How is AT&T coverage in WI northwoods? Voice and Data.

[srt20]

We have Verizon now and am pretty happy with coverage. Thinking about maybe switching to AT&T. I have heard ATT is a lot better than they used to be, but having a hard time finding people that actually have used it up north.

We spend most of our time in northern Langlade county, but do travel around a bit, mainly that northeast area of WI. Little bit in the UP and down to Hurley.

I'm not interested in any other providers, if ATT doesn't cut it, I am staying with Verizon.


Any ideas how good ATT is traveling the 3 main interstates out west and even if they have service in the larger cities out west (Laramie, Billings ect.) would be a big help as well.

Thanks.

 

[Eagle River Mike]

AT&T is horrible in the eagle river area. Mostly 2G coverage or 4G with only one or two bars. The locals all have verizon and get good coverage.

 

[dcsnomo]

There are others on this site who are more knowledgeable about cell phones, but there is something you need to understand about AT&T. AT&T uses a network called GSM, which is the preferred network throughout the world, except in the US. GSM is a very good network, but the problem is that it can only roam to another GSM network. In the US there is only one more GSM network and that is T-Mobile. The other carriers use CDMA networks. So, if you look at Door County, for example, Verizon has no network, but their phones work because they can roam to US Cellular or Cellcom, or Sprint, all of whom have networks here, therefore Verizon works in Door County. Neither AT&T or T-Mobile have a network here, so neither phones work...they can't.

As much as GSM networks provide wonderful quality, if I was worried about rural coverage like the geographies you are talking about the last carrier I would choose would be a GSM carrier. In general I would not expect good coverage from AT&T in the areas you mentioned, it's just not something they would spend the money on.

It's just the nature of the beast for a CDMA carrier to work better in remote areas because of roaming. Roaming allows carriers to provide coverage without paying for infrastructure.

 

[fusion]

I have AT&T with I phone 5 and Galaxy tablet and both work well except for a few areas around Conover and Forest County on Kentuck lake its spotty. Overall it's been getting better over the years. I noticed an improvement when I went to the I phone a few months back.

 

[tomx]

Great info dcsnomo. As a user of ATT I can say service in Door Co. is awful and very frustrating. I got ATT many years ago specifically for good coverage in the Egg Harbor area (my folks owned what is now the Parador). As for the Northwoods it is decent near most larger towns and along the interstates but hit or miss the further out you get.

 

[dcsnomo]

Great info dcsnomo. As a user of ATT I can say service in Door Co. is awful and very frustrating. I got ATT many years ago specifically for good coverage in the Egg Harbor area (my folks owned what is now the Parador). As for the Northwoods it is decent near most larger towns and along the interstates but hit or miss the further out you get.

Teri and Roy are your parents?

 

[5_spot]

I spend most of my time up north in the Hurley area and have AT&T. Most of those I go up with have either AT&T or Verizon. We've found it to be close to 50/50 for calls. We could be 10' apart and one carrier will have a signal, one won't. Move 20' and it will be vise versa. I had a separate Sprint phone a few years ago, and it was useless north of Hazelhurst.
We've never really compared data connections. I know in Hurley, I get 3G+, which is HSPD+ (some call it 4g). I don't get 4g LTE too far north of Wausau, except I think I picked it up last time thru Minocqua. my phone was stock at that point so I can't confirm. Which brings up another point. All stock phones will show better than their getting. For example, Most phones will show 4g, even if you're getting a 3g connection. The carriers do that on purpose to back up their coverage claims. On any iPhones or Androids I've had, I usually jailbreak or Root them to unleash features they are capable of. My current Note 3 when stock would should either EDGE (2g), 4G or LTE. With tweaking, it now shows EDGE, H (3g), H+ (4g) or LTE. Doesn't seem like a huge difference, but unless I'm getting H+ or better, I won't bother trying to load anything image heavy or MMS pics. Another difference with GSM and CDMA, is with GSM, all phones can do Voice & Data simultaneously. I use this all the time. Emails back and forth while talking, MMS pics while talking, Google something while talking, looking at maps while talking, etc, etc. Once you've had this, it would be hard to live without. The only Verizon phones that can do this are the new iPhone 6 and 6+, as long as VoLTE has been lit up in the area.

 

[dcsnomo]

I spend most of my time up north in the Hurley area and have AT&T. Most of those I go up with have either AT&T or Verizon. We've found it to be close to 50/50 for calls. We could be 10' apart and one carrier will have a signal, one won't. Move 20' and it will be vise versa. I had a separate Sprint phone a few years ago, and it was useless north of Hazelhurst.
We've never really compared data connections. I know in Hurley, I get 3G+, which is HSPD+ (some call it 4g). I don't get 4g LTE too far north of Wausau, except I think I picked it up last time thru Minocqua. my phone was stock at that point so I can't confirm. Which brings up another point. All stock phones will show better than their getting. For example, Most phones will show 4g, even if you're getting a 3g connection. The carriers do that on purpose to back up their coverage claims. On any iPhones or Androids I've had, I usually jailbreak or Root them to unleash features they are capable of. My current Note 3 when stock would should either EDGE (2g), 4G or LTE. With tweaking, it now shows EDGE, H (3g), H+ (4g) or LTE. Doesn't seem like a huge difference, but unless I'm getting H+ or better, I won't bother trying to load anything image heavy or MMS pics. Another difference with GSM and CDMA, is with GSM, all phones can do Voice & Data simultaneously. I use this all the time. Emails back and forth while talking, MMS pics while talking, Google something while talking, looking at maps while talking, etc, etc. Once you've had this, it would be hard to live without. The only Verizon phones that can do this are the new iPhone 6 and 6+, as long as VoLTE has been lit up in the area.

When I'm in Hurley the last thing I am concerned about is cell coverage!

 

[snocrazy]

North WI and UP..... A booster is worth looking in to.
I use one from Wilson Electronics in the car. Hard to find a place I don't get a good signal.
I have a zboost booster in the house. Antenna on the roof. I get weak signal in house with out it. With the booster it is perfect all of the time.
I work from home and sit on a lot of conference calls. Had to make sure I had a dependable signal.

 

[LoveMyDobe]

My att works great in Iron River WI and in the forest. Never have a problem with it while traveling. I have a att tower on my road!

 

[srt20]

Thanks for all the replies.
It looks like tomorrow Verizon will be starting a promo that is supposed to more or less be their answer to AT&T double data promo. So we'll see how good it actually is and if it gets darn close or beats AT&T promo, I will probably just stick with Verizon.

On a side note, Verizon is supposed to be throttling the old unlimited plans starting today if, you use more than 4.7gb data per month, your contract has been fulfilled, and you are on a "congested" tower.

I meet 2 of the three criteria for sure, though I don't know if I'm on a busy tower. Probably not. Though the Internet talk seems to think they will throttle people if they are on a busy tower or not. Who is to decide what a "congested tower" actually is.
Anyway, I am not being throttled yet. I got 45mbps down and 17mbps up on a speedtest an hour ago.

 

[tomx]

Teri and Roy are your parents?

No Ruth and Larry. They sold to Teri and Roy. Next time you're down there look at the plaque by the entrance.

 

[eagle1]

On a side note, Verizon is supposed to be throttling the old unlimited plans starting today if, you use more than 4.7gb data per month, your contract has been fulfilled, and you are on a "congested" tower.

H a,ha. Been waiting for them come after me. Love my unlimited data, but could use new phone too. Let's use know what u find out.

 

[srt20]

H a,ha. Been waiting for them come after me. Love my unlimited data, but could use new phone too. Let's use know what u find out.

They drop the Network Optimization (throttling). And also more or less matched ATT double data deal.
So after doing the numbers, it's cheaper for us, over the course of 24 months to go with the 30gb plan, than to keep our unlimited. We both need new phones, and don't normally hit 30gb a month.
Verizon is also cheaper for our situation over ATT, over the course of 24 months by $10.
And having VZW now I know the coverage, so we are going to stick with VZW.

Both ATT and Verizon plan promos end Oct 31.

 

[coldbear]

I was in an IGA Newberry Fri. and my VZW Network failed. That surprised me , first time I had a failure with VZ in the U.P. But really a reliable network for the most part.

 

[renten]

We had Verizon and it worked great at our cottage in northern WI. Now because of a phone package that our kids wanted,we switched to US cellular. I have used it for calling, text and the Polaris trail app and have had no problems even venturing into the UP. I don't think the coverage is as strong as Verizon,(which I feel is the best),but has worked so far.

 

[Dave_B]

I have Verizon and ATT. In the Western UP, the ATT has far better cell coverage. The Verizon will work but, there are far more dead spots than with the ATT service.
If you are near any towns, either will be fine. If you are going to be in a remote area, my experience is better with ATT.