Planning trip to FL Panhandle/Big Bend -- Sprint how are they up there?

[PCSuser]

I am planning a road trip up to the Panhandle and Big Bend of Florida next week. I have Sprint PCS all digital (Sanyo 8400). So, I was wondering how Sprint service was.

A few of my destinations include:

Alachua
Lake City
Madison
Perry
Live Oak
Monticello

and all of the smaller towns in between (throughout those areas). So basically northwest Florida (Big Bend and eastern Panhandle [east of Tallahassee]). We will be traveling to the state parks, back roads, and some main highways...

I was wondering what Sprint PCS was like up there. If anyone has experience I would greatly appreciate if you would share. Thank You!

[Quint101]

These areas are Alltel country; once you venture off the beaten path, your Sprint should have no problems getting the Alltel signal...
I just went thru Monticello earlier today on one of the back roads and I hit a dead spot (on Tram Rd south of US 27) on my verizon phone...the dead spot was there when I had Alltel three years ago... one of my coworkers has Alltel in Monticello and she occasionally drops calls there. In Perry, you should be fine on Sprint on Hwy 27... otherwise, your phone will fall back to Alltel.

I cant speak for Sprint data since I dont have Sprint.

I hope this helps.

[Quint101]

I took US 27 from I-75 to Monticello, passing thru Chiefland and Perry. There were 3 CDMA phones, my Moto Q, a passenger's LG AX245 (I think), and my pastor's Moto V262. My Q used both the Sprint and Alltel networks (seems like Sprint and alltel are more solid as Verizon built their sites within the year)... I also took that Tram Road in Monticello and the Alltels and my Q showed no service, leading me to believe that there is no CDMA available in that particular area.

Sorry if this seems overly general, since I don't have Sprint, but I wanted to chime in since Sprint, Alltel, and Verizon all roam off of each other when needed in the panhandle.

In short, once you go off the beaten path, Alltel service will be available in most cases.

[RJB]

Originally Posted by Quint101 I took US 27 from I-75 to Monticello, passing thru Chiefland and Perry. There were 3 CDMA phones, my Moto Q, a passenger's LG AX245 (I think), and my pastor's Moto V262. My Q used both the Sprint and Alltel networks (seems like Sprint and alltel are more solid as Verizon built their sites within the year)... I also took that Tram Road in Monticello and the Alltels and my Q showed no service, leading me to believe that there is no CDMA available in that particular area. Sorry if this seems overly general, since I don't have Sprint, but I wanted to chime in since Sprint, Alltel, and Verizon all roam off of each other when needed in the panhandle. In short, once you go off the beaten path, Alltel service will be available in most cases.

Great review Quint

[PCSuser]

Quint,

Just wanted to thank you so much for all of your input.

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Also need to know what features work while roaming (NOT on the Sprint Network).

Sprint To Home, Mobile-To-Mobile, SMS, Internet, Voicemail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, etc...

Alltel...

Verizon....

[Quint101]

It has been a while since I had Sprint; When I had them, M2M did not apply but unlimited nights and weekends worked while roaming on Alltel. I have to defer to other Sprint users in regards to the availability of the other features. I have a Sprint user at work complain about the text messaging while roaming on Alltel... the messages arrive hours later or not at all. I'm not sure if it's her Samsung A640 or the network (Sprint or Alltel). I use Verizon and Alltel prepaid and I have no problems receiving texts while off the native network.