[LWC]

I currently have Bluegrass Cellular but I KNOW that I am going to switch when my contract is up. Being a pastor of two churches, you never know when you will have to leave on a whim and travel to UK, UL, Jewish, Central Baptist, etc... hospital to be there for someone or a family. Also, being in the UMC denomination and agreeing to ordaination soon, that means my wife and I could move any year, through annual decisions made by a combination of denominational leaders, church/churches and my family.

With that said, I cannot be restricted to a small area and be charged for roaming. Also, I currently cannot get service inside of my home. I barely get service on the roof area of the parsonage.

I went with Bluegrass Cellular because everyone told me they offered the best deal in this area. (Russell County) and after reeading the horror stories of people on here having $150 and $200 phone bills, I see why. I currently pay $65 per month for unlimited talk and text. However, if I go East, North or South of Somerset, I am roaming. If I go to Lexington, Louisville, Owensboro, my home-county Rockcastle County, Richmond, visit in-laws in Montgomery County and Perry County, etc.... I would be roaming. Important to note, I will be traveling at least two days per week to Wilmore, KY (basically Lexington) two days per week for the next 3 years, so Bluegrass Cellular will certainly be dropped.

Basically, when my plan runs out in June, I want to get an unlimited talk, at least 400 minutes for texting, probably unlimited texting, and I might dabble with the internet.

My dad-in-law has a great family plan that my wife is still on, just because it is cheaper for him to have her on it than off, lol. So I would only need one line.

I am willing to go as high as $100 per month, if I would have to over that, I will probably just continue with Bluegrass Cellular.

I did have Boost Mobile and liked it, but absolutely NO signal in Russell County, so I had to get rid of it. I am very fond of pay as you go, but when they hit dead spots, you are REALLY in dead spots.

Summary:

For $100 per month or less, with no in-state roaming and unlimited talk as requirements. What is the best kind of phone and provider to get. I am willing to pay a little up front, to buy a good phone, etc...

[LWC]

http://bluegrasscellular.com/images/uploads/new_map.jpg

There is the coverage map, but it seemed as if I had trouble with signal in Bowling Green, maybe I am thinking wrongly.

[Hoot Gibson]

if you think that you might move out of the area soon, then I suggest looking at AT & T. I don't like signing service contracts, so I would look at a Go Phone prepaid account. If Verizon has good coverage for Russell County, then I would consider them as well but I don't have any first hand experience with Verizon.

Another alternative to improve your cell phone coverage situation is to consider two cheap cell phone accounts. My primary prepaid cell phone is a $150 Virgin Mobile Android Optimus V. My monthly bill is $45/mo. for unlimited voice, text, and data. I also kept my cheap AT & T Go Phone because it has much better coverage when I travel.

But for $45/mo., I have good coverage along most interstates, Paintsville, Morehead, Lexington, etc., and in every major metro area that I have ever been to. Virgin Mobile uses Sprint's network and their coverage map shows good coverage for the Russellville area but not for rural Russell County. Virgin Mobile also has unlimited data plans for $25/mo. with 300 voice minutes and $35/mo. with 1200 voice minutes.

One final suggestion is to take a look at what Google Voice offers. If you had two cell phones - one for your home area and another for travelling to Lexington, Bowling Green, etc., you can configure Google Voice to ring multiple cell phones with a single number. I believe that you can even program Google Voice to use Caller ID to determine which calls to ring which phones.

[Jarons]

We have AT&T, it is the only company that my wife and I have used. I have been very happy with their service at their stores. I am not sure what we pay per month (my wife takes care of all the bills), I know it is under $100 for two phones, no long distance, I think we have unlimited minutes also. We do not have internet or any other bells and whistles, just talk and text. We almost always have a strong signal, only places we have trouble getting signals is in about a 10 mi stretch in NEKY and our signal is hit and miss in Northern Michigan.

[Hoot Gibson]

We have AT&T, it is the only company that my wife and I have used. I have been very happy with their service at their stores. I am not sure what we pay per month (my wife takes care of all the bills), I know it is under $100 for two phones, no long distance, I think we have unlimited minutes also. We do not have internet or any other bells and whistles, just talk and text. We almost always have a strong signal, only places we have trouble getting signals is in about a 10 mi stretch in NEKY and our signal is hit and miss in Northern Michigan.

AT & T's coverage is great but there is a stretch of the Mountain Parkway where no cell phone that I have ever owned, including AT & T, had service. There are also coverage gaps along I-64 in southern WV and SW Virginia for AT & T. Mountainous areas with low population densities are still a problem for all carriers but AT & T provides the most complete coverage that I have found.

[LWC]

Thanks y'all.

[Ballers]

BC4L is gonna be coming in here raising all sorts of hell.. ya"ll better be careful.

[EastKyMx]

AT&T is by far the best carrier around, There is a 2 mile stretch in the area that I live that nothing but ATT gets signal in. Bluegrass Wireless, Appalachian Wireless, Verizon, nor T - Mobile gets any signal and T Mobile runs off of the same Towers :|. Cant explain it but it happens.

ATTs iPhone has got the best signal of any phone I have ever had and with 3g in certain areas, makes it easy to keep up with BGR on the go. LOL

[BCF4L]

BC4L is gonna be coming in here raising all sorts of hell.. ya"ll better be careful.

:biglmao:

Russell County is out of our area so I can offer no help at all on that one. But just to let you know, if you're paying $65 for unlimited talk and text for just a few counties, Appalachian Wireless offers unlimited talk & text Nationwide for $69.99, $20 cheaper than either AT&T or Verizon. No roaming or toll charges at all. But like I said, we don't have stores in Russell County or anywhere close. I'd say the closest store we have to that area is in Manchester (Clay County).

[BCF4L]

AT&T is by far the best carrier around, There is a 2 mile stretch in the area that I live that nothing but ATT gets signal in. Bluegrass Wireless, Appalachian Wireless, Verizon, nor T - Mobile gets any signal and T Mobile runs off of the same Towers :|. Cant explain it but it happens.

ATTs iPhone has got the best signal of any phone I have ever had and with 3g in certain areas, makes it easy to keep up with BGR on the go. LOL

May I ask where you live?

[TheRealVille]

:biglmao:

Russell County is out of our area so I can offer no help at all on that one. But just to let you know, if you're paying $65 for unlimited talk and text for just a few counties, Appalachian Wireless offers unlimited talk & text Nationwide for $69.99, $20 cheaper than either AT&T or Verizon. No roaming or toll charges at all. But like I said, we don't have stores in Russell County or anywhere close. I'd say the closest store we have to that area is in Manchester (Clay County).

ATT offers unlimited talk, text and data on their go phone for 50/mth.

[BCF4L]

ATT offers unlimited talk, text and data on their go phone for 50/mth.

I'm speaking strictly post paid for us. What I can't understand is how AT&T does that, yet they can't offer a cheaper rate on it all on post paid. Plus, every carriers goal is to increase post paid customers. Why they would do this is puzzling to me.

[LWC]

Post paid? Is that basically contracts?

[Ballers]

I have AT&T.. I pay 53 a month for unlimited talk, txt, data.. like TheRealVille was referring to. I also have an android... If you drop it.. better hope you have a protector of some sort around it because mine is cracked all to pieces.

[TheRealVille]

Post paid? Is that basically contracts?

Actually, there is no such thing as "post- paid". When you sign up for service on just about any carrier, you pay one month up front, so you are basically paying up front anyway.

[TheRealVille]

Post paid? Is that basically contracts?

Post paid is contracts, but like I stated in the other post, you pay a month in advance when you sign up on a contract plan, so prepaid (like ATT's go phone/50 bucks a month) is basically the same as post paid without the contracts.

[EastKyMx]

May I ask where you live?

Hazard area, About 7 Miles out of town in Viper. irateSho. Just a random stretch that doesnt get signal.

[TheRealVille]

I'm speaking strictly post paid for us. What I can't understand is how AT&T does that, yet they can't offer a cheaper rate on it all on post paid. Plus, every carriers goal is to increase post paid customers. Why they would do this is puzzling to me.

One other thing you aren't telling them, is that 50% of their calls must be made in the Appalachian wireless area. Also that ATT gives discounts to a bunch of different groups of people, 15%/month discount to State workers, plus others. I get an 18%/month discount myself.

[laker20]

LWC, Since you live in Russell Co and you're a huge Laker fan like myself, I have to agree with the others on AT&T. I think Bluegrass Cellular and AT&T are the only companies that have local contracts for Russell County. I've been with AT&T for several years and the coverage is as good as any for 95% of the areas across the US.

The one thing that may make a difference is who the people you talk to most use as carriers. This could effect your minutes during daytime weekdays.

Go Lakers! Beat Rock :redboxer:

[BCF4L]

One other thing you aren't telling them, is that 50% of their calls must be made in the Appalachian wireless area. Also that ATT gives discounts to a bunch of different groups of people, 15%/month discount to State workers, plus others. I get an 18%/month discount myself.

The discount is only worth noting if it makes your bill less than the competitor. If you have unlimited talk and text through AT&T, you pay $89.99 plus tax per month. 18% off of that still leaves you with a cell phone bill of almost $74.00 per month not including taxes, which is still $5.00 more expensive per month than Appalachian Wireless.

And the 50% rule is why I mentioned that our services would be no good to the OP who lives in Russell County. But what is commonly misconstrued about the 50% rule is that people think it is based on a month-to-month basis, which is false. They calculate a 3 month average to make sure you are within the 50%. But one thing I will say, my mother has AW and she lives in Beckley, WV and has lived there since December and has yet to receive any type of letter from AW. I'm not saying the rule isn't enforced, it's just not as big of a deal as it used to be, especially since us and Verizon are on such good terms and have much more affordable roaming rates with Verizon.

[PEOPLESCHAMP]

I thought the days of roaming charges where over? Ive never once worried about being out of town and worrying about being charged more. Nor have I seen anything like it on my bill.

Ive had both AW and ATT. Basically it comes down to this in our area. AW has better signal by far. I used to never worry about where I was to make or receive calls. In my experience my bill was always higher then ATT and the attitude I got from the workers in the stores made me want to throw my phone down there throat. Also the phone selection is pretty crappy. Seems like they are light years behind other competitors. Or at least when I was a customer they was.

ATT Signal sucks, I travel a lot and worry about breaking down in a non service area. My bill is cheaper. We have 3 phones for about the same price we had 2 at AW. Customer service is great. Nick, Paige, Christy, John, and Emanuel have always done everything I asked when I went in with a problem and made sure I left happy. You notice I actually know there names? Thats because of the good service I got.

[BCF4L]

I thought the days of roaming charges where over? Ive never once worried about being out of town and worrying about being charged more. Nor have I seen anything like it on my bill.

Ive had both AW and ATT. Basically it comes down to this in our area. AW has better signal by far. I used to never worry about where I was to make or receive calls. In my experience my bill was always higher then ATT and the attitude I got from the workers in the stores made me want to throw my phone down there throat. Also the phone selection is pretty crappy. Seems like they are light years behind other competitors. Or at least when I was a customer they was.

ATT Signal sucks, I travel a lot and worry about breaking down in a non service area. My bill is cheaper. We have 3 phones for about the same price we had 2 at AW. Customer service is great. Nick, Paige, Christy, John, and Emanuel have always done everything I asked when I went in with a problem and made sure I left happy. You notice I actually know there names? Thats because of the good service I got.

What store did you typically go into when you were with AW? I hear this a lot about our customer service and to be quite honest, it's alarming.

[RunItUpTheGut]

Ive literally have had every single carrier except for Boost and Virgin.

Appalachian and Bluegrass i threw up against a wall after 2 days and never paid for that garbage again.
AT&T, is by far the WORST big name out there. Dropped call after dropped call and not to mention a pure rip off.

Out of all the providers, the two i liked the most was sprint (80 for unlimited everything, except minutes which is 400) and Verizon (unlimited everything for about 90 a month)

I was real pleased with Sprint but changed my provider when my ole lady and i got together and got on the same phone line and she had Verizon.
I mut say Verizon has never let me down. By far the BEST i have had.

[TheRealVille]

The discount is only worth noting if it makes your bill less than the competitor. If you have unlimited talk and text through AT&T, you pay $89.99 plus tax per month. 18% off of that still leaves you with a cell phone bill of almost $74.00 per month not including taxes, which is still $5.00 more expensive per month than Appalachian Wireless.

And the 50% rule is why I mentioned that our services would be no good to the OP who lives in Russell County. But what is commonly misconstrued about the 50% rule is that people think it is based on a month-to-month basis, which is false. They calculate a 3 month average to make sure you are within the 50%. But one thing I will say, my mother has AW and she lives in Beckley, WV and has lived there since December and has yet to receive any type of letter from AW. I'm not saying the rule isn't enforced, it's just not as big of a deal as it used to be, especially since us and Verizon are on such good terms and have much more affordable roaming rates with Verizon.

One more note that you don't mention, is that in virtually every city in the US you can go to an ATT store and get help. How does that work out for the Appalachian customers? Not to mention the #1 phone in America, the iPhone isn't available with Appalachian. Appalachian has only crappy phones. Some friends, and my oldest daughter have Appalachian, and they say the signal isn't all that you advertise. I will gladly pay 5 bucks extra for the top notch customer service that ATT has. My daughter dropped her iphone 4 and busted the screen, and without us having insurance, the Pikeville store replaced it free of charge. Warranty didn't cover the drop either, they just opted to replace it themselves. At 5 bucks a month, it will take some time(80 months) to come up with that 400 bucks for her phone.

[PEOPLESCHAMP]

What store did you typically go into when you were with AW? I hear this a lot about our customer service and to be quite honest, it's alarming.

Hazard