Cell Phone Reception

It's variable in the house, about 100 feet from 30a, but I always manage to get a few bars.

Reading way too fast here--what I read was that you always manage to get cell phone reception in the bars!

pk--LOVE your avatar!

Reading way too fast here--what I read was that you always manage to get cell phone reception in the bars!

Peapod, it is very important to have cell phone reception in bars. What if I went to a bar and wanted to call you? We may need our phones to work this summer!

Peapod, it is very important to have cell phone reception in bars. What if I went to a bar and wanted to call you? We may need our phones to work this summer!

Don't worry, I'll make sure you can find me--promise!

pk--LOVE your avatar!

Thanks Peapod!!! That is my precious grandson on the beach at Seagrove by Eastern Lake!! One of those incredible days I will never forget!!

I travel from Pensacola to Tallahassee and live in Seacrest Beach. I have tried them all and found that Cingular has best overall coverage for entire area and one of the few with solid coverage for the entire length of 30A. Verizon has laptop aircards available for this area also.

We and most of our friends have Nextel, and cell and walkie-talkie is great all over SoWal...but we are going back to Alltel, or possibly trying Cingular, as soon as our contract expires. My husband is no longer enamored with the walkie-talkie, and we need a family-share plan...not to mention I've had several run-ins with Nextel's customer service. It has definitely gotten worse since the merger with Sprint.

Re: Cell Phone Reception specifically Sprint

Those of you w/sprint...some say good reception-some say bad reception...those of you w/good, where does it work and did you do anything different...i just updated all my phone software from sprint and hope this helps...but from my place in Old Florida, i get nothing...the sprint guy told me there was a tower less then 3 miles from my house....anybody heard of this before, i haven't...usually if verizon works then so does sprint...not sure what to do now except change to cingular...Red

We and most of our friends have Nextel, and cell and walkie-talkie is great all over SoWal...but we are going back to Alltel, or possibly trying Cingular, as soon as our contract expires. My husband is no longer enamored with the walkie-talkie, and we need a family-share plan...not to mention I've had several run-ins with Nextel's customer service. It has definitely gotten worse since the merger with Sprint.

I have Nextal as well but primarely for the direct connect function which I need for my business. I hardly ever have a dropped call but my wife is on Alltel and I would love the benefit of a shared plan.

I have Nextal as well but primarely for the direct connect function which I need for my business. I hardly ever have a dropped call but my wife is on Alltel and I would love the benefit of a shared plan.

Occasionally Nextel will offer a shared plan, but I never catch it right. With Alltel, I would be saving $50 per month right now. However, the final straw was several weeks ago when I missed a payment and was two weeks late. Instead of calling me - my payment record has always been good, and it's not like they don't have my number - they blocked our phones so that all outgoing calls were directed to Nextel's Customer Care Center. Meanwhile, my 13-year-old is sitting in front of Emerald Coast Middle School because basketball practice had ended early, and he winds up talking to Nextel, whose representative informs him that his mother didn't pay the cell phone bill...

We have Sprint cell phones and have no trouble at all in the 30-A area or anywhere in SoWal for that matter. The only place we have any problem is driving 331 between Southern Alabama and I-10. Once we get south of I-10, coverage is great!!!

Re: Cell Phone Reception specifically Sprint

Those of you w/sprint...some say good reception-some say bad reception...those of you w/good, where does it work and did you do anything different...i just updated all my phone software from sprint and hope this helps...but from my place in Old Florida, i get nothing...the sprint guy told me there was a tower less then 3 miles from my house....anybody heard of this before, i haven't...usually if verizon works then so does sprint...not sure what to do now except change to cingular...Red

My guess is that it's your phone. We had an old Sprint phone that didn't have the best coverage, but once we changed to the new digital phones, they work great. Mine is a PM 8920, but I've had it over a year and I don't think they even make that one anymore. You say that you've updated all of your phone software, but it sounds like you may just need a new phone. I wonder if they'd let you try one out just to see if it works

I have Cingular service, and my husband has Sprint (and since he does work for a computer consulting company, he must wear his phone practically everywhere--he's gotten work calls at DisneyWorld and in Fenway Park!). Neither of us have any problems when we're in the 30A area (tho we've never tried it in Sandestin). As we drive through south Alabama, its another story, tho. But at Seagrove/Seaside, we've not had any problems.

I may have made a mistake...when my phone is set to accept digital roam, i get good signal...but thats off the pcs network and i have to pay add'ly...do those of you w/ sprint use your digital roam feature and thereby pay add'ly?

I may have made a mistake...when my phone is set to accept digital roam, i get good signal...but thats off the pcs network and i have to pay add'ly...do those of you w/ sprint use your digital roam feature and thereby pay add'ly?

probably - my alltel 'florida phone' costs next to nothing - diposable from wal-wart was about 20$ and the minutes card was prolly 30$ for 100 minutes - enter the coupon code you get free with the phone and double the minutes to 200 - no insurance, roaming or extra cost - I have used it lately from PSjoe to Biloxi, and previously on 331 north to Montgomery without a problem. It even works with my nokia hands-free. I don't talk forever or while driving (unless I can help it), so 200 mins/month for 30 bucks was fine for me, and they dont expire for 6 months or so, so when it goes over 400 minutes I just stop buying the cards until it gets less than 100 minutes. Neat solution for a complex problem. Oh, and I forward my regular phone to the 'florida phone' when I'm going down there, and I don't have to worry about it getting ruined - I can just go get another one for 20 bucks.