Moving to VA... cell service? (Charlottesville, Harrisonburg: house, pros and cons, living in)

[PhoenixArtworx]

Hi!

We are relocating / moving down to VA and would like to be within and not more than 30 minutes from Harrisonburg. We've already been doing tons of research and of course checking out CD forum. What cell providers offer the best service down there? We don't plan to be IN the city, rather we are looking for properties with a couple of acres.

Any thoughts into cell service providers and if they are good or not would be helpful!

While we're at it, we love coffee, so if you have a favorite coffee shop that offers all sorts of caffeinated beverages, that'd be cool too!

Thank you!

[thatdesertdude]

Have you visited Harrisonburg before? Did you like the area? Reason I ask, is I have never heard of someone outside the area moving to that specific town/surrounding area. I've never been to Harrisonburg, but I know T-Mobile worked fine in Charlottesville which is 1 hour away.

Merge Coffee Co and Coffee Hound are my recs for local coffee shops!

[PhoenixArtworx]

Originally Posted by thatdesertdude

Have you visited Harrisonburg before? Did you like the area? Reason I ask, is I have never heard of someone outside the area moving to that specific town/surrounding area. I've never been to Harrisonburg, but I know T-Mobile worked fine in Charlottesville which is 1 hour away.

Merge Coffee Co and Coffee Hound are my recs for local coffee shops!

It's a work related move. My son in law is very familiar with the area hence our range of area we are looking in and we've done a boat load of research besides his knowledge.

[ersatz]

Cellular service carriers have slightly different pros and cons but more than anything, your satisfaction will depend on whether you can get adequate cellular coverage where/when you need it.

You can start with this site for a general idea https://www.comparecellular.com/cove...-coverage-map/ but as I learned the hard way, DO NOT depend on the coverage maps to be fully accurate for your specific location. Coverage is spotty in the foothills, and if your property is in a hollow or on the wrong side of a mountain you can be left high and dry. When I am in Floyd county, I can get great coverage and then lose it completely a hundred yards down the road. Right now, I am living in the heart of well-off suburbia (Fairfax County). All service maps show coverage at my location to be rock solid. However, I have gone through four carriers trying to find one that works most of the time. For three of them, although the map showed dependable coverage, local topography and high buildings blocked me from getting acceptable reliability. I finally found a carrier that usually works but it is spotty depending on local weather. Sometimes I have to leave my house and walk 100 feet down the road to get a reliable voice call. Text always works because it needs less data.

If cell phone coverage is important to you, for heavens sake, go to the spot you intend to settle into and personally verify your coverage before locking yourself into the rental/purchase. Your best bet is to use an app that specifies repeater locations and lets you compare signal strength. I use the free Android App Network Cell Info Lite, but there are a number of others available.

[columbusboy8]

Originally Posted by thatdesertdude

Have you visited Harrisonburg before? Did you like the area? Reason I ask, is I have never heard of someone outside the area moving to that specific town/surrounding area. I've never been to Harrisonburg, but I know T-Mobile worked fine in Charlottesville which is 1 hour away.

Merge Coffee Co and Coffee Hound are my recs for local coffee shops!

I've been to Harrisonburg and Charlottesville many times. I've never heard of anyone outside the area moving to Charlottesville either. But since both towns are growing, folks are obviously moving there from outside the area! Personally, I prefer Harrisonville. Much lower cost of living, more scenic, and definitely more likely to find two desirable acres close to downtown. Can't speak for mobile service or local coffee shops.

[SchoolHouseRock]

Verizon works well in the Harrisonburg area. I've never had any connection issues.