Best coverage in central KY?

That's easy: Bluegrass.

VZW roams on Bluegrass so they are a viable option, assuming you live in a VZW coverage area and data isn't an important factor. (AFAIK, data doesn't yet work for VZW customers roaming on Bluegrass or vice-versa, but I suspect that it will sooner or later.)

Cingular customers did see some coverage changes in western Kentucky as the result of areas that had to be divested (and went to Alltel) as part of the merger, but there was no massive loss of coverage; Cingular still has pretty much full coverage of Kentucky between native coverage and roaming on Dobson. There have certainly been complaints of coverage *quality* going downhill, largely from TDMA customers who are seeing spectrum reallocated to GSM.

-SC

 

Bluegrass seems to have been pretty aggressive with their CDMA rollout in central KY and they also seem to be pretty dedicated to improving coverage as much as possible. Blue_Tech posts here and is a network tech for Bluegrass... you may wish to PM him if you have any specific coverage questions. Or perhaps he'll see this thread and chip in with some info that us peons can't provide.

 

Cingular Wireless Completes $120 Million Network Enhancement Plan in Tennessee/Kentucky, Prepares to Accelerate Growth in 2005

Additional sites, combined with AT&T Wireless sites,
give Tennessee and Kentucky customers outstanding wireless coverage

NASHVILLE, Tenn. and LOUISVILLE, Ky., Jan. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Cingular
Wireless, the nation's largest wireless provider, today announced the
completion of its $120 million Tennessee/Kentucky network build-out for 2004.
The network expansion includes the addition of 160 new cell sites across
Tennessee, Kentucky and Southern Indiana as well as enhancements to existing
sites and has resulted in greater coverage and enhanced service for Cingular's
growing Tennessee/Kentucky customer base.
Jim Thorpe, Vice President and General Manager for Cingular Wireless -
Tennessee/Kentucky, said Cingular's network covers more than 268 million
people and is growing, providing the largest high-speed data network in
America. Cingular also offers the largest mobile-to-mobile calling community
with more than 46 million people.
Thorpe said Cingular currently offers the largest coverage area in
Kentucky/Southern Indiana with more than 40,000 square miles covered providing
residents, visitors and businesses access to Cingular's industry-leading voice
and data applications in more places than anyone else.
Since the beginning of 2004, Thorpe said Cingular added cell sites in the
following areas: Memphis/Jackson -- 15; Nashville -- 37; Knoxville/Tri-Cities
-- 46; Chattanooga -- 7; Evansville/WKY -- 25; Lexington -- 15; Louisville --
8; East Kentucky -- 4; and Cookeville -- 3.
"We recognize that superior call quality and coverage are two of the most
critical factors that determine customer satisfaction. We are moving
aggressively to continue what we began earlier this year to ensure we have
'more bars in more places.' Our ALLOVER(SM) network* is the largest digital
voice and data network in America, and Tennessee and Kentucky are important
parts of that network," added Thorpe. "The completion of our 2004 network
investment campaign sets the stage for more network enhancements in 2005."
In 2005, Cingular is planning to build approximately 140 new cell sites
across the region to further enhance the local networks, and also has plans to
"cherry pick" more than 400 sites from the existing AT&T Wireless network that
will quickly add coverage to areas of need.

 

I haven't been around in a while, but I try to lurk from time to time. I have to admit, I've been in a very steamy affair with another forum :browani:

Bluegrass covers 39+ counties in central KY natively, as well as providing roaming services for a number of carriers including VZW.

As for the Bardstown area specifically, we currently have 6 towers covering Nelson county, including 2 dedicated mainly to Bardstown itself. Surrounding counties are also natively covered, including Spencer, Washington, Marion, Larue, and Hardin.

We have been actively working with VZW on data roaming issues, and hopefully soon, we will have seamless data nationwide for our own customers as well as VZW customers while in central KY. It has required alot of equipment upgrades which are currently still in progress.

If your usage will mainly be within our coverage area, you simply cannot beat the Unlimited plan. Infinite local and long distance minutes for a $39 flat fee per month.

 

and of course the original poster seems to have left the building, never to return. Perhaps this info will help someone else from the area.

 

I would say that Dobson Cellular one has to be the worst of all the carriers in the area. They have ripped people off in this area for years. The have the worst network in the area and will nothing about it. I know of instances where the person could see their tower and have plenty of signal but still could not place a call. Their sales reps will lie to people just to get you to sign their contract. Most everyone that I know that has had their service say that they will never get it again.

 

Looks like Bluegrass is now data roaming with Verizon Wireless.

I can data roam with Bluegrass in Verizon market's.

 

Can anyone then verify if Verizon customers can DATA roam on Bluegrass yet?

 

I talked with a tech at Bluegrass Headquarters... He told me that Verizon is in their final stages of testing and should be launched in mid to late December.

Bluegrass just got done faster and launched first from what he told me.

 

Thanks for the informaion, 3Guru! I know that Verizon is working with several carriers to launch CDMA DATA roaming and this is great news. keep us informed if you hear anything else.

 

data roaming for vzw will be free, I hope.

 

hi, has bluegrass installed any new towers lately in the hardin county area? thanks for the info

 

I called bluegrass again and talked to the same tech, he doesn't know if any additional towers were installed in Hardin co. he said he was just familiar with the data part of the network. He also commented that Verizon is going to attempt to launch on Bluegrass either today or tomorrow, so test your verizon phone.