Cell Phone Reception

[David Unnerstall]

My job just changed and I am on call 24/7. Response time is negotiable but I am expected to answer the phone. I like to spend the occasional weekend in the Arcadia Valley (fishing Crane Lake and the St. Francis River and camping at Marble Creek).

My question is this: In the experience of all what carrier has the best performance away from large cities?

I currently have AT&T and lose connectivity five miles away from Ironton and Fredericktown. What if you buy a car and find out it stops running when you go five miles from town and you were just supposed to accept it?

[Feathers and Fins]

Verizon works best for me, there are a couple spots you loose it but very few, 24/7 on call is not fun, You need to talk to the boss about times you may not be in cell range, Bosses tend to think that cells are a great leash when in fact people still need private time. You should discuss this with him.

[gotmuddy]

I would tell the boss that if he wants you on call 24/7 he better offer to pay for a sat phone.

[jdmidwest]

Install ONSTAR in your vehicle and you should be good to go. I think it is satellite based.

No other cell service that I am aware of in that area. Verizon has a chart on their website that shows coverage.

24/7 sucks. No down time at all?

[id10t]

I have guys all over the Arkansas and fought the "best cell coverage" issue for a long time. My Conclusion is there is no good answer. A few things I have found and that we do that have worked well.

In dealing with carriers AT&T, Verizon & Sprint. We have had them all and for us the best overall coverage is AT&T.

Sprint is a great carrier if you stick to metro areas or Interstates. Get 2 miles off the interstate or outside a metro area and forget it.

AT&T & Verizon both have about the same coverage areas as far as the maps go and both provide great service until they don't. It always seems when you are relying on it to be there it is not. AT&T and Verizon use different technologies to send and receive calls. Both have several flavors of those technologies. AT&T for instance started out with G or GMS service then moved to E or EDGE service then came 3G, 4G etc. In rural areas the G or E service are prominent still. If you have the latest phone it is supposed to default back to the G or E if you lose the newer flavors. Well it does not always work like that as we all know. It really sucks when it wont lock on a flavor because you have no service at all.

Solutions:

What I have our guys do if they are going into a rural area is turn of 3G or 4G off in the phone settings and force the phone to use G or E. Most folks are not aware they can do that. It does kill some newer phones features like visual voice mail and texting while talking for instance. Things you probably not worried about using when you are trying to fish anyway.

Get a Google voice phone number. It will auto forward to your current cell phone number. If it cant get your phone it will send a text to your phone. Texting will almost always work even when you don't have enough signal to make a call. The data amount in a text is very small. You will at least know you need to call back asap.

I use a google voice number to give to customers so they don't get my personal number. Nothing worse than being on vacation and getting a call from someone you cant help at the moment any way. Google voice lets you set up all kinds of rules for forwarding, call times etc.

1st thing I would try is turning off 3G, 4G and head to your fishing spot and see how it works by calling folks. Also try sending your self text messages and see if you get them. More than anything catch fish.

[strangercreek]

Tell your boss to dial 1 800 eat sh1t (and that any moron can run a successful business by being unethical and taking advantage of people) I have had corporate nightmare jobs that had the same characteristics, luckily I moved on, otherwise I would probably be in jail.

[fishinwrench]

Tell your boss to dial 1 800 eat sh1t (and that any moron can run a successful business by being unethical and taking advantage of people) I have had corporate nightmare jobs that had the same characteristics, luckily I moved on, otherwise I would probably be in jail.

Epic Post !

[jdmidwest]

I used to run a company of my own, and I was the tech support staff. 24/7 support. But there were very few after hours calls.

Now days, I am in sales of a non critical product and I provide no technical support. I rarely give out my cell phone. My territory does not have good cell coverage. Many have said they have been trying to call me but I never have a message anywhere. Then they say they just "assume" I would see a missed call and return it. No service, no missed call. At least when they are forced to call the office, they have to leave a message or deal with a person. But then there is always the one in the office that gives them my cell and the circle starts again.

There is no service at Crane Lake. Top of the hill at Marble Creek. None in the St. Francois valley north of Sam A Baker.

[grizwilson]

Have many of the same issues listed, I have went to Straight Talk, through the website, got a sim card from them, have one ATT phone I converted and one Verizon converted, they each cost 30 per month unlimited talk and text, (45 if you want data) so for $60 a month have coverage most everywhere.... seems one or the other usually work on the river, as they are using the parent towers, cust service is in the Philipines....which was the only reason my Att agent could give me to stay with them, no contract so actually little risk in trying for a month,

[FlyFishinFool]

I have had the best luck with Verizon in the area you are asking about. It is not perfect by any means, but it has been far superior to AT&T & Sprint. I usually find that if I am in a spot with no reception, I can usually get a couple of bars by just going around the next bend as I fish down the stream. I use a G'zOne Commando.