Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Best Cell phone coverage AK & lower 48

Tired of ACS coverage here and in areas below, would hardly work in South Dakota and mid west rural. My ACS will not work at work. Pretty good coverage in rural AK.

What do you like?

Got ACS here. Works where I've been.

my only gripe is the cost.

I have AT&T, it works most everywhere except at my house in South Anchorage. They all are overpriced.

have had AT&T and now ACS

pros and cons to each, no service at our cabin which is why I switched to ACS, can get texts at cabin during good weather at times now.

but spotty around my house! lol, you can't just seem to win


hear that Verizon is coming to AK and from reports outside they seem to be one of the better carriers.

I know the locals ACS, AT&T and GCI aren't happy about them coming here, so perhaps that spells good for us consumers???

hope so.

am beginning to think cell phones must have been invented by women, can't live without them, but can barely live with them

plus it's like having a dang ankle bracelet or perhaps modern version of a ball and chain


surely no man would have done this to us?

First, don't call me Shirley. Second, it was a bunch of furriners, Finnish to be exact, what done that to you.

If you guys DO get Verizon up there, you will be happy campers.
Data speeds, customer service, and real use of your phones when you come Outside.

Ed

I've got GCI and I ain't impressed. I can be standing next to my buddy who has AT&T and he will have coverage and I won't. He calls GCI, Government Communications Incorporated, they apparently get lots of money from the Gov foor their "rural" services. Personally, I think they suck azz.

Will test ACS outside next week in much warmer climate and make a decision when I get back!

AT&T is GSM. Most of the infrastucture in AK is GSM. Verizon uses CDMA/LTE which is what most of the infrastructure here in the Lower 48 is. AT&T get the kind of performance down here, that you get with GCI up there.
Verizon believes in building infrastructure because they want the money.

Ed

I'll take your word for it Ed. lol

I have a straight talk phone and it has worked anywhere that has cell coverage. Its a flat $45 a month for everything (text, talk, and data). I have been extremely happy with it. The only negative I have found is no 4G, their phones will only run 3G. It is also possible to switch your current phone over from your carrier to straight talk, so you can keep the same phone you already have.

I have GCI and have had zero problems. It works on the slope, at home in Wasilla, everywhere I've been in Alaska except the haul road and the Denali Highway, at my Dad's in northern New York and in eastern Washington.

Mart

Kurt, I got rid of ACS 2 OR 3 YEARS AGO AND got GCI. It's about as good as cell coverage gets. It works in most villages and with nation wide coverage we had very few spots in the lower 48 where we didn't have coverage on our 14,000 mile motor home trip in 2011. We had to ask for it but even had good coverage in most of Canada. Like most cell phones some days we drop calls etc. Bright sunny days but overall I've been very pleased. --- Mel

I've had all three, and we currently have AT&T. If you have kids heading out of state for school, I'd say that AT&T is a plus because the family with unlimited calling within the plan is worth considering. AT&T coverage in the lower 48 seems pretty solid whenever we've travelled down South.

As far as coverage, all three of them will have spots in the state they are week or don't cover.

I am down in Oceanview and AT&T is horrible here, too.

We had ATT while living in AK and as soon as we moved back to MI, we ditched it for Verizon. Much better service..

We have one option, GCI. I can't really say if it sucks or not as it's literally the only game in town. Seems to work pretty good in ANC and the L48 when we're there......

Well I will tell you what not to do, if you switch cell phone providers. Get a new Cell Phone from the new Provider, I lost count of the visits and time spent trying to get a ACS Phone to work with GCI! Phone has to stay on GSM mode, being a ACS device is not compatible with the GCI LTE network.

We switched 4 phones to GCI from ACS all worked great except mine which was a ACS phone. Samsung Note 2 Phone Lesson learned.

I have an international plan with MTA and it works anywhere and everywhere. That company's service provisions are truly amazing. Their mobile services are available for any and all Alaska residents, regardless of their home address and/or their other utility service providers. In other words, you don't need to live within the Anchorage Borough or the Matanuska-Susitna Borough to have MTA mobile service.

AT&T for me it worked great for me up their now I'm down here in colorado it works just fine for me.

The worst so far has been AT&T = 2 beer cans on a string!!! ....customer service is "somewhere outside ...in America???? .... gci gets u a guy in state ....I live in-between 2 att towers have 5 bars and can not call out (att tundra flip phone wit ext antenna)wifes old razor phone can call out if u are outside "in the rite spot">> real fun in the winter time with a wind...I will try Verizon when they come this spring ...acs would not work at articman this past week ...buddies had to use my att ...go figure ( and yes I've tried different phones/combos...and talked to "att/so-called customer service- f-them!)

My oldest son goes to college in Forest City, Iowa. NO AT&T coverage there! It's not a problem for voice, but becomes an issue with data. AT&T periodically threatens to cut him off when they notice that most of his data is out-of-network, so he tries to stay on wifi around campus as much as possible. We've looked at Verizon for him, but until they are up to speed in Alaska they don't work out for him either.

On the other hand my youngest son will attend school in Honolulu complete with AT&T 4g LTE coverage....so no problems to be foreseen there.

We have GCI as well and it sucks. I couldn't get any coverage at Arctic Man but if I would have had AT&T, I would have had coverage. As soon as our contract is up (soon), we might be switching to AT&T or Verizon if they start covering Alaska.

Some advertise buying out your contract. It don't hurt to ask them to do that. Depends on how hungry they are for biz.

With Verizon, I can turn on roaming and pick up any tower I can hit. As long as I don't hit a Mexican one it's free.

ACS and GCI will but it is a monthly pay out on contract so if you have problems with the new company you still have to pay. ATT will not buy you out. After over 1 month of multiple visits and try this and that, GCI finally agreed to loan me a phone that would work. Brought a out of contract Note 2 Samsung smart phone from
ACS to GCI and it is not compatible with GCI. GCI needs lessons
on Customer Service!

Not so in the north country. In our village, and other local villages, you get zero service with any carrier other than GCI. Happens every year, some one visits form the outside and their carrier guarantees them service out here. They get here and find they have no cell or data service. GCI or bust for us.....

Well I been with with Cingular and now AT+T since 2001, its ok and it works well enough for me, Right now my current phone has some issues with the latest software update. its an iPhone 4S wifi is inoperable. My current contract is up come Oct so I will most likely dump it all together. Over all the net works are better than they were in 2001 and you get a lot more for what I was paying back then. They say verizon is better, we shall see, I will be switching to them in Oct. I have not made up my mind about what phone yet, any suggestions would be appreciated .

Sorry but I have always heard acs has the best ak coverage and that's my experience also. I came upon a traffic accident a month ago they couldn't report cause they had other providers I picked up,my acs phone and had an ambulance on the way. I switched to nationwide and use it when I am in ca also for no charge. Really haven't ever been able to beat acs......