Utility Services in Ely and NE Nevada (cell, cable, internet) (Las Vegas: house, buying)

[nickw252]

I am moving to Ely this summer and had some questions about services (cable, satellite, cell, internet) in Ely.

Currently I have Verizon and when I visited Ely I got good service in the city and a little outside the city. Overall I was satisfied because I didn't expect it to work in the mountains up 93 and on 80 going to SLC. My contract is up in less than a year and I want to get an iPhone - does AT&T have good service there? I looked at their site and it shows service on the map but it also says that the iPhone is not available in Ely. Is that because there is no data in the area? Does anyone know if it will be feasible to get an iPhone in Ely within the next year?

My next question has to do with TV - what are the cable and satellite providers there like? Is it cheaper to go cable or satellite? Also what sort of sports packages are available on the cable (I'm assuming the satellite service is the same nationwide).

Lastly, what broadband internet services are available and are the prices comparable to the rest of the nation?

[uli2000]

As far as utilities around Ely:

For cellular, right now the only carriers who operate networks in the area are Alltel and Verizon. Verizon just finished buying Alltel, and as part of the sale, has to divest the Alltel network in the area. Currently, we dont know who will be picking up the network, but from my understanding, AT&T is the most likely buyer as they have very little if any coverage in the area. Currently, AT&T and Tmobile phones roam off of Alltel who has a single channel set up for GSM in the area. As it stands now, the GSM network is almost unsuable. I had Tmobile when I moved up here 4 years ago and had very limited coverage and lots of dropped calls. From what I understand, the data is GPRS only, so a iphone as it stands right now would be painfully slow with data. If AT&T does infact buy this area, that should change, thought it would take months to fully transition from the Alltel CDMA network to a GSM/WCDMA (3g) network for AT&T.

For the most part, people get TV via satellite (Directtv or Dish Network). There is a cable company in town. Untill recently, it was called Precis communications. They recently had their assets liquidated and another cable company has picked them up, though I cant remember the name, another small town cable company. When it was Precis, the rates were very high and the service was bad. The only thing they had going for them was in some packages they carried the Las Vegas channels in addition to the Salt Lake City channels. Some SLC and LV channels are avalible with an antenna around town, though signal is very spotty. The tv district is also trying to get Reno channels broadcast OTA. Because there is no local transmitter (all tv is via translators), we are exempt from the digital tv swichover, but the tv district is hopping to go digital sometime later this year. I personally use Dish Network as I can get locals (CBS, NBC, and Fox, but not ABC right now) in high def. Direct TV's SLC high def doesnt reach this far south.

For broadband, around Ely and McGill, AT&T has DSL avalible, ranging from ~$20 for basic DSL to ~$35 for 6mb/sec down dsl. Outside town limits, satellite (slow, expensive) and cellular (~$50-70/month, speed depends on signal quality. Best case is about low DSL speeds) or dial up are about the only choices. Mt Wheeler Power (local power coop) resells dsl at higher rates that AT&T and also has some type of wireless broadband. My boss just recently swiched over to AT&T from Mt. Wheeler's wireless because of service issues (lots of times it woulndt work) and price (~$55/month).

[Jamerican17]

Now I'm moving to Ely in August and I see these posts are from 2009. Can you kindly update me as to the best TV/internet package in Ely? I've signed up for Dish for both at $99/month but I'm wondering if there is a cable company that offers both that might be better? What about the 3 propane companies? Does anyone have a recommendation as to which is best? I have AT&T for my cell and it seemed to work well when I was in Ely earlier this month. Thanks in advance for your help.

[uli2000]

Nope, still pretty much the same. AT&T for the most part works well in town, in fact, I'd say it's better in some places, heading north on 93 for instance you will have service all the way to Twin Falls, NV. Currently for DSL AT&T is at capacity, so you would be unable to get DSL. The cable company, which was called Centricom, recently got sold to a group out of Utah called Beehive Wireless. Beehive has been agressivly building out broadband in western Utah and eastern Nevada. For instance, in Baker, you can get 20mb fiber from them. They say they will have the cable system upgraded to do cable internet by the end of the year but that's the only thing Ive heard so far. As far as propane, well, avoid it if you can, but if you cant, call all of them and get the rates. We've had Suburban since we've moved here, and when Thomas came to town, we consitered swiching as it was much cheaper. We called Suburban and told them what Thomas was going to charge us and they beat that price. Im not sure who the 3rd company is unfortunatly, I think they come down out of Elko.

[Jamerican17]

Thanks for your response. So who do you have for internet/TV? I went w/Dish. Do you know if they are any good?

My cell is w/AT&T so I should be ok there. I called Suburban and they told me $2.70/gallon. Western States is $2.03/gallon so that's who I went with. House is set for propane so I don't have a choice. Thanks so much. How long have you been there? Any job leads? Looking for something part time. Nothing stressful. Thanks.

[uli2000]

Dish is the better of the two satellite providers IMO. We get our tv from Salt Lake (we are in the SLC DMA) which covers one of the largest geographical areas in the country ( all of Ut and parts of Id Wy Nv and AZ). Direct tv only has locals in hd pretty much along the Wasatch front only. I think it goes as far west to Wendover but signal is marginal there. Dish puts the SLC channels on a nationwide spot beam so you get hd locals anywhere. I had dish for years but got rid of satellite altogether last year. I have a roku box and a chromecast and get all the tv I need from those.

Don't know of any job leads ATM. Robinson mine is always hiring though I think mostly for full time positions.

[Jamerican17]

Thanks for that info. I've been told that Direct TV has better reception and picture and it is what I have here in IL. When I didn't hear from you I signed up w/Direct out there. I have no idea what SLC DMA means or Wasatch front is...or what a nationwide spot beam...sorry. I'm not much for all the intricacies about the various systems. I just watch TV! I hope I'll be ok with Direct -- it was also cheaper...two more weeks and I'll be there. Having a very hard time finding a good healthcare system with docs in Ely or Elko. What do people do there???

[uli2000]

Well basically it means you wont get local channels in HD. If that's important to you, you can put up an antenna as there are a couple of channels you can get in HD over the air in Ely (CBS and NBC from Salt Lake, ABC from Reno, and CBS from Las Vegas).

For healthcare, thats a bit of a tricky question for me. I am a healthcare provider in town, working for the local hospital. If you need basic medical care, the services here will be fine. If you require specialized care, the majority of people go to Salt Lake City, and I tend to reffer people to the University of Utah. U of U has one of the best systems in the Western US if not the whole country. My wife sees a couple of specialist there. While the hospital and clinic are always trying to attract visting specialists, outside of a few areas there is no coverage. We always have orthopedic coverage with 4 different ortho surgeons that spend a week here each. There are visiting specialists in endocrinology, ENT, urology, podiatry, and cardiology that come at various times. You can find a schedule in the paper published the last week before a new month.