Cell coverage to Alaska (Alcan hwy) + Satellite phone rental??

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bigdad72

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What's the cell coverage like from Calgary through Whitehorse, Tok, Fairbanks, etc. etc.?  I currently have AT&T cell and I was going to rent a satellite phone for emergencies and/or e-mail & data.    Has anyone used a Sat phone up through Alaska?  Any problems with e-mail/data service on Sat phone?

thanks!
 
It was all but non-existent when we made the journey in 2002, but I understand that BC & Alaska cellular coverage has improved dramatically since then. Maybe someone with more recent experience can comment.

Do you know who will handle your AT&T phone in Canada so you can check their coverage? There is a Travel Guide on the AT&T site that will help you figure out what works. Don't expect a lot in the back country, though.

You will probably want the AT&T Canada extra coverage plan.
 
We went in 2006 and as I recall there was fairly good cell coverage but we weren't signed up for coverage in Canada.  We used Skype with our satellite Internet when we needed to make a call in Canada.  Not sure about sat phone, never used one.
 
Given that you have AT&T they probably partner with Telus or Bell in Canada.  In western Canada Telus and Bell colocate their towers so the map at http://www.telusmobility.com/en/AB/cdma/canadavoicemaps.shtml should work for you for the Alberta portion of your journey.

Once you're in the Yukon it's NorthWestTel aka Latitude  http://latitudewireless.ca/availability  but that map sucks for road coverage purposes.  (Hmm, it's been quite a while since I looked.  There sure are a lot of small communities with cell phone coverage.  For example Normal Wells, NWT with a popn of 700.  Mind you that's an oil town so likely Esso made a deal issued all their employees and spouses with cell phones.)

As far as AK goes I have no idea.

Tony (Canadian with a slight knowledge of Canada's north.)
 
Oh yeah, if you are going to use your AT&T phone in Canada make very sure you contact AT&T and have them add Canada to your plan.  The $20 (or whatever) will likely be a lot cheaper than the roaming charges you are likely to incur.

Horror stories of cell phone bills with hundreds or a few in the thousands of $$$s for roaming charges are common in the newspapers.

Rant:  The frigging cell phone companies should tell you once you exceed your monthly plan by a certain reasonable precentage. 
 
thanks for the info.... I'll check w/ ATT&T to make sure they put Canada on my plan.
 
My son-in-law took his AT&T cell phone on a business trip to Canada and had $145 in roaming charges in just a few days.
 
KodiakRV said:
My son-in-law took his AT&T cell phone on a business trip to Canada and had $145 in roaming charges in just a few days.
Click to expand...
Sounds about right.  Let me assure you Canadians get the same treatment while in the USA.  :)    And to add injury these roaming charges can happen just leaving your cell phone on.  Every podunk cell company can whack you a charge as you enter their territory.  Or so my understanding goes.
 
We were in Atlantic Canada last summer and in Western Canada in 2006. We have AT&T as our primary cell phones.  When we checked last June, AT&T wanted $60.00 extra plus our monthly charges to put us on a Canadian Plan; plus we would have to pay all the roaming charges.  We also have a Verizon cell phone and they changed our plan to Canada using the same minute plan that we have and with an $20.00 per month extra and NO roaming charges. 

Many of us who travel 5-6 months out of the year have 2 cell phone services.

Marsha~
 
Where AT&T nails you is with their Data charges.  For $5.00 a month you can add voice for Canada that reduces your cost per minute from $.79 per minute to $.59.  That's manageable.  The Data costs a super high and if you have a Data hog phone, you better be careful.  They offer Data plans but they look mighty pricey to me.  I plan to turn the data off on my i-phone and use its data capability only when I've got a wi-fi signal.  I'll probably just use my laptop most of the time.
 
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