Cell phone coverage in Montana? (prices, vehicles, money)

[FormerFaller]

Originally Posted by kali203

My husband and I are moving to Malmstrom AFB in Great Falls on August 1st, we have heard that Sprint coverage is non existent. What would be the best cell phone carrier to go with for the most reception?

On Malmstrom AFB, there is an alltel tower just off the base. The cellreception tower search at cellreception.com/towers shows exactly where it is, owned by WWC (Western Wireless Corp. which went by CellOne, which Alltel bought) just off of 2nd Ave N. Verizon's not bad in the area either and I don't think you'll have a coverage problem with either, unless you do a lot of traveling then you may have problems with both.

Truth be told, there's not a lot of difference between alltel and Verizon. They roam off of each other if you ever lose a native signal. In some areas, I guess alltel is a little higher on the tower and a smidge better, such as around the base, Verizon in others, accounting for small differences. Anybody claiming that there's a big difference, probably just hasn't tried out service from both providers and is relaying second-hand exaggerated information, or is seeing the difference between a good phone and the cheap, free phone in terms of reception.

I use to have Verizon, but switched to alltel about a year ago because their plans were a lot better for me. They have the My Circle so you can still talk without using minutes to people on Verizon and landlines, so I'm on the cheapest plan now and still have plenty of minutes. So check out the plans for yourself and maybe try a trial from both, but go with the one that gives you the cheapest plan/best deal because you'll probably find coverage to be similar in general.

[Timberwolf232]

Man I miss the days before cell phones. As much as they are a convenience, they sure cause a lot of annoyance.. (ie drivers calling and texting on the move...) Plus I miss the time we once had when we were "out of touch" and people were happy to leave a message.

[Stephan_K]

Originally Posted by Timberwolf232

Man I miss the days before cell phones. As much as they are a convenience, they sure cause a lot of annoyance.. (ie drivers calling and texting on the move...) Plus I miss the time we once had when we were "out of touch" and people were happy to leave a message.

Ain't that something... how the hell did everyone survive prior to the late 80's without cell phones ?!!! I shake my head sometimes thinking about how we dealt with day to day life and miss those days too more so than not.

Mobile phones really changed life didn't it... Even in the back country ! Nowhere to hide anymore.

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by Stephan_K

Ain't that something... how the hell did everyone survive prior to the late 80's without cell phones ?!!! I shake my head sometimes thinking about how we dealt with day to day life and miss those days too more so than not.

Mobile phones really changed life didn't it... Even in the back country ! Nowhere to hide anymore.

Ha, I never even had a phone for the last 10 years I lived in Montana! couldn't get one at the one place (and this was halfway between Bozeman and Belgrade, not the middle of nowhere!), was used to doing without by the next.

And I still don't have a cellphone. Nothing is so important that it can't wait til I get home!

[Timberwolf232]

Originally Posted by Reziac

Ha, I never even had a phone for the last 10 years I lived in Montana! couldn't get one at the one place (and this was halfway between Bozeman and Belgrade, not the middle of nowhere!), was used to doing without by the next.

And I still don't have a cellphone. Nothing is so important that it can't wait til I get home!

Way to be! I don't have a personal one, but the job forced me into one...

Good head you have on those shoulders Reziac. When you get back this way look me up and I'll help ya shoot your CA plates up and buy ya a cold one.

[Montana Baby]

Verizon does a good job. Cell phone is a convenience (you know broke down or flat tire stuff). Really don't want to go back to the days we visited my grandparents --- it was on the wall, you cranked it a couple times, the operator came on and connected you, think there was a 3 minute limit, and seemed to remember grandma complaining all the neighbors knew her business after a phone call. Some changes are a vast improvement over "this is the way we have always done it".

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by Timberwolf232

Way to be! I don't have a personal one, but the job forced me into one...

Good head you have on those shoulders Reziac. When you get back this way look me up and I'll help ya shoot your CA plates up and buy ya a cold one.

I may wind up forced into it if that's the only way to get internet access (Sprint offers a combined service that works better'n most) ... phone itself, I can (and have) live without.

I'll take ya up on that cold one someday

[Trevor92]

Originally Posted by Reziac

I may wind up forced into it if that's the only way to get internet access (Sprint offers a combined service that works better'n most) ... phone itself, I can (and have) live without.

I'll take ya up on that cold one someday

I understand the idea that it's a convenience, but I still totally get what you're saying. I know there's sometimes I just want to get away and have some time alone, and that's usually when the darn phone rings with somebody wandering where I am. It's may be a convenience, but you do give up a little peace and privacy when you can be reached anytime and anywhere. Sometimes I think it's worth it to give it up, and if I had a car break down to just wait until somebody stopped to help. I also think we'd have a lot less distracted drivers without em.

The internet access is key in a lot of places around the area. The only options for me are satellite and mobile broadband, and satellite is slower and costs a ton in startup equipment. Within the past year, alltel's internet speeds have greatly increased as they upgraded the area to high speed data. I usually get around 2 Mbps on my data card and the coverage has always been good. Here's their data map for Montana with the high speed areas in blue and the old 50-80 kbps dial-up speed areas in purple, it's blue all around Great Falls and most populated areas in the state.

Edit: I've played around with it and it's looking like the link isn't working, but the web address can be copied and pasted into the web browser, it's between the brackets beginning with http Alltel MobileLink Coverage (http://content.alltel.com/business/enhanced/mobilelink_coverage.jsp?state=mt - broken link)
I checked out the Sprint website, but they just show the area in a 50-80 kbps zone.

[fallfanatic]

I have cingular (at&t), and while they don't (as of yet) service the area, I had very little trouble with my cell.

[Timberwolf232]

Originally Posted by Reziac

I'll take ya up on that cold one someday

You got it!