Minnesota Cell Coverage - who do you use, and are they any good? (Duluth: best, areas)

[lastsamurai]

I had verizon for 5 years now and recently I had to go out of state for work in Richfield, MN. Verizon has the worst coverage in the area that I live in. Almost every call I get breaks up and I end up dropping the call in a few mins. The person on the other end has to keep repeating and repeating because I cannot hear them and they are breaking up. At the end of the call when it gets dropped, it will say call failed, signal lost etc.. And every time I open the phone to try to make a call, it will keep saying entering service area, leaving service area etc... I took it to the verizon store they said they have had complaints about the service in this area but agreed to give me another phone to try to see if it makes any difference. Its been 2-3 weeks now and it hasn't really changed much. Same stuff goes on calls are very unclear, breaks up, call gets dropped almost every single time and even though I talked for 2-3 mins the call log will say 0 minutes. It's terrible......... Anybody know which carrier has the best coverage in this area?

[ozzie679]

Originally Posted by lastsamurai

I had verizon for 5 years now and recently I had to go out of state for work in Richfield, MN. Verizon has the worst coverage in the area that I live in. Almost every call I get breaks up and I end up dropping the call in a few mins. The person on the other end has to keep repeating and repeating because I cannot hear them and they are breaking up. At the end of the call when it gets dropped, it will say call failed, signal lost etc.. And every time I open the phone to try to make a call, it will keep saying entering service area, leaving service area etc... I took it to the verizon store they said they have had complaints about the service in this area but agreed to give me another phone to try to see if it makes any difference. Its been 2-3 weeks now and it hasn't really changed much. Same stuff goes on calls are very unclear, breaks up, call gets dropped almost every single time and even though I talked for 2-3 mins the call log will say 0 minutes. It's terrible......... Anybody know which carrier has the best coverage in this area?

My Verizon service is solid in every corner of the TC metro. In very rural areas I've has some issues. But Richfield, MN? That's just a few miles from Mpls.

Interesting....

[mystree]

I have AT&T works great for me.

[River Wood]

We have unicel. Seems good so far.

A friend of ours works on the north slope in Alaska and has unicel too, he and my husband speak on their cells all of the time and never have a problem....and there is no roaming either when our friend from on the North Slope phoned anywhere in the lower 48 with his nation wide coverage.

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by Lindenin

I need to find a better provider. My research shows that Verizon and Sprint have the best coverage in this area, with T-Mobile and Cingular a step behind.

About 90% of my calls are from the metro area, and 10% in the hinterlands of Minnesota. Can some people tell me what cell service they have and how it does for them in the area?

Being that you are doing 90% of calls from metro, I would recommend Verizon. AT&T is a decent choice too. T-mobile has great metro coverage, but outstate has significant gaps compared to the other two. They are improving though.

[lastsamurai]

this is near Richfield HighSchool in Richfield, MN. Absolutely terrible coverage VERIZON has over here. I have tried my colleagues' AT&T phone and it works great in the same spots that verizon drops calls every time. Looks like AT&T has the best coverage in this area. Don't know if AT&T has any dead spots around here, I should check before switching

[Thegonagle]

I actually agree about Verizon in Richfield. It's far from perfect, but it's easy to fathom why: Richfield consists of large swaths of mostly single-family homes. They don't deploy as many cells in residential areas with mostly single-family homes (such as where the high school is located) compared to commercial areas, because they don't need as much capacity (each cell can only handle so many calls at once). Therefore, with fewer cells covering a larger area, coverage will be more "fringy."

I've never had a problem on the street or in my car with Verizon in Richfield, but if you're inside a building that's too far from the nearest cell, then you might have a problem. The 0.6 watt radio transmitter inside the phone just isn't powerful enough to "get out" of some buildings--it's just physics. (Naturally, Verizon Wireless, like all the others, "does not guarantee in-building coverage.")

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by Thegonagle

I actually agree about Verizon in Richfield. It's far from perfect, but it's easy to fathom why: Richfield consists of large swaths of mostly single-family homes. They don't deploy as many cells in residential areas with mostly single-family homes (such as where the high school is located) compared to commercial areas, because they don't need as much capacity (each cell can only handle so many calls at once). Therefore, with fewer cells covering a larger area, coverage will be more "fringy."

I've never had a problem on the street or in my car with Verizon in Richfield, but if you're inside a building that's too far from the nearest cell, then you might have a problem. The 0.6 watt radio transmitter inside the phone just isn't powerful enough to "get out" of some buildings--it's just physics. (Naturally, Verizon Wireless, like all the others, "does not guarantee in-building coverage.")

Richfield is not great for other providers either. My friend had verizon and switched to sprint. A little better, but not much. He says airport is a factor.

[Joseph_2010]

I too been a long time Verizon customer. I called customer service in advance of my upcoming move to the area and they assured me Digital service is very available in the DULUTH City area, can anyone also confirm Verizon coverage is adequate there?

Thanks.

[MediaDoggie]

I have AT&T wireless and have trouble in Bloomington getting decent bars.