Cell Service Peoria Metro Area? (Chicago, Springfield: transfer, live in, stores)

[djm666]

Which major carriers provide good to excellent coverage (if thats possible) throughout the Metro Area?Thanks...

[linicx]

I've used Sprint with Nationwide Roaming for several years while traveling between Chicago, LA and San Diego with zero trouble. Illinois is a farm state. There are some dead zones out in the counties, but the down time doen't last more than a few short minutes, sometimes it is only seconds. Sprint roams on Verizon. I prefer Sprint Customer Service because if you run into real problems you can ask to be transferred to Retentions which can usually resolve it. I have no trouble with Sprint in the Peoria Metro Area. Although I have not been to Bloomington in years, I have no reason to doubt Sprint will work there as well as it does in Springfield and Eureka.

Cell use in mountains and the desert areas are an entirely different issue.

Verizon has more stores in smaller towns like Havana. It has, different phones than Sprint, and you can pay your bill at most of the Verizon stores. Verizon also offers a pay as you go plan that can be activated at most of the smaller stores, too, but there is a caveat.

There is a dirty little cell phone carrier secret. The uncontracted phones do not have the same roaming capability while traveling that the Tracfone does. The branded national pay as you go phones tend to be more restricted. For instance tne AT&T Cingular phone I converted to pay as you go - with the assurances it would work in Illinois - did not work in Peoria County, but it did work in sections of in Mason County. I have no such issues with Sprint.

Dollar for dollar I have simply had less problems with Sprint connectivity, dropped calls, dead areas and Customer Service than I ever did with AT&T and T-Mobile. IF I had to change carriers I would go to Verizon simply because there is a local Verizon owned store and the manager is terrific. .

The Sprint seller, Bastion Wireless, is on the SE corner of War Memorial and Sheridan at 3626 N. Sheridan. 685-6700.

[Scio42]

I've had good experience with Verizon & Sprint in and around Peoria. Both cover the city & surrounding area pretty well & all interstates. Outside of the interstates, in more rural areas, I've had better luck with Verizon.

[linicx]

Cell phones are weird. I've driven with Verizon users who could not get a signal in rural areas when I could on Sprint. I cam get a good signal in Sprint in Fulton Coounty when I could not on Cingular or T-Mobile or US Cellular. I do not know if "Nationwide Roaming" or if area coverage makes a difference or not. Sprint roams on Verizon when a Sprint tower is not in the area. Not all phones are created equal. I had a Katanya I could not use when I was sitting under a Sprint tower. I switched to Samsung phones and have been very happy. I need a very good backlight. LG does not have it, but Sanyo and Samsung does. I started with Sprint in the 90s before they were ever Wireless.

[djm666]

Thanks to the both of you for your reponses. I am currently with AT&T but it appears that I will have to change carriers. No big deal not really loyal to them but do like there carry over minutue plans. Probably will end up changing over to Verizon when the time comes.

[Scio42]

Originally Posted by djm666

Thanks to the both of you for your reponses. I am currently with AT&T but it appears that I will have to change carriers. No big deal not really loyal to them but do like there carry over minutue plans. Probably will end up changing over to Verizon when the time comes.

That may not be necessary. I have a few friends with AT&T wireless service that live in Peoria. I haven't heard them complain about the coverage, just the customer service. As long as you're not planning to move to a more rural area around here, you'd be safe waiting until you move down here to see how your current provider works out before switching.

[linicx]

I just remembered, state employees are given AT&T' phones .