Alamogordo Moving Back Questions (Albuquerque, White Sands: appointed, new home, neighborhoods)

[BBwizard]

As pretty much natives of Alamogordo (I grew up there 1954-66 and lived there with my family from 1977-92), we are thinking (just half-serious so far) about retiring back in Alamo, possibly next summer, and I was wondering what internet and cell phone services are best in the Alamogordo area and how the general living conditions have gone?

When we left, cell phones were not a big deal, but now we live with one on our hip, and rarely use land lines (except for Verizon FiOS for internet).

In Portland (where we are now) all cell service is good, so the only consideration is price/features. But in Alamogordo, and over southern NM, some of the coverage looks spotty - at least using the online "coverage maps". AT&T says "partner service" - whatever that is - and Verizon and Alltel (same company now?) show coverage up to mountain edge or better, and our current service (T-Mobile) shows coverage, but reports less strength as you move east up the mountain. Since we have finished our contract, I am wondering if we should change services, stay with T-Mobile, or what, in anticipation of a possible move. Honestly, T-Mobile has the most features for the best price here, but I don't want to have a spotty service when we move. I don't even know what other services are available.

As to internet, I see from some searches of my own that there is apparently internet through the cable tv provider (how is that, by the way), and phone company DSL, but FiOS is unavailable there. Does anyone have insight as to what is the best (also cheapest for the speed/reliability) way to go. After FiOS, everything else seems slow, but I guess we could learn to stop streaming multiple videos if need be.

Now that Google has street views of Alamo (you did notice that?) - at least over about 70% of the town - I can examine most of the neighborhoods we are considering and see what condition they are in. Many are different from when we lived there before and there is a lot of new construction south of town. I grew up in a Snow home across from Oregon school, and also built a big house on Ocotillo later in life, so I know the area in general, just not what's happened in the last 16 years. (I did see all the 2006 flood info).

Any other advice about moving back would be appreciated, too.

Thanks, BBwizard

(BBwizard just means I'm a "Business Basic Wizard" - whiz bang programmer - nothing to do with "Wizards", thank you very much!)

[songinthewind7]

We use a tracphone for travel and it works well in Alamogordo.
I live in Timberon and the only choice here for a phone is a landline. Cells don't do well here unless you ride up to a certain water tower and stand a certain way. We did have verizon and same way with a tracphone, southern NM does not have very good cell service in the smaller areas but tracphone and verizon work in Alamogordo.
As far as internet, we have dell city and it's pretty slow but it's our only choice. I'm assuming that Alamogordo has cable and in my opinion, cable internet is the quickest way to go.

[6 FOOT 3]

BBwizard .....i first lived there from 1985-1990 so i'm sure you and i remember certain places or events that happened back then .

I use verizon and it works great from Alamo all the way to Albuquerque north and all the way south to El Paso. Baja broadband is the high speed cable internet service at $50.00 a month. Couple construction projects going on is South Florida Ave reconstruction/expansion from Panorama to Hamilton Road. The college NMSU-A is undergoing a expansion and the regional hospital Gerald Champion has just broke ground on it's 3rd major expansion. In the spring NM DOT will expand North Scenic from 2 to 4 lanes from NMSU to North Florida Ave. Finally after 35 years they are tearing down the Mcdonalds on White Sands Blvd and building a brand new one .

Also since you left in 1992 they have built a new Home Depot, Lowes Home Improvement store and Texico Truck stop across from the White Sands Mall and also they have an expressway now just west of Alamo with a new movie theater complex and housing out on the northwest side of it and have widen U.S. 54 from 2 to 4 lanes from Alamo to El Paso.

As for bad i'm really disappointed that there is only one grocery store (Not counting Super Walmart) as back in the mid 80's there were 4 (Safeway, Furrs, Big-8, IGA). The roads still look like hell although they are finally paving some of them as voters passed a bond issue to repave them.

Not sure what else to say but holler to one of us if you have anymore ??'s.

6/3

[chilegal]

We use Verizon for phone and internet service. It does work in Cloudcroft, but not Timberon - darn.. We do a lot of traveling and can use it anywhere we get phone service.

[BBwizard]

Originally Posted by 6 FOOT 3

BBwizard .....i first lived there from 1985-1990 so i'm sure you and i remember certain places or events that happened back then .

I use verizon and it works great from Alamo all the way to Albuquerque north and all the way south to El Paso. Baja broadband is the high speed cable internet service at $50.00 a month. Couple construction projects going on is South Florida Ave reconstruction/expansion from Panorama to Hamilton Road. The college NMSU-A is undergoing a expansion and the regional hospital Gerald Champion has just broke ground on it's 3rd major expansion. In the spring NM DOT will expand North Scenic from 2 to 4 lanes from NMSU to North Florida Ave. Finally after 35 years they are tearing down the Mcdonalds on White Sands Blvd and building a brand new one .

Also since you left in 1992 they have built a new Home Depot, Lowes Home Improvement store and Texico Truck stop across from the White Sands Mall and also they have an expressway now just west of Alamo with a new movie theater complex and housing out on the northwest side of it and have widen U.S. 54 from 2 to 4 lanes from Alamo to El Paso.

As for bad i'm really disappointed that there is only one grocery store (Not counting Super Walmart) as back in the mid 80's there were 4 (Safeway, Furrs, Big-8, IGA). The roads still look like hell although they are finally paving some of them as voters passed a bond issue to repave them.

Not sure what else to say but holler to one of us if you have anymore ??'s.

6/3

6 FOOT 3 - Thanks for the info. I was thinking Verizon might be solid, but was thinking I might go to Alltel (even though Verizon owns them), because I like their plans and phones better. I THINK it will be the same network, but will have to research that. And Baja was what I thought would be good for cable and tv.

Hey, I remember that McDonalds fondly. In the mid-80's my daughter and I went there every Saturday morning so mom could sleep in. I was laughing at some people complaining about eating places in Alamo on another site. I remember in 1954-65 when there was almost nothing in the way of eateries there, and no one could afford to eat out anyway. And besides, my favorite place in the 80's was Brown Bag Deli up on 10th (I hear it has moved - is it still good?)

I have kept up a little, we still have quite a few friends there. I know about Home Depot & Lowes, since I used to work for T-Bird Home Center (closed in 1991) and before that for the City.

My wife was back there a while back for a funeral, and she kind of caught up with the times then. I noticed the roads (in the Google street views), and wasn't surprised. The city (even when I was there) was notoriously NON-forward thinking. They never listened to me about the need for a 20 or 30 year view of the water system, and I hear that is now a problem, too. Oh, well, that's life.

Thanks for all your help. We are still in the "thinking about it" stage, and with the market down, we have to wait to sell our house here anyway, but it is good to get current info.

BBWizard

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by BBwizard

6 FOOT 3 - Thanks for the info. I was thinking Verizon might be solid, but was thinking I might go to Alltel (even though Verizon owns them), because I like their plans and phones better. I THINK it will be the same network, but will have to research that. And Baja was what I thought would be good for cable and tv.

Hey, I remember that McDonalds fondly. In the mid-80's my daughter and I went there every Saturday morning so mom could sleep in. I was laughing at some people complaining about eating places in Alamo on another site. I remember in 1954-65 when there was almost nothing in the way of eateries there, and no one could afford to eat out anyway. And besides, my favorite place in the 80's was Brown Bag Deli up on 10th (I hear it has moved - is it still good?)

I have kept up a little, we still have quite a few friends there. I know about Home Depot & Lowes, since I used to work for T-Bird Home Center (closed in 1991) and before that for the City.

My wife was back there a while back for a funeral, and she kind of caught up with the times then. I noticed the roads (in the Google street views), and wasn't surprised. The city (even when I was there) was notoriously NON-forward thinking. They never listened to me about the need for a 20 or 30 year view of the water system, and I hear that is now a problem, too. Oh, well, that's life.

Thanks for all your help. We are still in the "thinking about it" stage, and with the market down, we have to wait to sell our house here anyway, but it is good to get current info.

BBWizard

Well, I brought my Alltel service and phone with me, and I have had no dead spots anywhere that I have tried it in the area. I kept my Midland, TX phone number and have had no problems. Since I was told it didn't work in Timberon, I didn't bother trying it there, though!

As for choosing between Altell and Verizon here, don't bother. According to what enclosures come with my bill, Altell will merge with Verizon "in the near future."

Alltel-Verizon Merger

Restaurants are not Alamo's strong suit, as you already know, but the Brown Bag Deli IS very good, and I don't even like delis as a rule. I sometimes pick up a sandwich on my way home after a swim at the PTC.

The new Alamo Grill (used to be Ramona's) is really good...and Pepper's is also good.

Other than Casa de Suenos in Tulie, that's about it, LOL!!

As for Alamo being forward-thinking, I wouldn't know, as I have been here only a little over a year, but I love it here. It seems that with the new PTB, things might be changing for the better.

I hope so. The one thing I hate about Alamo are the hot summers, but the heat doesn't last as long as it does in WT!!

I use Baja Broadband for cable internet and basic TV cable--I watch very little TV, so I only have the bottom tier with the bare basics. Baja was having a few problems during the expansion of the fiber-optic cable, but once those got straightened out, it's great. It's really fast, but it's not cheap, as 6-3 said!!

But I don't want satellite TV...and cable is usually smoother and better than DSL, so I'm happy. But there are other choices for DSL besides QWEST (they suck, didn't even bother to get my kit to me, so I told them to shove it, and went with Baja). There is really no excuse for such poor customer service.

[Casper Nav]

Verizon all the way have had no issues anywhere in the SW