Time Zones and Phone Clocks

Is there sufficient signal from somewhere to update phone clocks along the way while riding through different time zones? I've read that there's no wifi, and in some places no cell service.

Is there cell service at all/most stations to update phone clocks?

For that matter, is there enough signal to check/send emails while still on the train when at most stations?

I'm on an iPhone with AT&T, and will be on the following routes going eastbound, westbound, southbound, then eastbound again. No time change on the Starlight Coast, at least!

LAX-CHI (Southwest Chief with a stop in LMY)

CHI-SEA (Empire Builder, with a stop in WGL)

SEA-EMY (Starlight Coast)

EMY-CHI (California Zephyr)

CHI-WAS (Capitol Limited)

Usually. My iPhone and Apple Watch adjusted to time zones with no problem on many trips.

You can look at AT&T's service coverage maps. Either a native signal or roaming should work just fine. Will they update exactly when you cross the line? Probably not. The signal area boundaries don't always run exactly along time-zone boundaries.

I don't believe that a WiFi signal is able to update the time-zone.

On the SWC there are a few places where you will get no service. One of them is the La Plata MO area.

There will be short amounts of time with no service but I have ATT as well and usually have great service on most of the route.

The Starlight through The Cascades is probably the longest stretch of no service that I can remember.

On your iPhone, you can add all the time zones to "world clock" so with just a click you can see the times in all the different zones. Can be handy.

Thanks everyone. That's much easier than I expected!

Am on the border of a time zone and get unwanted clock changes. Finally had to go to manual time setting on phone unless going to travel thru different zones.

Don Newcomb said:

You can look at AT&T's service coverage maps. Either a native signal or roaming should work just fine. Will they update exactly when you cross the line? Probably not. The signal area boundaries don't always run exactly along time-zone boundaries.

I don't believe that a WiFi signal is able to update the time-zone.

Click to expand...

I've got a couple of WiFi only iPads, and they update just fine. They connect with a Apple server for time adjustments. They also have location finding, but it can be a blunt tool, especially when there's no WiFi. Some of my photos are marked as taken in my town when I know they were taken elsewhere.

It all depends where the cell signal is coming from. Sometimes, it's not in the same time zone that you are located in at that time.

Example: At one time, I lived in Bullhead City, AZ. My cell service was from Las Vegas, NV. AZ and NV are in different time zones. Thus my cell phone time was 1 hour off from the local time. On the SWC, your cell time may be on PT while you are in Kingman up to the AZ/CA border (when you're on MT).

There may be other areas where this occurs also.

I'm surprised no one has said "Who cares what time it is when you're on the train"

Additionally, some conductors and car attendants will make an announcement when you cross into a new time zone (unless it's during quiet hours, of course).

In that case, they will say something like, "We will be crossing into the Pacific time zone during the night, so be sure to move your clocks one hour back before going to bed."

We don't check our phones often enough to have to worry that they didn't change the moment we crossed into a new time zone. Mostly, we're interested in looking outside, dining, sleeping or just talking to each other.

If you don't have a signal to update your phone's clock, you don't have service anyway so what difference does it make?

Some people, like me, don't wear a watch and use their phone as a clock.

Or, some people's watches set their time by their paired phone.

Don Newcomb said:

You can look at AT&T's service coverage maps.

Click to expand...

I've used every national mobile carrier in the US and in my experience service provider maps don't mean anything from a practical usage standpoint. They're created with commercial signal analysis gear that can detect connectivity levels far lower than consumer hardware can actually use. Large areas of the maps aren't even scanned in person and are simply based on artificial signal topography algorithms.

west point said:

Am on the border of a time zone and get unwanted clock changes. Finally had to go to manual time setting on phone unless going to travel thru different zones.

Click to expand...

Modern mobile devices can use GPS and SSID maps (WiFi pre-connection handshaking broadcasts) to update the time but it sounds like your active tower's time broadcast is set to override competing information.

BCL said:

I've got a couple of WiFi only iPads, and they update just fine...They also have location finding, but it can be a blunt tool, especially when there's no WiFi. Some of my photos are marked as taken in my town when I know they were taken elsewhere.

Click to expand...

That's probably because WiFi-only iPads lack GPS circuitry.

AmtrakBlue said:

I'm surprised no one has said "Who cares what time it is when you're on the train"

Click to expand...

I'm surprised no one has said "It works exactly the same as driving down a country road across a time zone."

AmtrakBlue said:

I'm surprised no one has said "Who cares what time it is when you're on the train"

Click to expand...

OK, I'll bite. Who cares what time it is when you're on the train.

If you're right on the border of a time zone you might not get the correct time but, if the train is moving, it won't be wrong for long. That's kind of like the problems some folks living very close to the US Canadian border experience when they end up connecting to a Canadian tower and are charged for international calling (but much less expensive).

I never said a thing about needing or wanting to know the exact moment of crossing into another time zone, or staring at my phone. I'm new to long distance train travel and based on other things I've read I thought cell service would rare on some of my routes, so I asked about it. I didn't expect so much (or any, actually) judgment about why I want to know if my phone clock will be accurate.

For those who actually answered my question, I thank you.

AmtrakBlue said:

I'm surprised no one has said "Who cares what time it is when you're on the train"

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Especially if you have to be somewhere at a specific time, there is a damn good chance you won't make it. But you know that going in. It is what it is.

anuenue said:

I never said a thing about needing or wanting to know the exact moment of crossing into another time zone, or staring at my phone. I'm new to long distance train travel and based on other things I've read I thought cell service would rare on some of my routes, so I asked about it. I didn't expect so much

(or any, actually) judgment about why I want to know if my phone clock will be accurate.

For those who actually answered my question, I thank you.

Click to expand...

Oh, I get it, a trick question.

anuenue said:

I never said a thing about needing or wanting to know the exact moment of crossing into another time zone, or staring at my phone. I'm new to long distance train travel and based on other things I've read I thought cell service would rare on some of my routes, so I asked about it. I didn't expect so much (or any, actually) judgment about why I want to know if my phone clock will be accurate.

For those who actually answered my question, I thank you.

Click to expand...

That's the nature of forums.
Yes there are areas with no cell service, particular in the mountains & the high plains. Most likely areas where there's no or very little civilization (that does not include AU :giggle: )

anumberone said:

anuenue said:

I never said a thing about needing or wanting to know the exact moment of crossing into another time zone, or staring at my phone. I'm new to long distance train travel and based on other things I've read I thought cell service would rare on some of my routes, so I asked about it. I didn't expect so much

(or any, actually) judgment about why I want to know if my phone clock will be accurate.

For those who actually answered my question, I thank you.

Click to expand...

Oh, I get it, a trick question.

Click to expand...

No, not a trick question. A question based on not being an expert in all things trains, which is the reason that we're here.

Ryan said:

anumberone said:

anuenue said:

I never said a thing about needing or wanting to know the exact moment of crossing into another time zone, or staring at my phone. I'm new to long distance train travel and based on other things I've read I thought cell service would rare on some of my routes, so I asked about it. I didn't expect so much

(or any, actually) judgment about why I want to know if my phone clock will be accurate.

For those who actually answered my question, I thank you.

Click to expand...

Oh, I get it, a trick question.

Click to expand...

No, not a trick question. A question based on not being an expert in all things trains, which is the reason that we're here.

Click to expand...

Thank you, Ryan.

Not a problem. Some folks here are a bit high strung. You learn who to mentally filter out pretty quickly.

Ryan said:

anumberone said:

anuenue said:

I never said a thing about needing or wanting to know the exact moment of crossing into another time zone, or staring at my phone. I'm new to long distance train travel and based on other things I've read I thought cell service would rare on some of my routes, so I asked about it. I didn't expect so much

(or any, actually) judgment about why I want to know if my phone clock will be accurate.

For those who actually answered my question, I thank you.

Click to expand...

Oh, I get it, a trick question.

Click to expand...

No, not a trick question. A question based on not being an expert in all things trains, which is the reason that we're here.

Click to expand...

I don't think being an expert on trains or time zones is the real issue here. Seems to be more about basic forum knowledge. Just because you start a thread on a forum doesn't mean everything written in that thread is specifically aimed at you. Other folks my chose to take the topic in other directions but there's no need to take personal offense from other people's casual discussions.

I've been following this topic because I assumed one might need/want to know the time for things like on-board meals and also getting off the train at specific times. If you've made a dinner reservation on board for a certain time, it would be good to know when that time is approaching.

I'm a newbie to train travel, too, and I'd assume there aren't, for instance, clocks all over the train where I could see what time it is. Having been on cruises, though, I do know they have a policy of keeping everything on "ship's time" even when we're in port somewhere else. It makes a big difference if you need to be back on the ship by a specific time, or when you need to be at your dining table for dinner each night.