Had Nextel for 10 yrs when we moved to the country. Didn't work out here, kept dropping calls. Switched to Verizon, but Verizon is even worse. We had the Verizon phones on 30 day trial, and they worked fine, but after the trial period ended, they nosedived. I don't understand how that could happen. Two other family members stayed with Nextel and get fine reception, but they have different model phones. I'm convinced the phones play a big part in the quality of reception in the fringe areas no matter who the carrier is.

I'm on a 1 acre lake front lot (large Lake), W / Year round home. Got good cel-phone reception with Cinqular, but switch Oct.2005 to "VERIZON" and lost all reception. Sometimes I get one (1) bar. If I needed to make a "911" call I have to drive to somewhere on 90th mile Rd. Can't wait till Oct. 2007 to get another cel-phone carrier who works in my area. Still looking... . P.S. Verizon works great around Livonia, Mich.

I used to be able to get reception in my basement until I recieved a new phone. Now I have no reception, no bars or anything no matter where I am. Not even on the roof. Once in a while a incomming call will make it but it get dropped as soon as you attempt to answer it. The only thing that works is text messaging. I don't know if it is just a sucky phone or if Verizon took down the tower. Either way good luck getting a signal.

My two trips this summer (2007) to Hubbard Lake have been *very* disappointing for cellphone coverage. My phone and my mother's Treo 700P had *no* coverage, almost in the entire area. In Alpena, I had limited connectivity (maybe 3 bars), but only for the brief period that I was "downtown". Even in Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island, where in 2006 I was able to make a phone call, nothing this year! My brother brought his AT and T phone, and he had coverage in Ossineke, Alpena, multiple places around Hubbard Lake. I've been with Verizon for at least 6 years, and they are supposed to have the best overall coverage of the US, but since we are "Up North" every summer, I am seriously considering switching, if I can get coverage with AT and T. Hope to see more feedback here so I can make a decision.

We were sold a total bill of goods. Alltell indicates good coverage on their lying maps, the agent in Alpena (25 miles away) said she has three bars in our neighborhood, but admitted on the second visit that she has to use an outdoor repeater / amplifier and tried to sell us that. OK coverage in town, but what good is that? The phones go back before the trial period is up - I can't wait for the foot-dragging and BS to start... . BTW, the next ploy was that Alltell is putting up a new tower soon - near the Walmart in town! That will do a lot of good out here.

No reception from either Sprint or Nextel (back when they were separate carriers). The Fallasburg area is within a bowl so basically as soon as you enter the park, you're out of luck. Visitors with phones from Verizon and AT&T have experienced the same thing.

There are so many houses, cabins, camps, and campgrounds North of M94. There aren't many options when it comes to wireless service. Alltel is supposed to be world's largest network so where is our tower? I sell Alltel and I have to constantly tell people that there isn't any reception in that area. Let's change that!

Constant dropped calls. Almost impossible to get a single bar.

Reception is not existent. With so many people from SE Michigan spending lots of time in Charlevoix, it's pathetic this area is marketed as an area with coverage. Make Charlevoix and Petosky significant hot spots and people would line up to change to a Verizon phone. The ONLY thing keeping me from dropping Verizon is the Verizon-Onstar link for car phones. They need to get it together and put service where people want it. Sorry for the venting; I doubt things will change in the next 10 years.

I live within 2.5 miles of a Verizon tower but still do not have reception in my house, outside of my house or in the street. They said it was my phone but my friend has a new Verizon phone and hers did not work either. But to be honest and fair to verizon, att&t, Sprint and tracfone all do not work here either. Maybe we should be looking into other causes... .like some of the many other towers that have been going up around here?