Native LTE coverage with Appalachian Wireless or Extended with Verizon?

[justinkk2005]

I live in Eastern, KY. I currently have AT&T with an iPhone 4S. 3G data speeds typically anywhere from 1.5 mbps and on the upside 5 mbps. Pikeville was one of only 4 towns to get AT&T 3G last summer in Eastern Kentucky (excluding Ashland).

I want an LTE iPhone when it comes out this fall but here's my problem. I know AT&T will not have LTE here for years and years considering it took them until June 21, 2011 just to get 3G here. We're not even labeled on the map as HSPA+ yet either. The new tower they put up does have empty slots open for what i'm assuming is LTE panels, however.

When the LTE iPhone comes out i'm going to sell my 4S and pay off my exisiting contract with AT&T which will at that time only be about 6 months left on the commitment. My problem is who I should go to for LTE service. I know personally an Appalachian Wireless engineer and he told me that they're already deploying gigabit fiber to the towers in my area and the equipment has already started to arrive. He said that LTE should be here and active in Pikeville (since it's a much bigger city than the rest of the area) by around Christmas. Since Appalachian Wireless signed LTE in Rural America with Verizon Wireless, should I go with Appalachian Wireless or Verizon with my iPhone 5? With Verizon, i'll always be in an "extended network" LTE area and with Appalachian Wireless it'll be native. The only pro which is keeping me on the fence to Verizon is the fact if i'm not satisfied I can easily sell the phone pretty quickly. Appalachian Wireless iPhone's are carrier locked to them thus a smaller market I could sell the phone. AT&T is very good in my area as far as call quality and network reliability. The network only went down 1 time in the past year and that's because someone robbed the copper from some of the towers.

So, would I be better to go with Appalachain Wireless for an LTE iPhone (they offer 5 gb's of data for $29.99) or go with Verizon? I know Appalachian outsources their texting and it sometimes has delays and Verizon still doesn't have 3G roaming enabled here yet. So it'll probably be 1X or LTE for data.

Wordy post I know, but I wanted to explain myself thoroughly.

[b005td]

keep using AT&T iphone 4s until one company actually gives u a print out promise you LTE coverage

[justinkk2005]

keep using AT&T iphone 4s until one company actually gives u a print out promise you LTE coverage

Well i'm not promising myself i'll get it by December, but I do know that they're working on LTE at Appalachian Wireless. My buddy who is a network engineer there says they're talking to Verizon Engineers weekly and right now they're working on getting gigabit to the towers in which they plan to deploy it. I know Appalachian will definitely get it here before AT&T does. AT&T has added capacity to 5 sites here my mark the spot app says, but that didn't do much. I don't ever see them deploying LTE here, i'm not even sure they have the spectrum to do so.

[sc4fpse]

There is no guarantee that there will be an iPhone specifically for Appalachian Wireless LTE, nor is there a guarantee that the Verizon one will be unlockable to be used on Appalachian Wireless' LTE network natively. You could very well be forced to use Verizon and roam on Appalachian Wireless LTE. And this is all assuming the next iPhone has LTE (which is a pretty safe bet at this point).

[justinkk2005]

There is no guarantee that there will be an iPhone specifically for Appalachian Wireless LTE, nor is there a guarantee that the Verizon one will be unlockable to be used on Appalachian Wireless' LTE network natively. You could very well be forced to use Verizon and roam on Appalachian Wireless LTE. And this is all assuming the next iPhone has LTE (which is a pretty safe bet at this point).

Appalachian Wireless is now a carrier of iPhone and they've already confirmed they will get any new iPhones that are released (but none have been announced as they like to say). So that's my point; I can get a Verizon LTE iPhone or an Appalachian LTE iPhone. I'm trying to figure out which company to use considering they'll both have LTE in my area (with LTE in Rural America), just Appalachian will be native and Verizon will not be.

[Trocks797]

Verizon has never set domestic roaming limits, and I am not sure why they would start now. I say go VZW. 3G will likely come with LTE, and the phone has far better resale potential should things not work out.

[GSMinCT]

Appalachian has that 5GB for the same price Verizon has 2. So if you use a lot of data...

[justinkk2005]

Appalachian has that 5GB for the same price Verizon has 2. So if you use a lot of data...

Yea, for now, and I can't port my number to Verizon where it's a Pikeville number and they're not licensed to service this area. Verizon made me get a Ashland number the last time I had them. Calls/Text went through perfect with Verizon, but I hated having to dial 1+606 every call I made as well.

[GSMinCT]

Yea, for now, and I can't port my number to Verizon where it's a Pikeville number and they're not licensed to service this area. Verizon made me get a Ashland number the last time I had them. Calls/Text went through perfect with Verizon, but I hated having to dial 1+606 every call I made as well.

Is that still the case? They now are licensed there, except that they are leasing their spectrum out to Appalachian.

[justinkk2005]

Is that still the case? They now are licensed there, except that they are leasing their spectrum out to Appalachian.

Last time I checked, yes it is still the case. They have 0 native coverage here. Appalachian is known for having horrible reliability as far as text goes and everyday there's a new PRL. When I did have Verizon (back when 1X wasn't that bad) here, it worked very, very well. It seemed Verizon utilized Appalachian's network better than they themselves did.

[jemullins1]

I live in Eastern, KY. I currently have AT&T with an iPhone 4S. 3G data speeds typically anywhere from 1.5 mbps and on the upside 5 mbps. Pikeville was one of only 4 towns to get AT&T 3G last summer in Eastern Kentucky (excluding Ashland).

I want an LTE iPhone when it comes out this fall but here's my problem. I know AT&T will not have LTE here for years and years considering it took them until June 21, 2011 just to get 3G here. We're not even labeled on the map as HSPA+ yet either. The new tower they put up does have empty slots open for what i'm assuming is LTE panels, however.

When the LTE iPhone comes out i'm going to sell my 4S and pay off my exisiting contract with AT&T which will at that time only be about 6 months left on the commitment. My problem is who I should go to for LTE service. I know personally an Appalachian Wireless engineer and he told me that they're already deploying gigabit fiber to the towers in my area and the equipment has already started to arrive. He said that LTE should be here and active in Pikeville (since it's a much bigger city than the rest of the area) by around Christmas. Since Appalachian Wireless signed LTE in Rural America with Verizon Wireless, should I go with Appalachian Wireless or Verizon with my iPhone 5? With Verizon, i'll always be in an "extended network" LTE area and with Appalachian Wireless it'll be native. The only pro which is keeping me on the fence to Verizon is the fact if i'm not satisfied I can easily sell the phone pretty quickly. Appalachian Wireless iPhone's are carrier locked to them thus a smaller market I could sell the phone. AT&T is very good in my area as far as call quality and network reliability. The network only went down 1 time in the past year and that's because someone robbed the copper from some of the towers.

So, would I be better to go with Appalachain Wireless for an LTE iPhone (they offer 5 gb's of data for $29.99) or go with Verizon? I know Appalachian outsources their texting and it sometimes has delays and Verizon still doesn't have 3G roaming enabled here yet. So it'll probably be 1X or LTE for data.

Wordy post I know, but I wanted to explain myself thoroughly.

I have Verizon Wireless in Hazard Ky and for some time now have had 3G but still on extended service I would go with Verizon since it will have Lte here soon and Appalachian Wireless signed an agreement to let Verizon customers use there 3G. I used a Verizon network extender and dialed star 228 then option 1 to program my phone. After that 3G

[ggore]

Go with Verizon. They will definitely have any iPhone with LTE capabilities. You'll be able to use your iPhone 5 anywhere in the country on Verizon's network as well as anywhere on Appalachian's network. Since they are a partner with Verizon in the LTE, they have full reciprocal unlimited roaming on each other's systems, so you'll be all set.

[ggore]

Yea, for now, and I can't port my number to Verizon where it's a Pikeville number and they're not licensed to service this area. Verizon made me get a Ashland number the last time I had them. Calls/Text went through perfect with Verizon, but I hated having to dial 1+606 every call I made as well.

Right, that's the kicker if you go with Verizon, they will have to give you a number from an area that they do serve. Since they really don't technically offer service in your area, they can't give you a local number because they don't have access to those local numbers. I had that situation here, Verizon was happy to sell me a phone for an area they don't have native service in, but I have an out-of-area number. Not really that big of a deal.

[ggore]

Is that still the case? They now are licensed there, except that they are leasing their spectrum out to Appalachian.

It was here, I couldn't port my old Sprint number, which was a local number here, to Verizon, since Verizon doesn't sell here.

[GSMinCT]

It was here, I couldn't port my old Sprint number, which was a local number here, to Verizon, since Verizon doesn't sell here.

Interesting. Must be part of the LTE in the Rural America program deal.