Yellowstone Verizon coverage

[Andy]

Originally Posted by BillRadio

Judging from some users, it appears to be. However, it is a relatively new site and it would have been smart for Cellular One/WW to include all of their technologies, TDMA, CDMA and GSM. Most of their own customers are CDMA so I would have hoped that would at least be supported.

C-1/WW is one the prime reasons why we still need phones with analog capabilities in the west.

Bill, once again, thank you so much for the info. I'm leaving on my trip Monday and I will have a detailed report of my drive up to Yellowstone and of the places I visit while there.
~Andy

[SQFreak]

Originally Posted by agentHibby

you would think that WW being to roaming revenue hungry they would get a roaming agreement to put WW higher up in the PRL and be free roam for Verizon in Yellowstone where Verizon has no Service in certain spots?

That'd be exactly why they'd not be FR. If they charge too much, VZW won't designate them as FR; you'll have to pay (as you do now).

[Andy]

Very quick and brief update:
I just got back from my trip to Yellowstone; it was great.
Coverage from Salt Lake City to West Yellowstone was very good in general considering most of the drive was through rural areas.
The way back we went out of the South Entrance and the story was a little different...I will post much more later, I'm tired!
Cheers,
Andy

[Fathead]

They know their customer base in East ID. People want the phones to work all the way up to West.

[Andy]

First of all, my trip from Salt Lake City, UT to West Yellowstone:

Good Verizon Wireless digital all the way(I talked nearly 3 hours on my way up there) and had one dropped call and one area of low signal strength that I can remember(I’m sure I might have not caught some areas of low signal strenth). West Yellowstone itself has perfect Verizon digital service(most people’s phones I saw while there were Verizon phones....there were tons of Verizon phones there). I might be wrong, but while Field Testing I did not find any other CDMA carrier in West Yellowstone. BTW, if anyone cares, I took I-15 from S.L.C. and then drove through Rexbourg on my way to West Yellowstone.

Yellowstone National Park itself:

Verizon’s digital reaches in about 10 miles from the West Entrance I believe, after that it becomes unusable and then completely dies. I stayed at Bridge Bay campground where there was no digital or analog service at all, not even Analog Roam. Old Faithful, West Thumb and other areas had Analog Roam on SID 1828(when I called 611 a lady picked up and said: “Thank you for calling Union Telephone, how may I direct your call” or something like that). When I visited Geyser Basin at West Thumb I received a very weak Verizon digital signal on my VX 6000( -104 and -17.5 ) but have no clue at all where it came from; areas around West Thumb were all dead. Driving from Bridge Bay to Canyon Village there is Verizon digital Service from about Mud Volcano to Canyon Village(Active Pilot 264....I have no idea where the signal came from as it was in the low -80's at it’s best). I actually held a call in Fishing Bridge with an Rx Power of -105 and an Ec/Io of -21.0 The call eventually dropped though. That was on Pilot 264 as well if anyone cares. Canyon Village campground has spots with a usable digital signal from Pilot 264 and the signal actually stretches a little north of Canyon Village as well if I’m not mistaken. The Upper and Lower Falls also have service from Pilot 264; it does die though if you go down into the River Valley. Driving up to Mammoth via Norris Verizon digital comes back a few miles outside of Mammoth(Active Pilot 256). There’s perfect service at the Mammoth Hot Springs (-60's) as well; some parts of the Hot Springs where you drive on that one way road go down to -high 90's. Mammoth itself has full service everywhere, the only digital CDMA carrier I could find was Verizon....I might be wrong though. I even believe I found the site that covers this area, it’s northwest of Mammoth on a mountain behind the Lodge, etc. but I’m not sure. Driving out of the park via the North Entrance, good service through the canyon areas to Gardiner, and Gardiner is covered well by the same Active Pilot, 256. In Gardiner I also saw tons and tons of Verizon phones being used; a lot of locals also seem to use them.

On my way back home, we took the South Entrance through Grand Teton, Jackson, then took Teton Pass(I believe that’s what it was called) to Idaho Falls, then I-15 to Pocatello, stopped there for dinner and then went down to S.L.C. Leaving the South Entrance there is No coverage whatsoever, no digital, no analog, nothing I could find at all. A few miles after leaving Yellowstone, though, Verizon native picks up. I talked on the phone from there until right before Jackson without problems at all. Jackson itself had great service. Leaving Jackson we took Highway 22 I believe it was over the Teton Pass which got interesting. Going up I got a good Verizon signal until we went back down on the other side of the Pass, where my phone would switch between a weak Verizon and weak Sprint (Extended Network) signal. Then there were times where I would only pick up a weak Verizon signal, but then I lost everything through Idaho’s backcountry...not even analog worked until about 30 minutes or so(can't really remember specifics, I was way tired since I onle got a few hours of sleep and was in the car all day) outside of Idaho Falls where I picked up a strong digital Veizon signal again. Idaho Falls itself seems covered very well, same with Pocatello. I dropped one call on I-15 between Idaho Falls and Pocatello, but talked on my phone nearly all the way from Idaho Falls to Pocatello, and then for about 2 hours from Pocatello driving towards Salt Lake. Calls hand off fine between the Idaho and Utah networks. Going down I-15 in Utah it seemed I always had great(nearly full) service, no dropped calls, nothing....

In General I was very pleased with Verizon coverage on my trip, there were a lot of areas where Verizon was the only CDMA carrier available. Inside the park there are some areas where Verizon service works, but analog doesn’t seem to reach any further than digital; there are quite a few Analog Roam areas though.

I’m sure I left a lot out, but I hope this was interesting and fun to read. I had a great time up there, even though I heard tons of U.S. Cellular ads on the radio.... they seem to be worse than Verizon with advertising I also went river rafting in Gardiner and had a great time there as well.

~Andy

[Fathead]

Agreed on US Cell.


From Jackson to IF is nasty. Verizon works in Swan Valley up to Palisades, but that's about it. US Cell is okay in that stretch, but is gone at Palisades.


If you dropped a call on I-15 it was either in the lava rocks between IF and Blackfoot or in Fort Hall.

[Andy]

If you say that US Cell is ok in the stretch that Verizon is nasty in, why doesn't VZW add them to the PRL...I don't think Sprint covered that area either...but I'm not sure.
My dropped call was close to IF going towards Pocatello, can't remember any details; I was tired.
~Andy

[Fathead]

Sprint isn't even close to there.


And your question is the one posed in my sig. It's pointless to keep Sprint in the PRL here, USCC makes a lot more sense, from a coverage standpoint.

[agentHibby]

Originally Posted by SQFreak

That'd be exactly why they'd not be FR. If they charge too much, VZW won't designate them as FR; you'll have to pay (as you do now).

All I can say is that in Texas Western Wireless is Free Roam. and so is AT&T's cellular network in Texas and Florida. I don't know if it is becuase of PCS or what?

I am now thinking that Verizon chooses Union Cellular, becuase Western Wireless has the better network; but they probably charge a hefty fee for free roam. Since Western Wireless provides great service and no national wireless companies have a network there except Verizon here and there.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Fathead

Sprint isn't even close to there.


And your question is the one posed in my sig. It's pointless to keep Sprint in the PRL here, USCC makes a lot more sense, from a coverage standpoint.

Sorry, didn't realize what your sig was about...now I do
BTW, I saw that Old Faithful tower, but I have no clue why people wouldn't like it to be there; I mean it doesn't make the nice scenery look bad or anything I think...
I have one question though...does anyone know where that Verizon signal between Canyon Village and Mud Volcano...I just thought that was so wierd!
~Andy