I recently had Verizon which didn't work when I traveled to the beach. I changed to Alltel and purchased a Motorola for myself and a Nokia for my wife. We have been very pleased with the service we recieved from our sales person and the reception on our way to the beach this weekend was great. It dropped out only once on 17 but it was a huge improvement over our last carrier.

It is interesting reading all the comments regarding carriers in the Columbia area. News flash... .every carrier is going to have weak spots! That's the nature of wireless. And just because there is a tower near you, doesn't mean your specific carrier is on that tower. I have utilized Alltel, Verizon, SunCom and now T-Mobile in the area. I can't say many positive things about Alltel (except that Verizon is buying them out and their coverage should improve). I know Sprint's coverage is very spotty as well. Nextel two-way in nice, however their call areas are restricted to major interstates (mostly). Verizon has good coverage and so does T-Mobile, but I've dropped calls on both systems in different areas. I do know that T-Mobile has built several hundred new cell sites in the last few months in the Carolinas and I've seen a vast improvement in their coverage. Remember this... .before chosing a carrier, make sure they offer a "grace period" so you can test the coverage in the areas YOU will be in. I will say that I am a very happy T-Mobile customer at this time!

Never had a dropped call always have signal but prices are too high and they are adding charges too my bill monthly

Yeah, T-Mobile is not available in our area. But with nationwide roaming free, I got the phone out of aiken, and use it in columbia with no problems except for if someone wants to call you from a landline, it's long distance.

I have a Nokia 3620 phones for Suncom. And I say the phone and service are great in my area. I rarely get dropped calls. My signal is alway at max. The reception is pretty ok on the nokia 3620. I had a Motorola C332t from SunCom and that was a good phone, good signal, good reception. CS for SunCom is pretty great. I prefer SunCom over any other phone carrier.

In Whitmire, Alltel is definitely the way to go. Just look at the tower search for the town. The only registered tower here is owned by Alltel. They're apparently the only ones that care about a good signal here. The signal is perfect all over the area and really all over South Carolina in all the places I go. I wish I'd of found this site before I wasted two years paying more for fewer minutes with Verizon and 0-1 bars. For others having problems, go with Alltel here.

Never lost a call with verizon, even out in swansea.

Awesome service. Never had a problem.

Travel extensively around Columbia and surrounding cities for work, use Alltel for work phone. Have Verizon for personal phone. Have never had one problem with Alltel in any area. Verizon is spotty, which suprised me because they are usually the best everywhere. I-20 towards Florence is really poor, and interstates are poor aruond columbia as well. Alltel would be my choice here.

at&T down alot in storms.

Verizon is tops for this area. Suncom is the pits. Suncom has dropped towers in SC. I switched our company to Verizon from Suncom.

SunCom AT&T is my service provider. I travel the entire state of SC weekly. I've learned to stay close to the major highways, or I will most likely be in deadzoneville very quickly.

I have been with Cingular for over 4 years now. I have not had any problems with coverage in my area of town. I did notice better coverage when the merger with AT and T took place. I receive excellent customer satisfaction when I have to call them about something.

Pretty good reception around town but my calls do fade sometimes at home in certain rooms. Rarely drop calls.

In the downtown area, out into lower Richland County, and up into the Irmo area, coverage is generally very good. I've been with Virgin for 2 years, and the experience has been a good one.

I have always had great reception with Verizon. I just have problems with their service, costs and contracts. Text messaging is WAY over priced. This phone sucks for any internet related things (I want an iPhone). Customer service was rude. It took a few days to get some unknown $9.99 a month charge on my wife's phone removed. Verizon COULDN'T EVEN TELL ME WHAT IT WAS AND THEY WOULDN'T BLOCK IT OR REFUND ME! To this day I do not know WTF the charges over 4 months were for. Just $40 bucks down the tubes and in Verizon's pockets. I am currently checking out coverage maps to move away from Verizon after 8 years as a customer. If you just care about voice and text messages, they do have a very reliable network. I can't remember the last time I lost a call, even going in an elevator up 6 floors to work. Just MAKE SURE you get enough text messages or you will pay out the bum, same with your minutes. I am personally tired of having to worry about minutes or number of texts. However, the current prices are not even close to being customer (NOT CONSUMER) friendly.

Great service, some dead spots all around, but all services do. Was with Verizon since it was bell atlantic, but switched to Sprint / Nextel about 5 years ago and was the best move. Verizon csrs were always rude and could care less about me as a customer. Sprint always bends over backward to make sure I am satisfied. Great phone selection and service is good most everywhere. By far the best value with plans.

Alltel is one of the best servers that I been with. I had Verizon and it was pitiful. My only problem I have with Alltel is that I got my phone in Columbia but I stay in Winnsboro and in winnsboro my phone is digital roaming and sometimes my phone will say Alltel but it will not connect unless it say roaming. When its on Alltel I have 3, 4 sometimes 5 bars and it still wont connect. But other than that I well please with Alltel. But I know they can get better. I HOPE!

I use 3 devices in this location, 2 phones and 1 broadband. Reception is generally reliable, but a couple months ago it suddenly dove into the sewer. Verizon Wireless kept trying to blame it on me, but I was persistent and after several calls, a knowlegeble technician actually checed it out and found they had left a tower off my access list. As she "pushed" that info to my devices I could actually watch the bars come back! The sad thing is that I had to fight so hard to get any decent customer service. The same is true with their walk-in location. Long waits, then explaining that it is not actually my fault after all. Verizon has forgotten who the customer is. Also, their texting (which I rarely use) is so way over priced that I keep it blocked to avoid paying for junk text messages.

My Motora cell sucks,workmanship is very poor. Sun Com sales department does a good selling these no good phones, even when they are no good. It have been repaired several times already. And each they wants to charge me.