Cell phones in remote places

[Mikej]

I worked for AT&T in 2001 and they had the best coverage you could get. Then they sold out to Cingular I believe and when they came back to the cell phone biz they had crap coverage.

Verizon has always (for me) had the best service anywhere I go. Too bad I hate them and their gold diggin ways. I would love to go elsewhere, but can't beat their coverage.

We were with Verizon for years, got one of the first pic phones and a $38.00 a month bill. only kept the phone for traveling and a long distance call to mom once a week or so.

I heard about "Page Plus" and "mysupplyworld" from Clark Howard I think. You buy their phone, from $39.00 or so up to $350.00+ and then choose your minutes monthly. Auto fill or manual. We don't use much so we get 250 minutes a month and very little data. If we go on a trip we pay for the $29.99 package a lot more minutes and plenty of data for us. They operate on Verizon towers. They've been as good as Verizon, with none of the bad.

Mike

 

[Caveman Jim]

I've got ATT and it is pretty good . The only time I have trouble is when I'm swimming.

OR fishing, my last phone thought it was so hot that it jumped into the friggin lake!!!!! No kidding.

It rates up there in total disbelief with loosing 20' of SS cable and a new downrigger weight first deployment in the morning.......

 

[oknow]

OR fishing, my last phone thought it was so hot that it jumped into the friggin lake!!!!! No kidding.

It rates up there in total disbelief with loosing 20' of SS cable and a new downrigger weight first deployment in the morning.......

Ouch

 

[Scoop]

Thanks for the input gentlemen. A buddy of mine said the problem may so have been the abandonment of my trusty flip phone that took advantage of the remaining analog signals out there. Although I dont know how much credence to lend to that theory as I was under the impression that was done away with some years ago. Verizon thinks their service is made of gold and has HORRIBLE customer service, (ie my girlfriends kids racked up $900 in texts one month last year and they were more than understanding and knocked off $15)! My oldest boys birthday usually falls within my annual bowhunting trip so I walk 4 miles to an 8000ft peak with line of site to the Baker valley to call him and check in with the rest of he family. Another friend up there with verizon can climb just a thousand feet up behind camp and get a text out. Last month I was at 5500ft overlooking half of Idaho with three bars and the call wouldnt go through. At another spot on the north side of Mt Hood we've camped at for ten years and could call and text from was dead this year. Even took a pic of the cell tower just a mile away! Att just says sorry for your luck. My nephew has had good luck with sprint. He was bs-ing with a buddy the whole way between Lagrande and Pendleton over Emigrant pass while I struggled to even get texts out here and there. Maybe I'll get a sprint and verizon go-phone and test them out this weekend.

 

[Velzey]

I have AT&T and hunt over in the Eagle Caps, and I figure it's just part of hunting there. Go down into a 4000' canyon no cell phone is going to work.. In the evenings I take the atv up to the top of a lookout and make my calls..
I don't need to be in constant contact with the outside world.. Not when hunting is involved!!!!

 

[Caveman Jim]

Exactly, I take the trips to get away from it all like the old days. Wish technology was a lot slower than it is...

 

[Scoop]

No cell service is definitely a bonus to my hunt area! Im just tired of not having ANY service when I make the effort to check in.

 

[CoastRange57]

What this simply comes down to is location of towers and you. 800 - 900 mghz signals are basically line of sight and need to be able to make the tower with your .25 watt signal. Anything substantial in the way will stone that signal big time.

My Baofeng handheld will open a repeater in the Wilson River Canyon with no problem with 1 watt on 147.320 VHF just fine. We just spent a week at Oceanside with no cell service. Had internet and if I laid the antenna of the Baofeng on the metal roof of the house, I could bounce a signal to the 440 repeater in Manzanita.

I have had ATT for 17 years. It works great most spots, but can be problematic in my own living room due to the BPA transmission line between me and the tower. Much closer to me than the tower.

 

[Caveman Jim]

One of my duties as a cable splicer was to install T-1 lines to all the new and existing towers in the Grays Harbor/Pacific county area years ago when the cell phone craze took off. Verizon was the first provider to each of the contract cell sites. So they are the cats meow in my neck of the woods.....

 

[CoastRange57]

Back in the early nineties, I worked for an outfit installing electrical lines up to these new cell towers that were being installed to handle the demand on these new cell phones.

I plowed in miles of heavy cable electrical line, did hundreds of road crossings, creek crossings. I saw some of the best views in the state, and worked in some of the worst conditions you could imagine. That was big business for a while.

 

[Oregonhunter5]

Exactly, I take the trips to get away from it all like the old days. Wish technology was a lot slower than it is...

No worries, that's coming soon.