Curious how the networks compare, in the market for a new provider, have Sprint now and it seems like I never have a signal north of the metro.
what do people see in different spots? I frequent the Cross lake, Mille Lacs and north shore every year.
T-Mobil has a good military discount, but I have not heard good things about the service.
I have decent signal at Mille Lacs with T mobile, but poor to ok signal in west central MN(Fergus falls). That being said it is getting much better in Fergus lately, but still not great.
My brother has Verizon and seems to get good signal everywhere, but it’s spendy.
I was in the same boat as you. Had Sprint and It was useless north of St Cloud. I switched to Verizon specifically because of this. It is more expensive, but much MUCH better up north. Had 4G 15 miles out on LOTW this winter all day long.
I’ve been pleased w/ AT&T.
Verizon is undisputedly the best overall coverage, in MN anyways.
T-Mobile is constantly getting better and you can roam onto AT&T. If you do go with T-Mobile make sure your phone supports band 12 which will improve your coverage a lot. I still lose service in a lot of places that I see Verizon phones working though.
I know Verizon is spendy, but I have never had an interruption anywhere other than small pockets in Clark county WI. Had sprint before that and it was terrible. Dropping calls left and right in my south metro living room…
X 2 on Verizon.
have Sprint now and it seems like I never have a signal north of the metro.
Are you sure you have your roam settings correctly configured on your phone and plan?
I have Sprint and have never had an issue with phone signal up north. Data can be an issue, but the phone works. The only exception has been on Kab, the Verizon guys get signal up there, I get none, so Sprint must not have an agreement with the operator of the one tower that covers that area.
Just saying check your configuration settings before signing up to an expensive new plan. Verizon has great coverage everybody says, but when I checked last year it would have been just dollars short of 2Xing my monthly bill. For that money I thought about buying a prepaid hotspot that runs on Veriozon and using webphone to make calls.
Grouse
We run Verizon and have signal almost everywhere we go, ND, MN, MT, WY, CO, ect. There are dead spots but are few and far between, usually if we loose service we are trying to be somewhere to get away from it all anyway.
The only places I have had some issues with Verizon is Lake Vermilion. I get a decent signal on the lake, but not so good on shore, real spotty.
Verizon works great for me almost everywhere i’m at even in NE in the Valleys . Now there a few areas there it will not work but all works in WI ,Mn,SD,MI for me.
Sprint will not even work in Inver Grove. A few friends just changed over to Verizon this year and last they had to go outside their house to even use the phone. They got fed up with it once the contract was over they made the change. Verizon is getting better in pricing and still has the same coverage at least from what i’m seeing with my phone bills the last couple years.
What good is a cell phone if you can’t use it? I am up North all the time and never had an issue with Verizon, including out on a lake or in the woods. Virtually anywhere.
Spotty to no single as of last year our our Red Lake trip. Verizon.
Spotty to no single as of last year our our Red Lake trip. Verizon.
Strange, i’m up there about 4 times a year with no issues with Verizon.Fishing and hunting no problems on the lake or in the woods if needed.
AT&T is the only provider that works in the Crane Lake area. My work phone is Verizon and I have zero signal once I get a couple of miles east of Orr.
check out Straight Talk.
Everyone has some dead spots, but Verizon consistently out performs the majority of the time.
Don’t underestimate the importance of getting a decent handset. I have been with folks on Verizon that have worse coverage than I, but their phone looks like it’s been through a war. A fractured antenna (internal) can look like poor coverage.
do you guys have Comcast/Xfinity up there? Their mobile service has free talk & text if you have their home internet, and uses Verizon towers.
https://www.xfinity.com/locations/minnesota/minneapolis/cell-phone-plans
HRG
AT&T is the only provider that works in the Crane Lake area. My work phone is Verizon and I have zero signal once I get a couple of miles east of Orr.
I experienced this too. I have Verizon, been loyal to them for 10 years, had AT&T, TMobile and Sprint over the years for work devices and they never came close to Verizon, but AT&T is the best in the Crane Lake area. My buddy and his family all had AT&T and were getting texts, etc while on the lake while I had zero bars from about Orr to Crane.
My favorite part about getting way up north is losing cell phone service 
If you have Comcast high-speed internet at home, check into Xfinity Mobile. We switched to them last summer, and while I hate to support Comcast on principle, their mobile pricing is outstanding, and they use Verizon towers.
Edit: I see HRG beat me to the punch.
I get a 15% military discount from Verizon. Best coverage in MN by a long shot.
Can’t speak for everywhere in MN, but Verizon has awesome coverage just about everywhere I’ve been. From Red Lake to Baudette is the only stretch of road on the way to LOTW that I don’t get a good enough signal to setup a hot spot and work from the car on my laptop.
Also was able to stream the Masters and the Twins in full, beautiful HD like 6 miles west of Rocky Point on LOTW. Have been 10 miles out and still get 4G up there.
If I’m going to Northern MN, I’m going to get away. The last thing I want is to be attached to my device while on the water. Take the cheapest provider and life will be good.
We live year round in the Crosslake Area. My wife has Straight Talk (on AT&T network) and I have Red Pocket (on AT&T network). They both appear to work reasonably well. I have more trouble than she does, but my cell bill is $10.67 a month. For what little I pay, I can put up with a little trouble now and then.
Most of the cell towers up here follow the major highways.
Non of the cell towers in Mn are owned by a specific carrier anymore.
They are all owned by private companies and leased by the carrier.
Verizon.
Most EMS and emergency services through MN use Verizon due to its greator coverage.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
