Sprint cell phone coverage

I am thinking of switching cell phone providers. Does anyone in the Wabasha-Alma area have Sprint? If so, are you satisfied with the coverge?

Great post!

I have been around and around on what is the best cell phone provider.

I have been with CellularOne, I am in central Minnesota and have my share of dead air. Just north of our home I have 12 1/2 miles of ZERO coverage/no signal.
I have had friends tell me that their Verizon cell phones work great around this area. I have been just north of GrandRapids heading to Red Lake and have have lost total use of the cell phone. I used a Motorala Bag phone up untill just a few years ago. They worked much better, but they have ended offering anolog signal’s.

Let’s here what everone has to say about this subject!

I have Midwest Wireless and am very happy with them, they have the best coverage for this area by far, they have more towers than anyone in there home area over 200. I do not remember for sure but I do believe that Wabasha-Alma is in there home area, I could not find a map on there web site, give them a call to find out. My sisters-in-law has Sprint and there are allot of areas that she does not have coverage.

I have Qwest for the home phone and cell and have never been happier. great prices and awesome reception.
I have also had Midwest Wireless and let me tell you horse crap service to expensive but they also have decent reception.
hope this helps

I’ve had ATT, which is now Cingular, for the last couple years. As is true with most providers, I have lost signal in areas, but they have the best plan for my needs. I live in the Twin Cities, but during the summer I live on Mille Lacs while my wife lives and works in the cities, and they had the only plan that had both places in the same local area. No long distance, or roaming when I called home.

I just switched my plan to the all digital (GSM) program with them. Got a second line for my wife for an additional $10/month, shared minutes with roll over of unused minutes each month, free mobile to mobile calls (none of our calls to each other cost as money or minutes), nationwide plan with no long distance, and no roaming from anywhere inside the coverage areas.

AND…. the best part of all. We had our home phone number put on her phone, and got rid of our land line and long distance carrier at the house. All our telecommunications are cellular, and cheap. We are saving over $50/month now that we’ve made the changes.

I’ve had Sprint for 5 years now. I get great reception in most areas. Areas I’ve had less than decent reception:

Evert’s resort – on shore.
Mille Lacs – anytime I’m driving around the lake it’s poor at best. Once on the lake, it works awesome.

Dead spots will happen with any provider, but these are known areas that Sprint is weak.

Here is the plan I have.
Regional Traveler Plans
Monthly Rate $39.99
1000 Anytime Minutes
Unlimited Night & Weekend Minutes
Free Mobile to Mobile Minutes
You can also add a second phone to this plan called POOL-A-LINE for $16.99 and share the Minutes.
I found the map for the home area of the Regional Traveler Plan.

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I have Qwest for the home phone and cell and have never been happier. great prices and awesome reception.
I have also had Midwest Wireless and let me tell you horse crap service to expensive but they also have decent reception.
hope this helps

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I also have Sprint. I can honestly tell you this is the best service I’ve ever had! I don’t think I’ve hit a dead spot yet. Been to Mille Lacs,LOTW,No.Dakota, Alway’s had good reception too. Very happy with mine.

I also have Midwest Wireless. It is really good, especially on the river between Red Wing and Fountain City. I have great reception and have no problems with them. Also you may want to look into Nextel. They have pretty good service around here too.

When I lived around the Pepin/Durand/plumcity/etc areas I had midwest wireless also and they worked great for me. I move to La Crosse to go to college and unfortunetly moved out of there service area. but since I used my parents address I was able to keep them and they waved the roam charges (did that for 4 years) after I graduated and settled in down here I changed to US cellular. I hate it, but there isn’t much to pick from down this way. only 10 months left and I can start searching for a new plan.

It mostly depends on where you are going to be using it. I spend a lot of time on the horn and have had pretty good results and pretty bad ones. I have to travel anywhere from Virginia, MN to the Virgin Islands for work and the best I’ve found so far is the ATT/Cingular. I am on the GSM plan now and there are some dead spots around the nation as with any carrier but I have been assured that as they continue to build this net work coverage will be better and better. I’ve had others also including Sprint which was alright but Verizon was a nightmare.

Thanks for the input guys. I have Midwest Celuular now. I can get a great rate and plan with Sprint thru my companhy (25% off). I can get no roaming charges for all three phones for $3.75/month. It is very tempting.

There are dead spots around the river with Midwset Cellular, but I have always been able to take a few steps in one direction or another and pick up a tower. I would be disappointed if I switch to Sprint and find out the coverage is really poor in the area I use it the most (Wabasha/Kellogg/Alma).

I live/die by my phone at times, being in the business that I’m in. If my client’s can’t get ahold of me…..it could be a lost deal for me…….I need my phone ALL THE TIME. The only place my phone doesn’t go is church……..even in the movie theater, I have it on vibrate.

The KEY FACTOR is whether you can roam or not and go analog or not. Not all providers will let you roam and not all providers let you have the choice of digital and analog combined.

Sprint has digital/analog combined abilities plus it lets you roam. I had cell service up at the Angle Inlet at LOTW last year……..It was analog roaming, but I had service.

I’ve had Sprint for the past 3 years now. I’m “satisfied” with it. I think there maybe be cheaper minute plans out there, but I’m satisfied so far that I don’t want to change.

Like huck said

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It mostly depends on where you are going to be using it.

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(and I will add) as to which company is best for you. I live just a few miles east of Rochester on the outside edge of the city limits and Sprint will not work at my house, my place must be in a dead zone for Sprint.

Steve,

When Sprint doesn’t work from your home do you know if the user has roaming?

I do not think she is, it is my sister in law and she lives in Rochester.

The joys of retirement! For 30 years I walked around with a work pager and a cell phone and was chased by them at all hours of the day and night. When I retired so did my carrying a cell phone and a pager – and I don’t miss them at all. I’ve got my e-mail on my computer and home phone with an answering machine – leave me a message I’ll get back to you when I am done fishing. Gotta love it!!

Commanchero,
It is just as much a safety issue with our family. We have it as we commute too. I hear ya though…someday I might be able to join you…just have one more semester of college and a wedding this summer to pay for and I’m gonna start thinkin’ about it!

It seems like there’s as many answers to this as there is in what line to use…

I had Sprint for 7 years (my wife and daughter still do) and it worked will across the country and locally. Although I did have a phone that would go into anlog/roam.
My company made me change and I went to Verison. They seemed to have better coverage than Sprint…but there Customer Service was a DIS service and I returned the phone after 14 day (example of their service? I just received my $1,100.00 back from them after 10 months of waiting).

I now have T-Mobil…and since it doesn’t have roam…you either have or don’t have service…I’m not a big fan of T-Mobil…
Since my company realized it’s error…in two more months I’ll be checking out ATT/Cingular since that’s the only one left. Although a year or so ago the people that had ATT hated the (lack of) coverage in the Mpls/St Paul area.

I have Sprint nation wide and the coverage is pretty fair with some blackout spots as with the others. Unfortunately one of the weak areas is my home in Cottage Grove. I get one bar and sometimes the second is blinking. If conditions are right I can make a long distance call. If not the call gets cutoff after connecting. Bottom line: have someone with the service you are considering try their phone at your place. My dream of getting rid of the hard wired phone will not happen with my present system.

I have Sprint and I think it sucks. Even ever I go out to the River from Waukesha (Wisconsin), I get as far as Fennimore and then lose service completely. I have been as far as Onalaska and the borders of Minn. and Iowa with no service what so ever. So my phone is useless when I go on trips to the river.

Muskygirl, do you have roaming?

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Muskygirl, do you have roaming?

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Yes I do, I don’t even get analog in these areas, no voice mail and no internet.

What’s really odd is that I have On Star in my truck…and it has the best coverage of all the phones that we’ve ever had.

It’s comparitavly exspensive, but it’s a great back up phone.

I believe Onstar system is a satalite system, and yes, that is the “next” wave of the future, as well as satalite internet service.

Beam me up Scotty!

rvvrrat, I don’t know if you are in the Wabasha area most of the time or not, but I live on the prairie and I have midwest wireless. I am very happy with it. It is crystal clear out on the water. Everywhere I have taken it out on the river it has been just fine. Only dead spot I have found in our area is HWY 42 hill by Kellogg. Some days you can talk all the way up the hill, and some days it drops ya. A buddy of mine (living in Roch.) had Sprint a little over a year ago and he wouldn’t even bring his phone with him. He would lose signal between Plainview and Kellogg, and that was it!!! Nothing in the Wabasha area, and nothing out on the river. Now, a lot could have changed in a year or so, but I do know that most companies will gladly give you a phone to use and check your area to see how it will work.

Blackduck,

Thanks for the feedback. I am on the prarie a lot too…have a place on Peterson. That is what I want this phone for the most. My daughter just got Sprint. I think I’ll need to take hers down there and see what I get. I want it on 42 also…never know when a 1990 F-150 will want to call it quits.