I'm going to be staying at a B&B in Keene Valley in about a month. I know that Verizon coverage isn't very good in the Adirondacks, but was wondering if anyone has information about Verizon coverage in Keene Valley. I don't necessarily need coverage at our B&B, but would like to pick up messages and when we go into town.
I checked the map before I posted my question. It shows generally poor coverage, but does not have enough detail to resolve the issue. That is why I posted my question.
I'll be cruising through the Adirondacks at the end of this month. If I remember, I'll post here about coverage in that area on I-87.
Thanks, but Keene Valley is far enough from I-87 that even if there is coverage along that section of I-87 it will not tell us much about Keene Valley. BTW- a motorist from Brooklyn died a few weeks ago after his car went off I-87 in the Adirondacks in one of the many areas that does not have good cell coverage. The car was found the next morning but he had died of hypothermia by then. His wife survived.
There are a few spots in the Keene Valley area where you will be able to get a signal, you should be able to check your messages. I believe the signal comes from towers in Vt.. If you drive up Rt. 73 towards Lake Placid you should get coverage in the Cascade Lakes area. Lake Placid has a Verizon and Unicel cell site on the Ski Jumps. Actually the car was found two days later. They went off the side of I87 around 2AM Wednesday night and were trapped in the car and never found for over 30 some hours later (10AM Friday morning). They both had cell phones, but were not able to get a signal to dial 911. What a tragic story. The husband worked for hours inside the car to try to get out and his wife had to watch him die of hypothermia.. http://www.pressrepublican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070209/NEWS/702090319/1001&ts=ts2 If you go to the link above there are numerous links at the bottom of the article regarding cell coverage in the Adirondacks. There is a big push right now to get more cell towers in the Adirondacks. This is a very big issue right now. The APA needs to work with government officials and get more cell service in this area. How many more deaths does it take before something gets done!
Thanks. I just need to check messages a couple of times a day. I know that Lake Placid has good coverage. About 10 years ago my son and a friend climbed Mt. Marcy in the spring. This was before we had a cell phone but we were able to rent a Motorola Microtac from one of the rental car companies at the airport. There was obviously no coverage for most of the hike, but he did call us from the top of Marcy via the towers in lake Placid I think. Thanks for correcting my statement. Just like I don't think we should install handrails on the trails into the Grand Canyon, I don't think we need to cover the Adirondacks with cell towers. However, there should be full coverage along Interstate highways such as I-87.
I would have to strongly disagree with you on that one! We desperately need cell coverage in all of the residential areas of the Adirondacks! I work in Public Safety and this is a major inconvienace and life safety matter. I have personally witnessed many deaths due to lack of cell service here in the Adirondacks. If they placed cell towers in strategic location throughout the Adirondacks, I don't think it would cause that much of a visual impact. Cell towers aren’t that ugly. Just look at all the high tension transmission lines, telephone poles, telephone, cable and power lines that litter the Adirondacks. The people that actually live in the Adirondacks every day deserve the right to have cell coverage just like everyone else in the state. Just because you city folk don’t want to look at a cell tower while you are on vacation in the Adirondacks doesn’t mean that local people that live here all their lives have to suffer!
I apologize for my off-the-cuff remarks. I agree with you and I'm not against cell towers in the Adirondacks, but please - don't call me "city folk."
No problem.. I wasn't directing that towards you. Most of the members in the APA (Adirondack Park Agency) who are against cell towers in the Adirondacks don't even live in the Adirondacks - they are from Downstate N.Y.
The biggest problem is they don't want people to be doing a lot of building up there & the agency must think this will cause more people to want to build, as well as the carriers having to put up buildings for their equipment. I am suprised they don't let the carriers use the exsisting powerline towers, they do that around here in NJ, and it saves a lot of problems, especially with all the ones they have up there, as well as other exsisting towers, that won't cause interference between each other. I am sure without having to build too many towers, they could come up with better coverage, another problem that carriers look at is population vs income and if it's worth putting a bunch of towers in these area's. As a public safety worker myself, I do agree it's important to have the ability for people to have coverage to make emergency calls, as well as for public safety personnel to have the ability to use cell phones on emergency scenes, I use my cells on scenes quite a bit, some things you don't want transmitted over the air.
I agree with your point fire, is it possible for the cell companies just to put up "emergency towers" just to allow 911 or other emergency calls through, I wouldnt think that it would cost that much to upkeep is say they had all major cell companies working on it together. If they had 1 GSM and 1 CDMA site on each tower that was just open for emergency calls. Just my :twocents:
The carriers do use COW's (Cellular on Wheels) but they won't bring them out for any emergency, usually it has to be a major incident, such as Hurricanes, 9/11 ect... The best thing would be to use the power line towers, it would minimize any building & any concerns about towers being built, as long as the power companies don't have a problem with them being installed. The carriers won't just build a tower & when there is an emergency turn it on, that would be a big cost loss for them.