Switching to Alltel vs Verizon in SC

[Durwood]

Have not seen much advice here in the South East mainly here in South Carolina about coverage with Alltel or Verizon. I am up for a renewal with Cingular, and not happy with my coverage area with them. I need service in and around Aiken, SC in areas covered by analog. GSM is great on Interstates & cities. Need your openions between Alltel & Verizon, as which would have beter coverage in NC,SC,GA. I make a lot of M2M with my wife. Verizon M2M time does not count if on their extended network {if I am correct}. Does Alltel work the same? Cingular was great with their M2M. Thanks for the advice.
Durwood

[GoodmanR]

VZW doesn't have native coverage in large parts of NC and SC. You are correct that M2M does not work if anyone is on extended network, which if you travel around the states much, you wil lfind youself on. I have roamed on Alltel plenty in NC and SC and found them good.

[DemoMan]

Mobile to Mobile does work if you are on the National Freedom Plan. I just checked the website to confirm.

Here is are some links that show what properties Alltel owns in the area.

Southeast
Southeast 2



Brad

[jayc]

Verizon Wireless and select National Enhanced Services Map. Gives a good idea where it is extended network and not. VZW has pretty solid native coverage except in the NE part of SC.

[shoppergirl]

Good coverage with Alltel traveling to SC beaches. We travel on some rural roads and seem to have pretty consistent servce. Don't know about Verizon, never had them. Glad to know Cingular does not have good consistent service in some areas in SC since I have considered changing carriers just for variety of phone selection and services but have stayed with Alltel because I know what I have and that it works in outlying areas.

[Airb330]

Alltel sucks. On at least the 4 phones my family had, they suck. That includes the LG 4400, some old audiovox, Nokia 3589i, and a moto v120c. This is in regards to I-95 and to and including Myrtle Beach. However, I have not used either company Verizon/Alltel in your region much. Just on the way to Atlanta from Myrtle and back. I would try Verizon first, because I honestly don't have faith in Alltel. Verizon would have native coverage in your city, Atlanta, and soon Myrtle Beach, and thus M2M could be used there and of course nationwide. I find myself even recommending Suncom, they have some odd policies and their sound quality isn't as good as CDMA (Alltel, Verizon, Sprint), but I would imagine the coverage would be rather good.

Suncom's plans are good right now, IMO. National plan, free 1000 mobile to mobile with other suncom phones, 300 mins=30$, 500 mins= 40$. All with unlimited nights and weekends, with weekends starting 7pm on Friday! Two of the 300 minute plans would give a nice mixture of m2m and anytime minutes, none of that sharing to worry about. They also have regional family plans, starting at 50$ total. All in all good deals if you can live with the coverage, but it won't sound as good as GSM (Cingular) or CDMA. But, there is a good chance that the coverage is better with Suncom than Cingular.

Verizon's America's Choice would be the best from them. Their local plan barely includes your area, which is stupid. A good portion of SC is Verizon. 59.99 would give 400 anytime minutes, and either unlimted calling to both phones for mobile to mobile, or 1000 to share to any Verizon user and of course unlimited n/w. This includes more coverage than Suncom.

Good luck! Take advantage of the trial periods. Let us know what you do!

[GoodmanR]

Originally posted by: jayc
Verizon Wireless and select National Enhanced Services Map. Gives a good idea where it is extended network and not. VZW has pretty solid native coverage except in the NE part of SC.

And all of NC

[jayc]

Originally posted by: GoodmanR

And all of NC

Actually VZW is one of the best in Western NC... and as far as SC goes the Columbiana store in Columbia, SC is the most productive store in the Carolinas/TN region... there are also two other VZW retail stores in Columbia. What am I getting to? VZW must be doing something right in SC.

Alltel would be a good choice for the Carolinas as well... the only trouble areas I know of is when VZW relies solely on Alltel to provide coverage in the area. As mentioned Myrtle Beach and also Jacksonville, NC are known trouble areas to me..

Suncom? I wouldn't recommend them to my three year old nephew. If you want a good performing network keep looking.

[SQFreak]

Now that's some weirdness! What Enhanced Services map are YOU looking at? Mine (Triad, NC) doesn't show Enhanced Services in eastern NC, roaming on Alltel, but VZW roaming on Alltel is sweetness, since you get everything except 1xRTT data and, unfortunately, M2M. VMWI, SMS, etc, all work great. I occasionally roam on Alltel here in the Triad because I can and sometimes (rarely) they have better coverage.

Carolinas Enhanced Services Map:



The area northwest of Boone and due north of Wilkesboro is Carolina West Wireless, an analog carrier that's supposedly going CDMA. Everywhere else that's not M2M will be roaming on Alltel, with the exception of the "known unserved areas" (maybe Ramcell or USCell roaming if you're lucky) surrounding Asheville west to Chattanooga. Do I see a dead spot along I-26? If so, VZW needs to get that fixed and fast.

[GoodmanR]

Originally posted by: jayc

Actually VZW is one of the best in Western NC... and as far as SC goes the Columbiana store in Columbia, SC is the most productive store in the Carolinas/TN region... there are also two other VZW retail stores in Columbia. What am I getting to? VZW must be doing something right in SC.

Alltel would be a good choice for the Carolinas as well... the only trouble areas I know of is when VZW relies solely on Alltel to provide coverage in the area. As mentioned Myrtle Beach and also Jacksonville, NC are known trouble areas to me..

Suncom? I wouldn't recommend them to my three year old nephew. If you want a good performing network keep looking.

i was referring to the other half of NC...driving on 95 without native coverage is really a pain. sure alltel is fine there, but you never really know when roaming, i have had tons of calls go straight to VM on 95 on Alltel. As for SunCom, if price is an issue you have a winner there, but not in terms of the network like jayc said

[roamer1]

In WNC, Ramcell's coverage is rather weak compared to VZW's...if there's no VZW coverage there will be NO coverage from anyone.

No, VZW hasn't yet fixed the "hole" on the new portion of I-26 (unless they've fixed it in the past three months.) The map really seems to be slightly conservative in western NC; with an external antenna you'll eke out a bit more coverage (e.g., along US 64/74 west of Murphy) than the map shows.

Yes, Carolina West is going CDMA.

The hole in northeast TN SE of Bristol is Mountain City (Johnson County) TN, where you'll have coverage from ALLTEL (it's darned hard to pick up Commnet Wireless [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] there with a VZW phone; there's also SPCS but the SID isn't in VZW PRLs anymore); it's the one place in TN where VZW has no licenses.

The area along the SC/GA line that shows no coverage is the Savannah River Plant area; I've driven the public road (SC 125, IIRC) through there and there is very weak coverage from cell sites in Georgia. (This was before VZW turned up CDMA in S/E GA; it may be better now.)

-SC

[Durwood]

A lot of great information on this subject. Sounds like Vzn & Alltel are the only choices. I feel like we will give Vzn a try. Alltel is $5.00 a month less but only give you 300min. compared to Vzn 400min. Alltel is no min. charged when M2M on extented network were Vzn does. Like most things, gain here, lose there. Thanks for the advice. Some of you spends some time on your replies, & I comend you. I will get back to you in a few days.

[SQFreak]

Originally posted by: roamer1
In WNC, Ramcell's coverage is rather weak compared to VZW's...if there's no VZW coverage there will be NO coverage from anyone.

No, VZW hasn't yet fixed the "hole" on the new portion of I-26 (unless they've fixed it in the past three months.) The map really seems to be slightly conservative in western NC; with an external antenna you'll eke out a bit more coverage (e.g., along US 64/74 west of Murphy) than the map shows.[/b]

That's a big problem. I'm not going to spend money on an external antenna though; I don't use my cell phone that much.

Yes, Carolina West is going CDMA.

Any ETA? Also, in NW NC, US Cellular claims CDMA service!! I have a friend that lives in a town of less than 200 people (I'll PM you with the name of the town should you care) that can get CDMA service with her v120c Tracfone and my Verizon LG VX4400 can't (going by the PRL - I haven't tried it). Any reason why Carolina West Wireless is in the PRL as FR and US Cellular (Wilkesboro SID) isn't in it at all?

-SC

[NAHokie]

I see you're from Aiken. I live in North Augusta and work in Aiken. I have a Verizon phone and my wife has Alltel. As far as local coverage goes in the Aiken/North Augusta/Augusta area, we haven't had much of a problem with either service. Both providers have pretty good coverage in this area.

As far as traveling around in SC, we travel to the Myrtle Beach area to visit family a good bit. Signal strength on the highways has been good on both phones. When I'm in Myrtle Beach my Verizon phone accesses the Alltel towers (extended network). I've had no problems on the extended network there recently, meaning I can make and receive calls and text messages and get my voice mail (that's all I want out of a cell phone). I had a problem early last summer but after calls to both Verizon and Alltel customer service organizations, Verizon CS called me back and let me know that they had found a problem in the "translation tables" in the Myrtle Beach area (never heard a word from Alltel). Since then my troubles seem to have cleared up. I did see a message on this forum a while back that Verizon would have native service in the Myrtle Beach area by the end of this quarter.

When we've been camping around the Lake Thurmond and Lake Santee areas I've seen a couple of occurrences where I had service on my Verizon phone but my wife's Alltel phone had none. (I just smiled and handed her my Verizon phone.)

I must admit that I'm getting pretty fed up with Alltel's billing. We added minutes to my wife's plan a few months ago and they screwed something up on her account information in the computer. We keep getting billed for roaming in areas that should be in her plan. I've been told several times that the problem's been fixed but Alltel can't seem to get it right when the bill actually comes out. This month's bill will be the make or break for them.

She has the Alltel Carolina Freedom Plan (NC, SC, plus Augusta, Savannah, & Va Beach areas). The local store told me that they don't sell that plan in the Aiken area any more, they sell you the Georgia Freedom Plan that includes some of the western part of SC. Take a look at the service maps before you make any decisions.

Sorry to ramble on for so long.

[scottb]

Originally posted by: GoodmanR

And all of NC

Not necessarily. VZW does not have native coverage in eastern NC. You will roam on Alltel or US Cellular. In central NC either VZW or Alltel would be fine. The last time I headed west (west of Statesville) I roamed on USCC.

[SQFreak]

West on I-40 should carry on in Verizon Wireless's coverage area all through Tennessee. Who were you roaming on?

West on US-421 will soon take you into Carolina West Wireless's coverage area (or, if you have a digital-only phone, full-blown roaming on US Cellular) from just east of Wilkesboro to just east of Boone, where you'll pick up Verizon Wireless again, then just into Tennessee will take you into either Alltel coverage until you get just near Bristol, where Verizon native comes back.

I get good signals on Verizon Wireless native through Yadkinville, NC, but I haven't taken my phone beyond that.

[Rasputin]

I do not think you can go wrong either way.

[jayc]

Originally posted by: SQFreak
West on I-40 should carry on in Verizon Wireless's coverage area all through Tennessee. Who were you roaming on?

West on US-421 will soon take you into Carolina West Wireless's coverage area (or, if you have a digital-only phone, full-blown roaming on US Cellular) from just east of Wilkesboro to just east of Boone, where you'll pick up Verizon Wireless again, then just into Tennessee will take you into either Alltel coverage until you get just near Bristol, where Verizon native comes back.

I get good signals on Verizon Wireless native through Yadkinville, NC, but I haven't taken my phone beyond that.

VZW is planning on a build in Rocky Fork, TN on I-26, and another one in Unicoi... as well as Roan Mountain on US 19E.

As far as Boone goes I always pick up native VZW coverage well west possibly due to many sites recently added to the area.

[Durwood]

Switched over to Verizon last week. Got the LG VX4400B phones. Took a trip upstate SC over the weekend and found these phones to work great. Had good coverage throughtout the state and into the mountian area of SC & NC. We would have had only coverage with Cingular around 20% of the time in these areas. If you need coverage off the beaten path (anywere else than a major city or interstate then get Verizon or Alltel)

Thanks to everyone who replied with their 02 cents worth.
durwood

[SQFreak]

Originally posted by: Durwood
We would have had only coverage with Cingular around 20% of the time in these areas. If you need coverage off the beaten path (anywere else than a major city or interstate then get Verizon or Alltel)

I strongly agree.