Cell phone providers

[brettb]

I dont know about other places bit all over western colorado ive had great service with straight talk. i think its underrated. i k.ow when i went from verizon to straight talk nothing changed service wise.and for 3 phones the overall monthly bill was cut by over 100 a month.then due to work last yr and where i was at i had either att or sprint choices.so i got one of each and telling you from first hand experiance in north and west colorado niether compare or worth a crap up here. During my hunt last falls hunt i was unable to post pics or stories of my hunt due to the service providers.while my buddy had either straight talk or verizon had damn near full service at all times.just saying from personal experience

 

[miller1]

I have had Sprint for the last two years and can't even begin to describe the numbers of dropped calls, texts not sending/receiving, slow data, ect. CS is generally ok, but their solution (for the last two years) has been to tell me that they have a tower down or that their service will be better "soon". They usually will apply a $25 credit to my account when I take it up the ladder, but it's literally an hour minimum on the phone to get there. What's ironic is that my phone magically works when I call their CS (have them as a contact in my phone...if that tells you anything). What's also pretty funny is that I got a text from Sprint a couple weeks ago telling me how awesome their service will be now. That week I dropped no less than 15 calls. If I wasn't paying $155/mo. for me and my wife, I may not complain as much, but for that price, I better have damn good service...especially since I live in/near one of the largest cities in the US! I really don't mean this as a "bash Sprint" post, but I've been hearing the "we're getting better" line for quite a while.

Hopefully Dotman can chime in with some insight. My contract is up in a few months...

We had the same issues with sprint but i could never get them to give us a credit, ( this is in Michigan ) it got so bad they let us out of contract with no fee.
we now have at&t and it is like night and day difference, if sprint ever gets to where they say they will be i might try them again in a few years.

 

[tstowater]

I just priced out my plan vs t mobile and it is about the same for the same service except verizon has a bigger network. I will be sticking with verizon as long as they continue to allow me to grandfather my unlimited data like they are now.

I had the unlimited data plan also, but I added another line to my plan and that went out the window. Verizon is working awfully hard to eliminate the unlimited data option. I have been with Verizon or a predecessor company for over 20 years. The company does not have any customer loyalty in my opinion.

 

[mtswampfox]

had to change from att to verizon in se ga dur to coverage. was using skype for long distance, happy with them and bare bones plan. having more trouble with satellite providers. on third receiver since moving here in 2010 and this one is going out slowly. would like to try direct but am sure they are no better or cheaper

 

[Zbowman1]

Mike, I have to agree with everyone else. Verizon has by fair the best service in are area and I have tried them all. If you really want out look at Inland Cellular. They are based here in Lewiston. I would say they are a close second to Verizon. They claim to use the same towers but I just don't quite get the same coverage in the mountains with them as I do with Verizon. They are a great small cell provider though and customer service is top notch.

 

[Jeff Martin]

As a Director for AT&T, I could spend time telling how our network went from decent to the best (dropped calls, etc...)with the greatest coverage but the reality is in the back country, Verizon has AT&T beat. I'm a backcountry hunter and I know Verizon owns the mountains. I love to see the frank feedback on AT&T, cause as a leader in the company, that is how we improve. Candidly, I am not on the consumer side, or I would help you all as my Rokslide brothers. I'm on the enterprise side with large commercial enterprise applications and cloud. If you have questions, I will try to answer them, but my expertise is on the consumer side is limited. As a leader, I will take the feedback forward. Let me have it.

 

[wapitibob]

Verizon is head and shoulders above both ATT and Sprint out West, and it isn't just in the mountains. An ATT phone is a boat anchor 10 miles East of town and there's 80,000 people living here. You have no towers and when Verizon kicks you off theirs, an ATT phone doesn't work very well. I go to WY every year and NM almost every year and to be blunt and very honest, I wouldn't use ATT or Sprint if they were free. ATT chose to go Metro and that's fine, Verizon, thru buyouts, ended up with all the little guys that provided service for the farmers and ranchers and they just have better coverage.

 

[KMT]

Verizon has the best coverage in Colorado. You can use their prepaid plan and get unlimited talk and text plus 2 GB of data for $59. No extra fees or taxes either. Or you can try Walmart strait talk prepaid plan for $49 per month. I believe they lease towers from Verizon, but it could be AT&T. If you don't like either one, you can cancel with no termination fee. There is no way I would sign up for a two year contract with any of the bozos--AT&T, Verizon, or sprint. Cut your cell phone costs in half and spend your cash on something enjoyable.

 

[Ironman8]

Verizon has the best coverage in Colorado. You can use their prepaid plan and get unlimited talk and text plus 2 GB of data for $59. No extra fees or taxes either. Or you can try Walmart strait talk prepaid plan for $49 per month. I believe they lease towers from Verizon, but it could be AT&T. If you don't like either one, you can cancel with no termination fee. There is no way I would sign up for a two year contract with any of the bozos--AT&T, Verizon, or sprint. Cut your cell phone costs in half and spend your cash on something enjoyable.

Do you have to buy your own phone or get your existing phone onto one of these pre-paid plans? I know that the 2 yr. contract is a trade-off for having the cost of the phone subsidized. Not really sure how the non-contract plans work?

 

[KMT]

Do you have to buy your own phone or get your existing phone onto one of these pre-paid plans? I know that the 2 yr. contract is a trade-off for having the cost of the phone subsidized. Not really sure how the non-contract plans work?

With the Verizon prepaid, I used my old Verizon phone ( iPhone 4S). With Walmart's plan, you can most likely use your old phone. You just have to buy a SIM card for $10-15. They sell them in the store. Just talk to someone at Walmart and call the straight talk customer service to make sure your phone is compatible. Or you can buy a phone at Walmart. iPhones are pricey though, because they aren't subsidized by a two year subsidized contract.

The prepaid plan is simple. You pay up front for 30 days of service. At the end of 30 days, if you like the service, you just pay for another month. If you don't like it, don't reload or pay for anything more. Your service will just stop. No termination fees or anything. You can set up an auto-pay if you don't want to screw around reloading the plan every month.

I live in Lakewood ( a suburb of Denver ) and I couldn't even make a call with AT&T from my house. In other parts of metro Denver, I dropped 1 out of every 5 calls. Probably the worst service I have ever had. AT&T is one company that I will never use in Colorado. I only drop 4 or 5 calls per YEAR with Verizon.

 

[blb078]

bumping this to see if anyone has noticed any changes in att. I've read that they have made some big improvements in service and reliability the last year or so. Just wondering if those improvements have effected their mountain coverage at all. My Verizon plan is up soon so will have to make a decision. thx

 

[Travis Bertrand]

If you plan on using it in nevada, stick with verizon...

 

[wapitibob]

Verizon is the only provider to use if you hunt in the West. Thru mergers and buy-outs they have ended up with all the towers out in the boonies.

 

[Mosby]

I live in Kansas City. I changed to Sprint when I got here thinking that having their headquarters here would mean something. I lost coverage every day driving in my neighborhood..... Called Sprint. Told me that they had a hole in their coverage.....in their headquarters city?
Switched back to Verizon, which works great in Missouri and most everywhere else I go to hunt. I really do not like Verizon monthly fees but I haven't found anything better for where I live or where I go. I hunt and scout by myself a lot. Cell phone service is sort of important but man do I hate the monthly fees. I could buy a new truck for what we pay for me and my kids.

 

[blb078]

Thanks, was just curious if the At&t improvements where on par w/Verizon, I do like At&t's speed which is better than VZ but if the coverage isn't there yet I'll stick with VZ

 

[blackdog]

I just switched from ATT to Verizon last month. I've simply had way too many experiences hunting and fishing around Oregon, Idaho, and Arizona the last couple of years where I didn't get any service and all my friends had Verizon and had great service. I saw zero improvement with the ATT coverage over the last year either. It sucked and didn't get any better.