Hey folks
I'm looking for recommendations for what cell phone/data plans are best for SW Alaska....

Check the coverage maps for ACG, GCI, ATT, and Verizon.

GCI is probably your best bet.

I am pretty sure GCI is the only option.

ACS might have some coverage out west.

ATT and Verizon have very spotty coverage off the road system.

The only place I am aware that ATT worked in western AK was Nome.
Verizon is just starting up their coverage in AK.

ACS has access to all of GCI's network in the bush as of the last few months, so as far as in-state coverage either of those will give you phone and some form of data in most villages across the state. If you are mostly in one village, at least in Bristol Bay there is a local service that is actually better than GCI for coverage within the zone it covers...it just doesn't get you the breadth past the few villages that the service includes. I'm not aware of any other cell provider that covers the state well at all, but Kodiak may have other options that will cover Kodiak and the Anchorage/Valley area.

When I was home at Dillingham the only carriers that worked were GCI and I think maybe Bristol Bay Cellular too. I think AT&T works in Iliamna though. GCI has 3G in Dillingham now, it works better than most wifi. However last summer the network got bogged down when all of the fishermen came to town, maybe this will help cure that. My wife and I have a 500 min nationwide, texting, and with 3 gigs of data a piece for a little over $100/mo.

GCI is about it. They have coverage in most villages now. Sometimes their service isn't the best but really not much one can do about it. Cant switch to the competition unless you want to have a big bill from iridium. This last summer ACS was supposed to work in Dutch but never got hooked up on GCI network. As of September it still wasn't up. I thought they merged, GCI and ACS??

AT&T has reliable 3G in town in Kodiak, GCI has service in a couple of the villages.