Moved to Mississippi..

[katieh]

Hi, I just recently moved to MS from the East Coast and I am in need of getting a new phone and a new provider. I want to know what you guys would recommend... I need something that has very good reception. I am also interested in a plan that has nationwide coverage. I appreciate any advice or ideas that you might have.

Thanks

[jimbo]

what part of Mississippi?

[katieh]

I am currently located in Laurel, MS.

[UFO]

You might want to consider Alltel in that part of Mississipi. I hear they do really good around the gulf region up through Mississippi. http://www.cellreception.com/towers/ also shows an Alltel tower right in the middle of Laurel so you should get great reception. Alltel generally covers their area very well. Their prices are also much better than the bigger providers like Verizon or Cingular, especially if you go with a MyCircle plan. You will also have nationwide coverage and you will be able to free roam on Verizon and Sprint towers in locations that Alltel doesn't cover natively with a National Freedom Plan. I think you would be very pleased with their service.

[Andy]

If Cellular South covers where you are they may also be worth looking into. Verizon roams on them in a lot of areas they don't natively serve and they are investing a lot of money into their network.
ALLTEL sounds like it would work out great well- I haven't heard much bad about them in MS.

[UFO]

Originally Posted by Andy84094

ALLTEL sounds like it would work out great well-I haven't heard much bad about them in MS.

Sure you have, even if you don't remember it. Alltelwirelesstech is always bringing up how Alltel was the first system back online in the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina whenever anybody starts talking about network dependability. I'm assuming he was referring to MS as well as LA.

[walkguru]

also you see what ever one you meet is using, and how they like thier service.


wellcome to wa,

[jones]

Originally Posted by UFO

http://www.cellreception.com/towers/

that web site Does Not Show all
the Towers in an Area.

[UFO]

Originally Posted by jones

that web site Does Not Show all
the Towers in an Area.

That is true, but if it does show a tower, then there is a very good reason to believe that tower is in fact there. So for instance, if that sight shows an Alltel tower in the middle of the town, which it does for Laurel and several surrounding towns, then it is a very safe bet that Alltel indeed has a tower there and that it provides good coverage to the town and that area. That was really the only point I was trying to make. Especially combined with the knowledge from WirelessAdvisor that they use a signal in the 800 MHz band there. Given their price advantage and coverage, it just seems like Alltel would be a very good choice for the region as well as national coverage.

[mts3]

I would check out Cellular South. Their website is pretty accurate if you go to their coverage map, but it's a little out of date. I know some of the areas they have as "future coverage" are turned on in north MS.

[UFO]

What I would caution the op on about Cellular South is their plans. When I looked over their website it seemed like just about every plan was a local calling area plan from Memphis & MS thru Coastal AL to Seaside FL. Coverage outside the area was 29 cents/minute. They have very few nationwide plans. I'm not sure about Cellular South if you need national coverage.

I may have been missing something, but their only Nationwide plan that I saw, which the op seems to want, is the Nationwide Plus for 59.99 which will only give 750 National minutes compared to Alltel's equal priced plan which will give MyCircle and 900 mins. Alltel also has a number of other national plans for more or less. Alltel seems to be the better option if you need national coverage. Cellular South's phones are also a little more expensive, their Razr is on a one week special at $100 while Alltel's is $80.

[jones]

Originally Posted by UFO

That is true, but if it does show a tower, then there is a very good reason to believe that tower is in fact there.

That web site only shows 1/3 of the Cell Sites in an Area.

[kjl25]

I have had Alltel in South MS and did not get very good coverage. Cellular South has the best that I have had here. When I travel through Hattiesburg and Laurel I get great reception there. Good Luck!

[UFO]

Just wanting to throw in, whomever you do go with, be sure to take advantage of the trial period where you can return your phone if you're not satisfied with service. Alltel has a 15 day trial so you can test out service in the areas that you travel. Not sure about Cellular South if they have a trial period.

Perhaps I am a little over the top with Alltel, but I have just been a happy customer with the coverage they have given me along with the $$ they have saved me in comparison to my former Verizon plan. Because of their prices, phones, and coverage, to me it just makes since to at least try them because you have a 15 day trial period to test out coverage in the places you'll be. If you do go with Alltel, you should consider the Motorola E815. That phone picks up great reception and holds onto a call incredibly even at low signal and the voice quality is even great. I still think you would experience good coverage with them locally and they would be your best bet nationally with a number of national plans to choose from. Some people get a cheap phone (most LGs) and think Alltel has horrible coverage, others get a good phone like the E815 and think it's a great network. A lot of it also depends on exactly the places you travel. That's true with any network. If they don't give you good coverage in your exact location or the places you travel, you could always try somebody else next.

I'm really not trying to rag too much on Cellular South and I am trying to be impartial. It sounds like they have great coverage in Southern Mississippi from what others are saying. To me, they just sounded too much like SunCom with some of the gimmicks I've noticed on their website. On a fair number of their plans you've got to pay extra for voice mail and call waiting. Some plans don't have, or you have to pay extra for free Nights and Weekends and free mobile-to-mobile and it seems to vary with each plan. They've only got one Nationwide plan and it doesn't seem to be all that great of a deal. To me, it just sounds like a SunCom setup where you won't have that good of service outside your local calling area. Or at least, it seems as if they are trying to persuade you away from National plans because of the limited offering for some reason or another. They might be a great company with great coverage, but watch out for some of these extra expenses with some of their plans if you do go that way. SunCom has made me skeptical of some of the companies that do that kind of thing and I could be way off base though.

[jimbo]

Originally Posted by UFO

What I would caution the op on about Cellular South is their plans. When I looked over their website it seemed like just about every plan was a local calling area plan from Memphis & MS thru Coastal AL to Seaside FL. Coverage outside the area was 29 cents/minute. They have very few nationwide plans. I'm not sure about Cellular South if you need national coverage.

I may have been missing something, but their only Nationwide plan that I saw, which the op seems to want, is the Nationwide Plus for 59.99 which will only give 750 National minutes compared to Alltel's equal priced plan which will give MyCircle and 900 mins. Alltel also has a number of other national plans for more or less. Alltel seems to be the better option if you need national coverage. Cellular South's phones are also a little more expensive, their Razr is on a one week special at $100 while Alltel's is $80.

The plan that you mention for CSouth is not quite what you describe...it gives you 750 National minutes that are used when you are roaming outside of the CellSouth network. When on the CellSouth network, it gives unlimited voice minutes, including long distance.

[UFO]

Originally Posted by jimbo

The plan that you mention for CSouth is not quite what you describe...it gives you 750 National minutes that are used when you are roaming outside of the CellSouth network. When on the CellSouth network, it gives unlimited voice minutes, including long distance.

Ahh yes, you are right. I did not notice that smaller print before. For the price, the offering now makes more sense. Thank you for the correction.

[Ironwalt]

Originally Posted by jimbo

The plan that you mention for CSouth is not quite what you describe...it gives you 750 National minutes that are used when you are roaming outside of the CellSouth network. When on the CellSouth network, it gives unlimited voice minutes, including long distance.

That does sound great.

[mts3]

Many of the people I know who have Cellular South have the unlimited plan. They actually push the nationwide and unlimited plans harder than they do their $29.99 plans. Unlimited nationwide text messaging for their price is hard to beat.

[cgd]

Hi and welcome to MS! I'm in the Jackson area and have Cingular. I travel within the state some and have had good coverage with them, even in the remote areas. I would go with Cingy or Cellular South--you should be happy with either one of these.

[UFO]

Sounds like Cingular South does really good in your area. With their fan support, I do apologize for associating them with SunCom because they apparently don't practice business the same way, but their website did look confusing and had some gimmicks. But what is it with all the new WA members with 1 or 2 posts coming out of the woodwork and posting about how great Cellular South is all of a sudden? lol

One other thing should be kept in mind about the CellSouth national plan if you go that way. Is 750 out of network minutes/month sufficient? I don't think that plan has free nights & Weekends or M2M so if you go back to Maryland for a week, that might be pushing it if you call like I do. But other than that, the plan does sound awesome with unlimited local calling/texting. But I couldn't agree more about seeing who people who live near you use and what they like/don't like about their service.

One other thing about Alltel and Cellular South is they free roam on each other, that won't happen with Cingular because Cingular is GSM. So if you like one of the plans Alltel offers with MyCircle, or a cheaper national plan than Cellular South offers, your phone can be programmed to use the Cellular South network. The reverse is also true, if Alltel does cover your area better, your Cellular South phone should be able to be programmed to pick up that signal, but it would count as non-local minutes I would think. (I guess it depends on if they define their local area by geography or by if the call is on a Cellular South tower or another provider's tower.)

[mts3]

Alltel does roam on Cellular South in MS (which is a good thing because here in Grenada, Alltel at first only had one tower and CS has 5). Cell South doesn't roam on anyone in MS.

Once you are out of their coverage area, they roam on lots of carriers. I have never had issues travelling with my CS phone and I've roamed on Sprint, Verizon, Alltel, depending on where I travelled.

CS and Cingular together probably have 75% of the MS market. They are the two that publicize all of their tower building so it's easy to see that they invest a lot in their coverage for this state. Most people I know have one of the two. In north MS and the delta, they are the two major players. Alltel has had a presence in Jackson for a long time and seem to cover it well (my parents have Alltel). so their story may be different there. But my CS phone works at their Canton home and their Alltel phone (both Nokias) breaks up.

[whiz4u]

Well cellularsouth is a great company. I have service all over the state. I love to talk on the phone i have the nationwide plus plan. Its unlimited calling as long as you are in the state of mississippi. So you can call people in texas or another state and its unlimited as long as you are in the state. Cellularsouth is a cdma network. And they offer you things like unlimited nationwide text unlimited picture messaging and unlimited brew access( Just the internet on your phone). all for just 5.99. I have the unlimited text messagin feature. The service with cellularsouth is great. It works ok in buildings. Its better than cingular. When i had cingular i went over my anytime minutes and text messages every month. so i moved to cellularsouth and the service and phones are great to have. They do have cool phones.

[whiz4u]

I hate cingular. Its really bad. I hate gsm networks. Cdma works much faster. Cingular dont give you unlimited text for no more than one month. The plans or really high. I have cellularsouth and i get unlimited calling unlimited text voicemail UNLIMITED picture and UNLIMITED brew access for just 80.00 a month. I dont pay for overages like i did with cingular because withe cellullarsouth its just plaine UNLIMITED. CINGULAR CANNOT BEAT CELLULARSOUTH in mississippi or surranding states.

[whiz4u]

READ the details about the nationwide plus plan with cellularsouth ok. It dont need unlimited n&w or M2M because its just flat out unlimited all the time ok its unlimited cdma anytime mintues ok. Textmessagin is great for the price

[UFO]

Originally Posted by whiz4u

READ the details about the nationwide plus plan with cellularsouth ok. It dont need unlimited n&w or M2M because its just flat out unlimited all the time ok its unlimited cdma anytime mintues ok. Textmessagin is great for the price

On that specific plan, the unlimited calling only applies to calls made within their Local Coverage Area from surrounding Memphis/nearby West TN; West Memphis, AR; in and surrounding Mobile, AL, Pensacola and Seaside, FL; and in Mississippi. Outside of the area it's 750 minutes total a month. No N&W or M2M is mentioned. Overages apply after that.

[Ironwalt]

Originally Posted by UFO

On that specific plan, the unlimited calling only applies to calls made within their Local Coverage Area from surrounding Memphis/nearby West TN; West Memphis, AR; in and surrounding Mobile, AL, Pensacola and Seaside, FL; and in Mississippi. Outside of the area it's 750 minutes total a month. No N&W or M2M is mentioned. Overages apply after that.

Now that plan does not look as good. I'm with you UFO, Alltel would be better.

[mts3]

A lot of people with the $59.99 plan have that as their only phone with no landline. If you travel out of MS enough to use over 750 minutes out of area, it's not good for you.

[jjdu42]

Alltel's MyCircle plans rule....plus no contract extensions unless you get a discounted handset. Laurel and Hattiesburg alltel coverage is very good also. Plus alltel is 800mhz. I have 9 lines with alltel and while Cellular South has great coverage here in Meridian I just upgraded and did 2yr extensions with alltel. They have great CS plus I don't have to worry about roaming......

[Derek2x]

Sorry to bring up an old issue, but its better than starting a whole new thread right?

I just moved to Columbus MS and Im trying to find something to replace Verizon.

Cellular South doesnt really have a coverage map that I can find but I do see the list of towers (Columbus and Starkville look closest), so Im wondering if anyone in the local area has used Cellular South or Sprint, I hear Sprint works pretty well but Im not sure what to think from their coverage map - it does look a little spotty.

Thanks!

[strunke]

Sounds to me like Alltel and Cellular South would be the best choices...