<p>Hi, y’all. Our area (NC Triad) gets great reception for Verizon but (I’ve heard) not so much for A T & T. I was advised to ask what works best in Tuscaloosa. Are there “dead zones” for A T & T, as in some other cities? </p>
<p>We are luddites. Right now we do not have a cell phone (yes, last people on the planet to cave to the zeitgeist!). Obviously, though, we’ll need to get a cell phone / smart phone plan for DS (and us!) when he goes to Bama. We are clueless neophytes and need all the advice we can get. </p>
<p>What do y’all’s kids use? How is it working out for y’all?</p>
<p>Anyone have any experience with T-Mobile?</p>
<p>Are smart phones strictly necessary, or can a kid get by with a cell phone with texting capabilities?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance! (Please don’t make fun of our backwardness. :))</p>
<p>DS has a Sprint plan and it works well at UA. I would say texting is almost a necessity, it’s how the majority of DSs friends keep in touch. The rest of the stuff not so much.</p>
<p>I don’t know about every day use. But I know in the past during football games the only ones WITH service in Bryant Denny were those with Verizon. </p>
<p>Now that may be because most AT&T users were on iphones that take up a lot of network capacity. Now with the popularity of android phones and even the iphone coming to verizon that may even out the score a bit.</p>
<p>Yes…on Game Day it was hard to use Smart Phones. I had to just go off 3G and then the phone worked fine. There’s a choice in “Settings” that is easy to switch on and off.</p>
<p>The cell phone companies all got complaints, and maybe steps have been taken to alleviate the issue. I think things were corrected because Game Day Staff and too many people (including the coaches…lol)…were affected.</p>
<p>We have Verizon and D hasn’t had a problem yet (well except when there’s 100,000+ people on the network in Bryant Denny Stadium.)</p>
<p>We have a family plan and our calls to one another are free. We also have unlimited texting, but no data plan for my kids (or me for that matter at this point!) D does have an iPod touch though which works similarly to a smart phone as long as she’s on the campus internet network.</p>
<p>Smart phones are nice to have but they certainly aren’t necessary. One can get along just fine with a simple cell phone that just has voice and text capability. It really all depends on the user and what they’ll be using the phone for.</p>
<p>Look for a family plan that offers free calling between phones on the plan or phones on that network anytime of the day or week. I’d go with any of the major providers (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint) that offers the best pricing on what you need. Just be sure that whatever one you pick has reliable service where you live. It won’t do your son any good to have service in Tuscaloosa if he can’t reach you because you can’t get a decent signal in your house.</p>
<p>Vlines,
Verizon has had 3G in Tuscaloosa for some time now. I have no idea when they’re scheduled to get 4G but I have another year and a half before my next upgrade anyway so I ain’t too worried about it.</p>
<p>Verizon had 3G service in Tuscaloosa a of couple years before AT&T. When I first arrived on campus, AT&T had no 3G service in Tuscaloosa. Two years ago, people with AT&T phones were waiting 2 hours to receive text messages on gamedays while Verizon phones had no problems. This year was better after AT&T decided to park a portable cell phone tower behind Publix for the entire football season.</p>
<p>I have Verizon and get 3G everywhere on campus. After the tornado, all cell phone service was spotty, but I would get 3G service.</p>
<p>It is definitely important that you choose a carrier that gets a good signal in your house and where you normally visit. In Washington, Verizon has the best service of any carrier in rural areas; I get 3G in the middle of forests. Add in the fact that most of the people my family talks to have Verizon and the choice was easy for us.</p>
<p>Verizon’s the best in Alabama for sure. They have way more 3g and 4g coverage than anyone else. 4g isn’t in Tuscaloosa yet, but it should be by next year.</p>
<p>^ Hear hear, vlines!! I was talking to my colleagues about this topic yesterday, and I told them, “I bet that if I post this question at the Bama forum at College Confidential, I’ll get a ton of great responses.” And sure enough!</p>
<p>This year was better after AT&T decided to park a portable cell phone tower behind Publix for the entire football season.</p>
<p>I have a feeling that AT&T has done something more permanent to correct that issue for this football season.</p>
<p>I’m sure that AT&T was embarrassed to have it mentioned on nat’l TV during an September football game that the phone service wasn’t working well and the coaches all had to go without headphones for the first quarter. </p>
<p>AT&T has likely put in some kind of permanent fix by now…</p>
<p>This was from last September… </p>
<p>*AT&T announced it was planning upgrades to towers on campus in addition to a distributed antenna system near the stadium that would relieve the heavy demand on campus towers by pushing it to other towers around the city.</p>
<p>And while the carrier recently increased the traffic capacity its towers can handle in Tuscaloosa, Sperry said the launch of the distributed antenna system is on a timetable that only UA can determine.</p>
<p>“The only thing that’s going to solve the stadium problem is the distributed antenna system,” Sperry said. “We’ve done a site survey and design for that. We have our part of it budgeted and designed.</p>
<p>“But this project is managed by the university because they want all of the carriers involved.”*</p>
<p>gojack – Just told my colleagues about that T-Mobile deal, and they said dismissively, “Oh, they’re giving you a free Blackberry only because Blackberry’s on its way out.”</p>
<p>Accccckkkkk…but IPhones are so dang expensive!!!</p>
<p>I have T-Mobile, and I have not problem with them. They do tend to have bigger dead zone out in the podunk, but as long as you’re in a major city, you should have no trouble getting a signal.</p>
<p>I used to have AT&T and would have trouble getting signals inside the buildings such as the Ferguson Center. I don’t know whether it’s better now, but I hate AT&T. I hope they don’t gobble up TMo. I’d rather go with SouthernLinc than go back to the Death Star.</p>
:))</p>