Best cell phone coverage
 

We are moving to TV in 4 weeks and wondered if any of you have thoughts on the best cell phone carrier? I need to be able to talk unlimited, North America wide because we have kids all over the place. I have read that there are problem spots... which one is best?

We live in Osceola Hills and consistently have 3 of 5 bars with Verizon. Having said that, I know there was a petition earlier in the year to Verizon regarding poor coverage in parts of The Villages.

Been in the Villages 6 years and have never had a problem with Verizon.
Also the carrier isn't always the problem. If you have an old phone it doesn't matter who the carrier is. I've always had a good phone so maybe that along with Verizons coverage is the reason we haven't had problems. If I were to guess why folks are having problems I'd think old phone, flip phone or cheap phone.

We are just north of 466 have Verizon & have great service through out The Villages

I have Sprint and live in Gilchrist. Excellent service at home but as I go farther north in The Villages, the signal is less consistent. On another note, we're looking into upgrading our iPhones. The days of buying your phone seem to be over. They really push leasing the phones and are phasing out 2-year contracts. The process has been frustrating and confusing.

I have AT & T, very good coverage, and I have a new Iphone 6, and we have an extender in our house, 5 bars. We are south of 466A near Hillsborough.

What Village are you moving to? It makes a difference for coverage.

so you had bad coverage and needed an extender to make it good?

We are South of 466a and all good down here too.

Verizon gets my vote.

We live south of 466A in Hillsborough, Verizon is 2 bars at best. The sent an extender and parts of the house was still weak. The extender was returned. We have a stucco house so that creates an issue. Verizon did a signal evaluation and advised us that we are on the fringe of their service and more than 2 bars is not likely so dropped calls will happen. At least they were upfront about the service.

AT&T can also be spotty in that area. We have a AT&T microcell box. It creates a cell zone in your house and routes the calls through the internet. It works very well - 5 bars inside most of our house, drops down to 3-4 bars at the opposite corner from the box.. AT&T acknowledges that the coverage is spotty and provided the microcell box for no cost.

We also have an ATT Microcell box and it has made a world of difference for us. We mostly always have 5 bars. Without it 2 at the most.

The Verizon product did not stop the dropped calls at the far end which is where we made most of our calls. So now we use the landline or call from another location where we do get enough signal.

Inside the house was a problem, very large stucco home we have a a AT&T microcell unit, which was provided by AT&T, 5 bars inside our home now, before the unit it was 2-3 bars. . Once we are outside it is no problem. Just sayin lived in 2 other homes in The Villages and no problem with AT&T, most people in our neighborhood have some type of unit to help with coverage inside because most of us are against a wooded preserve with lots of trees also. We are south of Hillsborough also.

AT&T and no problems anywhere, even in a large stucco home. Have lived in 3 villages and no issues anywhere. No extender used.

Just a question. Did you say that visitors to your home with other phone plans can hook up to your Microcell unit?

Visitor's cell phones will use the Microcell box if they are an AT&T customer and you add them to the on-line approved user list. This is easy to do.

Oh, that makes sense that if they are ATT customers.

I live in Bonita and have Verizon. I currently have 2 bars. There are times , even with the extender, I have to go to the window, standing up, to have an conversation. Looking for an replacement supplier.

Our home is on Summerchase Loop which is across from the Savannah Center... north? I haven't been there yet.

AT&T works fine for us in Hadley and all over.

The October POA Bulletin which I just received this AM provides a Verizon update. They report a new site at Micro Racetrack Road was recently added. Another new site at Sumter Landing is due for activation this month. Finally two more cell sites - timing/location TBD - are due in 2016.

Much earlier, the POA had asked for input from Villagers so they could address reception issues with Verizon. Don't know if this was instrumental in the new sites added/to be added, but it does appear that Verizon is working to fix reception problems in the southern portion of the Villages.

I live down near Brownwood and have not had any trouble with Verizon reception.

Dunedin area Verizon 6+ Outside 3 bars but never LTE here, inside CBS home sometimes 3 bars, usually 1-2 bars and frequent complaints. Love Verizon everywhere but here.
FYI interested in whether other Verizon customers notice if they are getting full LTE SVC throughout there area.

had metro with no problems in Jax., moved here and coverage was spotty at best. No problems with our new verizon phones in dunedin

Have Verizon on a iPhone 6+ and have lost calls on 301 and 466 between Morse and Buena Vista. Otherwise good coverage. Sitting in Hillsboro I have two bars as I write this.

Verizon hands down.

I missed welcoming you --you are a breath of fresh air--welcome

I use comsumer cellular, with a flip phone............love it , no problems. I live near Brownwood.

We live in Hemingway, and verizon admits we are in a dead zone. We also have an extender and it does not matter. Verizon has made promises, but we continue to have drop call after drop call. There are some 400 residents with the same problem. You had better check.

I have ATT and when I am in the Villages it works great all over. Donna has Verizon - not so much in some places.. We both have Iphones

OP said she will be located near Savannah Center. The problem areas seem to be just north and south of 466A, a long way from Savannah Center.

I haven't heard any complaints with cell phone coverage north of 466, so I guess any of the cell providers have good coverage there.

We live south of 466A in Hillsborough. In and around our home the iPhone is almost useless.
I bought an Ooma unit, the unit was $99 and we only pay the taxes each month of about $4. Works great, runs off the internet (VOIP). Too bad that we have to buy extenders and other phone systems when we pay Verizon, AT&T so much each year. I called Verizon and they offered to sell me a $300 range extender. They should include this if you ask me.

We are on the southside and AT&T gave us a microcell box (routes cell phone calls through our broadband router) for no cost. It works great.

We live in Gilchrest, on Pinellas. No phone issues at all. We use an old iPhone 4 and a iPhone 5s and have AT&T.

We haven't had problems with dropped calls anywhere in The Villages. No extender of any type needed.

Cricket! Cheap and reliable all over , including when traveling. Cricket is owned by AT&T, so that's the network they use. We live in Glenbrook, close to Savannah.

Anyone use Straighttalk? Verizon or ATT versions?

I have a regular cell phone about 5 years old with AT&T service. Have had no usage problem throughout The Villages or anywhere else.

Had T- Mobile with no success so we asked people who live and work in TV and other areas of Florida any most said to get Verizon and they were right we switched and have had no problems with them.