Southern Wisconsin Reception
Anybody in South or Western Wisconsin care to tell my how the reception is? I am a current US Cellular customer who's contract is about to expire. USCC's reception is really kicks butt here (they have about 10 towers in my area- Alltel has 2), but the coverage areas leave a lot to be desired. I am really interested in the National Freedom plan so I can go pretty much anywhere with nights and weekends, etc. The dealers tell me that my reception will be better than what I currently have with USCC because Alltel uses their towers. I asked if the prl's are set up to look for Alltel signal first and then go to the next one on the list, and the dealers tell me "they will use everybody's towers". Didn't really answer my question. I had Veriz...
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I'm curious... who told you about 10 towers to 2. In the area of SW WI from the Miss. river to Dane County, from Hillsboro to the Ill. border Alltel has over 20 towers with many new ones planned. I'm pretty sure Alltel actually has more in SW WI than USCC.
Also, remember, because of the topography in SW WI, reception is never going to be perfect, or anything like perfect.
The PRL's DO have a checklist, and will prefer Alltel towers. But with CDMA, 1 bar of signal is just as good as 4. I can talk CLEARLY on my Kyocera with one bar. Only negative is battery life is a little shorter the weaker the signal.
I do think Alltel has an edge in SW WI and that edge I believe will grow as time goes on.
Also, remember, because of the topography in SW WI, reception is never going to be perfect, or anything like perfect.
The PRL's DO have a checklist, and will prefer Alltel towers. But with CDMA, 1 bar of signal is just as good as 4. I can talk CLEARLY on my Kyocera with one bar. Only negative is battery life is a little shorter the weaker the signal.
I do think Alltel has an edge in SW WI and that edge I believe will grow as time goes on.
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The 10-2 ratio is just in the Green County area where I will be using the phone the most as I live in Brodhead and work in Monroe. USCC's has towers in every town in Green County (except for Brodhead, nobody has service here but that's another story) including 2 in Monroe. I do a lot of leisure traveling all over S Wisconsin and N Illinois, not concerned about that coverage, just my local area where I use the phone day in and day out.
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Not only will the ALLTEL system be finally upgraded in the rest of southwest WI very soon, but I've heard they are also planning on adding several (>5) towers in the area by the end of the year, mainly the southern most parts. Along with the tremendously bigger coverage on the National Freedom, the Mobile to Mobile are awesome to have, once you get your friends to join you.
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I have heard that Alltel's reception (and customer service) leaves a lot to be desired in southern Wisconsin. Although I have no personal experience, this is all second-hand information 😕
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That is pretty much what I have been told by a couple of their customers around here. But for some reason they stick around instead of switching.
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I'll tell ya, you are in a weird place. Another weird place is along the Milwaukee Lake Michigan border? You are dealing with line of sight communications as well as the Kettle Moraine left by the Glaciers. Drive up one hill or round a curve and the whole world changes. I would not bet it's a tower issue exclusively. As a Verizon Customer I have the same experiences. We are both being masked by the terrain. 😲
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