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Just switched over to Alltel a couple weeks ago, mainly because the plan worked out far cheaper for my family. But I've also noticed that the coverage is great. Far better than our previous provider. So far, we're all very pleased with service. It tends to be much stronger outside of the city in the more rural areas also.

Alltel has excellent reception in Charleston. When you head farther along Greenbrier St. toward Elkview it weakens in a few spots, but is still usable. They also have better than average coverage into Ohio. However, if live down Route 60, you'll want something different. The service is strong through Glasgow, but drops off completely right by the London Locks. This means Alltel has no reception at at WVU Tech in Montgomery. NTelos has good service in Montgomery, but is really weak once you go up Oakridge Drive. NTelos has good coverage in Ohio if you have a national plan. Cingular also has good coverage in Montgomery.

Terrible for dropping calls and lack of coverage. Other providers work fine, it's just my AT&T that won't work.

Honestly, I don't know that one carrier is any better than another here.

If you would put on somewhere in Kanawha State Forest that would be great.It would cover loudendale, davis creek dr. and hernshaw.

No reception whatsoever in the upper Woodward Dr. area. Theres a perfect spot for a site at the top of Limestone Rd (a.k.a. Bird Mnt.) Also there is an MCI tower located close to the Rodney Loftis dump site that would be good... not as good as Limestone. If a tower was placed there it would cover all of Woodward Dr. and parts of Rocky Fork. Would also covor some areas of Sissonville and Fishers Branch Rd area.

Pretty good coverage throughout the state, with the exception of the north eastern portion of the state that is covered by Easterbrooke cellular. Cingular claims they will have a roaming agreement done March 1 with Easterbrooke. I Started with a Motorola V551, but had spotty reception a loads of dropped calls. Switched to the Nokia and have had much better reception and no dropped calls. Works well in Bluefield, Lewisburg, Wheeling, Huntington, and just about everywhere else I've been. A glimmer of hope on the cust service front: after screwing me on an AT&T phone return rebate (they said my rebate was invalid but would not return the phone either) I got an instant credit from the store for the rebate amount.

In Charleston full bars. On the outskirts of the city like near the airport about half strength. Where I live which is about 10 miles from Charleston 1 bar on my road then at my house 0 signal.

Here's the rundown. If you're in the more rural areas, like out Woodward Dr. or Elkview, Alltel has you covered. Ntelos is great for local coverage, from charleston to Deepwater in Fayette County. Also all the way to huntington and Ashland is Great. Cingular has very good coverage on their TDMA, GSM isn't all that in Kanawha County. Nextel is good for local coverage, only bad thing is you can't roam if you travel. Nextel has added a tower in the childress road area off Rt. 119, which helps alot from there all the way to Charleston.

Phone works just fine in EVDO mode with a -99dBm level. Reports working off tower at lat 38 degrees, 21 minutes, 47 seconds by -81 degrees, 35 minutes, 37 seconds. (Using Open Signal Maps)