Cell phones in Yellowstone
 

Anyone know which areas or villages in Yellowstone are liable to have cell phone reception (for emergency purposes)? Thanks

Last year, we were told that Verizon reception was possible in the east and northern portions of the park and Cellular One worked in the southern part. We were never able to get a signal anywhere. Saw a lot of people trying, also unsuccessful. And while I can appreciate wanting to be in emergency contact, it was very pleasant NOT to be surrounded by the silly rings and inanae conversations. I can't imagine YS will stay cell free forever.

I am a Cingular (then AT&T W) user and had 3-4 bars of Digital, ROAM strength last October in YNP & GTNP.I have no idea how that works from a technology perspective or why people using Cell phones weren't a huge nuisance.

Thanks you!

How did people survive their Yellowstone experiences before the cell phone? Have milliions of people been trapped there in emergencies for decades without cell phones and I just never heard about it?

And what are chances the "emergency" will be . . . "Can you hear me? Did you pick up the laundry?"

We were rear ended about 10 miles outside of Mammoth and none of us could get cell phone coverage.

As it was, there were plenty of helpful people, and someone reported our mishap to a park policeman and he arrived quickly, I thought, for how far away we were from things.

MikeT, we had to cancel this trip last year due to a heart condition my mother had (now resolved). Her recent health issues have made me more careful in my planning. I was deciding whether we needed to stay in a rooms with phones or or not. Didn't mean to offend.
Karen, I really enjoyed the trip report you wrote on Yellowstone (ran into it when looking at Yellowstone posts). All of those mishaps are not what you'd wish for on a trip, but your family will have some good stories to tell.

I understand the need for a phone, but as you pointed out, land line phones in hotels are more than satisfactory. I think the idea of cell phones in Yellowstone creates pictures of people yapping on their phones in the middle of the wilderness.

Cell phones are a plague.

Well, I wouldn't say that the hotels are more than satisfactory, since they cost quite a bit more than the cabins. Obviously, like a lot of things, cell phones can be misused, but I'm not sure why anyone would object to the use of a cell phone in one's room.
Thanks to everyone who answered the initial question.

We were just in Yellowstone at the beginning of the month. Our Cingular phone did not work there or anywhere else on the drive to and from Yellowstone and Grand Teton from Salt Lake City. It did work in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area.

We never got cell service (Sprint) in much of Wyoming, and certainly not in Yellowstone. Old Faithful Inn and Mammoth Hotel did have designated areas where you could get a dialup connection for a laptop, but it was slow.

I admit it was nice to be basically technology free for five days!

I was just there with several people with all brands of service. The thing we noticed was most of us could get service while in the different villages (Old Faithful, Canyon, etc.) but not much between.