Best Cell Phone Service in Omaha?

AlmostinOmaha · Post by **AlmostinOmaha** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 3:10 pm

Hey Everyone - We made it to Omaha, despite getting almost getting stuck in a freak snowstorm in Colorado last week!
I have Cingular cell phone service and it doesn't work so well at my house (near Chalco). Any suggestions on which carrier covers Omaha the best?
Thanks!

TechnicalDisaster · Post by **TechnicalDisaster** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 3:12 pm

I have used Alltell, Cingular, and Verizon. Verizon has been hands down the best out of the three. (I live in Chalco and have never had a dropped call.)

omahastylee459 · Post by **omahastylee459** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 5:23 pm

i would second verizon. I have US cellular and although it works excellent where I live (central omaha), i sometimes have difficulty in west omaha. Nearly all the people I know with verizon never seem to have any problems.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:01 pm

I would third Verizon. I asked around last year about this and everyone also said that Verizon has the best signal in Nebraska. I have had it for a year now and haven't found a place where I couldn't get a signal.

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 8:21 pm

Verizon is abysmal between about Elkhorn/Bennington and Fremont. I think there's a vortex of negative juju hanging over Valley.

-Big E

Will · Post by **Will** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 8:45 pm

I have no problems with Cingular, both in and out of Omaha

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 8:50 pm

Coverage; Alltel and Verizon
Superior; Sprint and Verizon

Oh and you can call up Cingular and request a PRL (preferred roaming list) update. When carriers add new towers over time you can take advantage of this by receiving a PRL update.
Keep in mind GSM (Cingular and T-MIbile) doesn’t work very good in the Midwest you better stick to CDMA, you will be much happier.

Post by **nebugeater** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 8:59 pm

Sprint

Check the coverage area. If it works for you it cannot be beat

OmahaRules · Post by **OmahaRules** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:03 pm

Sprint has horrible customer service. I'm sorry but when they make you wait an hour just to look at your phone its a big waste of time. I'd say no to Sprint I hate it and can't wait until my contract is up.

Asten · Post by **Asten** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:09 pm

pkiphd wrote:Coverage; Alltel and Verizon
Superior; Sprint and Verizon

Oh and you can call up Cingular and request a PRL (preferred roaming list) update. When carriers add new towers over time you can take advantage of this by receiving a PRL update.
Keep in mind GSM (Cingular and T-MIbile) doesn’t work very good in the Midwest you better stick to CDMA, you will be much happier.

In Chicago, I've got a Tmobile phone... it works *great* in the eastern 2/3rds of Omaha, not so hot west of 680... As in 0 bars most of the time. They claim to have service on their maps, but then again, T-Mobile doesn't even sell in Omaha.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:34 pm

I would 4th the motion for Verizon and 2nd the motion that Sprint has terrible customer service - it took 6 weeks and a call from one of the bigwigs at the FCC to finally get them to migrate my wife's # over to Verizon.

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:44 pm

I like Sprint as well.

I guess I've never had a reason to have to talk to customer service... so I wouldn't know if it's good or bad.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:21 pm

Sprint notoriously has bad CS. In fact a couple years ago they set the record in Nebraska for the most complaint about a wireless provider. However they all suck and don’t expect to be treated like royalty, no matter where you go. All that in mind I would personally recommend Sprint together with Nextel.

Harpoon · Post by **Harpoon** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:47 pm

Verizon worked well for me until I got a new Motorola phone, now I can barely drive two blocks without losing a call. Had Alltel before that and it was average.

nebport5 · Post by **nebport5** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 12:00 am

Yeah, Harpoon has a good point.

Be careful confusing your coverage with your phone's reception quality.

I have Cingular and never had a problem in Omaha(chalco included) when I lived there. I had reception problems once when I had a crappy nokia.

what kind of phone do you have Almost in Omaha?

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 5:08 am

And I'll 4th Verizon..

I've had their cell service for nearly 3 years now..Good service and signal both inside and outside of Omaha..Large coverage area as well..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 9:42 am

And I'll 4th Verizon..

No you won't, I already did!

Asten · Post by **Asten** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 9:44 am

Harpoon wrote:Verizon worked well for me until I got a new Motorola phone, now I can barely drive two blocks without losing a call. Had Alltel before that and it was average.

Take it into Verizon and gripe... most likely there's a tower and/or software update.. But this is unusual with any recent phone we've got on Verizon. They're winning plenty of laurels for reception.

</motorolan>

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 10:36 am

icejammer wrote:
And I'll 4th Verizon..
No you won't, I already did!

Oops..

..

Okay, I'll..I'll..I know!..I'll 5th it!!..

..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 10:55 am

I read some artical recently about how people opinions of the service they get from cellphones has plummeted in recent years.

That being said: I used to have Verizon and I couldn't get a signal in my basement (168th and Center, roughly). Now I have Sprint and I can't get a signal in my apartment here in SF.

C'est la vie.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 7:28 pm

Omaha Cowboy wrote:
Oops.. ..

Okay, I'll..I'll..I know!..I'll 5th it!!..

..

Cowboy - I thought you always have a fifth waiting

Asten · Post by **Asten** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 9:53 pm

Swift wrote:I read some artical recently about how people opinions of the service they get from cellphones has plummeted in recent years.

That being said: I used to have Verizon and I couldn't get a signal in my basement (168th and Center, roughly). Now I have Sprint and I can't get a signal in my apartment here in SF.

C'est la vie.

Okay, from a technical standpoint, you have to be realistic. Cellular networks and phones aren't *designed* to work in the basement. There's stuff called the ground which is terribly hard on radio signals.

Of course, then there's the Verizon CEO who says "nobody should expect cellular coverage in their house". That's a little extreme.

*end motorolan rant*

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 10:49 am

Coyote wrote: Cowboy - I thought you always have a fifth waiting

I resemble that remark..I'll plead 'the fifth' on any comment

..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

AlmostinOmaha · Post by **AlmostinOmaha** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 12:26 pm

I have a motorola phone and have always had good luck with Cingular - I've used them for the past 10 years (before they were even Cingular!)
My Mom has a Sony Ericsson phone with Cingular service and her calls drop here in Chalco too...so I'm betting it's a Cingular problem, not a phone reception problem.

Thanks for all your help, sounds like Verizon might be the way to go.

TechnicalDisaster · Post by **TechnicalDisaster** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 12:39 pm

I was at Platte River State park yesterday, and called my wife. Call was crystal clear and didn't drop. (Verizon Wireless)

Oh yeah, here is a teaser of what is to come:
You should view the larger image at pbase here:
http://www.pbase.com/fantasmic03/image/50982367

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 12:41 pm

How exciting! Nice pano - is it a crop or did you use Canon's Photostitch?

TechnicalDisaster · Post by **TechnicalDisaster** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 1:06 pm

Its a 5 image stitch. I use Arcsofts Panorma Maker 3 for OSX.

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 1:14 pm

bradley414 wrote:Its a 5 image stitch. I use Arcsofts Panorma Maker 3 for OSX.

You and your Mac... ;) cool, thanks.

TechnicalDisaster · Post by **TechnicalDisaster** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 2:08 pm

You and your Mac...

Heh. I switched less then a year ago, and I'll never go back. Unfortunately, my favorite panorama software is not available for Mac

The best that I could find was ArcSofts, and it is kinda buggy on OSX (but it gets the job done.) On PC, look no further then Panorama Factory.

Canon Photostitch and Adobe Panorama are weak compared to Panaorama Factory.

Post by **nebugeater** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 5:32 pm

http://www.cellreception.com/towers/index.html

Here is a site that can be usefull. I have used it a few times, exp. when looking at carriers for wrk phones. If you look around here you will see you can find tower locations based on FCC infor. You can also find coverage info posted by users. There a re phone reviews too. Give it a look. I don't think teh layout is great but seems to have a bunch of info

nebport5 · Post by **nebport5** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 11:35 pm

phonescoop.com is also a site with good phone info, esp. about models of phones.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:09 am

So does PhoneArena.com and CNet
http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/home.php
http://reviews.cnet.com/2001-3504_7-0.html?tag=dir-ph
But I won’t even start about individual handsets, it is a passion/hobby/job of mine and I could go on and on and on…

shengs75 · Post by **shengs75** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:35 am

I would also recommend Verizon. If you go with Cingular, make sure you get a Quad-Band phone. This was it can get 850/900/1800/1900. Most of the towers now are 850 in the U.S.

I'd choose Verizon over Sprint for the coverage, but I really don't like any of the phones they offer. Sprint usually have decent phones, but I like Cingular the most since it's GSM, and I can buy and unlocked GSM phones and use it with Cingular.

Also, be aware with Verizon and Cingular they charge for outgoing Text messaging and web browsing. With Sprint it's a buffet-type service Vision plan.

If you plan to live out west, go with Verizon. Cingular has a bad signal around 168 and Harrison. Sprint has a bad signal around 114th and Dodge. Verizon works everywhere, even in Bismark, ND.

Post by **Brad** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 7:55 pm

Thread Revival...

Its been 4 years since the last post, so now in 2009, who do you recommend for cell phone service WITH A DATA PLAN?

I have Version, who I love, but my cell phone is really getting old and I need something new. My contract has been up for a few years now so if I need to switch, I need to do it now.

I REALLY want to stay with Version but I don't want to Spend $110 a month for Voice/Text/Data. I heard I get a 20% discount through my work, so that might be the deal breaker.

I looked at the AT&T with the Iphone, but Again, I don't want to spent $105 a month for everything.

I won't even step foot in to a sprint store, because Sprint is a piece of |expletive| and every time I had to deal with anyone for the one year I had them it was pure heck... Screw Sprint!

Anyone Else? Altell is Verison now, so I didn't look there.

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 8:34 pm

I have had Verizon and their predecessor Airtouch or whatever for over 10 years and have almost no problem with reception, other than at the baggage claim at Eppley, which for whatever reason I always get a dropped call, or two. Or three. I pay about $60 a month for 3 phones, but have a deal through my office.

Uffda · Post by **Uffda** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 10:44 pm

what kind of plan do you need?

I get a 20% company discount on my iphone with ATT and it is about $70. That is 450 min plus rollover unlimited data 5000 weekend and evenings and 200 text.

Post by **Brad** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 2:52 am

Uffda wrote:what kind of plan do you need?

I get a 20% company discount on my iphone with ATT and it is about $70. That is 450 min plus rollover unlimited data 5000 weekend and evenings and 200 text.

That plan would be perfect, however thats the plan I looked at and they told me $105

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 5:48 am

the plan i had was $85/month, with unlimited In texting, (i think) 700 anytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, free In calling, and the data plan. I too receive a 20% discount through my work, but if i remember right the data plan was $29.99/month. I watched a lot of youtube and stuff (which uses a lot of data) and was never charged additional amounts for overages. I can't remember if it was a national or regional plan (i think that all plans have since switched to national, so you may not get a choice), but i hope it helps.

Uffda · Post by **Uffda** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:24 am

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone- ... e-info.jsp

Bosco55David · Post by **Bosco55David** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 1:30 pm

I have AT&T. Pretty happy with them and will probably stick with them when I move back to Omaha.