Cell Phones - Appalachian Trail

imported
#1

For my thru-hike this year I am still undecided on carrying a cell phone. I have Sprint. How is the coverage on the trail and which company has the best coverage (if any) out there?

Texas Don

#2

This is a common post.

You will get very little coverage on the trail and will find that a cell phone is more of a waste of weight. why carry something that you don’t need? Call home every 2-6 days at a pay phone when you arrive in towns for resupply.

Leave the real world behind and enjoy the purity of nature.

Cheers!
:cheers

Boorah

#3

I have Sprint and can’t get service while on the AT for 10 miles north or south of Rockfish Gap, which is fairly close to Waynesboro to the west and Charlottesville to the east.

I have tried my phone from the top of the Priest, overlooking the entire Piedmont to the east and not gotten any signal. I have tried my phone in Shenandoah, on an overlook with clear shots east, and not gotten any signal. I did get service one day literally at the very top of Loft Mountain, but I had to stand up and stay in a certain position, not sit down out of the wind. It was quite a pain. I’ve found my phone can’t find a signal, as a rule and is useless weight.

I can only imagine how spotty or nonexistent service must be on more remote sections of the Trail. My experiences hiking with the phone, even relatively close to major towns, have led me to leave my Sprint phone at home. Plus, my phone doesn’t work with Pocketmail, so I have even more incentive to leave it out of my pack.

More trouble than it’s worth, IMHO and in my experience. Hope this helps. See you out there!:boy

Tyger

#4

I hiked through SNP a couple years ago with a cell phone using Sprint and only got reception in a couple places. One place was on top of Bearfence Mtn, which has a 360 degree view.

The previous year I had hiked with a cheap analog cell phone using Verizon service and got very good reception.

Bob J

#5

My wife and I have section hiked from Springer to Clingmans. Due to family health issues, we have to carry a cell phone. We were able to make connections to home just about 75% of the times we tried. For safety reasons, it is not a bad idea to carry a cell phone. We have been very happy with Verizon service. Great hiking, PaPa Larry

PaPa Larry

#6

I carry a cell phone to keep the wife (non-hiker at home) happy. Happy wife = happy hike (well, it helps, anyhow!). With Verizon I’ve had pretty regular service Springer through central VA, and also in southern VT.

Dioko

#7

Good coverage with Verizon for most of the AT especially if you are on the mountain tops.

Sometimes on the sides of mountains or in the deep hollows coming up or down a mountain and in the valleys, you will not be in line of sight of a cell tower and hence will not get a signal. So try to call when you are on mountain tops, and you will generally get a good signal.

Lots of cell phones on the trail. Good insurance in case you fall/get hurt or someone else does.

See you out there.:cheers

Maintain

#8

My initial reation to cell phones was "I hate them,I would never buy one."Some years later I bought one for use in my car “in case of an emergency”.I have carried one on quite a few hikes but found they were impractical for hiking:I couldnt get a signal.Last summer I traveled to the UP of Michigan and tried to get a signal,no luck.I agree with the majority of post here,leave it home,its not worth the weight.In addition,if you want to get a connection,that means someone has to put up Cell phone tower.Tower=visual pollution

old&in the way

#9

Dear Texas Don~
I carried my Sprint phone on my 2004 thru-hike b/c I wanted to stay in touch with my husband and three children. The service was not so great unless I put it in analog, and then the service was readily available particularly atop a summit. Verizon kept interefering with my Sprint service which was an annoyance. But remember that the analog mode is costly.
Ladybug

Ladybug

#10

I carry my cell phone while hiking in the Whites. I usually have service almost everywhere.

Sleeveless

#11

I carried one on the JMT in 2002. It came in really handy only once. I had to use it to call VVR for a ride across the lake to the resort. I was pretty glad to have it but it was more of a burden the rest of the time. It always nags me when I have delicate electrical equipment on a hike, constantly worrying about wet, cold or heat damage. In hindsight, I could just have easily camped cowboy style on the rocks and waited for the first boat the next afternoon.

They definately have cell phone coverage at White House Landing, I know this becasue they charge something like $5 to call the credit card payments in. Thats at least one place you can call the family from, you’ve only got to carry the thing 2130 miles to get there.

Cheers

Cheers

#12

I carried a cell phone for the whole of my thru hike in 2004. The first half of the trip (Springer to Harpers Ferry) were spotty, but could usually get a signal on top of mountains. The northern half was much better, particularly in Pennsylvania and Connecticut and north. I have Cingular. Most people with either Sprint or Horizon wound up sending their phones home. For me, the best part of having the cell phone is the ability to get reservations at motels, etc. or find out there’s no room in town when I’m arriving Fri or Sat night.

As an aside, I would never consider the cell phone as a safty device. It will fail you most of the time.

Bear Bag Hanger

#13

I always carry one. Currently on Nextel, no roaming charges. Pretty good coverage in New England.

Chef

#14

I’m sure that you’re getting the overall impression to avoid Sprint when you’re on the trail. I have Sprint due to a number of factors, but I wouldn’t take it on the trail. Their “nation wide long distance” is set up to activate only a certain distance away from major hwys or interstates. Beyond that, it’s kaput. Due to travelling a lot, I use it a lot; & have therefore learned it’s limits. My best guess has been that it’s ok for about 4 miles away from whatever major roadway that they establish as “big enough” to warrent a tower.

leah

#15

I have carried my Verizon phone each of the last three years, covering the southern 525 miles of the AT - Springer to Partnership Shelter in VA. Like Dioko said above, it keeps my wife happy to hear from me fairly regularly. I almost always get good service because I don’t try to call from a place likely to have interference. I keep the phone off and stored in a ziploc in a pocket in the interior of the pack. No problems with damage, moisture, etc. I can usually find a place to make a call where no one will come by and hear the conversation, so hopefully that’s not a huge issue for anyone. The weight is negligible, and hardly anyone even knows I have the phone with me. It’s a small concession for me to make for my wife’s peace of mind. Also, my wife and co-workers have a photocopy of the elevation charts for my hike each year, and they post them on a wall at the office, strung out about 15 feet long. I call in regularly, and almost everyone in the building comes by to track my progress (several hundred people). I use an 800 number to access the company voice mail, and leave the information for a co-worker to update the chart. Fun to have that much interest in my hike by keeping them up to date. That’s my experience. Hope this helps. CBiscuit

CBiscuit

#16

Alltell uses the same towers that verizon does and has additional ones. Alltell is the best when it comes to rural areas.

Buckwheat

#17

I and my various section hiking buddies have had just about all the above mentioned cellphone “brands”. The only one worth a crap is Verizon. None of the others are reliable enough to make it worth the weight and hassle. Unfortunately, I’d guess most taking them do so for “emergency” use, but if they got into the situation, wouldnt get service, so you cant really count on it for that purpose. The others take it for “the wife” but I like to hike to “get away” for a while, so usually, I cant get service no matter where or when I try, if you get what I mean. lol.

cutman11