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Milwaukee area mobile carriers

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I’m moving from Madison to Milwaukee later this month and will be taking the opportunity to switch mobile carriers.  I currently have Sprint PCS, but when I was at the new house for the inspection I noticed I got no signal.

I’m really leaning toward a GSM carrier as I want a Bluetooth enabled phone to use with my iPaq h1945.  Plus I spent two years (as a consultant) helping to launch Aerial Communication back in the mid-90’s  so there is a soft spot in my heart for GSM (Interestingly, Aerial still has a web presence - they are now part of TMobile).  Plus GSM gets all the cool phones before CDMA does.

Nonetheless, no matter how cool a phone is, it is worthless without a radio signal, so I’m curious on people experience coverage in Milwaukee, specifically the near-west suburbs like West Allis, ‘Tosa, and Brookfield.  I do know that coverage at the Microsoft office is generally pretty poor no matter the carrier.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    June 03, 2004
    Sprint has a huge coverage problem in the Brookfield area. USCellular doesn't have the best available phones, but the coverage has been consistent throughout the area.

    Good luck finding a new carrier, please post your findings.
  • Anonymous
    June 03, 2004
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    June 03, 2004
    I dumped Sprint for Verizon to get better coverage at home in New Berlin and over to Hartland, where I work. Can't say there's any improvement (they may even use the same carrier system). A big Bluetooth user in this area is Abaxent - nice people who probably will tell you what works for them. They have a website w/phone number etc. Good luck.
  • Anonymous
    June 03, 2004
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    June 03, 2004
    I used to do a lot of mobility evangelism in the area, so I do have a few contacts and it is funny you mention the h6300 series and the 4100. Evidentially they are almost identical devices, except the h6300 offers a lot more like detachable keyboard.

    A lot of the sales folks in the office got MPx200's from ATTWS. Initially the big gripe was coverage on the Madison to Janesville stretch of I-90, and out toward Lacrosse (most of the sales reps cover the whole state). Once I finally pin some of them down (it’s the end of the fiscal year and every salesperson is madly trying to close deals before 6/30) I'll relay the experiences of GSM coverage in Milwaukee.

    As for Verizon, they bar none have the best network. I am heavily considering the Samsung i600 Smartphone from them.
  • Anonymous
    June 04, 2004
    The comment has been removed