Moab Cell Phone Service

The best service I have had in those "remote" Utah areas is by far your favorite AT&T. I will ask around to some Moab locals and see if there is something better down there.

They put some down on 49 that are camouflaged to look sort of like trees. I'm heading out Wednesday past Tonopah, St.George, Zion, Bryce, Escalante, Durango, Silverton, Grand Junction, Green River, Ely, and home. We will be a pack of 4 bad-ass Hondas. Probably sounds like a vacuum cleaner convention going by.

2 weeks, no phone. If I had a cell, i wouldn't take it with me. I am, however, taking my laptop and will plug it in from time to time.

You might ask about T-Mobile. We have had strong signals wth them through Moab and through Colorado, when others were having problems.

It might depend on the type of phone you have. Did you upgrade to GSM ('next generation' they call it) or do you still use the old TDMA (digital) service? If you have TDMA, then you should know that they are slowly phasing it out. The word is that any sites that have equipment failures dont' get fixed, along with no new cell sites or repeater sites. GSM is going up everywhere and from what I hear they are using the 850MHz spectrum now out west. That created a problem for the early adopters of the GSM service, since it was originally only 1900MHz. If you want the best GSM service, be sure to have a phone capable of 850/1900MHZ and also 900/1800MHz if you want a true 'world phone' for use in other countries. I have GSM here around Pittsburgh and I can tell you that I have better coverage here in my house with 1900MHz GSM than with my old 850MHz TDMA phone.

Cingular did buy out AT&T so not only will service improve but since customer service is at rock bottom it can only get better. I have a friend in Florida who is a Cingular CSR and she tells me that great things are coming...

Just stick it out or consider upgrading to GSM if you haven't already. For the best coverage, when mobile in remote areas buy a car kit with external antenna. Get a hard install kit, not one of those flimsy aftermarket portable ones. Nokia makes many fine models for TDMA and GSM phones.

Shawn KB8UDE

TDMA = Time Division Multiple Access. Aren't I smart? ;-)

Ok, I'll bite. I'm assuming you know a Real Bike is not made in Milwaukee (35% American made parts and no "made in USA" emblem). Honda's are built in Ohio (45% American made parts). I would guess that Polaris' Victory should qualify, it's the only 100% American street motorcycle, and a fine machine. I'd like to have one, but my

76 Goldwing just keeps going. With colors.

The locals are saying:

AT&T works ok, but you have to have a good phone with them. Also AT&T has been bought by Cingular, so services maybe changing soon

AT&T works better than Nextel

Verizon works OK

Sprint "works great" in that area.

I can't vouch for the RF black hole you might live in, but my statement about upgrading your _SPRINT_ Startac remains...

_IF_ you want better _SPRINT_ service.

- that is all.

L.W.(ßill) Hughes III wrote:

I think you have it there, Bill. One of my friends needs to be easily reached for his business, he says the old "bag phones", on analog are the best for connecting here in the mountains. They come cheap at garage sales, and like any cellphone, can be used for 911 calls without subscribing to a service. On the other hand, I understand that analog's days are numbered.

I got another vote for Verizon, says on some trails it will lose coverage, but if you walk around for a minute you can usually pick it back up

For

Last year when I did the "canyon tour" through Utah, I couldn't believe the service from Verizon it was great. This is not a plug for Verizon. At the end of the month they all get us!