Sprint's Data Roaming in Central Virginia

Where specifically are you talking about? Sprint has native coverage in Charlottesville and Lynchburg and it's 1x.... well sort of. It is actually an affiliate market through nTelos that far west of Richmond (I'm about 95% sure on that). But they do not roam on USCC there. And Alltel is actually Sprint's main roaming partner in areas where the Sprint coverage cuts out. I think you got some bum information. Sprint will roam on USCC, but they're low on the roaming list below Alltel and nTelos. Since Charlottesville is an affiliate market, which I'm thinking it is based on their PRL, your roaming order would be 1. nTelos, 2. Alltel.

The only high-speed wireless provider for Central Virginia is Alltel and they have EVDO. Alltel has a very well built network around Charlottesville and Lynchburg. I've forced my phone over to USCC and they also have a very nice network but I'm not sure if they're 1x or purely digital. They're definitely not EVDO though. Sprint/nTelos is 1x but is a bit more spotty in the area and a little light on towers depending on how far off the beaten path you get and it seems like not that many people carry it because of that. I assume you know nTelos's reputation for having great plans but very poor coverage. You can't really rely on Sprint's coverage map for your area because the map includes Alltel roaming and does not show areas of low signal.

 

Cant the OP also roam on alltel's EvDO as well?

 

I'm not sure if Sprint's PRL allows EVDO roaming in areas where Sprint has a 1x network. Possibly. Perhaps someone else knows. But I sincerely doubt it if it is in fact an ntelos affiliate market because even though their phone would say Sprint, he would be an nTelos customer. And I know that Alltel still prefers Verizon over nTelos in the PRL so I don't think the Sprint-Alltel roaming agreements extend to nTelos customers.

 

1. There is native sprint coverage through an affiliate - nTelos.
2. Based on the PRL, your phone would search for nTelos(Sprint) --> Alltel --> USCC.
3. I believe USCC's network down there is only 1xRTT.
4. Even if Alltel did provide EVDO down there (I'm not sure if they do) it's very doubtful that you could roam off of it with your phone.

 

Alltel does indeed have EvDO around Lynchburg. I have a Sprint (MotoQ) and force roam at times to get the EvDO from Alltel. Sprint's native network (via nTelos as stated by Wumpusva) is only 1xRTT. I have also roamed in the surrounding counties on a US Cellular tower in 1xRTT mode only when I couldnt get any of the others.