What is everybodys thoughts about bringing a cellphone?
Rebecca & Bennett
CellPhone - Appalachian Trail
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#2
I’ve found they work about 50% of the time and are 8oz. more than I care to carry. If you are thinking of a way to call friends and family you’ll probably do better to use pay phones and phone cards in the numerous trail towns.
Having said all that; I’ve heard of three instances where cell phones were used to expedite evacuations of injured hikers.
It’s not that I enjoy being no help. I’m just sharing what I know.
Tin Cup
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#3
I bought one for my hike and then at the last moment I thought"what am I doing?"I took it back to the store.A phone card worked good for me. I guess to each his own. I just hope people dont get so use to them that they become as commonplace on the trail as they are on the roads.If that happens then we are sure to see people using them with less regard for others. Personally I think cell phones in public are rude.
Virginian
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#4
Cell phones are a top button topic.
LIke Virginian say, you really don’t need it. It is one more thing, and adds weight, and doesn’t work much of the time. A phone card is much lighter.
However, cell phones are becoming more and more common all the time. So, if you do decide to carry one, please be very courteous and not use it around other people.
Peaks
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#5
I’ve changed my mind on this subject. I want a cell phone tower, a MacDonalds, a Home Depot and a Medivac Helicopter on every mountain on the AT. All shelters should be handicap accessable for those cell phone users.
Blue Jay
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#6
Yes…and elecrical outlets to recharge the phones and laptops…and high speed data ports…and…and…and…
Don
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#7
Maybe for emergencies . . .maybe.
But like Virginian says, they really are rude. Especially on the trail where most everyone is escaping!
Le
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#8
BA Turtle and I carried one on the AT in 2001. We had Cingular Nationwide service. Hardly ever used it. We tried to call a motel or hostel occasionally to check for vacancy before hitching into a town. Often though when it showed we had a signal we couldn’t actually get connected. You’ve got to be concerned with moisture and you have to carry the AC adapter. In retrospect it was a mistake. I searched the internet and got the best deal on pre-paid phone cards. That’s the approach I’m taking for my thru this year. As an alternative means of communication I was tempted to look at the PocketMail gizmo but in the end just decided to keep it simple.
Footslogger
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#9
Why hike if you want to stay connected? We met one hiker with a cell phone and he was constantly calling home. He got homesick and finally quit the trail. Get a cheap phone card and call home every 3 to 5 days. (Port Clinton, PA has not public phone)
Papa Smurf
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#10
How DARE you call cell phone users rude. Since we cannot bring our late model sports cars onto the Trail we have to look important somehow. Even you dirtbaggers are now wearing North Face Jackets, have you no shame. We cannot wear our jewelry because it snags on the underbrush. We simply must have our cell phones if for no other reason than stock quotes. Rude!!!, I’ve never been so insulted in my life. Jeeves, hand me the phone.
Blue Jay
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#11
Well I see some of the responses would be a good arguement for birth control.
It is your hike. Do what you want to. I remember Wingfoot once stated that if you whipped one out in front of him he would stand next to you and beat on a pan with his hiking sticks. Be willing to assert your rights, as you perceive them, and smack anyone beating on a pan with hiking sticks.
Footnotes
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#13
A ringing/active phone in a shelter is like a fart in a crowded elevator … … … convenient for the farter, and an impossible-to-ignore imposition/distraction to everyone else around.
If you carry a mobile, just leave it off ALL THE TIME and, like passing gas, be polite and keep it 100% to yourself; WF is right on the money on this issue.
(and don’t complaint that yer pack’s too heavy!)
Papillon
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#14
You must agree that most thru hikers would not consider a fart in an elevator an imposition or a distraction.
How do you keep keep the gas 100% to yourself??? Did you find a new use for the platypus???
Tin Cup