Best cell provider for backcountry coverage?

[octavius]

For those that have good or above average cell coverage in the wild, what cell provider do you use? I've found my t-mobile is pretty useless out there... I've heard some good stuff about Verizon.

[Dannible]

With Verizon I was able to make a call from the top of Black Peak in the North Cascades. There was no service when standing two feet below the actual summit, but on the very top I was able to make the call. I haven't tried it in other places in the mountains. Oftentimes I don't have service in the lowlands though.

[PaulO]

I have had Verizon for years and as long as you are sufficiently up in altitude and not surrounded by obstacles it works well from Mt. Adams, St Helens, Hood, all the Sisters etc. You MUST have an analog capable phone and on the newer phones know how to get to the service menu to force it to call analog. Most new phones will not switch as long as they receive a digital signal from the tower and, while you receive a strong signal, your phone will not transmit that far. I have had analog phones connect 50+ miles away from summits. It is not perfect like near towers but works pretty well. Nothing works in lowlands away from towers.

[ryland_moore]

Are you asking in case of emergency purposes? If so, then maybe carrying a long-range talkabout, CB radio, or sat phone would be more reliable.

 

I have Verizon, but never had to use it in the backcountry for an emergency, so I don't know what the coverage is like. I did try to make a call out while at 11k on Denali to tell a guy I wanted to accept a job so they didn't give it away, but since I got very little reception, they gave the job away.......

 

Dannible, what emergency did you have on Black peak?

I say this becasue two years ago, I was up on Hood and we saw this older overweight guy yapping on his phone having a conversation for 30 minutes about an upcoming trip to Hawaii, talking so that everyone else could hear him. My buddy got so fed up with him, he knocked the phone out of the guys hand and tried to kick it down the Cooper Spur. It didn't go off, but the guy got the message.

 

I think I'll take up this sort of mentalityl if I see folks doing this unless for emergency purposes too!

 

If all you want is good cell phone coverage to call your non-climbing buddies waking from a drunken stupor the night before to show how cool you are then 1) You are not that cool, 2) Climbing peaks like Black peak or mt. hood is not hard, nor technical so there is nothing o brag about in the first place, and 3) if you are so insecure that you need to receive kudos from people who know nothing about climbing so that you can make yourself feeol better, go get help, don't ruin my experience on the summit.........

 

Sorry for the rant..........

[PaulO]

Geesh, I assumed the guy wanted to know for the same reasons I carry my phone - possibly good in emergencies and I like to call my wife and let her know I am on my way back cause I am usually by myself. Must have been a nice calm day up on hood?

[Alpinfox]

 

Seems like reception range is going to vary dramatically between different phones as well. I know my phone has crappy reception becuase other folks with cingular service have been able to make calls when I haven't gotten a signal.

[octavius]

Yeah, thanks for the lecture. I'm not going to use the phone to call my buddies from a summit

 

I had an experience a couple weeks ago where my friends had to bail on a climb and I was waiting for them at the trail head. My t-mobile gets no coverage up Highway 20 anywhere beyond Cedro Wooly and they could not reach me... I get no coverage in Marblemount but I now some people do... never tried it from the summit of Baker. I have seen cases where other people's cell's worked from various places in the wild, and mine never has. Emgergency use would be a plus. Sounds like Verizon would be a step up, and I'll loog for combined analog service too.

[chesterboo]

I did try to make a call out while at 11k on Denali to tell a guy I wanted to accept a job so they didn't give it away, but since I got very little reception, they gave the job away.......Dannible, what emergency did you have on Black peak?3) if you are so insecure that you need to receive kudos from people who know nothing about climbing so that you can make yourself feeol better, go get help, don't ruin my experience on the summit.........

 

It sounds like that was a great emergency you had on Denali there. I wonder why you didn't get the job. Maybe it was not the reception but rather your asshole attitude.

[ryland_moore]

You were the fat ass talking about Hawaii up on Hood weren't you?! Or are you just another Mountie?

 

People that know me would say I am laid back about most stuff except cell phones anywhere in the bc (although Hood is far from being in the bc.....).

 

Sorry to jump on you PaulO. I just thought it was weird that you had advice on cell phone coverage from so many peaks......

 

as for accepting a job while on Denali, it was mine for the taking, had nothing to do with my attitude, and was lucrative. What happened was I actually turned the job down while boarding the plane in Seattle, had second thoughts, and tried calling back. As life usually does, it worked out and I ended up in Portland rather than SLC. All for the better.

 

I would ask another question though and that is does anyone find reliability for emergencies with other forms of communication such as CB? Anyone ever used a long-range talk-about in emergency situations and had it actually work? I have heard rumors that even when a cell phone does not have coverage, that a 911 call shouldstill get through. Is this really true? Anyone ever tried it?

[PaulO]

Not sure if Verizon is best everywhere. The thing to remember is cell signal is line of sight so if there is nothing in the way (ie: up high on a mountain) and your phone can be forced to connect analog (getting scarce nowadays) you likely can connect at least sporadically.

[ryland_moore]

Octavius, is that local pay phone still in Marblemount where you can make a local call to Seattle or did they remove it? Like I said, I have verizon and I've never had good reception along highway 20. i did get reception in Marblemount though then not until Sedro Wooley.

[PaulO]

No prob. ryland- I been up all of the easy ones around here over the years...

 

I believe cell providers are required to accept 911 calls even if you have no service through them but you would still need to be able to connect.

 

Not sure about the other devices.

[octavius]

Octavius, is that local pay phone still in Marblemount where you can make a local call to Seattle or did they remove it?

I found a pay phone at Clark's, but I don't think it was considered local to Seattle, it wanted $2.90 to make a call to the 206 area code.

[goatboy]

Are you asking in case of emergency purposes? If so, then maybe carrying a long-range talkabout, CB radio, or sat phone would be more reliable.

 

I have Verizon, but never had to use it in the backcountry for an emergency, so I don't know what the coverage is like. I did try to make a call out while at 11k on Denali to tell a guy I wanted to accept a job so they didn't give it away, but since I got very little reception, they gave the job away.......

 

Dannible, what emergency did you have on Black peak?

I say this becasue two years ago, I was up on Hood and we saw this older overweight guy yapping on his phone having a conversation for 30 minutes about an upcoming trip to Hawaii, talking so that everyone else could hear him. My buddy got so fed up with him, he knocked the phone out of the guys hand and tried to kick it down the Cooper Spur. It didn't go off, but the guy got the message.

 

I think I'll take up this sort of mentalityl if I see folks doing this unless for emergency purposes too!

 

If all you want is good cell phone coverage to call your non-climbing buddies waking from a drunken stupor the night before to show how cool you are then 1) You are not that cool, 2) Climbing peaks like Black peak or mt. hood is not hard, nor technical so there is nothing o brag about in the first place, and 3) if you are so insecure that you need to receive kudos from people who know nothing about climbing so that you can make yourself feeol better, go get help, don't ruin my experience on the summit.........

 

Sorry for the rant..........

 

What a presumptuous, un-warranted, self-righteous rant.

 

Asking if a phone gets reception is different than actually using the thing to make egregious calls...for the emergency purposes that have been mentioned already.

 

[chesterboo]

RM. screw you. You sound like a complete ass ranting about non emergency use of a cell phone while bragging that you were on Denali talking about your phone call at 11K and not getting a job. How is that better than someone talking on the summit of Hood in your opinion? Let us all hear your grand reasoning you bitch.

[fern]

lets not.

 

lets keep this thread on the topic of cellphone reception.

 

or it WILL disappear.

 

start a new thread if you want to argue about ethics of using cellphones in the backcountry. or search the archives and resurrect one of countless old ones.

[olyclimber]

the best cellphone provider depend entirely on where you are at. currently it seems almost all (may all because the fed is driving them away from analogue so they can reuse that radio band?) phone service providers only offer digital service. digital service (PCS, GSM, TDMA) requires a larger number of antennas to cover the same amount area fewer analog towers do. This means, you have to be closer to an available tower for digital service...so that type of service sucks in areas where there aren't a lot of towers and there are a lot of mountains. Analog actually works better in more rural areas because it requires less antennas. And stuff.

[els]

Are you asking in case of emergency purposes? If so, then maybe carrying a long-range talkabout, CB radio, or sat phone would be more reliable.

 

I have Verizon, but never had to use it in the backcountry for an emergency, so I don't know what the coverage is like. I did try to make a call out while at 11k on Denali to tell a guy I wanted to accept a job so they didn't give it away, but since I got very little reception, they gave the job away.......

 

Dannible, what emergency did you have on Black peak?

I say this becasue two years ago, I was up on Hood and we saw this older overweight guy yapping on his phone having a conversation for 30 minutes about an upcoming trip to Hawaii, talking so that everyone else could hear him. My buddy got so fed up with him, he knocked the phone out of the guys hand and tried to kick it down the Cooper Spur. It didn't go off, but the guy got the message.

 

I think I'll take up this sort of mentalityl if I see folks doing this unless for emergency purposes too!

 

If all you want is good cell phone coverage to call your non-climbing buddies waking from a drunken stupor the night before to show how cool you are then 1) You are not that cool, 2) Climbing peaks like Black peak or mt. hood is not hard, nor technical so there is nothing o brag about in the first place, and 3) if you are so insecure that you need to receive kudos from people who know nothing about climbing so that you can make yourself feeol better, go get help, don't ruin my experience on the summit.........

 

Sorry for the rant..........

 

I was with Dan on this climb. We were doing Black Peak in a day, and the second half of the approach took longer than we anticipated. We reached the summit in time for a spectacular sunset but we still facing an easy scramble down and fairly hefty hike out (there's a good sized bolder field that you have to cross). We called those who were expecting us back soon to let them know that we're going to be quite a bit longer than expected.

 

I dislike cell phones in general especially while in the mountains. We were the only people on the summit, and were on the phone for something like 30 seconds. There's no way I'd brag about climbing in general, let alone while on the summit. That'd ruin it.

 

As far as Black Peak not being impressive... well it's not technically hard, but it's a good climb nonetheless. You're obviously much cooler than us...

Edited August 12, 2006 by els

[Alpinfox]

blah blah blah

 

So you'd say that "the best cell provider is the one having the most towers?"

[Alpine_Tom]

If you need a cell phone for an emergency, you need a better plan.

 

That said, the best cell service in the mountains is with an analog phone -- as long as there's still analog service. I got benighted last fall on Stuart, with my fancy Cingular phone, no digital service (wife panicked, called the sherrif, etc.) But the previous year, up on Tomihoi Peak where there was apparently no digital service available, I got decent (if scratchy) analog service. It's my understanding that if these things see any sort of digital signal, they won't use their built-in analog circuitry at all.

[PaulO]

You are correct that newer phones will not switch to analog if they get any digital signal. You used to be able to force the phone to dial analog in the setup menu but now (if the phone will even do it) they hide it in the service menu. Many phones you can get to the service menu by pushing the menu key once then several zero's. Just be careful not to change anything else - look for 'force mode' or 'force call' selection and choose analog. If you change the mode you will need to change it back later when you return to digital country. Of course you need an analog capable phone to do this. All cell carriers are trying to do away with analog service so in the not too distant future your phone will no longer work at all in remote areas no matter how high up you are.

 

I had the same prob with my wife last summer when I went out with my new tri-mode phone and then discovered it would not switch to analog. Not good.

 

That is when I found out you could still switch it over they just hid the menu.