Well I'm going to be PCSing to Holloman in October and I have a ton of questions. I'll try to cut it down a bit though.

What kind of cell phone providers get the best service out there? I'm leaning towards Sprint right now.

What kind of internet service is generally the best to go with? And since I'll hopefully be living on base, is Baja Broadband the only option for us?

And one final question, how is base housing? Right now it's looking like I'll probably end up in the older/renovated base housing and I've read mixed reviews of it on here. 

I definately do not reccomend Sprint. I don't think I've met a happy Sprint customer. My husband and I both had so many problems with them. They double charged him repeatedly and then charged me for over 1000 text messages that were supposedly sent after my phone had been turned off by them. I have verizon now and I like it, sometimes I wait longer than I think is really necessary at the store but other than that no problems with them.

If you don't end up living on base, we bundled our landline phone, internet, and TV with Qwest. Decent price, no issues with the company.

I never lived on base so I can't answer any questions about that but I hope I helped a little bit.

Welcome to Holloman! Remember it is what you make it! :) 

Hi Brian glad to hear your coming to Holloman. This is a place where you either love it or hate it. I have to admit I didn't like it at first but I am learning to love it now.
My hubby and I live on base in the older houses ourselves. I wonder if you will be living in the ones there fixing up right now. We live one street away. If so, your really lucky. They are really fixing them up. I don't want to complain but I will worn you soaring heights (the private housing company for the base) are less than nice AFTER you sign your name on all that paperwork.
but anyways
My husband and I go threw Baja. I can't really say I have any issues with them. The area where I live is old and so no matter who you go threw the internet goes out off and on. They need to do a lot of updating out here.
As far as cell phones goes we go threw a company called cricket. They are a no contract cell phone company. Pretty cheap but limited to a hand full of states. We've driven threw most of New Mexico and had service.

Hey when you get here we will have to have you over for some good ol back yard BBQ. Do you have kids? Just wondering. We dont have kids but we do have a frog. HAHAHAHAHA!

Good luck and home to talk to you again.
Camelia 

Haha, no no Camelia no kids quite yet. Technically we aren't even married yet : P Just getting married on my way down to Holloman from Lakenheath. We might just have to take you up on that BBQ offer. I'd like to actually have somewhat of a community I can hang out with as opposed to living in the dorms right now on Lakenheath. The only thing I can compare these dorms to are college dorms where people have too much money and too little responsibility. Oh, and everyone can drink. 

Welcome to Holloman Brian! Hubby and I have been stationed here for 3 1/2 years- so any questions that you have- fire at me, I can probably answer them!

For cell phone service- I would recommend Verizon. Customer service here sucks, but it is probably the biggest provider here so there is good cell phone service. They also have a kiosk in the BX on base.

We live on base and have had both Qwest and now have Baja. We hate customer service with both companies. I heard a while ago that the base stopped contracting through Qwest so you might only be able to get Baja out here now....and maybe dish network? That would be a good question for the Soaring Heights people.

We live on base in newer housing but not the newest houses. We like our house for the most part and I really think you'll not mind most of the houses on base.........they are really trying to improve and renovate everything. Sometimes Soaring Heights can be a pain in the butt to deal with, but living on base is not that bad. It's like our own little private gated community :)

Anyways, as I've offered to other new people that are coming to Holloman, I'm more than willing to show you around when you get here or help you with anything you need. I know sponsors can sometimes not work out.....so if you need anything, let us know! 

We live on base as well and have Qwest and DirecTV. We had Baja for 3 years and I am glad we switched to Qwest!

We've never had any problems w/ Soaring Heights ;) 

Hey dude my hubby and I just moved from lakenheath. We was up there for 5 years. Be prepared because its a totally different down here. HOT as HELL!!! Sun every day. Oh and get this they just opened up a kabob shop. YEAH!!!! Its not like up there but shoot its better than nothing. We dont have any kids yet either. We just dont want any. For sure we got to hang out now!!!!!
Congrats on getting married.
Hey what squad was you with while at lakenheath? I wonder if much has changed? Sure do miss it. 

Honestly, I can't wait to leave : P I'm coming out of the 493rd AMU as a crew chief. What's your hubby do? And if he's on the flightline, how busy is it out there?

Not too much has changed around the base itself. Unless hew as in Gold then I probably can't give him too much more info on what's going on here. 

Hi Brian, well since you are living in old housing, you can get Qwest. My family got DirectTV and had no problems, we have Verizon and no problems with that company. No dropped calls, service always clear. Verizon store is on base always there to help with problems that You may have. Holloman is a good place and a lot to do, you just have to get out as much as possible. No complaints from this end. I hope this helps you and your wife to be. Congratulations! :) 

Hey Brian! My husband and I will be moving to Holloman around the same time :) So we will be in the same boat as you and your fiance. How do you know that you'll probably get the older or renovated house? We are coming from Kadena so we are really open to any kind of housing...it's GOT to be better than what we are in now haha! We do have a kid, she just turned 2, but once we get settled we should arrange some kind of Hollomanunderground BBQ! My husband is a crew chief on 15s right now but I guess he'll be working on 22's when we get there. We're going to use Verizon cell phone service because we liked them before we moved here (but honestly, I am nervous about getting a cell haha, we haven't had one in the 3 yrs we've been in Japan and the technology has changed so much in that short time...and I am technologically challenged). We also only get pre-recorded cable that is a day behind so we will be happy with any cable/internet service :)

I hope to meet some of the friendly people off of this website! They've really changed my opinion of getting stationed there (for the better).

~Jessica~ 

What is your job Brian?

We had ATT when we got here in Jan2010 but our internet didn't work. We swapped to Verizon and love it! You can get a 15$ a month discount on your bill for being active duty!

We use baja for internet because of the discount we get for living on base and DISH for cable and love them both.

My husband does 22 Avionics and for him the flight line is normally pretty busy, I think it depends on your job. People that have been to bigger bases like Langley or Nellis say this line is the best because they normally work a good schedule with not a lot of extra hours or wknd duty

Congrats, married life is amazing and welcome to Holloman 

Hi Brian, welcome to Holloman/Alamogordo. One thing I can tell you about cell service is that if you are planning on making any trips into the mountains around here (which I would highly recommend to escape the heat of the summer or enjoy the snows of winter) I would certainly suggest Verizon. I lived in Cloudcroft for a while and have been to Ruidoso quite often and Verizon is about the only service with almost complete consistency. I had AT&T when in Cloudcroft and didn't have service most of the way driving up the mountain but it was good right in the village of Cloudcroft but those I know that have Verizon up there have service driving all the way down the mountain. (Side note: Along with the base service kiosk, Verizon has two more stores in Alamogordo. I'm not sure about the others)

Also, I believe Baja is the cheapest route for TV but if you are into HD and higher tech TV services then DirecTV has more to offer along those lines. And you can bundle Verizon, DirecTV and Qwest home phone service along with internet. I believe Baja offers a similar bundle.

Good luck, have a lovely wedding and a safe journey! 

Jessica--I'm starting to lean towards horizon but the rates that Sprint offer are just pretty tempting for what you can get. But if Sprint coverage out there is horrible, maybe I should stick with Verizon. Not sure, I'll have to keep on thinking about it and will probably end up going with Verizon anyways.

And I'm not really sure what kind of housing we'll be in just yet. I've just called over to soaring heights and have been told that they have plenty of the older base housing open right now, but not much in the way of new base housing.

Living Life-- Well right now I'm working on the F-15s out at RAF Lakenheath as a crew chief. I heard that Avionics on 22s is pretty crazy and that crew chiefs are pretty lax there because of the new technology : ) But we'll see. 

That is what my husband heard as well. He's looking forward to a change regardless because here at Kadena (according to him and others in his shop) things are run very tight and by the book. We are waiting for orders so we can try to apply for housing in advance online and see what we are offered. My husband's only requirement is that it have a garage. 

Here it is. This comment will bring it to the front so you can reread the comments on cell service and others can add to it if they want. 

Hi Brian! Welcome to Holloman! My hubby and I have been out here since February. This is our first base, we are newlyweds too!! Congrats on getting married by the way!! And we don't have kids either, not yet anyway :)

We live in the old houses..ours has not been renovated yet. It looks pretty tough on the outside, but we actually don't mind..it is nicer than any apartment we have ever lived in, haha!

We go through AT&T, we don't have the best service because it is not 3G out here, but I heard a rumor that AT&T are in the process of buying out the towers in Alamogordo, but who knows.

For internet and cable we have direcTV and qwest, and we have them bundled together. They are alight, but I guess in the new houses you can't have qwest for some reason.

My husband works on the flight line, he is a crew chief as well. He says the yes, the flight line is sort of busy, depending on what you are working on. He said that if you are coming from a 15 or 16 to the 22 then no, it wont really seem busy. So, I don't know.

Anyway, welcome to Holloman and let us know what you get here, Camilia is my neighbor so maybe we can all get together for a BBQ or something? 

Ooh, and just so you know, I have a few friends who live in new homes on base, and they say they are built really cheap. I really enjoy the older house..but like I said..from the outside they look horrible, but the inside is not bad at all. Small bathrooms are my biggest complaint... 

Kaity and anyone else in the old or renovated housing, do they have garages? (Not a carport/overhang) 

I am about to PCS to Holloman as well! I should leave Nov 1st. Right now my wife and I are stationed at Eielson in Fairbanks,Alaska. Talk about a HUGE change! You have already asked some things I was thinking of asking.

I am still way up in the air as to if I want to live on base or off base this time. This is our second base and we are in our mid twenties and perfeclty capable of living off base lol. I just don't want to get stuck in an old home on base I guess. We got lucky and got in extremely nice housing here in Alaska.

Of course we don't have A/c here so I am looking forward to sitting in an air conditioned house for a change! It get's over 80 degrees inside everywhere up here in the summer because nobody has AC!

I am a crew chief as well coming from 16's. My assignment says 849th AMXS which I understand is UAVs. I hope that's true as it would be a great change of pace! A buddy I work with is also pcsing to Holloman in Jan.

I have AT&T right now. Sucks too becaus emy wife and I just got the new iphone 4! So I am guessing it will be ages before I can get 3g there lol.

As far as off base housing does anyone have any recommendation as far as renting a house? My wife and I have been living in apartments for about 6 years now and would really like a change from that if possible. And it looks like even the newer housing on base is apartment style? 

A garage would be a welcome addition for mu Mustang by the way :) 

Welcome Chris. My husband and I have been stationed at Holloman for almost 4 years now and are actually on our way out. We lived in town for the first year (rented a house) and then moved onto base for the remaining time. We rented through Coldwell Banker downtown. When we got here, it was hard to find someplace to rent......the decent priced houses were in the ghetto and the house we ended up renting we bargained for a price that we could afford. Compared to back home, utilities here are expensive so that was something else we had to deal with. There are a couple of realty companies here that you could get rental listings from to look for a house to rent. Also, don't bet on air conditioning, a lot of the houses we looked at in town had swamp coolers.

I would offer to show you guys around when you get here, but we will be gone by then. If you have any other questions, we have been here a while, so I will try and answer them for you! 

Hello and welcome soon to you and your wife Chris! As far as your iPhone goes, it is now completely legal to "jailbreak" it, although that does void any warranty the phone has it opens it up to possibilities that to date Apple and AT&T had restricted. I'll put a link to an interesting article at the end of this post and you can find many more on the internet because of the recent legalization ruling.

Also, if you deal with a broker/real estate agent/company to find a house for you here, be sure to ask for "refrigerated air", because as Christy said a lot of houses here still have swamp coolers and they are just not nearly as cooling as a/c, especially when the weather is a bit humid. The swamp coolers just add more moisture into the air. And according to meteorologist studies, the Southwest is not as dry or arid as it once was and that does not look to be changing back but possibly increasing, and as I said swamp coolers are just not as efficient in cooling as air conditioners. But one reason so many people are still hanging on to them is the changeover cost and the added utility expense of a/c, because it is more expensive electricity-wise to run an a/c. But the joy of a nice cool house is worth it.

3G Face Time 

Thanks Christy for the advice :) I have been doing research on the whole swamp cooler thing lol. I noticed that alot of the houses I see in my BAH range are shady o say the least. It's sad that we get done this way just because the Germans are able to pay so much more that it drives up the rest of the places.

I heard alot of people complaining that the older base housing had serious roach and spider problems as well!I need to see what the waiting list is for the newer housing I guess.

Also I have already jailbroken my Iphone :) Do any carriers offer 3g there at all? lol 

Chris- You are more than welcome and thanks for thanking me! lol. I don't know what your rank is....but my husband and I were both working full-time to afford our house in town if that tells you anything about rental prices.

To be honest.....there are pros and cons to all of the housing on the base. It really just depends on what you are looking for. For example...a lot of the newer homes are very poorly constructed because they were put up so fast and they have small backyards. The older homes have a more spacious living area and nice backyards. The swamp coolers are a downfall to the old housing........but they are renovating some of the older housing and I have heard they are actually making it pretty nice. We live in "middle" housing (not the old officer housing but not the brand new houses either) and we actually like our little house. It is duplex style but we rarely hear our neighbors and it has air conditioning. I don't think the housing wait is super long. I know a couple that just got here and was offered an old officer house right away and when they turned that down, were offered a 'middle' house like mine pretty quickly. There is a wait for the new ones of course I think at least through September and it might even be longer. My best suggestion would be to keep an open mind and check out the houses when you guys get here. Also, to check with the local real estate companies for rentals. My husband and I went to a couple of the real estate companies when we got here and got their rental lists and got a map and drove around town checking the houses out. It was a great way to learn our way around town and was kind of fun for us. Some of the real estate companies will even give you keys to the rental properties so that you can go and check them out without a real estate agent right there with you. Hope this helps. 

the old houses have carports, the new ones have garages. i wouldnt be to worried about your iphone, i have the same phone and it does just fine..just dont expect your internet on your phone to be fast.
housing off base is pretty expensive, even for the apartment since you have to pay all utilities. las cruces is about an hour away and there is more housing there, but its a long drive to do 2 times a day. 

Holloman is in the desert .. you will find spiders in new and old houses ;) 

Hello!
My husband and I will also be pcsing soon to Holloman at the end of october from Alaska. We are very excited! However, I am a bit nervous about the housing on and off base. We would really like to rent off base but sky high utility bills are not appealing. Neither is living in a shady looking house with bars on the windows. Has anyone had any positive experiences living off base here? If we decide to go with on base, is there a usual waitlist time? How hard is it to get a house with a garage on base. We have to have a garage (no carport). Also one last question for now. When we arrive and have to stay in tlf, pets are not allowed, right? We have a dog and a cat, so if anyone has a reccomendation of a good kennel, that would be super helpful. :) Thanks, I'm sure I will have more questions to come. 

hey brian!
my husband and i use cricket for cell service, we used to have verizon but verizon here in alamo is absolutely terrible (atleast they were to us). im happy with cricket i rarely loose service and its cheap!
for cable we use direct tv and i love love love it!
We also live in older housing, a few houses from camelia as a matter of fact. I have two daughters and a step son. If you looking for a friendly neighborhood older housing is definitely it! you will see kids running from house to house and adults gathering in a front yards to B.S. about their days! i rarely see "block parties" going on with the new houses :)
Good luck on your move and keep and open mind and you will love it! 

Has anyone tried Virgin Mobile? They are advertising unlimited messaging, email, data, & web and 300 minutes for $25 a month, $40 for 1200 minutes, and $60 for unlimited everything. Their service areas seem to be right in the local cities and not much in between but since I don't travel the roads much that would be okay as long as the service locally is good. 

Virgin Mobile is the biggest rip off company there is, DON'T TRUST THEM. They never do what they say they will either.

Verizon is the best when it comes to service reception... my husband has AT&T and he can't receive hone calls unless he's lucky. AT&T said that the problem is they "do not have a 3G tower here."
Personally, I never have a problem with Verizon.

BAJA has the best internet. Our friends down the street have QUEST and they say the internet cuts out while playing xBox Live. My husband plays xBox Live while I'm on the internet at the same time and the connection stays strong.

We use Direct TV and it works very well... although we don't need/use all of the channels.

The old RENOVATED officer housing is lovely on the inside. Big enough backyard for two trampolines. ;)
We love our home and I'm picky about cleanliness.

Old renovated homes DO have garages. Some have a one car garage, others have a two car garages. I have the two car garage and it's wonderful. :)

We also have central A/C and our house is freezing in 5-minutes.

Welcome. People here are friendly for the most part. :)