Utility Services in Ely and NE Nevada (cell, cable, internet) (Las Vegas: buying, utilities)

[nickw252]

I am moving to Ely this summer and had some questions about services (cable, satellite, cell, internet) in Ely.

Currently I have Verizon and when I visited Ely I got good service in the city and a little outside the city. Overall I was satisfied because I didn't expect it to work in the mountains up 93 and on 80 going to SLC. My contract is up in less than a year and I want to get an iPhone - does AT&T have good service there? I looked at their site and it shows service on the map but it also says that the iPhone is not available in Ely. Is that because there is no data in the area? Does anyone know if it will be feasible to get an iPhone in Ely within the next year?

My next question has to do with TV - what are the cable and satellite providers there like? Is it cheaper to go cable or satellite? Also what sort of sports packages are available on the cable (I'm assuming the satellite service is the same nationwide).

Lastly, what broadband internet services are available and are the prices comparable to the rest of the nation?

[uli2000]

As far as utilities around Ely:

For cellular, right now the only carriers who operate networks in the area are Alltel and Verizon. Verizon just finished buying Alltel, and as part of the sale, has to divest the Alltel network in the area. Currently, we dont know who will be picking up the network, but from my understanding, AT&T is the most likely buyer as they have very little if any coverage in the area. Currently, AT&T and Tmobile phones roam off of Alltel who has a single channel set up for GSM in the area. As it stands now, the GSM network is almost unsuable. I had Tmobile when I moved up here 4 years ago and had very limited coverage and lots of dropped calls. From what I understand, the data is GPRS only, so a iphone as it stands right now would be painfully slow with data. If AT&T does infact buy this area, that should change, thought it would take months to fully transition from the Alltel CDMA network to a GSM/WCDMA (3g) network for AT&T.

For the most part, people get TV via satellite (Directtv or Dish Network). There is a cable company in town. Untill recently, it was called Precis communications. They recently had their assets liquidated and another cable company has picked them up, though I cant remember the name, another small town cable company. When it was Precis, the rates were very high and the service was bad. The only thing they had going for them was in some packages they carried the Las Vegas channels in addition to the Salt Lake City channels. Some SLC and LV channels are avalible with an antenna around town, though signal is very spotty. The tv district is also trying to get Reno channels broadcast OTA. Because there is no local transmitter (all tv is via translators), we are exempt from the digital tv swichover, but the tv district is hopping to go digital sometime later this year. I personally use Dish Network as I can get locals (CBS, NBC, and Fox, but not ABC right now) in high def. Direct TV's SLC high def doesnt reach this far south.

For broadband, around Ely and McGill, AT&T has DSL avalible, ranging from ~$20 for basic DSL to ~$35 for 6mb/sec down dsl. Outside town limits, satellite (slow, expensive) and cellular (~$50-70/month, speed depends on signal quality. Best case is about low DSL speeds) or dial up are about the only choices. Mt Wheeler Power (local power coop) resells dsl at higher rates that AT&T and also has some type of wireless broadband. My boss just recently swiched over to AT&T from Mt. Wheeler's wireless because of service issues (lots of times it woulndt work) and price (~$55/month).