I had a T-Mobile phone about a year ago, and I did not get reception at all when I was in the law school building.

I moved to DC from LA and need to find a new cellphone carrier (hence how I stumbled upon this forum). Within a month in the area, I had a problem with my phone, so I headed downtown to the Verizon store to have it examined. It is a three-year-old phone, after all, and the quality of electronics in the 21st century is such as it is. The staff there, aside from being completely ineffective to resolve my problem (after a half-hour, they determined the phone was beyond repair, then after another substantial wait, they informed me they had none of that model in stock at that location *nor at their warehouse*), proceeded to try to sell me a new phone and a two-year contract (I should note that sales staff outnumbered tech support 2:1, while tech-support issues outnumbered phone buyers 7:1) which I surely wasn't interested in, considering the fact that if anybody happens to get through to my cellphone while I'm at home, I have them immediately call my land line to assure that the call won't drop randomly. After shrugging off all types of sales pressure and what I consider resentment (who shows resentment to an overly polite reasonably well-dressed potential customer, seriously?) over the fact that I'm really *really* not interested in a camera, mp3 ringtones, or getting basketball games sent to me while I'm on the Metro. Aside from that, I'd have to pay an additional fee to sign a two-year contract, which is a concept that frankly boggles my mind, but I've stomached it in LA because the phone had decent, though never spectacular, reception literally everywhere I went. Even in an elevator in a lead-coated building. Seriously. Anyhow, this is DC, and the customer service is just as awful as ever and now it's peddling a product that's just as pathetic with components that surely aren't built to last. Clearly, I'm seeking an alternate provider. Nextel was my second choice for a while in LA, though I never pulled the trigger because consistently good cellphone reception is unfortunately considered a rarity, and I hear that in DC, it's pretty crappy as well. I moved to Verizon from Cingular in 2002, and while my customer service at Cingular was never as bad as at Verizon, the phone service was mediocre. I've heard that it's improved substantially recently, especially after the AT&T merger--can anybody vouch for its quality in DC? In the meantime, I can only say, in all capitals, PLEASE, IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING VERIZON MOBILE PHONE SERVICE, RETHINK YOUR DECISION. I hope that I might edit this with something constructive in the future. Presently, I will admit that the phone actually had excellent reception on the Metro (but how rude is it to conduct all my long-distance conversations in a subway car?), but other than that minor miracle, I have nothing but vitriol for Verizon Wireless.

BEWARE of DEAD ZONE NEAR EASTERN MARKET METRO With Verizon, poor or no reception on much of this block. No reception inside my small house either. Called Verizon, they say it's a dead zone and there's nothing they can do, nor can they let me out of my contract. Neighbors have had the same problem with Cingular.

Still having problems. Cingular's customer service has been less than adequate. Two replacement models later and our phones still don't work at home. We're tired of buying calling cards to pay for the long distance we're supposedly already getting with our payment to Cingular. WE'RE SWITCHING! (see earlier posts)

We're going on a month of no service at home. Cingular has sent 2 replacement phones (the Samsung was way inferior) and neither of the phones worked. We're tired of not being able to get cell service! Funny, my phone works just about every other place I've tried it, including both coasts, Canada, and various places in between, JUST NOT AT HOME. What gives??

No reception again for the third time in a week! I think it is all former AT&T customers.

We've had occasional dropped calls from AT&T and Cingular. Yesterday, tho, no service whatsoever. The phones have 5 bars, but will not receive calls / text messages or send calls / text messages at the intersection listed above. They will, however, receive and send from outside DC.

I dont think Nextel is of any use in DC unless you just want to use it for that direct calls or walkee takee thing. If u live or work in DC, just look for another company.

In the National Academies' Keck building: no reception in most areas on the first floor, second floor, third floor, or fifth floor. Close to north-facing windows: zero or one bar. I would just set my cell phone to forward all calls to my work phone. Someone with Nextel service had great reception, though, even near the elevator. Also, south-facing offices on the fifth floor get some signal (carrier unknown). Out of the building: four bars.

No reception underground in the Metro. Average reception above ground.