I have used At&T successfully in Anchorage, and on the Kenai Pennindula (Homer, Seward, and environs), and also in some of the cruise ship ports in Southeast -- Juneau, Haines, Ketchikan, Sitka, Petersburg.

AT&T works in almost all towns in Alaska (its offered locally) so you will be fine. There will be dead areas on some stretches of road, and perhaps in some of the smaller villages.

When we cruised to Alaska, I had ATT, and had no problem making calls, either on the ship or in the ports. When we went further inland, there was no service.

I had AT&T for both my cellphone and my iPad when we were in Alaska last year. There was coverage most everywhere. My recollection is that some places thre was no 3G, so internet was slow, but there was still coverage. Juneau, Ketichan, Skagway, Seward, Homer, Anchorage.

I looked at AT&T's coverage map for Alaska, and while it certainly doesn't cover a lot of the state, it does cover the most popular tourist areas, around Southeast (Juneau) and Anchorage and the Kenai peninsula.

A lot o Alazka is very sparsely populated and there is no coverage - but is that where your mom is going to be. Large towns will have coverage.

Your Mom should wait until she gets off the ship and call in Alaska on land to avoid obscene charges via the ship's service.
Also if she has a stop in Canada (many of the ships do stop in Canada), she should be aware that she will pay roaming charges.. a short call can be expensive

I have been to Alaska 4 times -- in many different areas including the Yukon and found the service varies. I also carry my Mobal International Satelite Phone just in case and have never had a problem.

AT&T was better than verizon, but cell phone service in general can be pretty spotty. I would recommend skype or email.

AT&T works better than Verizon, but cell phone service in general is limited. I would recommend skype or email.