[FosterMomma]

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?

[jswintberg]

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.

[kaydee]

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

[Buckeyephan]

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.

[Newbeginnings]

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.

[jnieman]

Originally Posted by MiaW1948

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?

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

[looneycat]

Originally Posted by Newbeginnings

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.

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

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by kaydee

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

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

[MikeV]

Verizon gets my vote.

[JoMar]

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.

[tuccillo]

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.

Originally Posted by JoMar

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.

[jnieman]

Originally Posted by tuccillo

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.

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by jnieman

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.

[Newbeginnings]

Originally Posted by looneycat

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

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.