Pay-as-you-go is a no-go

During our stop in Brigham City, UT, we stopped at the local AT&T store to get a pay-as-you-go phone. We discussed our route with the salesperson and were assured the phone would work for the entire way. (You can foresee where this is going.)

Well, the phone worked in Brigham City but not for long after that. We took I-80 across Wyoming, having 5 full bars of reception the entire way. But, the message "Service unavailable" kept displaying. We could see oceans of cell phone towers (like the one my brother jumped off of), but still no service.

Finally, we stopped at a pay phone to call AT&T. Much to our dismay, we were told that they did not have pay-as-you-go service contracts set up with any of the cell phone towers in Wyoming. In fact, she told us we wouldn't have service in Wyoming at all, that Denver would be spotty coverage, Nebraska would have no coverage, and Iowa probably wouldn't have much either.

This is a big thumbs-down for the AT&T pay-as-you-go plans.