Cell phones in the Ft. Collins area (Fort Collins, Greeley: home, transfer to) - Colorado (CO) - City-Data Forum

Wurzig · 02-15-2010, 07:58 PM

What are the companies in that area?

Which have better coverage for the money?

What are the best pay as you go cell phone companies......and how good is the coverage?

Mike Weber · 02-16-2010, 11:00 AM

Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Cricket are providers I can think of off the top of my head. The price is coming down on voice service from these, but data rates are climbing.

I dropped T-Mobile about 5 years ago because of coverage issues, but would guess they have improved since then. I have very few holes in my Verizon coverage. Those that I do have are only small ones in the foothills, one dead place north of town on the way to Laramie, and a small dead area several miles north of Greeley.

My parents have Cricket pay-as-you-go and when they visit this area, they seem to have pretty good reception wherever they go in town.

maximusmgm · 02-16-2010, 01:23 PM

Sprint and Nextel also serve Fort Collins.

I've had a positive experience with Sprint's coverage along the front range.

Wurzig · 02-18-2010, 02:21 PM

Thanks for your input.

My regular cell is Verizon and I almost never have static or lose a call no matter where I am. My daughter's cell is the secondary on my account, but she is putting us (and herself), in the poorhouse. Why is it that people her age barely talk on phones or use email? They just text....send pics, text some more...LOL Anyway, we have decided to take her off the Verizon account and I have ordered a pretty nice phone through metroPCS pay-as-you go....compared to what I have handed over to Verizon, their unlimited monthly plans are very reasonable, especially for her age set....

I have asked this question because she may transfer to CSU later on.......I have looked at the metroPCS site and they seem to have coverage along the I-25 corridor area, but beyond that, forget it.... (It costs extra once you leave the area and have to roam so we will most likely have to get her another company if she transfers---well, the text is no additional charge through roaming but actual phone calls are).... And they don't seem to have any stores at all in CO....

maximusmgm · 02-19-2010, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wurzig

I have asked this question because she may transfer to CSU later on.......I have looked at the metroPCS site and they seem to have coverage along the I-25 corridor area, but beyond that, forget it.... (It costs extra once you leave the area and have to roam so we will most likely have to get her another company if she transfers---well, the text is no additional charge through roaming but actual phone calls are).... And they don't seem to have any stores at all in CO....

If you want a cheap unlimited service in Ft Collins you will need to use Cricket.

Wurzig · 02-21-2010, 12:10 AM

Well, here's an update: the metroPCS phone arrived in just a day or two...it looked like a pretty nice phone.....but we tried for several hours to connect (and I mean several hours!), so that we could receive the phone number for the phone...we followed all the instructions...we used the cell AND our land line...if we were able to connect to a person, the employees were very hard to understand, (India???), and just before we would get the number, the line would go dead. (The battery was fully charged). One fellow told us that our address was not a valid address....my husband spelled our street and city out many times, including all the 'F as in Foxtrot, E as in Echo airplane pilot stuff'....my husband said, 'the phone was just mailed to this address today, how can you say it's not a valid address????!!!!!' One gal told us that we had partially installed the phone and even though the phone didn't have a number, we were possibly signed up so she gave us another number to call which was just a recording and referred us back to the original number that always went dead. This went on and on.....my daughter finally ended up in tears....my husband just about lost it.....I got a few new gray ones.

I called Wal Mart and asked, 'even though it wasn't purchased there, since you are an authorized dealer, may we come over so that you can start the phone for us?' He said that the best bet was to go to a metroPCS store, which is nowhere near our house......

This should NOT have been this difficult! Maybe there is a reason they are so inexpensive with their monthly charges, I dunno. We thought about the future and decided that this particular phone company wasn't for us. It might be great for others, but for us, it arrived with a black cloud hanging over it. I eventually wrapped it back up and took it to a Fed Ex office yesterday....they provided a prepaid label, which was a plus.. I hope I don't have to fight them for a refund....but at least I will have Amex on my side if I do.

I ended up calling Verizon back.....for a few more bucks per month, I have bought zillions of text messages......she gets to keep her phone that she loves.....and hopefully it will have good reception no matter where she goes to school this coming fall. I am all for saving money but sometimes the stress just isn't worth it.

I have never put anything negative down about a brand or company on city.data and I don't know if it is allowed....but metroPCS just wasn't for us.

I wanted to thank all of you for your input. I will keep Cricket in mind, Maximusmgm.

officialrigor · 01-26-2011, 05:36 PM

So I just got the HTC Droid incredible Verizon as a gift from my mom for my birthday and I like around the boardwalk and harmony area in fort Collins and I've never get any good bars at where I live. I get like 1 bar or maybe 2 sometimes. I've had this phone for 2weeks now and I've gone back to diamond wireless at the mall several times and all they do is reset my phone to factory default as say it should be good but I get the same result. I've also called Verizon a million times and they always make me dial *228 opt 2 but still nothing. I went to best buy today and was looking for a antenna booster and agents told me that where I live is a Verizon black hole. Can I call Verizon for this or is it my phone. I like the phone but I want it to have service at my house.

maximusmgm · 01-27-2011, 10:36 AM

You might try getting a Network Extender from Verizon.

See here Verizon Network Extender for details.

Oh and don't pay $250...ask them to see if they can do half. Go to a corporate store for best results (near Target on S. College).

feanix · 01-27-2011, 01:35 PM

We use Cricket with a droid. We don't have any issues with our service here. We actually brought our service with us from Pennsylvania and just transferred over here. Our service was spotty through Kansas and Wyoming and internet access was almost nil in those states but for the most part we had reliable service from PA to CO and have had reliable service in CO, though we haven't ventured very far outside of FC (Loveland, Johnstown, Berthoud, Greeley, Windsor areas). Crickets price is hard to beat and the droid brand new was 140-ish.

'M' · 05-21-2011, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by feanix

We use Cricket with a droid. We don't have any issues with our service here. We actually brought our service with us from Pennsylvania and just transferred over here. Our service was spotty through Kansas and Wyoming and internet access was almost nil in those states but for the most part we had reliable service from PA to CO and have had reliable service in CO, though we haven't ventured very far outside of FC (Loveland, Johnstown, Berthoud, Greeley, Windsor areas). Crickets price is hard to beat and the droid brand new was 140-ish.

Cricket often provides very good coverage in Colo, including places like the city proper of Estes Park (but not at the YMCA Camp of the Rockies or in any of the mountain canyons that lead out of Estes). It has been rare that my Cricket cell phone has not picked up a signal...except out of state, of course, plus I want to include that it did NOT pick up at the YMCA of the Rockies. The YMCA is in a 'bowl' surrounded by mountains.

In Fort Collins, Cricket told me my home address near *** Boardwalk and Harmony *** is a black hole as another poster states Verizon told him. Makes me wonder if they are all sharing the same towers? Anyone know?

I'm not able to get enough signal on my Cricket broadband device to play Netflix, although I was able to at the YMCA/Estes Park...go figure. My Cricket cell phone service was very spotty and not really usable enough for me to rely on my cell phone at all at the YMCA. The town of Estes Park has very good Cricket coverage. Had to use the landline in the room at the Y. Have heard from service reps that the way the broadband device and the phone work are very different as far as picking up signals, so this causes the discrepancy in how they are able to connect to a network. At the Y, when their WiFi wasn't working, I could often get internet on Cricket broadband. Very strange situation.

In the canyons, such as Hwy 34/Big Thompson Canyon, any carrier will not be able to provide a signal. Or on Hwy 36 Canyon from EP to Lyons.

On another note, I ported my cell phone to T-Mobile, and it seems to work a bit better although haven't tried their broadband. Am thinking about it...they have a new T-Mobile hotspot device. User reviews are very promising. May try that to see whether Netflix will stream with it.

Blech!

Technology!!