Cell phones - The Hull Truth

Libra · 02-14-2005, 11:29 PM

Interested in what cell service others have and the satisfaction level. I've been with ALLTEL for years, and the cov'g has been ok, but often have to cut the month short due to running out of daytime mins. on my current plan. Cingular offers rollover mins. for the same price. That sounds good, but how is the cov'g and satisfaction level throughout the Carolinas and south thru Fl.?

2blackdogs · 02-15-2005, 07:41 AM

I have Cingular here in Raleigh and it does ok, have no big complaints, and have a bunch of rollover minutes saved up. My problem is the phone its self...POS, or maybe I have just beat it up a little too much

. My wife got the deal through the school system, she is a teacher. Anyway, I have been pretty satisfied so far.

2 black dogs

HOTSPOT · 02-15-2005, 08:00 AM

Corp account with Alltel and I have my personal stuff with them as well. Very good coverage for me.

mj1angier · 02-15-2005, 08:26 AM

I have sprint down here in Angier, good coverage, will hit a dead spot ever now and then, we have sprint hard line and got $20 off long distant when we signed up. We have gone thru 3 phone in 5 years ( droped one in a bucket of water it died- one fell off the tool box on the back of my truck going 35 and it lived

Fisher-Price · 02-15-2005, 08:35 AM

South and East of Goldsboro all the way to the beach (Emerald Isle) US Cellular has the best coverage. Alltel is OK if you do not stray too far from I40 or Hwy 70. We use ours mostly in very rural areas. We had been with Alltel for over 10 years but switched to US Cellular once porting numbers became available. Our bill for 15 lines is less than 1/2 of what it was with Alltel.

Also, if you are a corporate account the local Alltel office will not talk to you or repair your phones, you have to get your corporate sales person. Alltel is gracious enough to sell you a new phone and add a line at the local office, they only refuse repairs or account reviews. Our account rep had quit two years earlier but Alltel kept insisting she was our rep and giving us her disconnected number. Another problem we had with Alltel besides the dropped calls. Voice mails would come through 2 months after the message was left... I am not exagerating it happened multiple times.

Scott

jb2sea · 02-15-2005, 10:02 AM

Good question. I have Alltell right now and not particularly happy with them. But no good idea how the other ones may compare. I travel between New Bern and Morehead City all the time, so 95% of my use is NB or MC or between the two. There are two or three dead spots along 70, and I can't use that 1 1/2 hours of driving out of my day to make calls due to the liklihood of losing a customer during a call. If I could find a service without the dead zones between NB and MC, I'd be on it like....

Alltell is supposed to be (and seems to be ) the best offshore though.

Anyone who can tell me about another service between NB and MC, I'd love to hear about it. I was thinking about Cingular, but my sister has it and it's terrible in her area. But she is in the western part of NC.

JB

jb2sea · 02-15-2005, 10:08 AM

Oh yeah... forgot about the voicemails coming through way late. I use my phone for business, and I would say that 5-6 voicemails every month come through anywhere from an hour to a day late. On rare occassions, even more than a day. I also think there are some that I don't get at all, based on customers telling me they left me a vmail that I never recieve.

Ayone else have this problem with Alltell? I have talked with others that have said the same thing. I called Alltell and they say 'No way, not possible'.

But I don't want to leave Alltell to go with someone worse! Any input appreciated.

JB

Dick deButts Jr · 02-15-2005, 10:24 AM

I have Verizon and it works well over eastern NC. I have a few drop outs around Harkers Island but good coverage from Raleigh down to Morehead City and AB. I am able to use the phone out as far as the Cape but not much further without going to analog which runs the battery down quickly.

Preoccupation · 02-15-2005, 02:11 PM

I have a company phone and have AT&T (now Cingular). I think the service and coverage area has been great! I can't say too many nice things about their customer service but honestly after setting everything up I haven't needed them anymore. I've had Alltel and Sprint in the past and AT&T is the best by far. I have constant coverage on my usual route, which is Raleigh to Wilmington to HB. At HB I'm roaming on SunCom (but I have a nationwide plan so I don't care) but the best thing is that I have internet access even there to see the weather radar...

Sparks Signs · 02-15-2005, 03:14 PM

I have Alltel right now and thinkingof going to NexTel, but from what I understand USCellular has unlimited free incoming calls and 1000 daytime minutes outgoing for about $40. They also have the best downeast coverage. One of my captains lives on Cedar Island and I can talk to him while he is on his way home.

ssherron · 02-15-2005, 04:05 PM

I have Alltel. I have watched my friend go through, Cingular, Nextel and Verizon. He is currently on Verizon. I can't tell you how many times I've handed him my phone while driving across this state because he got mad at his and slammed it shut because he couldn't make a call. Maybe I'm lucky but I've never had a problem with Alltel.

**If you are an Alltel subscriber, once a month you should dial *228 and hit the send button to update your signal coverage**

Greg Manning · 02-15-2005, 07:19 PM

JB2Sea...have you same problem with messages and Alltel....their coverage in my area is TERRIBLE..and I'm 15 minutes from the home office in Sanford!!! Works great everywhere except where I live and work. When my time is up I'm going US Cellular who have a tower in my area.

UNCWCraig · 02-15-2005, 07:26 PM

I have SUNCOM AT&T's UNPLAN and love it. Plan gives me unlimited minutes from New Bern to Southport and about 25 miles West of Wilmington all for $70 including taxes. If you are local to an area like that I don't think you can beat it. Even when you phone says roam you still get 200 ANYTIME minutes to use outside that zone free. Coverage is great, don't think I have been out of service anywhere in the state, maybe a bit of eastern US 64. Get all options included also, other than internet... check it out if your local to one area, don't think you can beat it.

bj · 02-15-2005, 09:25 PM

I had Alltell but just switched to U. S. Cellular. With Alltel there is several dead spots in my county. I also fish out of Topsail Inlet and the signal there is very weak. Even on the beach it was hit or miss most of the time. The fartherest offshore I could use the phone was about 4 miles and that was only occasionally. I don't know if U. S. Cellular will be any better but it probably can't be any worse.

Red Rider · 02-15-2005, 09:50 PM

I live down here on the coast and travel between Wilmington and the OBX on a regulat basis, both by road and by boat. I have had Sprint and Alltel but now I use Cingular. It's by far the best I have had. I get far better coverage with it when out in my boat than I ever did with the others.

FishinWuf · 02-15-2005, 09:52 PM

We currently have 4 lines with Verizon.* Overall, good coverage except in the far NE corner of the state (Duck, Corolla, etc).* Customer service seems to be good.* Lost my phone about 5 days before I was elligible to get a new one under the "new every two" program.* Talked to a manager and got a new phone under the normal terms of the program.

Have had Alltell and Cingular.* Alltel customer service stinks - basically nonexistent.* With Cingular, we had lots of dropped calls - even here in Raleigh.* That was 3 years ago, so maybe they have upgraded their system by now.

chipper · 02-15-2005, 10:14 PM

I've had ALLTEL for a number of years. I travel extensively and usually have coverage almost everywhere. Looking at some of the other cov'g maps, they don't seem to compare as well. The Cingular carryover mins are an incentive, but I've heard that only applies for the first 12 months, then stops completely. If thats correct, not much incentive.

seahawg · 02-16-2005, 08:54 AM

I've got Verizon now, but have had most of the others in the past. They all have their bad points. If they only spent half as much upgrading their systems, as they spend in advertising, we would all be better off. Traveling downeast, I experienced a lot of "weak spots". I bought an amplifier from Digital Antenna, the same guys that make the VHF antennas. What a difference. In areas where I had 1-2 bars, it went to 6 bars. I hardly ever have less than 5-6 bars now. Keep in mind that all the new hand held phones are only 0.6 watts. Remember how good your old built-in car phones and bag phones worked? That was because they were 3 watts. Trouble is, you can't hold 3 watts next to your brain without developing tumors the size of grapefruits. This amp takes you back to 3 watts, like the old built-in car phones.

jturling · 02-16-2005, 06:46 PM

U.S. Cellular to me has best coverage in SENC

yknot fishing · 02-18-2005, 08:16 AM

i use an old bag phone with 3watts of power and use altell they have a plan wiht no contract, you just pre-pay and only pay for the mins that you use. each min is $.25, and if you use the phone for at least one min per month there is no service charge. I use the phone in the gulf stream with a three ft ant and it works just fine on most days.