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Old 08-19-2013, 09:05 AM   #1
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Wireless Coverage Gaps

OK. I messed up. I didn't do all of the research that I should have before our trip to South Dakota and Wyoming. But it appears that it might not have helped me a lot anyway.


We had a breakdown at Devil's Tower WY and didn't have any AT&T wireless coverage there. This map
AT&T Maps - Wireless Coverage Map for Voice and Data Coverage from AT&T
suggests that we should have had it. As I move the map, it is clear to me why we couldn't get service in Nebraska - the whole State is blank for AT&T.

We have Verizon for our home service and discovered that the calling cards that they used to offer to residential customers were discontinued. This means that I couldn't even use a pay phone or borrow a business phone to place long distance calls.

Questions for those who travel a lot:

1. How do you determine, in advance, that you might not have phone coverage at the destinations or stopping points to which you are traveling?

2. What do you do about those gaps?

I was thinking about picking up a pre-paid cell phone on whatever local network is covering the area but that seems like a questionable alternative.

We have a Virgin Mobile Broadband USB but that didn't seem to work any better in a lot of places that we didn't have cell coverage.

I'm sure that we aren't the only ones who have these issues. Silly me to have assumed that the technology coverage is better than it actually is. Both my wife and I have AT&T "go phones" for our home use. Neither of us has a smart phone or any monthly plan. For our home area and most of the places that we have visited, the Go Phones have worked fine. I guess that is why I go lulled into a false sense of security.

Thanks for your inputs

Charlie

P.S. I did a search for "wireless coverage" before I created this thread. I didn't see anything that really seemed to match. If I missed something, please post a link to that thread.
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Old 08-19-2013, 09:14 AM   #2
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Can't help, but as this is a subject that interest me as well, I'm subscribing to to follow the subject.
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Old 08-19-2013, 09:15 AM   #3
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We just completed a 3000 mile trip great coverage with Verizon. We both use our smart phones along with personal "hotspot" for laptop and I-pad thus our navigation, fuel stops, rest areas etc. along with google earth for our stay for tonight are planed with very few surprises. Only once in four years did we not have a good signal only lasted for a mile. Just FYI.
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Old 08-19-2013, 09:21 AM   #4
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Quote:
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We just completed a 3000 mile trip great coverage with Verizon. We both use our smart phones along with personal "hotspot" for laptop and I-pad thus our navigation, fuel stops, rest areas etc. along with google earth for our stay for tonight are planed with very few surprises. Only once in four years did we not have a good signal only lasted for a mile. Just FYI.
Thanks for your feedback. I'm concerned that some of the answer to my question might lie in the specific areas where your 3000 miles took you. It seems that the coasts are very well covered while the center of the country is a lot more spotty. I guess that is driven by population density.

OK was not a great place for us either but we ventured off I-35 about 90 miles to the West. We were fortunate not to have any real requirement to make calls there.
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Old 08-19-2013, 09:39 AM   #5
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Fl. To Vermont via NC, WV, VA, CT, Central PA, western NY, NH, Stowe VT. Also Montreal Canada. Our son lived in CA, and Nevada traveling thru the mid west with very good coverage via Verizon. We had very poor luck with AT&T also. In fact took the penalty for early cancellation three years ago when we first purchased the I pad for travel. Rand McNally has a GPS app. For $99.00 that is great. Just say'in.
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Old 08-19-2013, 09:57 AM   #6
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Fl. To Vermont via NC, WV, VA, CT, Central PA, western NY, NH, Stowe VT. Also Montreal Canada. Our son lived in CA, and Nevada traveling thru the mid west with very good coverage via Verizon. We had very poor luck with AT&T also. In fact took the penalty for early cancellation three years ago when we first purchased the I pad for travel. Rand McNally has a GPS app. For $99.00 that is great. Just say'in.
Thanks for your input It sounds like we are on the wrong network. I'm going to investigate Verizon's coverage here and make sure that we aren't jumping from the frying pan to the fire locally.

I have to say, however, that we have Verizon for our home (FIOS phone and Internet). The technology is fantastic. Dealing with Verizon sucks. I can only hope their wireless division is better. Of course, dealing with AT&T has been no bed of roses either.

Thanks again.

Charlie
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Old 08-19-2013, 10:09 AM   #7
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We have fine coverage with AT&T all over Nebraska. The only effective I have found is to have two phones, two different providers. Verizon should be one. It is very cheap to pick up a prepaid phone ($10), buy a $20 card, and have back up service for several months.

Just my opinion.

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Old 08-19-2013, 11:17 AM   #8
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At one time or another, you will be without cell service in the US. It doesn't matter what provider you have, not all areas are covered.

The only way to have 24/7 coverage is to have a satellite phone.
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Old 08-19-2013, 11:36 AM   #9
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There is no question that having service from different providers that use different networks is one method of getting better overall phone coverage, but given the limitations of cellular service in certain areas, there will likely be blind spots for any provider - especially in mountainous or very remote areas.

I carried a SAT Phone for years and that was my fallback device all over the world, sometimes I had to stand out in the rain to make a phone call because I could not get a good shot at the sky. So the SAT Phone had limitations also, besides being expensive. (No longer have a Sat Phone.) I am looking at options such as the services provided by "spot" found in this link. But there are other devices similar to SPOT. It is an option for keeping in touch. Just food for thought.

SPOT Connect Satellite Communicator Works with leading Smart Phone and handheld platforms First Place Parts
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Old 08-19-2013, 08:12 PM   #10
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2. What do you do about those gaps?
Maybe those gaps are a blessing in disguise, We just got home from nine days in southwest, second day out my wife who lives on her cell phone lost it in Bluff Ut. I told her tough luck, I was not buying another one with several spares laying at home. After a day of mourning she became a new liberated woman who was not living by what her cell phone told her to do... I know in today's world we think we must be in touch every second or we will be left behind, not true, a few years ago I was rafting the Colorado river for eight days and 277 miles on the water, nowhere in that time or distance is there any cell service. I was with a group of 30 people that varied from CEO's to College Kids and non of us lost any sleep at night not being able to huddle in our own corner and talk, instead we talked to each other and grew together as a group of strangers who became friends.
Just another way to look at the problem.
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Old 08-19-2013, 09:15 PM   #11
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Verizon has better rural coverage than ATT hands down..
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Old 08-19-2013, 09:25 PM   #12
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PagePlus uses the Verizone network and costs less.
We go through KittyWireless which is a reseller of PagePlus. Our cell phone bill went from around $70 a month to $25 although it's fewer minutes but we never came close to using them anyway.
If you're a heavy user it might not be for you though.

Used to have AT&T. Found that if I was at my desk (8' from a window) I had no service.
Changed to Verizon and now have service even in the basement and elevators while moving. Since I do security it's pretty important to have service in the building!
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Old 08-19-2013, 10:32 PM   #13
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PagePlus uses the Verizone network and costs less.
We go through KittyWireless which is a reseller of PagePlus. Our cell phone bill went from around $70 a month to $25 although it's fewer minutes but we never came close to using them anyway.
If you're a heavy user it might not be for you though.

Used to have AT&T. Found that if I was at my desk (8' from a window) I had no service.
Changed to Verizon and now have service even in the basement and elevators while moving. Since I do security it's pretty important to have service in the building!
Be very careful about using any of the Verizon resellers because they don't necessarily provide access to the entire network, particularly those areas known as Extended Network where a Verizon phone is really using towers belonging to another company. Even some Verizon phones can have difficulty placing calls in these areas (Lake Havasu AZ comes to mind).
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Old 08-19-2013, 10:37 PM   #14
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Verizon has better rural coverage than ATT hands down..
There are a lot of RVers who agree this is the case. We very rarely lose Verizon service during a day's drive and over the past 2 years the only place at which we had no service during an overnight stop was on the floor of Death Valley where there was no service by any carrier. Our Verizon hot spot internet service (using our phones) is just about as consistent, at least 3G service virtually everywhere and 4G service in more and more small towns and rural environments.
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