FishnBrad:

Can't speak for Forks or the OP, but there is limited service from Verizon in the Concrete area..but you will lose it about 3 miles west of Rockport. From there out there isn't any service, nor will you find signal heading down the Sauk till you get into Darrington.

I switched (had to) from AT&T to Verizon when we moved here, as AT&T's closest cell site was 14 miles away, and they had no plans to extend service out further.

AT&T operates on the TDMA and GSM formats (with new variables coming soon). The GSM format is most popular in Europe and offers more "toys" on the phone, but it also requires cell sites closer together to be effective. Too many miles of road, river and ocean here for GSM to be really effective.

Verizon operates on a platform known as CDMA, and there (currently) are more cell sites that use this platform than any other. I believe Cingular also uses CDMA, as well as US West, but most of those sites are Verizon sites and you'll be paying roaming costs on some of them.

There are some areas that just aren't condusive to cell service due to geography, etc. When I fished Shilshole we found a "dead" spot just off the point, where there was a land-based sweeping radar system. Every time the thing swept we would get zilch for coverage...strong signal just long enough to say "Hello" and then...wham...gone.

Overall..Verizon is probabaly your best bet, IMO.

Mike