I am considering moving to Verizon’s America’s choice cell plan but I am concerned that I may be hit with roaming charges in my home rate area. I checked out their America’s choice map on the web and at the stores and it is hard to tell if I would be in a no-roaming area.
Does anyone have a link to a better map of the real cellular coverage that Verizon offers. I am particularly interested in the eastern part of NY.
ok, if i’ve understood your question correctly, here’s what you could do:
setup your handset’s ‘network settings’ to default to the home network and then set the ‘network search’ option to manual. that way it will not auto switch to a roaming network that might be active in the same area as your home network.
That might be an option but what I was really looking for is a detailed map of cellular coverage - much more detailed then verizon’s america’s choice coverage map.
I know I’ve seen them in the past - they actually show the tower locations and the ‘bubbles’ of coverage but I don’t remember wher I saw that.
Five words:
“Can you hear me now?”
While this does not actually answer your question, I thought it might help in your decision. I recently switched to the America’s choice plan from national service. I was told at the store, that if I had a blinking roam, that would be roaming that I was charged for and a solid roam would be on network roaming. I had cause to drive across the country from Denver to Philadelphia. During this trip, I made a few brief but necessary calls when I had a blinking roam. I just got my last bill, including these calls, and was not charged for any roaming what so ever.
porsche-924 it appears from the verizonwireless.com page that a blinking roam indicates no roaming charge and a solid roam means you will be charged. This could be a costly mistake.
Also it says that roaming charges may not appear right away on yur bill.
Also I want to point out that cellphone carriers are looking to squeeze a few extra bucks out of their existing customers as the market is no longer expanding. i.e. sprint is charging $3.50 per customer service call (a reason to drop their service ASAP IMHO)
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-949105.html?tag=fd_top
I mentioned this because this roaming indicator seems like the perfect way to get a few extra bucks off my per month.
Right now I’m on the single rate east plan (no longer offered) which is very good for me but lost the 2000 weekend and night minutes as the contract expired. When I have to connect to the net wirelessly I do it at night for that reason as it takes some time to do what I need to do - I am looking for a way to get either more time or more off peak time. I am really afraid of the A’s C plan though.
My wife and I use that as a joke now because we have Verizon wireless and can’t get a signal where our cabin is. It’s a little more than 100 miles from NYC so you’d think it wouldn’t be a problem.
The important thing is the number of minutes allowed in the plan. Don’t be too stingy about it. You should talk to a rep to get details on coverage in your area. Make sure you have the right kind of phone, too.
This is part of the reason I’m asking - where is the cabin (general location) we are getting a vacation house in columbia county where coverage is spase no matter what carrier you choose.
The ONLY place you’re going to get this info is from Verizon. No one else would maintain detailed maps of Verizon’s coverage area.
Actually, all the cell companies keep detailed maps of competitors’ coverage. Unfortunately, they are unlikely to share that with the guy in the store, who is even less likely to share it with the consumer.
Just get Cingular. No roaming, no long distance. For the amount of minutes I get, the price is the same as the other major companies.
Remember, Verizon has a 15 day trial period. Try it out for a couple of weeks, and if you don’t like it, ship it back.
Consumer Reports had a recent article about wireless services that included maps of coverage for the major carriers. It was available online recently – for free. I was surprised by that. Sorry, I don’t have the url, though.
bobz330
you forgot no coverage. The reason I got verizon is that they have far and away the best coverage in my area which is long island, nyc metro area duchass and columbia county - those last 2 are along the eastern part of NYS (east of the hudson, south of albany) and they hardest plases to get coverage. Also with my current verizon plan I get from main to south carolina w/ no roaming but lost the free nights and weekends option as the contract ran out.
Joey G the problem with the 15 day trial (I think it is 30 days) is I’m not sure they can switch me back to my single rate east plan after I leave and I’m not going to believe a salesman trying to sell me an anual contract.
Our place is in northern Sullivan county, just inside the Catskill Park. I originally thought the problem is that it’s in the bottom of a hollow, so it’s difficult to get any kind of reception in there. I drove to the top of a ridge and tried from there, but reception wasn’t any better. If I go out towards Liberty, there’s no problem. I guess coverage is just spotty up there. We get the local public radio station loud and clear.
This area ain’t a hotbed of communicatons technology - very limited DSL coverage, no cable where we are (not a big deal), everybody uses dishes. The only broadband I could scrounge up was Direcway, which is a dish system provided by DirecTV but it’s a $600 install and $60 a month so forget it.
Bummer on the dish internet - I was thinking of getting that. Maybe I will be close enough to use dsl.
Most cellular services seem to be centered around major roads and in that area seem to be the thruway, rt 84 and rt 17. The taconic has spotty coverage and my 2nd home is a mile away from it. It (the taconic) seems to be getting better and is slated for future coverage by sprint at least. Verizon shows solid coverage but it ain’t true (though there are pretty far streaches w/ solid coverage). THen again the plan I have will allow me to call w/o roaming charges but A’sC might as Verizon might be using other’s towers.
I’ve been looking for the same info, for the same area, with no luck.
According to their map, Nextel seems to have focused their coverage on the highways (Taconic, Thruway), but they’re very expensive, and have no plan coverage outside those corridors.
My AT&T phone does get (spotty) coverage all around there, but it’s the cheapest freebie phone (Nokia) they offer-- so I’ve been trying to figure out whether and to what degree reception varies with phones (i.e., if I drop $200 on a Motorola or such, will I get better reception??). Anyone know about that?
Nextel does have some unique coverage compared to the big 3 I’ll give them that but the taconic is usually considered something like a state hyw and has ‘secondary’ coverage if that much.
I personally had a lot of trouble with ATT and Nokia combo and will not use either because neither wanted to help me. Also I am a big fan of a retractable antenna. I figure it is the single most important item in sending and receiving. Also I noticed that I sometimes will get an extra bar if I raise the antenna. Not enought to confirm it but…
I got a cable to attach my cell phone to my laptop and it comes with software for internet connection but it also measures signal strength and I have noticed a consistant 1-3 bar increase (out of 10) by raising the antenna.