Cell phones coverage

[Dan O]

I took the Southwest Chief from LA to Chicago and back last month. I didn't call much or receive but a few calls but it seems I always had cell phone coverage. Was that a lucky coincidence or is cell phone coverage that good all over US? Or does the train have their own cell tower built in?

Dan

 

[printman2000]

I took the Southwest Chief from LA to Chicago and back last month. I didn't call much or receive but a few calls but it seems I always had cell phone coverage. Was that a lucky coincidence or is cell phone coverage that good all over US? Or does the train have their own cell tower built in?
Dan

It was all land based coverage. The train does not have anything. I too have found that my cell gets a signal almost all the time.

 

[sky12065]

I took the Southwest Chief from LA to Chicago and back last month. I didn't call much or receive but a few calls but it seems I always had cell phone coverage. Was that a lucky coincidence or is cell phone coverage that good all over US? Or does the train have their own cell tower built in?
Dan

It was all land based coverage. The train does not have anything. I too have found that my cell gets a signal almost all the time.

I agree with your answer. We did find an area where we wanted to make a call while on the westbound SWC and because the train was moving at a crawl for some time, it took a while before we could get a signal. Not sure of the location but it was probably around the New Mexico area. (give or take a state)

 

[Dan O]

It was all land based coverage. The train does not have anything. I too have found that my cell gets a signal almost all the time.

Okay. Thanks. It seemed like we were near interstates quite a bit but some other areas were a bit more remote or so I thought. Glad to hear that info tho.

Thanks again,

Dan

 

[wayman]

I agree with your answer. We did find an area where we wanted to make a call while on the westbound SWC and because the train was moving at a crawl for some time, it took a while before we could get a signal. Not sure of the location but it was probably around the New Mexico area. (give or take a state)

It can vary by carrier, too. I got little to no coverage in MT and ND, with my AT&T Wireless phone. But that's on the GSM network, which means it's completely separate from providers like Verizon who are on the CDMA network. And AT&T doesn't provide any coverage itself in Montana--all GSM coverage is by a small independent company, Chinook Wireless. When the iPhone was initially released "nationwide", it was only available in 49 states because of this, but since nobody pays attention to Montana, nobody noticed this.... Looking at Verizon's coverage map, it looks like by comparison they (or their CDMA roaming partners) are fairly good in those states.

There are spots on the NEC in Connecticut and Rhode Island where I had horrible Verizon coverage. But someone else on the same car had fine Verizon coverage, so it might just have been my phone antenna.

In any event, the degree to which rural America is covered by cellular service is becoming quite impressive and will presumably only continue to improve.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

And I've found T-mobile's coverage spotty on the NEC in CT and RI on a Regional.

(The Acela has bigger windows, which may help. I also wonder if a person's height and which side of the car you're on has some impact on how well the signals can get through the windows.)

 

[the_traveler]

There are spots on the NEC in Connecticut and Rhode Island where I had horrible Verizon coverage. But someone else on the same car had fine Verizon coverage, so it might just have been my phone antenna.

I live in RI, and when I was with Verizon, I had very little problems on the NEC. (There was only 1 short stretch in CT where I had no service.) Off the rails and driving is another matter. There are many areas there is no service - but it's getting better.

 

[wayman]

And I've found T-mobile's coverage spotty on the NEC in CT and RI on a Regional.
(The Acela has bigger windows, which may help. I also wonder if a person's height and which side of the car you're on has some impact on how well the signals can get through the windows.)

Actually, I was on an Acela for that trip I couldn't get Verizon coverage, and I was in the cafe car with huge windows on both sides. There were parts of CT and RI where I couldn't get a signal anywhere in the cafe car.

 

[Navy 118]

On train 7 the cell phone coverage is kinda spotty, but thats due largely to the terrain and lack of large towns and a freeway. I'd assume that the same would be similar on the CZ between Denver and Sacramento. Towns would have service but the boonies... fo-get-about-it.

 

[rogers55]

I have not had any problem on the SWC, the LSL, or surfliner.

Don't make that many calls myself but I have traveled in a car filled with

real estate people who made calls constantly. They did not seem to have any

problems and were connected ALL the time.

 

[The Metropolitan]

Interesting, I've always had problems on the Cardinal, Capitol Limited, and to a lesser degree Pennsylvanian in the Appalachian and Allegheny Mountains. Not that I talk much on it while riding, but when the signal is lousy, it drains the battery much more quickly.

The NEC is usually fine along most of the segments I routinely ride, though it does drop out entirely for a bit below BWI around Bowie.

My Service provider is Verizon.

 

[da40flyer]

Interesting, I've always had problems on the Cardinal, Capitol Limited, and to a lesser degree Pennsylvanian in the Appalachian and Allegheny Mountains. Not that I talk much on it while riding, but when the signal is lousy, it drains the battery much more quickly.
The NEC is usually fine along most of the segments I routinely ride, though it does drop out entirely for a bit below BWI around Bowie.

My Service provider is Verizon.

I have Sprint and the service was good on the CS except for the stretch between Eugene and Chemult going through the mountains and a few spots along the Calif. coast north of Santa Barbara. Other than that, no issues.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

I wonder how hard better cell coverage really would be. One of the interesting things about railroads is that they happen to be a very good place to locate fiber optic cables running long distances, because the railroads are single property owners that own routes hundreds or thousands of miles long. I believe there may also be cable laying equipment built on railroad cars that nicely automates much of the process.

So it is likely that along many, if not all, of the routes Amtrak runs trains on, there are already unused fiber strands running along the railroad.

There are costs of the radio equipment, and I don't know what those costs really are if the cell companies are reasonably careful to do things cost effectively; there's the question of how much the cell companies would have to pay to use the fiber; and you also need a power source for the radio equipment, which may be challenging in remote areas (then again, that may be what solar cells are good for).

 

[battalion51]

Well there are almost always power sources available to the railroads. There has to be a tower for railroad communications every 40 miles or so (not that cells have that wide range). Also don't forget that signals and protected grade crossings need power sources too. The power and tapping ability is there. It's a question of Return on Investment (ROI) for the railroads. If the new service doesn't yield a higher ROI for the company, what's the point?

 

[sechs]

I took the Southwest Chief from LA to Chicago and back last month. I didn't call much or receive but a few calls but it seems I always had cell phone coverage. Was that a lucky coincidence or is cell phone coverage that good all over US? Or does the train have their own cell tower built in?
Dan

It was all land based coverage. The train does not have anything. I too have found that my cell gets a signal almost all the time.

While there are holes in coverage, I find that call hand-off can be a bigger problem. I've had calls drop or garble because the hand-off between the distant towers wasn't so great.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

While there are holes in coverage, I find that call hand-off can be a bigger problem. I've had calls drop or garble because the hand-off between the distant towers wasn't so great.

Now that you mention this, I'm remembering that that's true too: about half (or so it felt) the dropped calls I experienced on my NEC trip last summer reconnected as soon as I redialed, and the number of bars of signal went up immediately when the call dropped on those occasions, suggesting that handoffs were failing even though another tower was available. (This was on T-mobile in eastern Connecticut, mostly.)