We're expecting to be driving from SFO up to BC, across to Calgary, then through Montana and Wyoming and back to SFO via an as-yet- undetermined route. My triband GSM cellphone handles North American 1900 Mhz as well as the international 900/1800 frequencies and I plan to buy a prepaid SIM card when we get to the US. Does anyone know of a network provider that will provide reasonable coverage in all these states and provinces? If it covers western Canada, will we be up for expensive roaming charges?

Take it to HowardForums.com More cell phone info there than you could ever want.

Andrew

Hi Neil!!

Sounds like a great trip..

I can tell you that you won't get good service from Nextel in Montana and Wyoming. My Nextel phone said NO Service throughout South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho.When we were there most people said that few companies (Verizon is supposedly good) actually offered GOOD service.

The only two cellular companies that use GSM in the US are T-Mobile and Cingular. So you can forget the rest. T-Mobile uses 1900MHz only, while Cingular uses 850/1900; so your phone may have problem with Cingular at some locations.

GSM coverage for pre-paid plans are very spotty. Go look at the coverage maps on tmobile.com and cingular.com. Really suck. And in general T-Mobile's plans are cheaper than Cingular's.

We travel a lot and have had great service with Verizon - even in the far Northestern part of MN (right on the Canadian Border) and also almost everywhere in Michigan - including N. Michigan. We used to have two other companies and their service was not even close to Verizons.

We have also found Verizon to have great service area - but service was also spotty in areas of Grand Teton and Yellowstone last summer - service generally available on fringes of Parks, but not in interior. Same applied to mountain pass from Wyoming to Idaho and previous summer on mountain pass from Yuma, AZ to San Diego (I know that is not part of your itinerary)

Many thanks to all - looks like T-Mobile is a good place to start. rkkwan, thanks - I was forgetting about the 850 band. (So much for the global communications village...)

Neil - Really check the maps for coverage in the West. Not a problem in main population centers in the E. Coast and Midwest, but out in where you're planning to travel, you may not a get a signal.

For the benefit of anyone else interested, coverage maps are available at www.gsmworld.com - I followed a link at HowardForums.com. rkkwan, I see your point - even T-Mobile's coverage is pretty spotty in those states. Oh, well - I'm not a cellphone addict, I just thought it would be useful for family members wanting to reach us, and for making bookings on the fly. I was planning to use a phone card to make calls home. I guess we'll pay our $50 and hope for the best! (For Canada, it seems to be Rogers Telecomms "Fido" or nothing.)

Thanks again, all.

Hi Neil

I don't know if you've considered taking your laptop but I found that most of the motels offered internet service and that would connect you with making reservation and keeping in touch family wise. Didn't really see any internet cafes and cell phones were horrendously unuseable...

Hi there, LN. Well, we're techno-dinosaurs - we don't own a laptop, believe it or not. Might have one by the time we go, though and it's certainly worth thinking about. I haven't even begun to think about connectivity, but as long as I can get WWW access I can access my ISP's mail server.