cell phone coverage (Portland, Bangor, Brunswick: buying, zip code, cost of)

[Chimp]

What is a good cell phone company to go with? Who has the best coverage around Augusta and down to the coast (bath/freeport).

Thanks!!

[Chimp]

Also, who are the internet providers????

[Imissthefall]

Great question..I need to know too!! I have heard that Sprint does not carry well there and that is what we now have so anyone know for sure??

[mbear]

I have had great service with sprint! They will use whatever the available tower and not charge roaming fees which is fantastic imho. Using sprint this year was the first time I was able to use my cell service in Maine as I do everywhere else.

[juststoppinby]

For cell phone service I use U.S. Cellular and have for years. It works well for me. Internet access is available through many sources. There are a few local companies such as Mid-Maine or Megalink for dial up. Maybe they have more than dial up I am not sure. You can go through your cable company also. I go through cable for high speed internet. You can also go through Verizon for DSL. I am sure there are other companies that people will let you know about.

[tkx7]

time warner cable is popular

[Patch37]

I have used Cingular and an old Nokia 6161 with a car kit with external antenna for years in Maine from Greenville to Portland to Eastport. Generally I have enjoyed good coverage and service. However, I have a TDMA phone and must change soon. I'd appreciate any thoughts on which carrier-Cingular(GSM/TDMA) or US Cellular(CDMA) works best overall in Maine. Of course these two carriers each claim to provide the best service in Maine! Also any thoughts on a particular phone model that performs best. The ability to use an amplified external antenna( like Wilson's) helps in the areas up past Kokadjo. None of the newer Nokias have an antenna port. Thanks for any input.

[Acadianlion]

I have no recent experience using cell phones. The last time we had cell phones my wife was driving quite a bit, so we bought two phones from AT&T, which became Cingular shortly thereafter. It was a "cingularly" disappointing experience. As long as we were using our phones in or near the major population centers or along the Interstate, coverage was fair to good. But ten miles east of Ellsworth, coverage went from fair to none at all and was spotty at best. In Hancock and Sullivan where we own businesses, there was NO coverage whatsoever. I cancelled the service when I saw that in the last month that we used the silly things, the two calls that we actually completed cost $35 each.

Today I receive calls in the office from cell phone users, and I would say that about half the time the calls are dropped or are unintelligible. From the standpoint of an "end user"...one who receives cell phone calls...cell service outside of the major cities is only slightly better than it was three years ago, and for me, considering the cost of service, it is not worth it.

Internet service throughout Maine is fairly good it seems, especially since Verizon offers DSL pretty much everywhere. But we have used Verizon's DSL and found it quite a bit slower than cable modem, so now all three of our locations use Adelphia Cable's Internet service. Adelphia has recently been purchased by Time Warner.

While I am on the subject of Time Warner, we use them for cable tv service in two locations also. The only reason that we have cable tv service is because my wife likes to watch news from Bangor, which we cannot get with anything short of a huge outside antenna. I find the selection of programming on cable to be terrible. That's probably a statement of taste as much as anything else, but I am seriously thinking about buying only minimal cable service and reconnecting my Directv dish.

All in all, the communication services are here and except in outlying areas, high speed Internet is a reality.

[earlthepearl]

I have very good service with Unicel in Maine.
I have been thinking on changing to someone different, but can't find anyone that even compares.
No one else seems to offer free incoming except US cellular.
I have friends who use that and never have service in places I have 3-5 bars.
Guess i'll stay with Unicel...........

[mrs_davis]

I have Cingular and while there customer service leave something to be desired...there coverage is good. Maine is still pretty rural so no matter who you go with, your coverage may be spotty. T-Mobile and Cingular share towers and the GSM/TDMA technology is getting better every day. Unicel is not good (I had them in the past and had horrible coverage) and I was never pleased with Verizon. Sprint and Nextel are terrible. PCS is not really offered north of Portland and if you go to there website and enter in Topsham or Brunswick's zip code...you can't even sign up. I have worked for Cingular in the past and can tell you that their digital towers are being replaced by GSM towers so digital coverage will decline as time goes on. I would go with either T-Mobile or Cingular (T-Mobile is rated #1 for customer service and as I said before they share towers). The other good thing about GSM...if you ever go over seas, you can use your phone in a lot of different countries (depending on what phone you have).