I just talked to the guy who helped me my repeater license.  I had been told all I needed to do was to upgrade the radios to narrowband and I have the software to do that.  The radio shop guy told me just the morning that If your license is not upgraded for narrowband, the FCC will cancel it as of Jan 1, 2013.  The cost for upgrading the license is $60 per call sign and he is taking care of it for me for $25 per call sign.  He will leave the wideband part of the license intact so I will be legal as I transition to all narrowband radios.

Mobile to mobile, vhf, we can talk 10 to 15 miles fairly reliably.  Mobile to base will go 20 usually and have talked 50+ when the mobile is on a high spot on Interstate 80.

I have a VHF repeater license, in addition to my original simplex VHF license.  I can hit the repeater with a portable from about 15 miles line of sight and maybe further.  Mobile/repeater/mobile is nice because we can talk in a 25 to 30 mile radius of the repeater.  We hope to extend that range another 30 to just above Torrington on a hill on US85.  When we haul sugarbeets from CO to Torrington it is good to have radio communication almost the entire distance.  We will continue to have dead spots through the Horse Creek drainage area (10 thru 20 from repeater) and the North Platte River drainage area (60+ miles from repeater).

Cell phones are good for emergencies, though we have better radio coverage than cell coverage in some areas.  Cell phones are good for speaking with other drivers not on our repeater (we have no others on right now, though most allow me to program in their vhf frequency so I scan their channels) and also for business calls.

I don't recall what the repeater license costs.  In the range of $150-$300 as I recall, and the frequency coordination is about the same, maybe $350.  You may be able to get into a good used repeater for just less than $1000.  UHF repeaters commonly sell for less than that.  Since we already had the vhf radios, going with vhf repeater was a no-brainer.  The vhf frequency pairs may already tied up in more urban areas than WY.

Edited to add that I would not even consider going on a repeater network for a fee, when you need the radio it is apt to be busy.  New squelch options may have eliminated the problem but I would be sure to check that out before committing to the service for any length of time.