Cell phones forum: Poll: When your cell phone has poor or no reception, who do you blame?

It's so sad to hear about anybody passing from any type of accident...and NO one is actually prepared for it or know when it will happen. We have the technology and the cell tower coverage for the entire U.S. (according to a friend from A.T.T.) and it is also a government mandate that ALL cell phone service providers to allow use of the 911 from ANY cell phone, whether you have a contract or not. Which is way more than any ole' CB Ch 9 did back in the old days. The issue here is the breakdown of society itself. My daughter was in a bad car accident, trapped in her car in a city (Bethlehem Pa). Her calls to the emergency center ( 3 of them) were cut off as a prank call. They didn't believe she was in an accident and threaten to fine her for making false emergency calls. Plus on the up shot, people standing around would not make any calls from there cell phones because they thought some one else already did. The police claimed that if YOU don't use a land line phone, cell phone calls would not be considered in any investigation. TOTAL FAIL ACROSS THE BOARD.I would do the same thing as that elderly couple did if trapped in a car and no other means but a cell phone but to use it for a try to call for help .... short of a flare gun on board.

"its the people who got themselves into a pretty stupid situation which cost them their lives"

That is the first response I read on the e-mailed newsletter that described an elderly couple who were in a car accident trying to use their cell phone to get help. I cannot sufficiently convey how lowly I think of the person who wrote that. The only reason my elderly mother started carrying a cell phone is in case of emergencies when she is driving, and I know of other older people who were convinced of cell phone use for the same reason. Going off the road in a snow storm is not uncommon and it is not stupid, it is unfortunate and it happens to skilled drivers in northern regions every year. Being so close to their own home, meaning in their local service area that cell phone provider should have gotten a call through, or they should not have been charging those poor people for service. The Service provider has a responsibility to its CUSTOMERS who PAY for their service; they are not a charity and no one is asking them to be a charity, those people paid to have phone service they did not get and they died because of it. The family should sue.

From the original story, it appears that the "couple was exiting the driveway of their remote vacation home in Andes, N.Y., when their car got stuck in a ditch." Except for those who believe that "government should run everything and provide the service extra cheap or free," blaming providers not having service in remote areas outside their coverage areas is not particularly. Should their be service "everywhere?" Maybe eventually, but such is not currently the case. As "k4cdm" said in an earlier post, he has a ham radio in his car which, if properly programmed for repeaters in the areas through which he is traveling, provides a much more reliable mode of communication. Maybe. If you're in an area that is not covered by an open repeater, a VHF/UHF transceiver may be no better than a cell phone in the same circumstances. In that case, a radio capable of using satellite communications or the HF bands may be beneficial.

The case of this couple is very unfourtunate, but would they have responded differently in the situation w/o a phone? Or did their phone lull them into a sort of complacency, and when that failed they gave up?

I am outdoors alot and enjoy going to very remote locations w/ no cell phone service because I can't be distracted by my phone and texting. When I take my niece and nephew camping it is awesome that they are stuck "communing with nature" and not zonked out on technology.

However, I think the is a difference between a rural town (good to have phone coverage) and deep into the depths of a national park (takes away from the experience). I plan on moving out to a farm not too far from the city but the house does not have cell phone coverage...but the driveway does. I guess ill have to get a landline..one of those old fashioned things. Would be nice to be able to keep my old phone number, but alas, not so not so.

Yes, texting takes less bandwidth, so sometimes a text can go through when a vouce call will fail. But tell me this: who would you text? 911 centers do not have the capability to receive text calls, and how would you know to text 911? Do you enter 911 SND? We expect our phones to act like voice transmission devices. Another friend on my advise has 2 phones: 1 from each major carrier. When I plan my cross country trip, I'll do the same plus add a cellular amplifier to my vehicle. Also, something I forgot to mention in my last post, window tint, whether factory installed or added on often has metallic particles in it. Guess what they do! They block part of your signal! We encountered this often on the high end german made cars, esp. those starting with M. The solution? At the time, we added an outside antenna. New phones are making this harder and harder, so you buy a cradle that sort of works by induction technology, but it helps because you get the signal outside your vehicle. Buy a very good antenna (read NOT the cheapest) and you will likely add 1-2 bars to your phone.

Stucco houses often use chicken mesh, (metal) and office buildings do the tinted windows as well as lots of rebar. All block signals or cause them to bounce.

I get the sense that I'm supposed to feel like a dummy. It seems to me that were the old couple able to text anybody they'd be better off than they ended up. After all, they were feet from their home.

The info you submitted, however, was good stuff. Window tinting blocks signal? Stucco blocks signal? Rebar blocks signal? All this is great stuff I'd never thought of. So all in all.......THANKS!

they show people in the middle of nowhere when the tire blows out or the car stops and they call for help at one point in time was aimed for seniors so they could get help when needed, i live in a community where 90% are well over 65 and they will tell you they have a cell phone in case they break down on the road