Cellphone coverage, Tahoe rim?
AES
periphery of Lake Tahoe, starting at the lake shore and extending up to
and a bit across the Tahoe Rim Trail. Maybe extend a similar band up
both sides of Highways 89 Tahoe City to Truckee and 431 Incline Village
to Tahoe Mdws.
What cell phone model and cell phone company would have the best chance
of having coverage at randomly chosen spots within those bands? (All
other considerations irrelevant.)
Peter Lawrence
An old Tri-band (CDMA & Amps) phone from Verizon (or possibly Sprint).
Something like the Motorola V710.
- Peter
John Navas
wrote in <hb5lk4$n7v$1...@news.eternal-september.org>:
AMPS is toast.
Any of the major carriers will be about the same overall.
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Peter Lawrence
>
> AMPS is toast.
No it's not. There's still active AMPS towers out there.
A good example is Death Valley National Park, where in a number of areas you
can still receive a strong AMPS signal (like at Badwater) but nothing else.
And there are spots around the Sierras I have received only a AMPS signal
this year, but no CDMA or GSM signals.
AMPS still lives in some rural areas of California.
- Peter
Jeff Liebermann
>Draw a colored band maybe a couple miles wide around the entire
>periphery of Lake Tahoe, starting at the lake shore and extending up to
>and a bit across the Tahoe Rim Trail. Maybe extend a similar band up
>both sides of Highways 89 Tahoe City to Truckee and 431 Incline Village
>to Tahoe Mdws.
I've never been to Lake Tahoe, so no personal experience.
See:
<http://www.cellreception.com/coverage/ca/south-lake-tahoe/page1.html>
I couldn't find anything on North Shore. Ignoring the one T-Mobile
comment, it appears that AT&T is the least disgusting. Difficult to
tell.
Perhaps an external directional Yagi or panel antenna might be the
most useful accessory?
<http://www.wilsonelectronics.com////Antennas.php?Type=B>
If in a vehicle or hotel room, a small magnet mount antenna (found all
over eBay) should help.
>What cell phone model and cell phone company would have the best chance
>of having coverage at randomly chosen spots within those bands? (All
>other considerations irrelevant.)
When bench testing various cell phones, I find that the receiver
sensitivity is roughly the same among various vendors and models.
Nothing really stands out as superior.
However, there are huge differences in antenna performance. In
general, the newer phones with internal antenna suck. The best are
old phones with an antenna that telescopes out of the handset a few
inches. Make sure the phone has an external antenna connector.
You can do your own signal strength testing using the test mode.
See:
<www.wpsantennas.com/pdf/testmode/FieldTestModes.pdf>
--
Jeff Liebermann je...@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
(null)
AES <sie...@stanford.edu> wrote:
>What cell phone model and cell phone company would have the best chance
>of having coverage at randomly chosen spots within those bands?
If you're interested in data points, I can offer you this: T-Mo Moto KRZR
had no signal at DL Bliss east ridge campsite, 4 bars at Lester Beach.
Neighbor at east ridge got a call through, but it involved a lot of climbing
and shouting. Not sure the carrier/handset, though.
AES
Jeff Liebermann <je...@cruzio.com> wrote:
> Perhaps an external directional Yagi or panel antenna might be the
> most useful accessory?
> <http://www.wilsonelectronics.com////Antennas.php?Type=B>
> If in a vehicle or hotel room, a small magnet mount antenna (found all
> over eBay) should help.
Good thought! (Should have thought of it myself.) Thanks.
SMS
Verizon with a tri-band phone. There is still some AMPS around on Golden
State Cellular.
In Tahoe Meadows and Mount Rose you'll get a Verizon signal, but nothing
else. At Homewood, once you get away from 89 you'll have Verizon and
nothing else. I know this from experience as recent as last winter.
I remember my wife hurting herself at Homewood and calling from the
slopes with "send the ski patrol." The ski patrol commented on the fact
that she was able to make a call from where she was, saying, "she must
have Verizon, nothing else works here."