hardly ever have dropped calls, unless I'm out in Mem Falls. And obviously it doesn't work up north, seeing as how US Cellular is the only phone company around those parts. But I'm considering switching to Sprint, I've heard good things and the suppossedly ahve the fastest intel.

US Cellular

Can't complain about reception here. Haven't had any problems with reception around Milwaukee area in general. I wish they would roll their minutes, then they'd be ideal.

AT&T

This is a review of my girlfriend's service, actually. She lives right on the lake near South Shore Yacht club, just south of Russell on Superior. She gets very little reception in her apartment. Calls frequently come in but get dropped within a minute or two. Outside, reception is slightly better but still pretty awful. Friends with ATT report about the same difficulty, with between 0 and 2 bars in and around her apartment.

Verizon

I live about two blocks southwest of Howell and Lincoln in Bay View. I get generally very good reception outside as I walk up and down the streets of Bay View, which I do very frequently. In my home, though, I only get average reception with a fair number of dropouts and dropped calls. Dropped calls aren't terribly common, though. I'd call it OK inside, very good outside. The web works well enough inside and outside. At work about a mile from I45 off Main St. in Menomonee Falls, I get no reception inside and only decent reception outside. The web is sketchy or unavailable.

AT&T

att used to work good here. ported my number to them cause Cingular sucked so bad. cingualr then bought AT&T and reception went crap. AT&T bought Cingular and reception is still crap. AT&T couldn' care less. SEND US OUR MONEY. these contracts got to GO!aren't there laws against coluding like these companies are doing?

AT&T

absolutely NO service in my house, but there are 3 spots on my driveway where I do get reception for about 5 minutes! it took us a couple months of complaining to finally get our service cancelled without charge- the customer service is terrible. Even one of the customer service managers admitted that WI has bad AT&T service coverage.

Nextel

Nextel boast that their coverage area has improved. Could've fooled me. I can't get a signal in my living room, or much anywhere else in my house.

Verizon

Because of my job, I go EVERYWHERE. Perfect at Commerce and Pleasant, nothing at Humboldt and North - less than one mile away. I have complained in the past to no avail. Updating your roam list helps a little bit. Verizon coverage is usually very reliable. Problems on the East side, especially near the Lake. North Shore coverage is decent, except near the Lake.

AT&T

Power keeps bouncing from 0 to 3 bars, sometimes even "No Service". Droped calls all the time. Can not get service to make a call. After dialing most times NO CONNECTION. AT&T seems to have gotten worse since it was Cingular!

AT&T

Near I-94, so the must be a tower right near. 3G service flawless. Generally Cingular has been horrible for me, but at home it seems as if the tower is right down the block. It probably is. At work in Waukesha 3 bars max

T-Mobile

Reception inside my home is poor with plenty of dropped calls. Near windows the bars fluctuate from 1-2 to "no service." At work near downtown Milw. I have 6 bars - no reception problems.

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