No cell phone coverage/signal around Mt. Rainier area (Seattle: lease, homes)

[SunAndRain808]

I am curious as to why there is no cell phone signal or reception in the areas surrounding the Mt. Rainier area?

I went hiking with a friend and his wife back in August. We drove down Meridian St in Puyallup past South Hill, then onto Graham area.

My cell phone signal as well as my friend and his wife's cell phone signal completely went dead after we drove past a small town called Elbe.
This is an area southeast of Eatonville.

I had a big X on my cell phone signal bar portion of my smart phone screen, even as we drove into Mt Rainier national park area.

This is scary considering that Mt. Rainier region is popular area for camping, hiking, fishing in the river/lakes, and other various outdoor activities.

What happens if you get lost or get injured in the wilderness? I understand that a person may not have cell phone signal reception if a person hiked far out into the wilderness.

But no signal even while driving on the highway, and the roadways in the national park? Just doesn't sound right.

[fluffydelusions]

When I drove across country there were TONS of places and stretches of highway I had no signal (T-Mobile). I switched to Verizon soon after I moved here as I was tired of the spotty coverage out here. Seems like any time I left the metro area the signal would go to crap. T-Mobile was great in NYC but here not so much. I don't even remember a time I had no signal with Verizon since switching over but I haven't been to Mt. Rainier national park yet. I have no clue what provider you use but that could be to blame. I feel like the consensus here is that Verizon is the best service provider in the area which certainly lines up with my experience. Also, this post reminds me of our reliance on cell phones nowadays and makes me feel old lol. Remember just hiking in the woods before any of this stuff existed...what a time.

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by SunAndRain808

I am curious as to why there is no cell phone signal or reception in the areas surrounding the Mt. Rainier area?

I went hiking with a friend and his wife back in August. We drove down Meridian St in Puyallup past South Hill, then onto Graham area.

My cell phone signal as well as my friend and his wife's cell phone signal completely went dead after we drove past a small town called Elbe.
This is an area southeast of Eatonville.

I had a big X on my cell phone signal bar portion of my smart phone screen, even as we drove into Mt Rainier national park area.

This is scary considering that Mt. Rainier region is popular area for camping, hiking, fishing in the river/lakes, and other various outdoor activities.

What happens if you get lost or get injured in the wilderness? I understand that a person may not have cell phone signal reception if a person hiked far out into the wilderness.

But no signal even while driving on the highway, and the roadways in the national park? Just doesn't sound right.

How profitable is it for cell phone providers to build towers in remote locations? And do you expect the national park system to build the towers? Where would the funding for that come from? Also, not sure they would be in accordance to the land management policies..

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by fluffydelusions

When I drove across country there were TONS of places and stretches of highway I had no signal (T-Mobile). I switched to Verizon soon after I moved here as I was tired of the spotty coverage out here. Seems like any time I left the metro area the signal would go to crap. T-Mobile was great in NYC but here not so much. I don't even remember a time I had no signal with Verizon since switching over but I haven't been to Mt. Rainier national park yet. I have no clue what provider you use but that could be to blame. I feel like the consensus here is that Verizon is the best service provider in the area which certainly lines up with my experience. Also, this post reminds me of our reliance on cell phones nowadays and makes me feel old lol. Remember just hiking in the woods before any of this stuff existed...what a time.

We spent most of the day without coverage traversing Montana through the middle (not taking I-90) and it did feel a little unsettling. Times have really changed in the last 15 years, haven't they?

[Botev1912]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

How profitable is it for cell phone providers to build towers in remote locations? And do you expect the national park system to build the towers? Where would the funding for that come from? Also, not sure they would be in accordance to the land management policies..

Who would pay? The cell phone company that doesn't forget to charge their customers every month. T-Mobile has terrible coverage outside of big cities (and even in some areas of Seattle), but AT&T isn't any better. Verizon is probably the best in Washington.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

How profitable is it for cell phone providers to build towers in remote locations? And do you expect the national park system to build the towers? Where would the funding for that come from? Also, not sure they would be in accordance to the land management policies..

Welcome to the 15% of USA that does not have access to Internet.

I am 16 miles from a metro area of 2.5 million people. I am stuck with dial-up and NO internet is coming. (no customer base for cover expenses)

Facebook and Google wire 3rd world countries, but their own neighbors in USA can't get internet.
Wire the masses (they spend and vote).

Rural USA who needs them? (They definitely don't want our vote!)

Other countries form REA type rural cooperatives for fiber. (As done by USA in 1930's for Rural Electrification.) Ain't gonna happen in USA.

Someday... technology may be released for 'distributed power and internet' (already happens overseas)

Taliban and it's partners would be really upset if they had no connectivity. (Maybe a disincentive for them to occupy the USA!_)

*NOTE: Mt Rainier is not in metro Seattle... but should easily be within cell coverage.

[oldgardener]

Rural areas don't have good coverage. I can't use my cell phone to make calls from my home out here in the sticks, but sometimes I can send a text. That is just part of living in a rural area.

There has been talk of improving coverage at Mt. Rainier lately: http://nwpr.org/post/should-mt-raini...-cell-coverage

Anyway, you can find cell phone and wifi coverage areas at Mt. Rainier here, if that's helpful to anyone in this thread:

https://visitrainier.com/cell-phone-...fi-coverage-2/

.An

[CrazyDonkey]

There is a rather LARGE mountain in the way, and many other nearby precipices (the Cascades). The point of going to a place like Mt. Rainier (or the Olympics) is to leave civilization (including cell phones) behind, and immerse yourself in nature.

[Hemlock140]

There are even residential areas on the fringes with poor, intermittent cell access, and then none. At my parents in Port Angeles we get a weak signal but have to wander around, and if you go up the hill from them it goes away completely. Those close to the top with no service are in multi-million dollar homes with views across the water to Victoria, BC. Still no tower if there isn’t enough customers to make the providers money. At half a million to build the tower, average $45,000/year to lease the property it’s on, and the cost of getting power there, a new tower is not cheap.

[James Bond 007]

Back in the day hikers did just fine without having access to cell phone coverage anywhere.