Cellphone service coverage for Calais (Bangor, Fort Kent: buy, college, camping)

[OakBay]

It is very difficult to determine which, if any, Cellphone providers have real coverage in the Calais Area. I know that AT&T was selling phones there as of last year, but can anyone verify adequate coverage or suggest a vendor.

I am interested in a national plan, as I travel a lot.

Thanks

OakBay

[pinkpalace]

I live in Newport, which is in central Maine. (Calais is on the eastern end of the state.) I have Cingular GSM service, for the same reason -- a lot of national travel. I've found that as long as you stay near the freeway, then you have pretty good coverage. If you stray too far away however, the signal is pretty much dead.

The dominant cell phone vendors in Maine seem to be US Cellular, Unicel, and T-Mobile. As far as I can tell, they still use TDMA instead of GSM. I bet if I used a TDMA phone, I'd have much better coverage throughout Maine.

[Azbound]

US Cellular has good service for central Maine area. We are in an area known as the foothills of the western mountains and have good coverage in most local areas. Not familiar with coverage around Calais.

[maureengld]

Originally Posted by Azbound

US Cellular has good service for central Maine area. We are in an area known as the foothills of the western mountains and have good coverage in most local areas. Not familiar with coverage around Calais.

US Cellular works but they do charge roaming if you travel the US

[dramamama6685]

I checked with Verizon and was advised to call back for our Eastport trip or buy a card in addtion to our monthly fee. It will cover roaming. Hope they have coverage by Septmeber or my cell will be turned off for the week. Wait is that a bad thing?

[Unhappycamper]

Originally Posted by Azbound

US Cellular has good service for central Maine area. We are in an area known as the foothills of the western mountains and have good coverage in most local areas. Not familiar with coverage around Calais.

US Cellular seems to be the best in my opinion, I have Verizon and I am becoming increasingly unhappy with it. Just this weekend I was camping at Mt. Blue state park and I had no service. Twice that weekend we went up Tumbledown Mountain and had no service at all while my buddy with US Cellular had 3 bars and was able to connect no problem. Also in Fort Kent my cell was bouncing off a Canadian tower (I could tell because the time on my clock changed) and I was enjoying delicious roaming charges while my father with US Cellular (work phone) had a great signal with a Maine tower. I am considering switching when my contract expires since this January I will be in Fort Kent for college and the last thing I need is a brutal cell bill.

[mollysmiles]

Here in Calais the best provider is US Cellular. It has more towers available on the American side, and when we roam to the Canadian tower while in the US, US Cellular removes the charge without any problems at all. They have a wide service area throughout the New England area, but their coverage across the States varies by region. Their customer service for us has been outstanding, although we do drive to Bangor to their store, even though there is one right here in Calais. The reason is simply that some of the more technical questions we had about the phones, and the variety of phones, was better at the Bangor stores. The rep that set up our plan and service asked questions about how we would be using the phones, who would be using them, and where---that's how the rep should do business, of course, but they actually do --and our plan was based on the answers to those questions. Are you looking to use this phone primarily in the US and then have one for NB? I'm asking because of your name I have a friend in St John who is currently going through Roger's, but I'm not sure what company that is. Good Luck!!