How's Sprint Coverage in Northern and Mid Michigan and

[LTW]

Sprint seems to have upgraded their coverage over past couple of years since I tried them last. The Lansing area seems much improved. How is the coverage generally in MI particularily in the northern half of the state? Do they roam off Alltel's digital service up there?

Thanks for everyone's reply!

[larry]

Sprint does have digital roaming agreements in MI. They have added a lot of new service in past two years.

[jrip]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone SCP-5500/US/1.0) NetFront/3.0 MMP/2.0)

On Network Is Pretty Much Highway Only. Roaming Has Greatly Improved. I Digital Roam Alot Of Places VZW Doesnt Work At All.

[LTW]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone SCP-5500/US/1.0) NetFront/3.0 MMP/2.0)

On Network Is Pretty Much Highway Only. Roaming Has Greatly Improved. I Digital Roam Alot Of Places Vzw Doesnt Work At All.

That is encouraging!! The service so far has been much better than expected and I was able to swing a good deal with corporate discount being significant. Much cheaper than my VZW service!!

Thanks for your replies!

[svanwormer]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone SCP-5500/US/1.0) NetFront/3.0 MMP/2.0)

I Digital Roam Alot Of Places VZW Doesnt Work At All.

Just curious, where is this?

[CaptainLoose]

I'm curious too. I have both Sprint and VZW and don't see many (well can't think of any) situations where I get Sprint but not VZW. Anyway, my opinion of the original question is yes, Sprint has improved but as jrip said, they're mostly on highways as you move northward from Lansing. While their F&C plan shows coverage, my experience is that its mostly analog and mostly unusable off major highways in northerm MI. I use VZW because I get more areas of extended digital up north than w/ Sprint...not as much as their maps suggest mind you but more than Sprint.

[deplep]

I just recently switched from Sprint to Verizon (2 weeks ago). I had "the best reception" phone from Sprint - so they told me. While I had good service in heavily populated areas and on most of the freeways, the reception was so poor in rural towns that I was left with no service.

We had 4 phones (1 sanyo, 1 samsung, 2 nokia's) and the reception off Sprint's network was awful.

Switched to Verizon hoping it would be better and so far it has EXCEPT for the fact that I had to trade in the newly purchased LG VX6100's for Motorola's. The LG's didn't hold a signal (yes I updated the PRL). So, we traded the really cool LG 6100's for the uncool Motorola v265 but guess what, we were in rural NE Michigan and had great signal's all weekend.

I also have a cell phone through my office (ATT/Cingular) and I get poor / no signals in fringe areas either.

Looks like Verizon is the only game in town - at least if you are travelling in NE and UP Michigan.

[larry]

I just recently switched from Sprint to Verizon (2 weeks ago). I had "the best reception" phone from Sprint - so they told me. While I had good service in heavily populated areas and on most of the freeways, the reception was so poor in rural towns that I was left with no service.

We had 4 phones (1 sanyo, 1 samsung, 2 nokia's) and the reception off Sprint's network was awful.

Switched to Verizon hoping it would be better and so far it has EXCEPT for the fact that I had to trade in the newly purchased LG VX6100's for Motorola's. The LG's didn't hold a signal (yes I updated the PRL). So, we traded the really cool LG 6100's for the uncool Motorola v265 but guess what, we were in rural NE Michigan and had great signal's all weekend.

I also have a cell phone through my office (ATT/Cingular) and I get poor / no signals in fringe areas either.

Looks like Verizon is the only game in town - at least if you are travelling in NE and UP Michigan.

Well you should be able to digital roam off network with Sprint if you had:

A) a dual band, tri-mode phone
B) your phone set to 'automatic' mode
C) Used anything but a Sanyo (Sanyos have trouble roaming in 800 Mhz mode).

[LTW]

Well you should be able to digital roam off network with Sprint if you had:

A) a dual band, tri-mode phone
B) your phone set to 'automatic' mode
C) Used anything but a Sanyo (Sanyos have trouble roaming in 800 Mhz mode).

Which phones do your recommend for this situation? I thought Sanyo's were supposed be outstanding in holding on to a signal? I got the 8200 and found it to be pretty solid, however I have not used "up north" yet.

[jrip]

Just curious, where is this?

We spend alot of time all over michigan in the summer. My parents are retired and they own a consession wagon. Just to keep busy. All of us "kids" and some of our kids help out. Anyway there is a very large area from about Hesperia north way past Baldwin. I cant remember how far north the VZW dead area goes. East it goes to about US-131. When we/they are up there, usually visiting she needs to borrow either my phone(Sprint) or my uncles phone(Alltel). Because hers (VZW) cant even get a analog signal. Same goes for my sister and her husband. Their phones wouldnt work at all in Coruna this past summer for the 4th of july. They had to use a payphone to call and ask for more help. Or when they were in Wyoming for the dog show. Everybody in my family that has VZW is complaining alot lately that when they get off the main highways in most places thye cant even roam. For the most part we are west of US-131 most of the time.VZW's maps show very few areas that dont have coverage. My family is finding out that its the other way around. As soon as their contracts are up they will be switching to either Sprint or Nextel.

[svanwormer]

We spend alot of time all over michigan in the summer. My parents are retired and they own a consession wagon. Just to keep busy. All of us "kids" and some of our kids help out. Anyway there is a very large area from about Hesperia north way past Baldwin. I cant remember how far north the VZW dead area goes. East it goes to about US-131. When we/they are up there, usually visiting she needs to borrow either my phone(Sprint) or my uncles phone(Alltel). Because hers (VZW) cant even get a analog signal. Same goes for my sister and her husband. Their phones wouldnt work at all in Coruna this past summer for the 4th of july. They had to use a payphone to call and ask for more help. Or when they were in Wyoming for the dog show. Everybody in my family that has VZW is complaining alot lately that when they get off the main highways in most places thye cant even roam. For the most part we are west of US-131 most of the time.VZW's maps show very few areas that dont have coverage. My family is finding out that its the other way around. As soon as their contracts are up they will be switching to either Sprint or Nextel.

I don't think they will be happy with those 2 either. Nextel and Sprint are spotty at best on the west side. Cingular roams on Dobson in NW MI and they just bought out NPI, so their coverage should be superb and all GSM. Alltel would be another good choice. Check out their coverage maps.

http://onlinestoreb.cingular.com/htm.../region_mi.htm
http://alltel.com/estore/wireless/pr...?zipCode=48734

[jrip]

I don't think they will be happy with those 2 either. Nextel and Sprint are spotty at best on the west side. Cingular roams on Dobson in NW MI and they just bought out NPI, so their coverage should be superb and all GSM. Alltel would be another good choice. Check out their coverage maps.

http://onlinestoreb.cingular.com/htm.../region_mi.htm
http://alltel.com/estore/wireless/pr...?zipCode=48734

Off network for Sprint is actually better than VZW.But cost more.On network for Sprint is many times better than VZW. As for Nextel it's kinda difficult to find an area that doesnt have service. Nextel works just about everywhere we go. If Nextel doesnt have service in a particullar area basically nobody does,here in West MI. With the exception of maybe a weak analog signal.VZW on the other hand has more holes in its coverage than swiss cheese. Alltel is pretty good. Cell one is pretty good too. Basically VZW maps show way more coverage than they actually have.

[larry]

Which phones do your recommend for this situation? I thought Sanyo's were supposed be outstanding in holding on to a signal? I got the 8200 and found it to be pretty solid, however I have not used "up north" yet.

Sanyos are good for holding on to a signal but the key word here is a "Sprint" signal. They don't tend to roam off of Sprint's network very well. The newer Sanyos have improved a little but are still not as good at roaming in CDMA mode as the Samsungs, Nokias, and Motorolas.

With that being said I don't recommend the Sanyo 8200 at all. The sound quality is probably the worst that Sprint & Sanyo have ever put out (along with it's cousin the 7300). But of course this all subjective anyway.

[LTW]

Sanyos are good for holding on to a signal but the key word here is a "Sprint" signal. They don't tend to roam off of Sprint's network very well. The newer Sanyos have improved a little but are still not as good at roaming in CDMA mode as the Samsungs, Nokias, and Motorolas.

With that being said I don't recommend the Sanyo 8200 at all. The sound quality is probably the worst that Sprint & Sanyo have ever put out (along with it's cousin the 7300). But of course this all subjective anyway.

Thanks for the review. I like the feature set and the 8200 overall. I agree with you to some degree on the sound in the earpiece. I am trying to decide if I should try another phone before the 2 week period is up. The store gave me a good deal on these 2 for 99.99.