Best plan for travelling across Canada

Help! I'm technologically challenged, but my family and I are planning to spend a month driving from Chicago across western Canada to Fairbanks, Anchorage, etc. I would like to get a cell phone, specifically with an eye toward getting help in emergencies in remote locations, but I don't want to get a plan which has no coverage just at the point when I need to use it. (My husband's cell phone, for instance, does not work at the family cabin in northwest Wisconsin.) Does any one have advice for what provider I should link up with? We'll be on the Winnepeg-Regina-Calgary-Edmonton-Fort Nelson-Tok trajectory.
Thanks.
csl

I assume you've posted this question on the numerous RV travel forum's on the Internet. They are populated by people doing exactly what you want to do -- and you may well be answered by someone using his cell phone from his RV parked in Banff.

But generally, you will want to get the most powerful cell phone that you can get. Distances in Canada are VAST and you will be in rural areas. Service along the Alaska highway is sparse.

My recommendation would be to get yourself an analog BAGPHONE. They are hard to find. And getting an analog plan in the US will be difficult to impossible. But analog phones provide a more powerful signal and most of the cellular systems in rural areas are analog. Analog is also the common default so you don't have the 'which digital technology to use' problem.

Second choice would be to obtain a 'signal booster' kit -- often sold as car kits with cigarete lighter plug and external antenna. You connect a normal (dual mode, digital/analog) cell phone and it provides a more powerful signal. You need to obtain a compatible cell phone. Kits for Motorolas and Nokias seem to be the most common. This option would allow you to activate a regular digital plan which you could continue to use when you get back. Alternatively, you could possibly convert your husband's plan to the new phone for the period you'd be using it.

Search this site for 'signal boosters' or 'amplifiers'. Also see Kevin's site. He has a discussion of this issue...

PS: I get a monthly travelogue e-mail from acquaintances traveling the US (and southern Canada) in their RV. They have not yet set off for Alaska, but insist they plan to "next year". They are using a Motorola StarTac 7868W with a car kit. But their interest was in getting DATA (email and Web) to work so that they could send pictures of their travels to their friends.... Your demands are probably not as difficult to meet.