10 Small Carriers With Great Phones

America's small cities and rural areas are still dotted with small cell-phone carriers, and they have hot phones on cheap plans that you should check out.

Verizon and AT&T may own the masses, but have you ever heard of Immix or Simmetry? America's small cities and rural areas are still dotted with small cell-phone carriers like Cincinnati Bell and the North-Eastern PA Telephone Company, and they have hot phones on cheap plans that you should check out.

In the US, there are several tiers of wireless carriers. The "big four" - Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile - have national coverage and at least 25 million customers each. Then there's the "little three," MetroPCS, Cricket, and US Cellular. They're all in the 4-to-10-million range.

Below those seven carriers, though, are dozens of small fry. Each small carrier covers only a few counties, or parts of several states. They're usually relics of the first round of cellular auctions, before the hundreds of mobile carriers we used to have all got gobbled up into nationwide networks. These little guys just never got gobbled up. The ten carriers we've chosen range from Cincinnati Bell, with 600,000 subscribers, down to XIT Communications, with a mere 9,000.

(Another, virtual tier includes TracFone, Boost, Virgin and some other names. They don't actually run their own networks; they buy minutes from the other three tiers and re-sell them under their own names.)

Why Shop With The Little Guys?
Competition is good, and the little guys know they need to fight to survive. So they offer innovative service plans and may have unusual phones that you're not going to see from the bigger carriers.

By shopping with a small carrier, you're also supporting a local business. You'll know the staff members are your neighbors, and they know the territory. When you call them, you'll most likely get someone a county away as opposed to at a huge off-shore call center.

All the small carriers I checked out have nationwide voice plans. You don't have to worry that your phone won't make voice calls when you go outside the native coverage area. But small carriers are definitely for homebodies; their best prices are on plans with predominantly local minutes.

The little guys' trade association, the Rural Cellular Association, rants and rages about hot phones being snapped up by big-carrier exclusives, but as I surveyed the smaller guys, I found a lot of unique options. To some extent, big-carrier exclusives help them - rather than everyone glomming onto the same phones, the smaller carriers dip into the big pool of phones that bigger carriers ignore.

That means Sonim's XP3 super-tough phone pops up regularly on small-carrier rosters, along with some high-quality Nokia phones, Samsung and Alcatel texting phones, and even the de-Verizoned version of the Motorola Droid.

That's not to say small carriers don't have their own challenges. They're all dependent on roaming agreements with larger carriers to provide nationwide coverage, and they're struggling to get affordable 3G data roaming agreements set up, according to Steve Berry, president of the Rural Cellular Association.

"Larger carriers have market dominance. They don't really need you, you need them, and getting them to come to the table to negotiate a roaming agreement is nearly impossible in a lot of markets," he said.

So if you're interested in smartphones, make sure that your small carrier's 3G agreements will go where you need to go before joining up with one of the little guys.

Many of these carriers, by the way, are called "Cellular One" even though they're all different businesses. "Cellular One" was a brand name partnership shared by many providers in the early days of cellular; most of those providers have been bought by others, but the name still exists in pockets of the country.

Cincinnati Bell
One of the largest of the tiny carriers, Cincinnati Bell has been the local telephone company for the Cincinnati area since 1873. Somehow, it never got bought by AT&T or one of the Baby Bells, and it has always remained independent.

Cincinnati Bell runs a GSM/HSPA-based 3G network in parts of Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky with about 600,000 subscribers. Subscribers can roam nationwide on AT&T's network, although they may not get 3G service while they're roaming. (Cinci Bell uses T-Mobile's 3G band.)

The most interesting phone on Cinci Bell is the exclusive Blaze, an Android 1.6 smartphone also known as the Commtiva Z71. The Blaze costs $99.99 with contract after rebate, and features a 320x480 screen, 600 Mhz Qualcomm processor, and 5-megapixel camera. It's about on par with other midrange Android phones such as the T-Mobile MyTouch.

Cincinnati Bell also has a strong lineup of keyboarded texting phones that you won't see on the major carriers. The $49.99 Nokia E63 is an incredible value for a BlackBerry-like smartphone, although it doesn't have 3G data. The $29.99 Alcatel Tribe, a simple texting phone, stands apart with its lurid hues.

Cellular South
Another relatively "large" small carrier, Cellular South covers parts of several Southern states, including Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Tennessee. And they have big plans: they bought 700 Mhz spectrum, which means that they're working on setting up a 4G LTE network as we speak.

For now, Cellular South focuses on covering their states with a relatively fresh array of CDMA phones, some of which aren't available on Sprint or Verizon. Take the LG Volt 700 ($79.99), for instance. The Volt is a chubby, interesting-looking touch-screen feature phone with user-customizable home screens, a bit like the beloved for Verizon Wireless.

Cellular South wants your business enough to pay for it. In a current promo, they'll pay the early termination fee from other carriers if you agree to switch to their network.

Union Telephone Company
serves 123,000 square miles of Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho and Utah with 122 cell sites. According to the company's Web site, Union's first switch used Winchester rifle cartridges as plugs and jacks. Now that's Western.

Union's contribution to the world of wireless plans is their unusual "U-Build-It" rate plan, which starts at $12.50/month - for zero minutes. Everything is an add-on, such as 100 local minutes for $6. That's an interesting approach. They'll also tell you exactly where all their cell sites are, unlike the annoyingly secretive larger carriers.

Union has a very rich array of GSM phones, including some I didn't see with other small carriers. Take the ($299.99), the first Nokia phone with a capacitive touch screen. The Alcatel OT-808 ($39.99) is a texting phone that looks like a shiny little makeup compact. The Samsung S3650 ($69.99) is a touch-screen, feature phone that comes in four bright colors. There are enough cool phones on Union's lineup that every cowpoke can have a relatively unique phone.

North-Eastern Pennsylvania Telephone Company
More than 100 years old, the North-Eastern Pennsylvania Telephone Company has about 11,000 subscribers in the Susquehanna, Wayne and Lackawanna counties of Pennsylvania. They're tiny, but they have a broad array of unusual GSM phones offered at really seductive prices. They'll give you contracts of anywhere between 1 and 3 years, with even costly phones being free on 3-year contracts. And yes, you can roam nationwide on their plans.

It's hard to pick a favorite from NEP's unusual lineup. Should we go with the , the World's Toughest Phone? Or the LG KF600d, a dual-screen slider that's only $19.95 on a two-year contract? For strange, though, it's hard to beat the Samsung B3310 ($69.95), which runs its numeric keypad up the side of the phone. The choice makes sense when the phone's texting keyboard is open, but when it's closed, it looks very odd. I remember seeing phones like this during the weird-keypad fad of 2004; I thought the market had stamped them out.

Simmetry
I love a good brand name, and "Simmetry" has a good brand name. Get it? They're a GSM carrier, which means they use SIM cards. Simmetry covers southwest Illinois and Hannibal, MO with a very complex set of plans for seemingly every possibility. Their low-end plans, though, have a lot of potential for light users and homebodies: you can get 60 minutes a month for only $12.99, and unlimited calling within Simmetry's home area for $30.

Simmetry is one of a very few US carriers to pick up Acer smartphones, most notably the Acer E101 ($239.99). That's interesting, but we wouldn't recommend this phone - it's an overpriced touch-screen Windows Mobile 6.5 phone with a 2-megapixel camera.

You can do better with one of Simmetry's texting phones, such as the Alcatel Tribe ($179.99), which has an easy-to-use interface with built in social networking hooks. Alcatel is a common name at smaller carriers in the US, but they never broke through into the majors.

Simmetry has a modern name, but they're really part of the Adams Telephone Co-Operative, a 60-year-old local rural phone company in Illinois.

Alaska Digitel and ACS
Alaska is like a whole other country, at least when it comes to wireless. Alaska Digitel and ACS cover much of this extremely spread-out, rural state, aided by smaller companies like Alaska Wireless and Copper Valley Telecom.

Alaskan carriers' lineups don't have a lot of surprises in them. But the LG Spyder ($249.99) is on Alaska Digitel, and it doesn't appear in the major carriers' lineups. The Spyder is another touch-screen, sliding QWERTY feature phone, with an interesting off-center sliding panel.

Digitel also offers a 3G modem for your laptop at much lower rates than the major players. If you also have GCI cable service, you can roam around Alaska with a laptop modem for only $19.99/month. That's an amazing bargain compared to the $60/month the four major carriers charge.

Immix Wireless
Pennsylvania is a hotbed of little phone companies, and Immix covers 10 counties in the middle of the state, stretching from Reading northwest up to Lock Haven. This is well-trod country for the national carriers, so Immix plays up their national GSM roaming, unlimited plans, and unlocked GSM phones to compete with the likes of Verizon Wireless.

Immix shares some unusual phones with other small carriers, like Snapfon's simple EZ ONE and Alcatel's social-networking-focused Tribe, but we'll call out Immix's discounted ($414.99) devices. While we called the N97 Mini dated when it came out in February, it's a high-res, touch screen smart phone with free GPS navigation, and it hasn't been picked up by any national carrier.

Immix is one of the youngest small carriers; according to Wikipedia, they only opened up shop in 2005 - just as competitors were busy being snapped up by the big guys.

Cellcom
Cellcom, a regional carrier in northern Wisconsin and Michigan, dares do what no national 3G carrier dares: they dare you to make them your home Internet provider.

While the Big Four slap down caps and run in fear of heavy users, Cellcom is selling the Axesstel MV-440 ($99.95), a 3G-to-Wi-Fi router for homes in rural areas where the only alternative is dialup. They'll give you 50GB of Internet for $39.95/month, which is pretty impressive when you reflect that Verizon is currently selling 5GB for $60. The EVDO Rev A system may not be quite fast enough to stream Packers games in hi-def, but everyone in Cellcom's coverage area is probably physically at the Packers game anyway.

Along with their home modem, Cellcom sells a pretty deep array of CDMA mobile phones, ranging from free, voice-only phones up to the BlackBerry Curve 8530 ($79.95).

Cellcom is a descendant of Wisconsin's Northeast Telephone Company; they got into the cellular business in 1987, and later the parent company renamed themselves "Nsight." Nsight may be the only wireless company to own a coffee shop - Glas in Sturgeon Bay, which advertises its "all-natural hot chocolate."

Cellular One of AZ/NM/UT
Yet another Cellular One covers parts of northern Arizona, New Mexico and southern Utah with a focus on Navajo country. They serve around 80,000 customers with a GSM network and plans that include national roaming on AT&T's network, for lower than AT&T's rates.

Locals who choose Cellular One get an interesting array of unusual phones to choose from. Voice-only users may appreciate the Snapfon EZ-ONE, a super-simple phone with large buttons and loud ringers, designed for people who find standard cell phones too picky or annoying. Motorola Cube ($195.99) is a squarish texting phone I haven't seen on any major carrier, and the Nokia E75 ($379.99) is an expensive but very classy sliding-QWERTY smartphone.

Cellular One customers may want to shop around, though. Snapfon is selling the same phone that Cellular One sells for $129.99, for $99.99 on their own site. And Cellular One sells the E75 for $379.99, but I found a refurb model online for $266. Those phones will work on Cellular One's GSM network.

XIT Communications
Way out in the Texas panhandle you'll find XIT Communications, which serves about 9,000 people with 41 towers in dusty counties with names like "Deaf Smith." Unlike city-slicker wireless carriers, XIT Communications is all about making sure you can get coverage out on the range. So they make a big deal of selling wireless amplifiers and repeaters along with their phones.

XIT has an small range of GSM phones that they sell on 6-month contracts, but they include some attractive Nokia models. The best of the bunch is the E75, a city slicker of a smartphone if I've ever seen one - it's a sliding QWERTY with excellent email capabilities. Like many tiny carriers, XIT doesn't advertise phone prices on their Web site; they want you to come in and chat.