We use Alltel and their Total Freedom plan. It is similar to Cingular's one rate, and the coverage is very good. Depending on where you are when you call, cell service can be very poor, no matter which provider you use. Check Howard's posts regarding the Wilson cell booster antenna. Mike

Wow,

This one is complicated,  I had a very bad experience and just got it straightened out over the last month.  Anyway my service got dumped twice account a merger between Altel and Cell one (western wireless).   Ended up going with Verizon, here is what I found out.  Cingular uses a different digital technology than Altel or Verizon. For the North Central and North Western USA the digital technology called CDMA is the standard (Altel & Verizon use this).  The type Cingular uses CDA (I believe, correct me if not) is not that popular in the North Central or the N. West so maybe there are towers in the bigger population areas that you can use but move to a rural area..... forget it.  Now take into account roaming agreements which are different everywhere and change all the time.  Yep Good old ma bell and a calling card may be the only alternative.  Untill we get some consumer protection and standards laws in the mobil industry we are at their mercy!  I recharge my long distance card quite regular. 

My Humble Opinion

This is somewhat of an "opinion, and personal preference" item. I'll give you our insights from fulltiming over 6 years with cell phones. We have had ATT and Verizon. Our best friends - also fulltimers - are on our family plan (Verizon), and also have their own Cingular phone. What our friends find is that , in general, Verizon has better connectivity. Available in more areas. But that may just be where they go - although they are VERY mobile and cover a lot of ground. We have found that Verizon is generally available if there is ANY cell coverage. Verizon has one of the best "exchange" programs with the other carriers, so you can almost always get on for voice. Verizon has the best data coverage, and if you use just your minutes on National Access then you can use data for free (at approximately fast dialup speeds). You just need to make sure the phone you buy has a Mobile Office Kit available for it. Verizon also has the fastest and best coverage for broadband data with their EVDO technology. But this is still limited, mainly to urban areas. Cingular has the cheapest data plan at $19.99 for unlimited minutes. But access to it is much more limited than with Verizons plan, and it is much slower. If you buy the Verizon plan you will pay $60 for unlimited EVDO data, which will automatically "fall back" to the slower National Access if the broadband is not available. National Access seems to be available on all Verizon towers, at this point. They are rolling EVDO out very fast. Based on our experience and talking to others, if I had to choose only one provider I would choose Verizon. I like the free data, and voice coverage is very good. I have stood next to Cingular customers many times and connected when they could not. Of course, I'm sure others have the "flip side" to that story. In any case, if you want real good connectivity get an antenna (Wilson trucker) and (optionally) an amp. I've been using them for years, and you will not believe the difference they make.

Here is a little hint about forums. When you see Jack Mayer post, you better read it because he is so analytical and his technical knowledge is super. When it gets technical then listen to what Jack has to say. I think he is my DH's idol. Of course, my DH's mechanical abilities are along the line of Howard's. He always has to say "righty tighty, lefty loosey" before working on a screw or bolt. He is a dear and I love him because he pulls my condo.

Thanks to all for the advice, it sounds as though Verizon may be the way we go. I have the Nationwide plan with Cingular and have traveled along I20, between Shreveport, LA and South Carolina. The reception is generally pretty good along the interstate. This past weekend we went north of Shreveport to Lake Wright Patman and reception was terrible. I guess it is different depending on where you are.

I hope to get the booster and antennae as soon as we are traveling a lot more. I am not sure it would be worth it for weekend outings. Thanks for the great advice.

Hi, We use Verizon. and have to say the service is spotty at best when you get outside metroplolitan areas. We've been having particular problems here in the north east, maybe the hilly/mountainous geography? We are thinking of getting an outside antenna, but are waiting for some really strong reccomendations. Fred

Strong recommendation: - Wilson Trucker antenna - I have the RV model, which is shorter. Cut the threaded section to length and you canmount it on a bracket - Wilson wired amplifier antenna 301119 here Amp 811202 here You can try just the antenna first to see if it is enough for your needs. But I predict you will end up with the amp, as well. The amp really makes a HUGE difference. You will need an adaptor for your specific phone, and may also need an extension cable for routing the antenna. The longer the extension the more signal loss you will have, so you should try to keep the run as short as possible.

Jack,

Thanks sooooo much for the links to Wilson Trucker RV Antenna and your explanation of the different cellular plans.  I've been searching and searching and this is the first overall concise review of the major plans.   

We may actually purchase the magnetic mounted antenna so we can move it to our Honda.

Gail

Strong recommendation from us as well on the Wilson Trucker Antenna, Amplifier, and Magnetic Mount antenna.  We are in our third campground in a row where the amplifier has made all the difference in the world.

We got ours through Prime Cellular as Jack recommended to us and through the links he posted. They were great to work with and helped determine exactly what equipment was best for us (including the phone adapters).  And they saved us money over some of the other internet sites.

Verizon, as of now, still has the best national coverage.  Locations will vary, but for overall coverage they are still the best.

Most fulltimers do not use Sprint/Nextel because their coverage is concentrated around metro areas and interstates. It is very sparse in other areas. Do not believe the coverage maps of any of the providers.....

My husband and I were out IN the Grand Canyon and my cellphone rang.  Everyone in our group was shocked that I was getting service.  We have Alltel and have had Alltel for years.  In all of our travels, we have never had a problem getting service. 

I guess it just goes to show that this is a matter of choice.....

We have had different services for many ,many years.  What we found, it all depends on what you want/use the cell phone for. 

Originally we used to it to keep in touch with son (Houston)and daughter (Marina Del Rey)while away from home (about 200 days a year).  About 6 or 7 years ago the kids gave us a Sprint qualcom (they both had sprint), and this worked great. When traveling to some area you can expect to loose coverage and may have to travel some to find a signal. This was the case at one park we liked to visit.  

In the mean time both kids switched to cingular, so we also switched. Cingular works great in the above mentioned park.  We can call all other cingular phones anytime, anyplace without counting toward the included monthly minutes in addition to the free night and weekend calls.. Cingular also rollover all unused mins. At present our rollover balance is @5000 mins. This last month we lost @400 additional rollover mins because of they were above limits.  We both have/had hearing loss so we wear hearing aids. Cingular phone we have works great for us.

Never been charged for call out of the service area. Understand this can be a problem if a large percentage of your call are outside the service area.

Since I lost my spouse last June, the daughter and son call at least once or more every day.

What I'd like to see them make is a cell phone for phone calls without all the camera, down load, etc, etc. 

We have had Verizon for years and had two cheap phones.  We kept being in places that Verizon either was roaming or extended network.  Extended network works fine for calling and mostly for getting a call, but voice mail notifications rarely come through on extended network and sometimes the calls don't make it either.  In many of those areas Cingular had fine service so we converted one phone number to Cingular and pay more money to have two plans, plus no free minutes calling each other.  So far it has been working fairly well, in most places both phones work but there have been times where only one worked.  We can't see any reason to get fancy phones, they come with services that cost money to use.  We did get a Bluetooth headset for the Cingular phone, that made sense to us.

-- Edited by bjoyce at 20:37, 2006-09-06

Well, here's one for you.  Anybody else had this experience?  We have Cingular and have just been notified that we are being dropped because more than 50% of our calls are out of their network.  We have a contract that provides free roaming and have until October 28th to switch to another company.  We have used them since August of 2003 and just renewed our contract a year ago.  I'm wondering if Verison or others are going to start doing this and what the impact will be to fulltime RVers.  I guess my question at this point is, should we convert to Verison or will we have the same problem with them?

Years ago ATT did the same thing to us. Verizon is different. Americas Choice plan is ONLY Verizon. So there is NO roaming. Bu definition you can not roam. Verizon does have interchange agreements with other carriers, so as long as you are on one of them there is no roaming. The phones on AC can only place calls on the AC network. Sounds bad, right? But it is not, because Verizon has so many towers, and so many exchange agreements. I have never been any place where a cell phone worked that my verizon service did not work. Plus, if you do it right, you get free internet on a network far faster and more prevalent than Cingular.

My sister recently came to visit us in Seattle. She lives in Tucson and has a verizon cell phone. She was having lots of "dropped calls" and poor connections so we took the phone to Verizon to have it checked. We were told that she should have the phone checked for updates every few months. Some of the updates can be done by phone but as we had never heard of this before and she'd had the phone for about a year it was necessary to have it done at verizon. Also we were told that when you change areas you should call in (can't remember the number they gave us) and the phone will be reset to that area. We actually had to go to three different verizon stores as only the larger ones have the ability to update.

I then took my phone to Sprint and was also told we should be checking for updates every few months. Same problem with getting it updated.....it has to be at a larger store and not a kiosk.

We asked the employees at both places if this was in any of the manuals since it was so important. Both places said it's not written anywhere.......it's just something we're supposed to know!!

After all that, we still didn't notice any improvement in her phone!

We have had Verizon for so many years, I can't remember when we didn't have it.  My husband has his phone on a family plan with our daughters, so any calls to our family, we make on his phone and thus no minutes are charged off.  I have the original Nationwide one rate calling plan.  They are not offering this plan any longer and are trying to get me to change it.  But where we live there are some "dead" areas on all the other Verizon plans.  The Nationwide one rate plan will get me service in those areas.  So, between the two of us, we are pretty well covered. 

We have only been in one city/town where we had no service (and no one else did either) and that was Leadville, CO.  They have a local service there and all others are blocked out.

On the updating, we do that often.  With our move after retirement, we kept our numbers as Colorado numbers, so we are always on the extended network unless in Colorado.  We can update our roaming by phone whenever we are in a 303 area.  Other locations have to be done by calling 611 and asking for a number to call.  If we are going to be in an area for a while, we will call in and update our roaming for that particular area.  This makes a big difference in our reception.  For instance, if I am in Salt Lake for a week or two, I call in and Verizon gives me a local SL number to call to update for that area.

We are frequently out of range for any cell phone service since we like to boondock in the back country.  So - we now have satellite internet and we can keep in touch with our family wherever we are.  (I know, that's another discussion).

 

*223 will update a VZ phone, no matter where you are. We have never been back to the Atlanta area where we initiated service with out phone. I update every month or so....They add towers all the time, and if you do not update you might not get on a new one.

Jack Mayer wrote:

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*223 will update a VZ phone, no matter where you are. We have never been back to the Atlanta area where we initiated service with out phone. I update every month or so....They add towers all the time, and if you do not update you might not get on a new one.

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Does anyone know of a corresponding number to update an AT+T phone (iPhone)?

I had not seen this post but the correct number is *228. Even better is to dial *22899 and it will update both the 1 and 2 options at the same time. I believe these are the towers and the roaming options.

Does anyone know of a corresponding number to update an AT+T phone (iPhone)? Been told it is not needed for AT&T or any other GSM provider (T-mobile), they do it automatically.

jcw wrote:

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Does anyone know of a corresponding number to update an AT+T phone (iPhone)?

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I gave up my iPhone in Oct, but when I had it the update was via iTunes.  Sync it with iTunes and on one of the prefrences tab was a update option.  I no longer have the iPhone preference tab so I can not give you exact instructions.