<p>anyone have any thoughts on best cell phone carrier in the area? dont want student to end with a cell phone that does not work well on and around campus.</p>
<p>I've never had any problems with Verizon.</p>
<p>I have had verizon for the past two years and have traveled all over the state of virginia include to charlottesville. There are very few spots that verizon doesn't pick up.</p>
<p>There</a> are plenty of towers here. The only problems I've had with Cingular have been while hiking in certain more remote parts of Central VA and while driving south on Route 29 (about 30 minutes south of Charlottesville).</p>
<p>Yeah Cingular sucks sometimes here.</p>
<p>cingular may be the choice, so not that concerned if there is no reception hiking 30 miles south of UVA. is cingular good for daily service in and around campus. that is really my main concern. thanks very much</p>
<p>We didn't have any trouble with t-mobile on our recent visit...Anyone have any problems with it in the dorms or other buildings?</p>
<p>in a related issue, does the wireless internet work in the freshman dorms? How is computer support on campus?</p>
<p>My reception isn't great inside the tunnel under the Rotunda steps, but that's probably an issue with the think, concrete walls. The students will have to chime in about reception in the residence halls.</p>
<p>We're wireless indoors and outdoors here. I think most students use the direct lines in the halls, since wireless will always be a tad slower than the direct line. </p>
<p>You can get a UVA signal down on The Corner, too. It's been reliable for my use. Again, the students will probably be able to give more details.</p>
<p>First year dorms do not have wireless internet. But, if you want to install a router, you can do so by registering one with ITC. Common rooms, lounges, classrooms, laundry rooms, bathrooms, lobbies, and pretty much every else seem to have wireless internet. The coverage is pretty good.</p>
<p>Can anyone from Northern VA tell me a good service that works well at both UVa and up here? =)</p>
<p>I'll second my suggestion of Verizon.</p>
<p>Okay, I've worked with this issue for some time. My son is going into his fourth year, and I've had to major in cell phone technology to figure this out. He just switched to Sprint, and is getting great service (now). Sprint and Alltel run most of the local service. The Alltel tower is actually closest to the grounds. </p>
<p>Verizon offers service in C-ville through an analog carrier,with whom they contract. If you ask Verizon, they'll tell you they don't offer service in C-ville. In fact, there's no Verizon store there, and the area does not show up on a Verizon coverage map. For repairs, you would have to take a Verizon phone to Richmond or Northern Virginia. </p>
<p>Don't get T-mobile. We've struggled for two years with their service, and it's just been a pain. You can't talk inside a building. Most phone calls are dropped, etc. You can't believe the improvement in quality of life a better-connected cell phone can provide--for both ends of the connection.</p>
<p>I'll offer a contrasting t-mobile opinion. T-mobile is the only service that gets mildly decent coverage coverage in my home in nortern virginia. (not too far north of rt.7, where you get perfect reception with anything... go figure). So I used t-mobile for that reason even before I came to UVA.</p>
<p>At UVA service is almost perfect. I get excellent signal strength in dorms and it takes some searching to find a place without reception (random example: basement of physics building).</p>
<p>D will be a second year. She used Verizon and got by fairly well. Reception at Alderman area was very decent. We were also informed of the "we contract with..." carrier story, but didn't have too many problems. Though reception was consistantly acceptable, it is tough to have any kind of phone problems. With no store nearby, we ended up trying to wait problems out until the next trip home. Kind of a hassle...</p>
<p>This question may have an obvious answer to those of you who are IT saavy, but as I'm not, here goes: if we have an Alltel wireless setup OOS, and as redbeard says, Alltel's towers are near the campus, will d be able to use our existing Alltel service and current e-mail address or does she have to use the uva service and address for all purposes? She's wondering if she'll be able to read her outlook e-mail thru alltel while in charlottesville.</p>
<p>Redbeard:</p>
<p>I don't know who told you that Verizon service in C'ville is through an "Analog" carrier, but that is not true. My daughter has had excellent service at UVA using a Verizon phone that is "all digital".</p>
<p>The only issue with using Verizon is that some of the advanced services (e.g., sending pictures, VCast, Video, etc.) do not work on Verizon's extended network (uses other providers towers). However, the basics phone and text messaging work great.</p>
<p>We are from Northern Virginia, and having our daughter's phone on our Family Share plan ($9.99 for the additional line) was our most cost effective option.</p>
<p>Cosmo: If Alltell works like all the other phone companies, you don't have to do a thing. Just take the phone and use it. No change of number. In fact, there is no 'UVA service' for cell phones. There is a dorm phone, but it is rapidly becoming an unused appliance.</p>
<p>Okay, all you verizonauts, just cool yer jets! I agree that lots of people use this giant network at UVa with great success. I guess it's a digital signal and we got that confused with our own phones--Nextel (yet another cell phone company that is somewhere in the middle). </p>
<p>You should know, however, that Verizon does not offer a 434 area code--UVa's area. Now this makes much less of a difference now than it did five years ago, so I guess you don't need to bother. I was this close to getting a Verizon phone until my DW convinced me otherwise.</p>
<p>As for the other t-mobile user who got great service, well, who knew? My S lived in Brown for 2 years. Maybe that old masonry edifice did not like t-mobile's modulation. It does show one thing, however. No matter what system you have, there's only one place that the phone really, truly has to work: your dorm room. I gotta say, the last 2 1/2 year struggle with t-mobile has been misery. It's a nice company, and maybe we would do better with a different handset. Still, our Sprint experience has been great right out of the block.</p>
<p>I guess the lesson is this: avoid a long-term contract (if possible). You never know what's going to work and what won't--sometimes it's just a matter of a few feet.</p>
<p>Whoops, Cosmo, I noticed you asked a different question. You want to know if your d can continue to use her Alltel e-mail account. The answer is yes and no. The account will still be active, and she will probably be able to read any e-mail sent there. But, for many reasons, she's going to want to begin using her <a href="mailto:xxx20@virginia.edu">xxx20@virginia.edu</a> account. That's where official e-mail will be sent, and that's, cuturally what everyone switches to. </p>
<p>The good news is you can read your dot-virginia e-mail on any internet portal. You don't need an e-mail program. It's a process called web-mail. Any browser will do, as well as most phone browsers.</p>
<p>since there have been no commnets that cigular is bad, then I will go with that. its alreay our family plan and i need it for work. If cingular is the worst choice, let me know.</p>