Best Cell Carrier in Nebraska

[Jasper87]

We have had Viaero service in western Nebraska for almost two years. I travel EXTENSIVELY from Albuquerque to Billings, Las Vegas to Memphis, and most points inbetween. Don't believe those maps for a moment. My phone identifies who I'm roaming with, and its more than just those two (I've seen more than 15 names). The only part without service? Rural western Kansas IF you travel off I-70. I had Alltel (NO-TEL) for several years before moving to Nebraska and coverage in our area was spotty at best -- let's just say their customer service is better than there coverage.

[Neal White]

Viaero Wireless have many more roaming partners than AT & T and T-mobile. They have many roaming agreements with companies who are simular to Viaero Wireless who provide service in rural America.

If you are a Viaero Wireless customer you have access to over 93,000 towers in the U.S.

To say you better be in a large city to have service with Viaero Wireless is simply not true.

[a42887]

For clarification, I was speaking mainly for Nebraska, South Dakota, and Kansas with regards to roaming partners, as there are few if any outside of Cingular and T-Mobile.

Neal,

As an employee of Viaero, I do have a question for you. Why is it that there is so little of Nebraska covered (one of your two home states) outside of the native and Omaha areas?

Thanks. Been curious for a while.

[Sandhills Guru]

Viaero has just really began service in the state of Nebraska, they are putting up towers to serve their customers across the state and expanding. As far as the coverage map you listed, it is out of date I can tell you that much.

Being a Viaero customer, (used to be with USCelluar), as I travel the state I keep seeing better and better coverage on each trip. Traveling with NO-tell customers I still have better service and in more areas than they do.

[mattpoulsen]

I have Alltel and have never seen any company that has better coverage across the state. Everyone I know, living in rural areas, uses Alltel. Viaero has been making more of a presence known, but Alltel is still #1 in outstate Nebraska.

[Jasper87]

I will respectfully disagree about the rural coverage for Alltel (I like the NO-tel) comment. In the panhandle, if you are in Sidney, Scottsbluff or Alliance, you have service. Travel outside that region and Alltel drops off considerably. In fact, when traveling through Bridgeport (35 miles southwest) there was NO Alltel coverage. Same in Harrison and Chappell. Viaero stepped in and built towers in these areas. I was a 15-year Alltel customer until we moved back here (and I was truly happy). I have absolutely no complaints about Viaero. In fact, I like their customer service better. Hopefully, they won't sell out and have it all change!

[a42887]

I can personally vouch for good Alltel service in Chappell. I have family there and visit frequently. Never had any trouble with Alltel anywhere, but ya know, we all travel different spots, and as little as 100 feet can really change your experience.

[itsMeFred]

First of all, *every* cell company will work on the vast majority of the Interstate. So long as you never leave the Giant Slab, you'll be fine. By the same token, most of the cell companies will work in most of the south eastern chunk of the state with a few spots where calls drop due to terrain, etc.

Secondly, the phone itself makes a big difference so far as reception of a tower. Good old clunky bag phones still have the best reception.
Little flip phones with no external antenna?

Not so good...
The rest run the gamut between the two. Rural cell stores can usually guide you to the phones with the best reception (they might not have the best toys, though).




Now, my experience: I've had US Cellular (formerly Cell One), Alltel and my husband has Viaro as his work phone (for the last three years).
We live on a ranch in southwest NE, and have family and friends literally all over the state. Ie, our phones are used everywhere, primarly in what the Omahanlincoln crowd would consider "the boonies".

I had CellOne/US Cellular for about 10 years. That phone lived with us on ranches all over the western half of the state, including central/western Cherry county. Including roaming, only in the true, mail-every-other-day, boonies (like central Cherry county, central Sheridan, etc.) did I have spotty coverage---statewide.

They have excellent coverage.


Alltel- Sucks.
Period. lol

My old Us Cell phone was dying and I went cheap and decided to sign a contract to drop the price of a phone. Alltel was having a great promo at the time so I jumped on it.
My contract is up in Jan. I'm counting the days.

I don't know how many corners of the state we've traveled this summer where I always had coverage with Cell One (US Cellular) that I don't with Alltel.
The reverse has yet to ever happen. ie, US Cellular/Cell One has much better coverage so far as I've observed.

Which brings me to Viaero. I have similar thoughts as Sandhills Guru.
I've been watching their coverage map expand over the last few years. (At the moment, their current map only goes to July '07 but they build towers like ants. there's always a new one going up somewhere! Ie, I know they cover more than their map currently shows)

Here at home (corner of KS/CO), my husband with his Viaero phone, rarely doesn't have service. Even in the house.
And for that matter, every time we go somewhere, he notices service somewhere that he never got it before. (Viaero aims to cover rural areas that have never had much for service before).
But, they're still building. For example, once he gets a little ways north of Neligh he starts running out of service. As of this spring, almost all of Knox county was still a dead zone, etc.

However, they are still building. Which means that by the time my contract runs out in January, they might be almost seamless for the state.