voicestream at penn state college????

I would guess coverage would be good at Penn State. Have your kid ask students what plan they use and how it is....if not Verizon is probably the best bet.

 

I have a couple of friends who go to Penn State and they have trouble getting cellular service out there since it is a rural area.

I think they have Verizon and it works while there on campus but not when there away from it.

The other option that you could do is put up a cell tower yourself that is powered by Joe Paterno's massive hearing aid.

Sorry I'm a Spartan so I had to add a little big ten rivalry in this discussion.

 

It's a bit of a complex situation, but......

VoiceStream does not currently provide their own branded service at State College. However, if you own a VS phone, it will work in State College. Currently, the GSM provider is Conestoga Wireless

So the best route for VS would be to get the family plan since nationwide GSM roaming is free.

VS will eventually buy Conestoga Wireless. They already had a deal to do so, but the parent co. of Conestoga, switched merger parters which invalidated their agreement with VS. However, Conestoga has said that one their merger (with D&E Communications, who is 50% owners of VS affiliate PCSOne in PA and VS is buying the other 50% so they will own it all) is complete, they will sell their wireless company, and VS is the only likely buyer.

*whew* too much info probably, Eventually, VS will own the network in state college, but the phones will work there today.

 

Yes, if Voicestream is in your area take advantage of it. I have had them for over a year now, and just love them. I have only had one dropped call in 1 year and two months. I'm sure when Voicestream buys all of Conestoga Wireless, than they will make some changes to enhance service even better in that area.
Voicestream's Family plan is great. You get 800 shared minutes, unlimited weekends, and unlimited mobile-to-mobile minutes. This includes two (2) phones, with extra phone being $10 extra/month.

By the way, what exact city is Penn State in?

 

PSU is in State College, PA.

 

I would get the phone directly throught Conestoga Wireless for a few reasons

1. Conestoga Wireless has BOTH night and Weekends minutes beginning at 7Pm (Voicestream WEEKENDS ONLY)

2. Rate Plan Example: FREEDOM 500 $29.00 (Reg 39.00) 500 daytime & Unlimited Nights & Weekends

3. Few choices for free phones. They also have family plans

Jack

 

That might be a good idea Jack.

 

Jack, that might be a good idea, but Anon. didn't say where he or she was located. Need to be careful though as not all plans offer free LD, and none of them offer free roaming outside of PA, SNJ, or DE.

If, however, both phones are in PA, DE, or SNJ, Conestoga's plan options are good, but the offer expires Sunday.

Just depends on where Anon. is.......

 

Yeah, those are great plans, unbelievable plans, but maybe you should just get the Voicestream service. That way if you want to upgrade to their ISTREAM wireless network, you can.

 

IF all they want to do is communicate back and forth I still say that Conestoga Wireless would be the better choice. all voicestream will do is roam off consetoga's towers

Jack

 

Yep, I agree Jack.

 

I thought I'd put my two cents in on this one -

Originally I was going to say that I'd want to be wary of Conestoga in Centre County, because when I've been there in the past, I didn't have Voicestream Service. However, being curious, I called Conestoga Customer service and asked where they had towers in the State College area. Donna, a most helpful CS rep gave the 10 or so sites they had in the State College Area. (I wish VS would do that). Must be a recent expansion.

Once you get out of the "metro" State College area though, expect to run into lack of coverage. This is true even for Verizon and AT&T (the 800mhz cellular providers).

jason

 

Jason - thanks.

I roamed on Conestoga through I-78 in Berks Co. last week....nice 4-bar signal on my 8290.

 

so your saying hail to verizon.

Jack

LOL

 

verizon has the best coverage overall of any carrier (along with at&t it seems close but verizon is bigger).

however sprint is in my opinion as well the #1 digital carrier.....much of verizons system is analog; sprint has a bigger digital footprint.