Who is using Sprint (I have unlimited) and....

[toilfreelife]

.....what kind of reception or signal do you get In Arizona in small to medium cities (and maybe even in between)? 


I will be moving to Flagstaff in August, as a base, have Sprint, and definitely need it to work around certain cities of Arizona:  Quartzsite, Erenburg, Yuma, Parker, Havasu City, Prescott, Flagstaff.  (Joining the tribe for good.)

I need to find out soon so, if necessary, I can change to Verizon here in Denver, with a person I presently share an account with on Sprint, and will only get the two line discount (with Verizon) if we go into the office together (for ID and technical reasons).  In other words, I can't wait to show up in Flagstaff and find out the answer. 

Also, the third option if Sprint sucks there, I've heard of cheapo companies that use the Verizon towers that might be good enough for me there. 

The best, Rich

 

[mpruet]

I have Sprint with unlimited data.  When I was at the RTR in Quartzsite, I had very good performance.  While Sprint doesn't have the coverage that Verizon does, where it does have coverage, it tends to perform much better than Verizon.  I guess that's because of all of the contention that Verizon has.

I thought about switching 100% to Verizon, but decided to keep Sprint and use a Verizon hotspot as a backup.

 

[mpruet]

Check out Technomedia's coverage app.  You can get is on a iPhone or 'droid.  Sprint is fine in the locations that you mentioned.

 

[tripper]

In Flagstaff Sprint worked, at A1 mountain road ( free camping a few miles west of Flagstaff) it barely worked. Sprint is pretty good inside most cities, just outside of the cities it works near the interstates, other wise it totally sucks.

 

[jimindenver]

I have all four carriers. Sprint works in places people simply can not allow them credit for but I would never forsake Verizon for them. It is rare that I get Sprint and not Verizon but it does happen. It is more likely that in some areas Sprint is faster or at least less congested. It is important that you have a Sprint account that supports roaming to even stand a chance.

Sprint as a alternative to Verizon is fine if you do not pay much. Otherwise get AT&T. Come to think of it, after a year and a half out here I can tell you that AT&T has been better to have than Verizon.

 

[skeletor]

Cell reception in rural Arizona is lacking for any carriers, but Verizon has the best overall network in rural AZ. VZ is definitely the best in Flagstaff. I can't speak for the other areas you mentioned, but can almost guarantee this is the case for them as well. Just did a quick check on all those areas and VZ seems to be the best.

Resellers aren't a bad option seeing how towers are hardly ever congested in rural AZ.

 

[jimindenver]

Honestly spending a lot of time in Arizona I still think AT&T is better. Only at the Grand Canyon did I have a Verizon signal but not a AT&T. I had the opposite above Flagstaff on 180 while camping and at A1 mountain road Verizon was terribly congested. Places like Quartzsite Verizon is able to handle the traffic outside of the big tent time and then it will become unusable.

Footprint wise they are nearly equal anymore in my experience with AT&T having newer gear and fewer users. Any of the carriers expanding into new territories end up with the advantage of having the best gear. Often Sprint and T-Mobile are faster than the bigger two.

 

[Headache]

In Flagstaff Sprint worked, at A1 mountain road ( free camping a few miles west of Flagstaff) it barely worked. Sprint is pretty good inside most cities, just outside of the cities it works near the interstates, other wise it totally sucks.

My Sprint WiFi worked great at A1 Mountain RD but I don't have a phone.  Wasn't sure if that would make a difference or not.  There were a lot of rural areas that were iffy that if I had an antenna for my booster I probably wouldn't have had connectivity hiccups.