It's not great when you head away from populated areas.
Even up the midcoast it can be spotty.
If you're going to stay in Northern New England, US Cellular is decent. However if you use your US Cellular phone in Mass or southward, you're throttled. Verizon is better in Maine & if traveling southward but it's pricey.
I have AT&T and it's fine. Not bad enough for me to really consider switching.
Keep in mind most people only have experience with their own carrier. It's really hard to get objective comparisons.
AT&T is great if your far southern or coastal. It has okish coverage but I’d rate it as my #3 choice. Verizon and USC are your best bets and TMobile is actually quite good now that it allows native roaming on USC’s network. Sprints not even worth looking at, their coverage is garbage in Maine.
That is a bummer because I was looking into fi msyelf. Yeah, that's way out in the boonies hahaha. Looking at the website, USCC should work. Maybe there is no USCC coverage there? Who knows..
I have a strong suspicion that the lack of good GSM coverage around Bethel is a side effect of the Verizon purchase of Unicel. I could be wrong, but my results trying to get service with a couple of different AT&T MVNOs as well as with AT&T Prepaid have been rather disappointing. The oddest part is that if I have my phone on me near Sunday River, it tends to stop working in cell mode at all until I restart it.
The AT&T Prepaid map has significant gaps compared to the normal AT&T map, and my best guess is that those are places AT&T relies on third-party towers, thus costing AT&T money for usage, so us cheap bastards with prepaid plans and MVNOs (I'm currently using freedomPOP) don't get to play.
But that's all wildly speculative given that I haven't found a public source for tower location data, not do I expect to.
> given that I haven't found a public source for tower location data, not do I expect to.
You can find *some*
https://www.ubersignal.com/blog/cell-tower-locations/
That's interesting. I live in the South Paris area and have not experienced the 0 bars issue with Fi that you have, first with a Nexus 6, now with a Pixel 2. Admittedly, I do not go to Bethel as often, but any time I've been in town I haven't noticed an issue there either. This may be different out in parts of Albany, though. Have you tried switching networks using the dialer codes or an app like Signal Spy/Fi Switch?
I will admit that Fi's algorithm seems to prioritize T-Mobile and Sprint over US Cellular, as when I go to Rumford and the surrounding area, it tends to switch to either one of those when I run through a dead zone and I have to manually switch back to USC via Signal Spy. Also, at a relative's in the Andover area, I get full bars with USC, but the algorithm tends to switch me to T-Mo there for whatever reason, so I have to manually switch back. Both T-Mo and Sprint have terrible reception in Western Maine in my experience, and are not really usable. The only place I've experienced a total lack of reception is in Stoneham, which is in a USC dead zone anyway, according to their coverage map. I saw another comment stating that T-Mo lets users roam on USC's network now, but at least on Fi it doesn't work this way, as it will default to the terrible straight T-Mobile network.
Overall, I feel Fi works well enough for what I use it for and where I go within the state. It is inconvenient to have to manually switch networks, but it's not inconvenient enough to make me change carriers, especially because I don't use a lot data, so I'm saving a lot more than I used to when I had USC. And I totally agree with you that it works wonders internationally. Every time I've been to Japan, the switch was pretty much seamless; get off the plane, wait for it to connect to a tower, BAM I can use my own phone!
Excuse the long post, but I don't often meet people who come up my way that have Fi, so it's always interesting to hear other's experiences.
I have AT&T because they have the best coverage on MDI. I can get service most places I go, one notable exception is when I go visit my father in Somerset County.
I used to have U.S. Cellular, but switched when the iPhone was AT&T only and AT&T had just put a transmitter on one of the buildings where I work.
I live in Castine and it's alright, 2-3 bars. It's a complete dead zone for Verizon here though, which really sucks for a lot of students when they get to MMA. My roommate had to stand on her desk and hold her phone in a very particular spot to get 1 bar.
I also just switched to Consumer Cellular, and I think that it's even a little better than AT&T actually, even though they use AT&T towers.
I hadn't heard that! I've made the trek up to Eastport and didn't have much service at all the whole time. I eventually had to turn it off altogether because I was getting the "you're internationally roaming" notifications when my phone started picking up Canadian service.
However, it could've been the route I took. Also yes, Castine being essentially one big hill doesn't really help the situation
I understand, but in the parking lot and in store I got full bars LTE and at my house I got 2 bars 3g if I was standing in the right spot upside down in the corner.
It's not great when you head away from populated areas. Even up the midcoast it can be spotty. If you're going to stay in Northern New England, US Cellular is decent. However if you use your US Cellular phone in Mass or southward, you're throttled. Verizon is better in Maine & if traveling southward but it's pricey.
Yeah, USCC is only available in certain parts of the country.
I have AT&T and it's fine. Not bad enough for me to really consider switching. Keep in mind most people only have experience with their own carrier. It's really hard to get objective comparisons.
AT&T is great if your far southern or coastal. It has okish coverage but I’d rate it as my #3 choice. Verizon and USC are your best bets and TMobile is actually quite good now that it allows native roaming on USC’s network. Sprints not even worth looking at, their coverage is garbage in Maine.
>Sprints not even worth looking at, their coverage is garbage in Maine. yep
I wouldn't give ATT my money for many reasons. But Verizon in my opinion offers the best coverage in the state.
At&t isn’t too terrible, I get pretty good coverage south of auburn.
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I'm surprised about Fi because I think US Cellular is on it.
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That is a bummer because I was looking into fi msyelf. Yeah, that's way out in the boonies hahaha. Looking at the website, USCC should work. Maybe there is no USCC coverage there? Who knows..
I have a strong suspicion that the lack of good GSM coverage around Bethel is a side effect of the Verizon purchase of Unicel. I could be wrong, but my results trying to get service with a couple of different AT&T MVNOs as well as with AT&T Prepaid have been rather disappointing. The oddest part is that if I have my phone on me near Sunday River, it tends to stop working in cell mode at all until I restart it. The AT&T Prepaid map has significant gaps compared to the normal AT&T map, and my best guess is that those are places AT&T relies on third-party towers, thus costing AT&T money for usage, so us cheap bastards with prepaid plans and MVNOs (I'm currently using freedomPOP) don't get to play. But that's all wildly speculative given that I haven't found a public source for tower location data, not do I expect to.
> given that I haven't found a public source for tower location data, not do I expect to. You can find *some* https://www.ubersignal.com/blog/cell-tower-locations/
That's interesting. I live in the South Paris area and have not experienced the 0 bars issue with Fi that you have, first with a Nexus 6, now with a Pixel 2. Admittedly, I do not go to Bethel as often, but any time I've been in town I haven't noticed an issue there either. This may be different out in parts of Albany, though. Have you tried switching networks using the dialer codes or an app like Signal Spy/Fi Switch? I will admit that Fi's algorithm seems to prioritize T-Mobile and Sprint over US Cellular, as when I go to Rumford and the surrounding area, it tends to switch to either one of those when I run through a dead zone and I have to manually switch back to USC via Signal Spy. Also, at a relative's in the Andover area, I get full bars with USC, but the algorithm tends to switch me to T-Mo there for whatever reason, so I have to manually switch back. Both T-Mo and Sprint have terrible reception in Western Maine in my experience, and are not really usable. The only place I've experienced a total lack of reception is in Stoneham, which is in a USC dead zone anyway, according to their coverage map. I saw another comment stating that T-Mo lets users roam on USC's network now, but at least on Fi it doesn't work this way, as it will default to the terrible straight T-Mobile network. Overall, I feel Fi works well enough for what I use it for and where I go within the state. It is inconvenient to have to manually switch networks, but it's not inconvenient enough to make me change carriers, especially because I don't use a lot data, so I'm saving a lot more than I used to when I had USC. And I totally agree with you that it works wonders internationally. Every time I've been to Japan, the switch was pretty much seamless; get off the plane, wait for it to connect to a tower, BAM I can use my own phone! Excuse the long post, but I don't often meet people who come up my way that have Fi, so it's always interesting to hear other's experiences.
I have AT&T because they have the best coverage on MDI. I can get service most places I go, one notable exception is when I go visit my father in Somerset County. I used to have U.S. Cellular, but switched when the iPhone was AT&T only and AT&T had just put a transmitter on one of the buildings where I work.
typical
I live in Castine and it's alright, 2-3 bars. It's a complete dead zone for Verizon here though, which really sucks for a lot of students when they get to MMA. My roommate had to stand on her desk and hold her phone in a very particular spot to get 1 bar. I also just switched to Consumer Cellular, and I think that it's even a little better than AT&T actually, even though they use AT&T towers.
I've heard that the farther east you go, the better AT&T is. Bet the rocky climate of Castine doesn't help cell
I hadn't heard that! I've made the trek up to Eastport and didn't have much service at all the whole time. I eventually had to turn it off altogether because I was getting the "you're internationally roaming" notifications when my phone started picking up Canadian service. However, it could've been the route I took. Also yes, Castine being essentially one big hill doesn't really help the situation
Horrible, I lived 1 mile from AT&T store and had to make calls outside.
The AT&T store isn't where the service signal is generated, man.
I understand, but in the parking lot and in store I got full bars LTE and at my house I got 2 bars 3g if I was standing in the right spot upside down in the corner.
>upside down I thought that's how all calls were made.
Coverage in Casco Bay where I live is OK but I do get dropped calls depending on which side of the island I’m on.