BS: phones on the road?

Subject: BS: phones on the road?
From: Deckman
Date: 30 Sep 09 - 08:21 PM

"Bride Judy" and I just returned from a 1,700 mile road trip ... Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Idaho, and back home to Washington. I knew it was important to keep in touch with people that were expecting us to show up at certain times and at certain places. To be responsible, I took myself to my local ATT&T phone store before we left. I bought a phone and $50 worth of pre-paid phone calls.

Imagine my surprise when my phone didn't work mostly. Baker Oregon ... forget it. Pocatell, Idaho ... it worked about half the time. Up into Montana, then Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, it was a joke!

Yesterday and today I talked with managers of ATT&T. I asked for my money back. I explained that I had to spend $30 out of pocket money to call ahead to my next venues and confirm that I was on sheduale.

After several heated discussions, they finally agreed to re-emburse my $30, but ONLY by extending my useless cell phone time. I told them that I had no use for their useless toy as I was now home with a perfectly good land line.

So ... here's my question: when you folks are "on the road", how do you maintain reliable telephone contact with family and business connections? Bob(deckman)Nelson

Subject: RE: BS: phones on the road?
From: artbrooks
Date: 30 Sep 09 - 08:30 PM

I have a cell phone (Sprint). In the (vary rare) cases when there is no free Sprint signal, I pay a pretty nominal fee to "roam" onto some other network. Looking at Sprint's "coverage map", there seem to be a lot of bare spots in Oregon and Idaho, though.

Subject: RE: BS: phones on the road?
From: Alice
Date: 30 Sep 09 - 08:42 PM

Each area of the country has different cell companies that provide service, so it's patchy if you are visiting far afield.
Alltel and Verizon are the two most reliable where I live in Montana, and I can get service everywhere in the state I need to go on Alltel. But... it pays to look at service maps for the different providers to see what works and where. iPhones don't work here at all, except for a few places along the interstate highways.

Subject: RE: BS: phones on the road?
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Sep 09 - 08:49 PM

It is VERY dicey in some areas. You really need to look at maps of various systems' coverage. I had a phone which was fine...all along interstate highways, but I made a turn onto a side road, and signal was gone 2 miles from the road. There are relay towers which need to be built at regular intervals, and they do a cost analysis to decide whether certain areas justify extra towers.

Those who really MUST have a connection get expensive satellite phones which work in 'most' places. Mountainous areas are real problems. We go to a lodge in a valley in West Virginia where you just shrug & forget it!

Subject: RE: BS: phones on the road?
From: Deckman
Date: 30 Sep 09 - 09:45 PM

I really feel like I was ripped off ... they didn't tell me that when I bought their damned phone. I know ... I know ... stoopid me. I shudda' known better.

My kids said that I did better than most by getting them to give me anything for my wasted $30 out of pocket expenses.

We're giving the phone and the unused minutes to our granddaughter. She's probably got the good sense not to believe ANYTHING that ATT&T says. bob

Subject: RE: BS: phones on the road?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 30 Sep 09 - 09:59 PM

At least in UK there is a higher concentration of population , but there are still a lot of rural areas where there is NO mobile signal
OR its only ONE Supplier ! We then pay over the odds for 'Roaming'

And its even worse going outside UK !!

Subject: RE: BS: phones on the road?
From: open mike
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 02:14 AM

sometimes you have to watch the "bars" (and i don't mean pubs) to see if you're in a good connection place. often on hill and mt. tops you can get better signals. sometimes the signal is blocked by geographic
obstacles. you may have to drive along watching the phone's screen to tell where is the best place to call. at my house i have to go several miles in either direction to find access. often it helps to step out side of a building to get better signal. it is hard to find a phone booth anymore, now that so many have cell phones.

(it is also difficult to find a number you can call to tell you what time it is as so many have computers and mobile devices that are on atomic clock or something close...you can[t even fool yourself by setting your clock a few minutes fast to help you get places on time since they set themselves...)

so you took the new hip for a ride, eh? how did that go?

Subject: RE: BS: phones on the road?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 07:33 AM

My very old phone has worked for me all over the UK and as far as Romania and Kurdistan. I bought a local SIM card for it in Turkey because that was a lot cheaper, but I've never had problems like Deckman had. Europe and the Middle East do things more logically and consistently than the US.

This summer I couldn't resist sending a text message while getting a lift on a horse-drawn hay wagon in eastern Transylvania, having seen the locals do it. Nearest main drainage was 50 miles away and hardly any TVs, but mobiles worked fine.

Subject: RE: BS: phones on the road?
From: Alice
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 09:30 AM

Even with good coverage, there are places here where no cell phone signals reach, like in the canyon between West Yellowstone and Bozeman, and an unpopulated stretch along the Yellowstone River to Billings, even though it is an interstate highway there.

Subject: RE: BS: phones on the road?
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 09:42 AM

This is the coverage I get with Virgin Mobile

95% of everywhere I am likely to go is covered, but it is obvious that someone who drove a lot would need better.

Montana? forget it!

Subject: RE: BS: phones on the road?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 09:50 AM

I only went to Canada and the US, but I bought a T Mobile card, and it worked everywhere I went in the north east US and Canada.

JM

Subject: RE: BS: phones on the road?
From: meself
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 10:02 AM

"you may have to drive along watching the phone's screen"

I hope you're not on the same road as I am - especially if I happen to be watching my phone's screen at the same time -

Subject: RE: BS: phones on the road?
From: Alice
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 10:09 AM

Here is an Alltel map. but of course you have to pay more for a contract with that coverage, and there are no guarantees of signal. I know there are gaps in Montana that they don't show on that map.

Subject: RE: BS: phones on the road?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 10:19 AM

Deckman, I wonder if you had limited service because it was a pay-as-you go phone. I have a regular AT&T Wireless account, and it works very well most places. Eight years ago (when it was Cingular), I took a trip from Milwaukee to Florida and had to pay "roaming" charges of about 69 cents a minute - so I used the phone only for emergencies. For the last six years or so, I've had no roaming charges in the US, and 450 minutes of usage per month included in the plan. I had to put my wife on a cell phone diet because she was using up all our minutes instead of using the home phone which has unlimited service.
Including Internet, I'm paying AT&T almost $200 a month. I'm not sure how I got hooked into all that, but it includes 3 cell phones, a home phone, and a business phone - and broadband Internet. I keep asking if we really need all this, but my wife and stepson and mother-in-law insist they do.

When I was a single man, I had only one telephone line,
Now I am a married man, I just pay the bills and whine,
Wish I was a single man again...

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: phones on the road?
From: The Sandman
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 04:34 PM

ubject: RE: BS: phones on the road?
From: Leadfingers - PM
Date: 30 Sep 09 - 09:59 PM

At least in UK there is a higher concentration of population , but there are still a lot of rural areas where there is NO mobile signal
OR its only ONE Supplier ! We then pay over the odds for 'Roaming'

And its even worse going outside UK !
   use public phones boxes, that what I do.

Subject: RE: BS: phones on the road?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 01 Oct 09 - 09:53 PM

if you can find public phone boxes!

here in Oz our major telco removed lots across the country cos they were not money makers due to our excessive use of mobile (cell) phones. Lots of fuss in the media over this decision.

sandra (who does not have or need a mobile phone)