My wife and I are thinking of changing providers and we do vacation in eagle river and boulder junction. Wondering which providers get reception or the best reception in the above area. In particular I am wonderiong about Verizon and U.S. Cellular. Thanks in advance for any information.
Cell Service In Vilas County
- Thread starter dragon_07
- Start date
600-700fusion
New member
go with us cellular works up in hurley with no problem you will have some dead spots way out the best service i had.
billandsandie
New member
Verizon #1
X2 Really the only choice in Vilas. Still some bad spots eastern Vilas with Verizon. I wish it was better but the way it is.
I have U.S. Cellular and always get the best reception out of anyone else I know when in the Northwoods. Vilas, Oneida, Iron Counties, ect. This also includes the U.P. Stayed at Krupps a couple of years ago and I could get decent reception when my Father in law couldn't get any. I don't know what carrier he has, though.
F
fusion
Guest
At&t
Used to have dead spots here and there, but this year pretty much everywhere I've stopped and called, AT&T cellular has worked just fine. Usually get at least 2-3 bars even in the remote areas and haven't had any dropped calls.
Used to have dead spots here and there, but this year pretty much everywhere I've stopped and called, AT&T cellular has worked just fine. Usually get at least 2-3 bars even in the remote areas and haven't had any dropped calls.
Thanks for all the information so far. We are in a crappy situation, our area can not get Verizon unless we set up a post office box in a city that can. We used to have Alltel and now they sold out to Element mobile which sucks. Its going on two months now and they still do not have phones working correctly. I have no problem jumping ship, I just want to make sure that we go to a provider that is better.
I have US cellular the gold razor 2 works great in Eagle River, Mercer, Hurley, Minocqua, and Boulder.
All The smart phones, like I phone so so 75% working, same with LG.
Then Verizon, AT&T, then Sprint and Nextel 50/50 they suck I have a Company phone.
My friends have all networks, this is what I have found.
Also if you have cheap phones poor signal, the old razers and new razer like and high end phones work great. Motorola phones work the best in Northern WI.
All The smart phones, like I phone so so 75% working, same with LG.
Then Verizon, AT&T, then Sprint and Nextel 50/50 they suck I have a Company phone.
My friends have all networks, this is what I have found.
Also if you have cheap phones poor signal, the old razers and new razer like and high end phones work great. Motorola phones work the best in Northern WI.
caged_beagle
Member
Verizon is Alltel
First of all, Alltel WAS bought out by Verizon. The Element mobile is probably a independent store like a radio shack that has mobile phones. We are pretty rural and have Verizon which works very well in all of Vilas county and the UP as well as lower Wisc and Illinois and are not required to have a "PO Box in a city that can" whatever that means. I would suggest searching for your nearest Verizon store and bypass the independent. Any Verizon store can help you. It doesn't make sense for a company to refuse you service because of your mailing address. Good Luck!
______________________
First of all, Alltel WAS bought out by Verizon. The Element mobile is probably a independent store like a radio shack that has mobile phones. We are pretty rural and have Verizon which works very well in all of Vilas county and the UP as well as lower Wisc and Illinois and are not required to have a "PO Box in a city that can" whatever that means. I would suggest searching for your nearest Verizon store and bypass the independent. Any Verizon store can help you. It doesn't make sense for a company to refuse you service because of your mailing address. Good Luck!
______________________
F
fusion
Guest
Harlybob - maybe you should get a new phone instead of that 5+ yr. old technology you are using?
When I got my new phone at X-mas the sales guy said they have made improvements to the chips that have allowed for better tower pickup and this effects signal strength. As is the case when anyone strongly presents an opinion, I was skeptical. Clearly this new phone is doing something the other one wasn't, because I've made calls everywhere I've stopped and never had a problem. Only thing I'm not sure of is Conover, haven't stopped there this year at Bauers Dam so haven't made a call. Used to have relatively zero signal from that local.
Verizon is expensive compared to AT&T so be careful.
US Cellular and Verizon are the same Network
I use AT&T in the Eagle River area when there and my parents live there and only use their cell phones. Just like every other rural area, it is really a crap shoot if you happen to be close to a tower when you are placing the call. The end of the driveway can be full bars when in the house is only one...
Just a side note but pretty critical to the conversation, US Cellular and Verizon use the same towers/network. So if you have 2 phones next to each other, one from US Cellular and one from Verizon, it is the actual phone that is varying the reception.
Good luck!
I use AT&T in the Eagle River area when there and my parents live there and only use their cell phones. Just like every other rural area, it is really a crap shoot if you happen to be close to a tower when you are placing the call. The end of the driveway can be full bars when in the house is only one...
Just a side note but pretty critical to the conversation, US Cellular and Verizon use the same towers/network. So if you have 2 phones next to each other, one from US Cellular and one from Verizon, it is the actual phone that is varying the reception.
Good luck!
Caged Beagle, all of Alltel was NOT purchased by Verizon. I live in Waushara county and we are one of the counties where Alltel refused to sell the towers to Verizon and formed their own company called Element. The FCC has stepped in and that is why Verizon can not take customers from the affected counties. In short the customers in these counties are screwed because the towers were not sold. The only providers in our area are Element and US Cellular. We are in the process of moving to US Cellular and I hope we have the same results as the feedback we are receiving, thanks for the info.
caged_beagle
Member
WEIRD!!!! Thanks for the clarification. It all sounded pretty sketchy to me but with that explanation now it just sounds unfortunate. And if what blutooth says is correct, US Cell should work out well for you. Good Luck!
_____________________
