Cell Phone Reception on AT

imported
#1

I want to carry a cell phone on my hike next year to maintain the lines of communication with my wife. I will not use it around others and try to be descrete. Hopefully I will not offend anyone by having it.
I know there are many hikers who go into the wilderness to escape the everyday world, they leave the electronics behind and believe everyone else should also.
What I would like to know is what company has the best signal along the trail. I have not renewed my phone yet and I’m not locked into any particular company.
I would appreciate recent hikers advice.
Chip

Chip

#2

Hi Chip…you may want to do a search re this topic; it’s been covered several times over in the 1.5 yrs I’ve been aware of this forum. (It’s on the bottom of this page; called Trail Forum Quick Search) Best of luck to you!

Leah

#3

I found the best carriers to be either Alltel or Verizon. Most of the time you will have an analog signal, so blackberry’s and digital devices won’t be able to receive email. I used Alltel, and there were very few times I could not get a signal. If anyone is looking to use email for journals a pocketmail works pretty well.

buckwheat

#4

Has anyone used Sprint as their carrier? if so, how was the reception and singal?? I to will carrie a cell phone because I will be hiking alone, and I do think its very important have yourself covered completly in case of a Crisis for yourself, or others, and also to once in awhile reasure Love one’s that all is well if you will not be in a trail town for some period.

Patriot

Patriot

#5

Since I have Sprint too; I paid attention to what other Sprint users said in the past. It usually didn’t work well. Probably cuz as you prob. already know; you have to be fairly close to a cell tower, or in a major urban area for the “nation wide long distance” to wk.

leah

#6

Just what Leah said. I carried Sprint and 90% of the time I was out there, no signal at all. I carried it only in case I fell or had the aforementioned emergency. It wouldn’t have done me a bit of good. Folks with Verizon and Nextel seemed to have the best reception. When I return in 2006, I will use a different carrier. I just don’t know which one. I’ll follow this with interest.

Creaky Bonze

#7

i can’t stand cell phones on the trail!!!

unless a fellow thruhiker is using it to order us pizza from a road-side shelter…then it’s pretty cool.:cheers

the goat

#8

I went NOBO this year, and I was rarely without a signal more than a day. I used a Blackberry, and my provider was Cingular. There was many a time when the phone was loaned to a Verizon or Sprint owner.

E-mail reception was no problem. The Blackberry sent and received e-mail almost each day. The signal may not have always been consistent, but at some point during the day I almost always had a signal. I don’t know if this is a plus or not, but there was only one full day in the 100 mile wilderness that I was not able to get a signal.

I did not really use my phone on the trail very much, but the Blackberry was great to journal with.

Mayfly

#9

Sprint sucks. Period

Bucky

#10

I went NOBO this year and was very happy with Verizon, I had service when many around me did not.

Redwolf

#11

Often I’ve been able to connect via Verizon from ridges, but usually not once off the ridge.

Dioko

#12

Thanks for the feedbac to my question. I was a satisfied Verizon customer and was planning to stay with them until the Pocketmail composer was delivered. There was a note on the box stating it would only work in analog mode on Verizon phones.

I tried it on our old Verizon phone and the note was correct. I switched to Cingular and it works fine.

Chip

#13

I would like to thank everyone who responded to this topic. I just completed my AT thru-hike (2006) and would like to update this topic from my findings. I had a Cingular Cell Phone with me the entire hike and found it satisfactory throughout the entire 2175 miles. I was able to make calls in most places including the Smokies and 110 Mile Wilderness. I also saw others with Verizon service have equally good luck connecting, they connected some places I coudn’t and vise versa. All in all the cell coverage along the trail was pretty good.

Chip