Yellowstone communications: cell phones
 

We are 3 generations going to Yellowstone for 8 days in June/July in 2 cars and are wondering what is the best way to keep in touch if we head in differing directions during the day. How is the phone service on cell? Any other suggestions? We are staying inside the park at park hotels during our stay and are flying in/out of Jackson Hole where we understand there is excellent reception.

I'm facing a similar situation during an upcoming trip.

NPS has been very thoughtful about regulating cell phone service at YNP. They have decided to prohibit cell phone service in most of the park, for two reasons. First, cell phone service requires antenna towers, which are eyesores and spoil the natural scenery. Second, having people yapping loudly on cell phones kind of wrecks the experience for a lot of people who come to experience tranquility. I think they're right on both points. But, on the other hand, it's really inconvenient not to be able to coordinate plans with family members. And there might also be a safety issue, if someone gets into trouble and needs to be rescued.

In 2009, NPS issued a new policy for cell phone service in the park, and you can read about it here: http://www.nps.gov/yell/parknews/09023.htm The bottom line is that cell phone service will exist only around Canyon Village, Grant Village, Mammoth Hot Springs, and Old Faithful, and they were going to allow installation of service at Fishing Bridge/Lake Village too.

Hopefully someone will chime in and report on their experiences actually using cell phones within the park. I think I remember getting good service with AT&T at Canyon Village last Fall, but I'm not 100% sure that I wasn't actually using my satellite phone.

Note also that the rooms at the Lake Hotel have phones in the rooms.

We were there last summer (four phones) and only the ones with Verizon service had any luck with signals in the park. It's not something you can count on. One phone only picked up a signal as we were leaving Cody heading east - the rest of the time, zero service.

AT&T phone worked well right around Old Faithful area. The rest was not much at all. This was 3 years ago. I never on cell phones, electric, or water when in national parks. Rarely do cell phones work in any of them. If you were in Yosemite this week you would have been without power and no way to exit the park for a few days. Yellowstone and Yosemite have a lot more amenities than most. It always amazes me that very few of the campground have showers and virtually none of them have hookups. But, somehow I like it like that.

If you head in different directions, agree to meet somewhere at a specific time. (Remember the old movies where people were synchronizing their watches?) This is not in jest. People were using this strategy long before cell phones.

And of course, each car should know the intended route of the other car.

In case of trouble, flag down a passerby. There will be plenty of them in June/July. Probably too many.

We were there last fall and had no problem around Old Faithful, Mammoth, Canyon, Grant Village or Fishing Bridge. We have Verizon. The further away we got from those areas though, the spottier the coverage became. That being said, I was surprised at some of the areas we DID have coverage.

We didn't have any problems with Verizon service at Old Faithful, Mammoth & Canyon Village. We also got internet coverage at Old Faithful and Mammoth.

Utahtea

Cell phones have sure made a lot of things easier when travelling. We did do a lot of travelling though, before cell phones. Even though sometimes, I do wonder how we did it. I remember buying calling cards so my husband could call the office. You do have to plan ahead and do more coordinating of schedules.

We have gotten so used to being "connected" at all times. I have seen people just freak out when they can't use their phones--and not because they have an emergency.

When I read these cell phone and availability of service questions, it always reminds me of the time my daughter asked me, "When you were in high school/college and didn't have cell phones, how did you meet up with people?"

We were there last August. AT&T service was very spotty except at Old Faithful (we were able to use the Internet there too). The rest, very, very little. Verizon users had significantly more luck.

Verizon has pretty good coverage in most developed areas.

This ipod app has great maps of coverage throughout the park as well as other invaluable information -- http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ultim...ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Here's a map -
http://www.cellularmaps.com/yellowstone.shtml#Coverage

There are some gaps along the roads but most of the time I looked, I had bars indicating coverage. I made few calls but checked websites along the drive.

Many thanks to all for your help!! We don't usually take phones on ANY vacation but being in two separate cars with separate agendas prompted the question. I like the suggestion of coordinating our watches... kind of like spies in the old films. We aren't even sure (haven't looked yet) to see if there are even phones in the rooms. At Old Faithful one party is at the Inn and the other at Snow Lodge. We were thinking of using the cells for coordinating there if there aren't inter-hotel phones.... But we WILL manage without them easily. And our stay involves the Inn/Snow Lodge, Lake Hotel & Mammoth Hotels so we will see each other each evening. I hope to write a trip report but I am sure it would pale compared to those who are repeat visitors. Again, our appreciation for all the help.