View Full Version : Unicel Phone Service
I read a recent review on Unicel's cellular phone service, (or lack there of), and thought I'd add to it.
I got the service for the same reason most do- in case you ever stuck, you'd have a phone handy. That was shot out of the water right after activation, when I realized the phone wouldn't get a signal once you travelled a few miles down 43 south. (This is my route home, so if I break down by chance, I can throw the phone at passing motorists in hopes one with good service will stop.) According to Unicel, the reception is just going to be "poor" in these area. In Linden you get a decent signal some of the time. Ever since I got the phone back at last year's COTR, I've noticed at frequent intervals the phone will say "Extended Area", meaning I'm now being charged my roaming minutes. this happens everywhere in Demopolis. As you can see in the pic below, I was "roaming" in Wal-Mart parking lot, which is within spitting distance of the Unicel office. They have no clear answers for this, other than to turn off the phone, then turn it back on and hope for the best. The 18-month contract should be illegal, and when you're getting the service I've been recieving it should at least be null and void. I'll never do business with them again. If anyone knows of a better company; one that can let me talk locally from Demopolis to Linden without losing my signal, I'd love to know about it.
Randy
05-27-2003, 11:11 AM
Dave,
I had a contract with Unicel when it was Cell One, I am also involved in a class action law suit with them. I now have a service here in Linden with Pine Belt (Radio Shack), They do not offer all of the local state to state that some other companies do because they are alot smaller. I will say this if you need a phone to work in the Demopolis and Linden area you need Pine Belt. There are some dead areas between the two but it works when my wifes Unicel would not. (she no longer has hers either). I have not had any problems with PB. There are a few places on the outter edges of Demopolis that you will rome, but most of the time it is local and clear in Demopolis, and works better that anything you will ever get in the Linden area. I have a contract that cost $29.95 per month, 250 free min. and all of my incomming calls are free, also all calls to other Pine Belt phones are free. I can make 250 1 min. calls and tell them to call me back and talk as long as I want with no extra charge. If you are like me and spend most of your time in Linden and Demopolis or between the two this is the Phone for you. You can get a pre-pay with no contract and try for yourself to see if it will be right for you. My wife and I also have southern-linc Dave, They are great, 2-way radio all over the state, unlimited min.
Good luck,
Randy
I've heard good things about Southern Linc. I haven't priced them but I've heard they can be expensive.
Sprint has a tower on 80, and those I've talked to with it in Demopolis say it picks up excellent--though they never travel south down 43 with it.
Out of curiosity, what can you tell us about the lawsuit? What it's about, who's involved, etc.
Randy
05-28-2003, 12:31 PM
Dont know much about it myseolf. I replyed to an artical in the newspaper and they sent me a packet to fill out with personal info and dates of service with Cell One. I believe it is for fradulant billing and requiring payment when services were not rendered, refering to the time that he tower was knocked down and there was no service for a few months. The linc's are great got to www.southernlinc.com and you can lookat the prices and packages that they offer.
Randy
Unicel's billing process is't that great itself. I have a good friend (who I won't reveal) who hasn't recieved nor paid any bill to them over the last 9 or 10 months. He has never lost his service nor does it show that he owes them any money.....pretty messed up. If only the people that I make payments to would do that!
Just for information sake on the Unicel issue. This is form there web site.
Why does my phone say "ROAM" or "EXTENDED AREA" even though my plan includes the area as a home area?
There are plans which offer a "home calling area" that incorporates a large geographic territory, and may incorporate another carriers system to complete the call. Your phone may show "Roam, Extended Area or Neutral" when using on another carrier's system.
Here is a picture of the coverage area. Dark blue is home area and Light blue is the extended area
stickman
05-28-2003, 19:47 PM
Both times I have had service with ******TY One or Uni-Hell, I have been most displeased. The office in Enterprise was rude and not helpful under ******ty One and broke one off in me. After the class action suit came along, they started mailing refund checks out to the people who did not sue them I guess to keep them from jumping on the bandwagon. I didn't join the class action, because the greedy lawyers wind up getting most all of the settlement themselves in attorney's fees, expenses, and court costs that come off the top. At best, plaintiffs can look to get gift certificates for free merchandise or free minutes to use as payment for your settlement. Under Uni-Hell, things are not much better. Although the office people in Enterprise seem to be more "customer oriented" and friendly, they can still be pricks to deal with. RCC is training their local office staff to snag you for every dollar they can rip out of your pockets when you go in to get new service. To me, Uni-Hell is the equivalent of a mafia loan shark. They hook you with a seemingly straight contract, then shank one off in you in the end.
I won't EVER make the mistake of doiong business with them again. Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twice, shame on me. There won't be a third time.
Nuff said.
Stickman
Easyrider
10-10-2003, 21:33 PM
Well I worked in the cell phone industry when it first came to Demopolis in late 1991. If you can think back that far, then you may figure out that I'm one of just a handful of people who've had a cell phone around here since they arrived. Back then, CellularONE was fairly good. The franchise was new & there was good money behind it to back it up. However, the owner sold out within a few years of erecting his towers in Demopolis, Livingston, South Marengo county, & Fayette. Unicel took over several years back & the service & reception has been crappy ever since. Not to mention their billing.
When the tower fell a few years back, I feel the company NEVER recovered from it. The average cell has a range of 12 to 15 miles. "Roaming or extended service" within a few miles of the tower is totally unacceptable along with Unicel's fraudulent billing caused me & many others to switch to SouthernLINC. They are much more reliable, fun to use, & billing is easy to understand. They can be used in most of the extreme South & now you can roam with cellular phone service off of Nextel's towers in 90 major U.S. cities.
The prices have come down so much lately that I feel they are a better value than Unicel will ever be.
Roxanne
10-11-2003, 16:49 PM
I have a Unicel phone, and I don't know why I even bother. While the people who work in the Demopolis office are nice, the service when you call in is crappy. I don't know where those phone calls go, but I don't think it is Demopolis. I have been wanting a Southern Linc, too, but I heard they were pricey. It would probably be worth it though if I could have a phone I could count on. My husband HATES for me to call him on my cell phone because he can hardly hear me and I can hardly hear him. Sometimes I think we would be better off to go to an old CB radio.
Scott
10-11-2003, 18:08 PM
I recently visited Demopolis and enjoyed much Cell Phone success. What carrier did i use. Sprint, with the nationwide plan i incurred no roaming and excellent reception. The only dead spot i recall in more than a month of visiting was hwy 28 between Demopolis and Livingston!
My vote goes to AT&T. You can get a Demopolis number for the service and the reception and value is expetional. The coverage is excellent. The main dead spots I get are right around the forkland area.
I pay 30 bucks a month for 250 anytime minutes, free nights and weekends, free roaming in the state, free long distance, free caller ID/call waiting, and free voicemail. Plus you can handle your account online. AT&T gets an A+ from me!
Alas, my Unicel contract doesn't run out until after the new year. With all the problems, the most ironic one was probably when I passed by a Unicel booth during the July 4th festivities at the City Landing. I thought it funny that amongst the funnel cake and shaved ice vendors you find one selling cell phone service. I pulled out my phone in front of the booth and low and behold I'm in "extended area". I thought about offering to do demonstrations for them then decided they might not appreciate what I had to say.
I view Unicel as the "AOL" of cell phone service here. They know how to sell their product, it's just inferior to everything else on the market.
Rootsandwings
10-12-2003, 06:59 AM
I, for one, can not wait until my contract runs out in February 2004. As soon as it does, I am ending my service and changing to Southern Linc.
Eagle101
10-12-2003, 17:50 PM
What is the best alternative to Unihell, I mean Unicell, around here? We just use ours for personal use, not for business. We hardly ever use 100 minutes a month.
Rootsandwings
10-12-2003, 19:21 PM
As far as I know, the only real alternative we have is Southern Linc. I have talked to people who use Cingular wireless and they have said their reception is good but it is long distance in Linden & Demopolis. What I like about Southern Linc is the phones there are also 2 way radios.
Easyrider
10-12-2003, 19:46 PM
Personally I think the Southern LINC service is the best buy for the money at the present time. The phones range anywhere from $70 & up for a .5 watt hand-held phone to $400 for a 1 watt big-size walkie-talkie phone. You can get just the 2-way LINC or can get it combined w/ the cellular phone service which is what I have. Check w/ COMCO or Network IT or Collins Communications for the latest prices & specials & check regularly as they change from month-to-month just as Unicel does. Sprint is good also. They have two new towers, one on Hwy. 80 East just up from Sparks Road & one on Hwy. 80 West just past Plaza Golf Carts. Right now, anything would be better than Unicel, but I think SL is the best buy.
dimples
10-13-2003, 01:03 AM
I have recently switched from unicell to Southern Linc and I love my linc! I encounter VERY few dead spots and I love the radio! It is definately the best of both worlds! And we had NOTHING but trouble from Unicell! We had been paying the insurance so that if a phone was lost or damaged it could be replaced, never did they disclose that to replace the phone there is a $35 deductible, but if you want to renew your contract they will gladly give you a free phone! I think they are a bunch of CROOKS!! I am glad to be rid of that bill!
Rootsandwings
10-13-2003, 06:12 AM
Dimples, do you use your linc between Linden & Demopolis? I travel that route every day and wondered if you got good reception in there. I know with my Unicel phone it is worthless there.
Roxanne
10-13-2003, 08:30 AM
Do you have to pay for 2 separate lines to get the two-way radios? That is the only thing that has kept me from switching to Southern Linc.
The one thing that I've found out about Unicel is that if you want anything done,don't go to the store!Call their customer service line(the number is on every bill) and they can usually take care of you within an hour.This is alot better than the store because all the customer service people's job is is to keep customers happy.They will just about give you anything you want if you ask the right way.
I have an At&t Wireless phone too and it is wonderful! I don't even have a contract! It is awesome! The only problem with mine, is that I have a long distance number. After reading an earlier post though, it seems you can get local numbers....I might look into that!
It is really the best cell service I've ever had. I've had bad experiences with Unicel and Cingular.
stickman
10-14-2003, 09:54 AM
To answer Hometowngal's question about service between Linden and Demopolis, there are a couple of dead spots. When you fall off the hill @ Linden Lumber headed north and down into the Bogue bottom until you get to 43 & 69 is a dead spot and from Majos until you get to Starmont subdivision sometimes is a problem. Anywhere else in between is usually fine. On Hwy 80 from Plaza Golf Carts west is terrible until you get about 8 -10 miles from state line and north on Hwy 28 about 5 - 7 miles outside Livingston is a bad spot as well.
To answer Roxanne's question, phone & radio are usually included in the same package unless you want just the Linc radio.
Stickman
Easyrider
10-16-2003, 21:21 PM
FYI...Southern Linc's are now priced @ $39.99/month & up for service, so it is getting closer in value than Unicel. You can get just the 2-way radio service, just the phone service, or have them combined for one price. You still have to buy the phone (depending on what unit you want) & SIM (Subscriber Interface Module) card up front for around $65. Before long, I think they could put a hurting on Unicel if they haven't already. :D
BTW...I went to Linden on Thursday night around 6:30pm & had very good reception. I talked w/ a friend who was in Gulf Shores & we talked for several minutes just as clear as if she was in the seat besides me. :)
The best advertisement for Linc is to use a Unicel phone.
Easyrider
10-16-2003, 22:09 PM
Dave, You hit the nail on the head as they say. As SL becomes more popular, Unicel will HAVE to improve or disband.
20south
10-17-2003, 09:03 AM
I love my southern linc, and with the new plan they have out it's really not that expensive. We pay $39 +tax per phone and get 400 free phone minutes-and-5000 free linc minutes per month, which should be more than enough for most people. Me and my husband live in Bay Minette but travel to Linden every weekend, so when we had service with Unicell it would be long distance to call anyone while we were in Bay Minette during the week. Now that we have our lincs, we can call anyone we know from the area and it doesn't cost anything, on top of that we have full service anywhere that I have gone from Gulf Shores to South and West Mobile. I also would not recommend Cingular Wireless for the Marengo County area, because I think the closest number to that area is Greensboro, and they get poor reception all over the area.
mosaic
10-17-2003, 11:34 AM
We have 2 SouthernLinc radio/cell phones and absolutely love them! Our plans include Unlimited radio and 200 cell minutes on his and I have 5000 radio minutes and 600 cell minutes on mine (which, by the way, bill per second after the first minute of each call!) and our bill, tax included is $99 and change. I use mine for all of our long distance calling so we don't even have a long distance bill at home anymore thanks to SL! As for service coverage, Stickman was correct about the Linden to Demopolis route...there are a couple of dead spots between here and there but I have been sitting on the side of 43 at Springhill cutoff (a deadspot) waiting for someone and by getting out of my vehicle I picked up service. As for Between Demopolis and Livingston (the drive I make everyday to and from work), there are two dead spots....one on 80 as you get near the little general store (I've forgotten it's name) that lasts off and on until near the Rooster bridge and again on 28 for a few miles. All and all, I would never go back to cell phone only service again. You can have my SL when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers. :-D
txcountry_49
10-18-2003, 19:56 PM
do yall have cingular phone service or verizion there?
uwa_amanda
10-19-2003, 00:13 AM
The closest Cingular places are in Meridian, Mississippi and Tuscaloosa, Alabama which are both one hour away. My dad had Cingular and he said the reception sucked. The only places in town are Unicel and SouthernLinc. I have a Unicel phone...the service isn't the best. I've been told that SouthernLinc is really good also. I'm not sure where a Verizon wireless place is though...hope I helped you out with my information.
AT&T has a Demopolis #. Linc's are good if you use your phone often, especially with other Linc customers. The radiio feature is nice, especially in dead areas. Jeff's AT&T phone is the only cell phone I've seen that could get a signal at my old residence in Providence, AL(just between Linden and Demopolis on 69. My Uncell phone always cuts off past Old Spring Hill and cuts back on about the Bogue bridge or so. It also cuts off going down 69 to Greensboro. If money is a non-issue, SouthernLinc would be my choice. If you looking for free night/weekends, tons of minutes, caller ID, voice mail, etc for less than 40 a month--Go with AT&T.
whatudeserve69
10-19-2003, 11:16 AM
There is a cingular kiosk in the Wal-Mart in Livingston. You would have a Livingston phone # tho. The service in Demopolis is OK, but I would recommend the Nation wide plan, since you roam in most of Marengo county (due to Unicel not wanting to work out a plan with cingular).
stickman
10-19-2003, 22:19 PM
UniHell can't work out a plan with Cingular. UniHell is an "A" line service where Cingular is a "B" line service. The only "B" line service in Marengo County is Pinebelt Wireless. I think they are the ones who would have to hammer out a roaming agreement with Cingular. Whether they will or already have in unbeknownst to me. Since Pinebelt Wireless already has the "B" line service in this area, that is the reason Cingular has not come in to run competition against UniHell. I do know "A" line and "B" line services are two entirely different critters and are not compatible with each other.
Stickman
Get a linc...the phone and radio service is MUCH better than the cells and the prices have dropped. It is worth it!
xtrapt
10-21-2003, 09:24 AM
got a linc., love it. I can talk all the way to Tuscaloosa and back. With my Unicel phone all I had was problems with the billing and the reception.
I recently got a new Nokia 3560 from Unicel.Since I upgraded to a better phone I haven't had nearly as many problems with my service.
Rootsandwings
10-21-2003, 15:52 PM
What did you have, Rob? I think mine is a Nokia 5500 and it is horrible.
What kills me about Unicel are their phone prices. I went to help someone pick out a new phone, and the prices were unreal... I could buy a color display Nokia through At&t for what they were charging for the OLD NOKIAS. It was unbelieveable. How they are going to adjust with everyone beginning to use the Web-based phones? I didn't get a Web-based phone recently (from At&t) because I was worried that I would have trouble with reception in Demop.
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