{{no footnotes, date=April 2019
Northcoast PCS was an Independence, Ohio-based prepaid
mobile phone
A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...
Cleveland
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
. It offered unlimited roaming in
Dayton
Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...
and Toledo for an additional monthly fee by a reciprocal roaming agreement with Cricket Communications signed in December 2004.
Northcoast owned a large amount of PCS licenses over the US that covered about 47 million POPs during the US government's D- E- and F-block PCS auctions. Unfortuantly to cell phone enthusiasts, only the Cleveland license was built out and provided service. At some point in its history, it sold its Canton spectrum. The rest of the licenses not used by Revol were sold to
Verizon Wireless
Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the div ...
.
In 2005, Northcoast would change its name to Revol Wireless and tell its customers it was a new company. This tactic was supposed to calm down Northcoast customers and give the carrier a fresh start. Northcoast PCS and Revol both have one of the highest negative
Better Business Bureau
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is an American private, 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization founded in 1912. BBB's self-described mission is to focus on advancing marketplace trust, consisting of 92 independently incorporated local BBB organizati ...
ratings in Ohio with over 31 major reports in the last 36 months alone (see source link below.)