Adventure Cycling Association Forum

Bicycle Travel => General Discussion => Topic started by: Cat on June 25, 2013, 07:01:26 am

 

Title: Which telephone company?
Post by: Cat on June 25, 2013, 07:01:26 am

Hello!

I am soon on my way to start cycling the TransAm and have made the decision to bring my brand new smartphone only, which has a good camera and a big display.
I would like to be able to make many phonecalls and surf a lot as I will plan along the way. I guess I would need some kind of prepaid card (with a micro SIM card) Does anyone here know which telephone company has det best covering along the TA? Which telephone company has good offers? Is there a good website where you can compare the offers available?
This issue seems to be a djungle to me...

Thankful for any ideas where I should start to dig!
Cat

Title: Re: Which telephone company?
Post by: staehpj1 on June 25, 2013, 10:32:52 am

Verizon has the best coverage in the places in the US that have toured.  ON the TA I recall only one place where others had a signal and we didn't (Riggins Idaho, but that was 2007 so things may be better there now).  I am told that there are some other companies that use the Verizon network though.

I did use a work supplied AT&T phone and the coverage wasn't quite as good as Verizon, but wasn't too bad either.  That was on the ST last year.  I am not sure how they are on the TA.

Title: Re: Which telephone company?
Post by: aggie on June 25, 2013, 11:45:01 am

I think if you do a search you'll see that others have asked similar questions.  If I recall correctly it seems that Verizon overall has the best coverage but there are spots where it isn't so good.  I used my smartphone on the ST and there were only a few isolated spots where I didn't have coverage.

Title: Re: Which telephone company?
Post by: Cat on June 25, 2013, 01:04:21 pm

I think it is difficult to see what kind of prepaid cards there is. These things changes very fast.
If the AT&T has a fairly good coverage, I might make a deal through a swedish company.

Title: Re: Which telephone company?
Post by: zzzz on June 27, 2013, 09:51:44 pm

I had A,T,&T going across last year. I usually called or emailed my wife at the end of the day and there was only one part of the trip where that was a problem. East of Berea Kentucky thru southwest Virginia till you hit Lexington Va., I had about 400 miles of no bars or 1 bar. Other than that section, it was pretty good, spotty in some real rural areas out west but I generally had service when I needed it.

Since you already own a phone that you will be bringing, there may be some technical issues as to which networks your phone is compatible with. That used to be the case but I don't know if it still is.

And I have nothing for you as to how the pre-paid cards work here in the US.

Pete