twin cities--sprint or qwest?

Will be temporarily moving to Minnap, and was wondering what coverage
is like.

Can get 1200 at min with 3 phones with qwest for $59 a month.
(a loyalty plan a friend can get me).

What is coverage for Sprint there? And Qwest?

Thanks
Cheryl

---

› See More: twin cities--sprint or qwest?

In article
<[email protected]>,
"cheryl" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Will be temporarily moving to Minnap, and was wondering what coverage
> is like.
>
> Can get 1200 at min with 3 phones with qwest for $59 a month.
> (a loyalty plan a friend can get me).
>
> What is coverage for Sprint there? And Qwest?
>
> Thanks
> Cheryl


I thought Qwest was now using Sprint's network, which would make
coverage identical.

On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 00:38:55 -0500 (EST), "cheryl"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Will be temporarily moving to Minnap, and was wondering what coverage
>is like.
>
>Can get 1200 at min with 3 phones with qwest for $59 a month.
>(a loyalty plan a friend can get me).
>
>What is coverage for Sprint there? And Qwest?
>
>Thanks
>Cheryl


QWest is not generally considered a good service here. My parents
used them and had nothing but billing complaints and holes in coverage
(worked great downtown Minneapolis though). They switched to a
Verizon corporate plan. Sprint offers a 1000 minute plan (local plan)
for somewhere around $50 ... it will cost another $40 to add two more
phones to it.

So, Sprint is probably a better choice in my opinion. Verizon would
be a good second choice if you need the ability to roam analog, if you
don't need that ability, then I would recommend T-Mobile as your first
choice as the Twin Cities and surrounding area is covered very well by
them, the voice quality on their phones is fantastic and their plans
are cheap.

Tom Veldhouse

On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 13:37:54 GMT, "Robert M." <[email protected]>
wrote:

>In article
><[email protected]>,
> "cheryl" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Will be temporarily moving to Minnap, and was wondering what coverage
>> is like.
>>
>> Can get 1200 at min with 3 phones with qwest for $59 a month.
>> (a loyalty plan a friend can get me).
>>
>> What is coverage for Sprint there? And Qwest?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Cheryl
>
>
>I thought Qwest was now using Sprint's network, which would make
>coverage identical.

Qwest only uses Sprint's network in areas where they don't have native
coverage. It is not a systemwide thing ... and I believe it has not
yet taken effect. There are definitely different areas of coverage
between QWest and Sprint PCS in the Twin Cities.

Tom Veldhouse

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
<snipped>
> Qwest only uses Sprint's network in areas where they don't have native
> coverage. It is not a systemwide thing ... and I believe it has not
> yet taken effect. There are definitely different areas of coverage
> between QWest and Sprint PCS in the Twin Cities.
>
> Tom Veldhouse

It hasn't taken effect yet. The most recent statement from Qwest was dated
8-11-03. From Sprint's site, the most recent info posted is dated 10-23-03.

http://www3.sprint.com/PR/CDA/PR_CDA...111859,00.html

Bob

cheryl wrote:

> Will be temporarily moving to Minnap, and was wondering what coverage
> is like.
>
> Can get 1200 at min with 3 phones with qwest for $59 a month.
> (a loyalty plan a friend can get me).
>
> What is coverage for Sprint there? And Qwest?

I'm not sure what Sprint's coverage is there since I haven't been there
yet, but COnsidering that Sprint is buying Qwest's wireless operations,
I can tell you the coverage is probably about the same for both.


--
E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.

On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 11:30:38 -0500, Isaiah Beard
<[email protected]> wrote:

>cheryl wrote:
>
>> Will be temporarily moving to Minnap, and was wondering what coverage
>> is like.
>>
>> Can get 1200 at min with 3 phones with qwest for $59 a month.
>> (a loyalty plan a friend can get me).
>>
>> What is coverage for Sprint there? And Qwest?
>
>I'm not sure what Sprint's coverage is there since I haven't been there
>yet, but COnsidering that Sprint is buying Qwest's wireless operations,
>I can tell you the coverage is probably about the same for both.

QWest has an entire area south west of the Twin Cities metro that
Sprint does not cover. There are other pockets as well.


Tom Veldhouse

On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 11:12:40 -0600, Thomas T. Veldhouse
<[email protected]> wrote:

>QWest has an entire area south west of the Twin Cities metro that
>Sprint does not cover. There are other pockets as well.
>
Followup -- Sprint does not cover it natively ... I believe you can
roam for free on that system.



Tom Veldhouse

In article
<[email protected]>,
"cheryl" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Will be temporarily moving to Minnap, and was wondering what coverage
> is like.
>
> Can get 1200 at min with 3 phones with qwest for $59 a month.
> (a loyalty plan a friend can get me).
>
> What is coverage for Sprint there? And Qwest?
>
> Thanks
> Cheryl
>

Cheryl. If you stay within the metro, (694/494 loop) coverage is great
with Sprint. Go to the north east to far and you'll be off the network.
Where in the Metro will you be?

On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 12:33:00 -0600, Calvin <[email protected]>
wrote:

>In article
><[email protected]>,
> "cheryl" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Will be temporarily moving to Minnap, and was wondering what coverage
>> is like.
>>
>> Can get 1200 at min with 3 phones with qwest for $59 a month.
>> (a loyalty plan a friend can get me).
>>
>> What is coverage for Sprint there? And Qwest?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Cheryl
>>
>
>Cheryl. If you stay within the metro, (694/494 loop) coverage is great
>with Sprint. Go to the north east to far and you'll be off the network.
>Where in the Metro will you be?

??? Where in the North East are you referring? I live in Coon Rapids
(North side) and I often drive the entire North East side to New
Richmond, WI and I have excellent coverage until I am near Somerset in
Wisconsin ... then it gets spotty from Somerset to New Richmond. With
F&CA I roam freely on Verizon now anyway. As far as the rest of the
state goes, I get full Sprint coverage (and good coverage) all the way
to Duluth. I roam on Verizon in the Arrowhead. Sprint has much
better coverage [than Verizon] along the highways north of Leech Lake
and near Red Lake ... and west all the way to Fargo.

Tom Veldhouse

In article <[email protected]>,
Thomas T. Veldhouse <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 12:33:00 -0600, Calvin <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >In article
> ><[email protected]>,
> > "cheryl" <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >> Will be temporarily moving to Minnap, and was wondering what coverage
> >> is like.
> >>
> >> Can get 1200 at min with 3 phones with qwest for $59 a month.
> >> (a loyalty plan a friend can get me).
> >>
> >> What is coverage for Sprint there? And Qwest?
> >>
> >> Thanks
> >> Cheryl
> >>
> >
> >Cheryl. If you stay within the metro, (694/494 loop) coverage is great
> >with Sprint. Go to the north east to far and you'll be off the network.
> >Where in the Metro will you be?
>
> ??? Where in the North East are you referring? I live in Coon Rapids
> (North side) and I often drive the entire North East side to New
> Richmond, WI and I have excellent coverage until I am near Somerset in
> Wisconsin ... then it gets spotty from Somerset to New Richmond. With
> F&CA I roam freely on Verizon now anyway. As far as the rest of the
> state goes, I get full Sprint coverage (and good coverage) all the way
> to Duluth. I roam on Verizon in the Arrowhead. Sprint has much
> better coverage [than Verizon] along the highways north of Leech Lake
> and near Red Lake ... and west all the way to Fargo.
>
> Tom Veldhouse

The bad areas that I know of for Sprint:
North of Stillwater and east of Hugo and forest lake. Along the St
Croix river north of Stillwater.
I do not know about the F&CA plan.

"cheryl" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Will be temporarily moving to Minnap, and was wondering what coverage
> is like.
>
> Can get 1200 at min with 3 phones with qwest for $59 a month.
> (a loyalty plan a friend can get me).
>
> What is coverage for Sprint there? And Qwest?
>
> Thanks
> Cheryl
>

Qwest is an odd duck, vis-a-vis coverage. There are some areas, especially
outlying areas past the second-ring burbs that have good coverage on Qwest.
They have put some towers up in some odd places, but to the benefit of the
local residents in those smaller towns and locales. OTOH, there are larger,
more populated surburban areas where Qwest just doesn't cut it. Overall, I
think you would be happier on Sprint for the 7 to 10 county metro. Sprint
(via affiliate Northern PCS) covers many outstate highways and cities, but
often the more remote highways are pretty 'thin' as coverage goes on Sprint.
As it has been mentioned, Qwest is, at this time, simultaneously selling
service on their network and effectively re-selling Sprint's. As of February
(something), they will stop selling new service on their network and start
migrating existing "native" Qwest wireless customers to SPCS (I do not know
exactly when or at what rate). They will probably end up parting out and
selling off their network to different carriers in different areas where
other carriers need the licenses and coverage - some areas and towers have
already been sold, and word has it that SPCS gets the first shot at many
Qwest towers in the Minnesota market. I'm sure Qwest would have preferred
to sell their wireless system it in its entirety but that hasn't played out
and probably won't.

VZW has excellent coverage within their licensed footprint - which is just
the 7-county metro and a small bit of western WI near Hudson out to about
Roberts. Also, they have the Arrowhead of MN down to Duluth, and a chunk
around Moorhead and Also East Grand Forks over to Crookston. The rest of MN
for VZW is either digital or analog roaming (roaming meaning its someone
else's system - it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be charged).

T-Mo also has very good coverage within their footprint, but there is no
analog fallback (obviously). They do have good coverage on their network for
many people's purposes - you just have to make sure you understand where
their network ends...

Hope that helps...

-Jon