What's the Deal With Poor Pinkham Notch Cell Service?

[Lone Wolf]

Cell tower on Katahdin? NO! 100 Mile Wilderness? Nuh uh. Ditto Bigelows and Mahoosucs. At Pinkham and W - with signs saying "please keep your usage to near the bases and to a minimum needed on trail, thanks" - yes, I think so. If that makes me an ogre in the minds of a fearsomely dedicated few, I can live with that.

why not? have you been to these places. lotsa truckers drive in the "100 mile notsowilderness". if they wreck a cell would come in handy. you seem selfish

[Driver8]

if the huts weren't there you're ****rd. plan better next time. you counted on a man-made structure

YEAH! Don't get injured, sucker! If you do, you didn't PLAN well enough and clearly are a pathetic louse. Dismissed - I'm off to further feats of faux ferality ... and a Felini flick. ...

[Driver8]

why not? have you been to these places. lotsa truckers drive in the "100 mile notsowilderness". if they wreck a cell would come in handy. you seem selfish

Let them eat sat phones. If they can't they're not tough enough - I'll filet them and eat them in my sleep. You're welcome - as you were. ...

[Lone Wolf]

Let them eat sat phones. If they can't they're not tough enough - I'll filet them and eat them in my sleep. You're welcome - as you were. ...

you're to wimpy for the "outdoors"

[Driver8]

you're to wimpy for the "outdoors"

Thanks - that means so much to me! P.S.: You have spelling, grammar and punctutation issues.

[tdoczi]

Thanks - that means so much to me! P.S.: You have spelling, grammar and punctutation issues.

you have boundary issues, fourteen year old sister.

[The Old Fhart]

Driver8 -“….which would be afforded by a small cost to improve cell service in the area, as I've outlined.” ….. “….given how cheap and easy is the fix” ….. “We're talking two well-developed and highly-frequented places, Pinkham and the summit.”

Two cell towers-cheap? Perhaps you should check the cost of constructing a cell tower. Construction cost, running cables and power, and maintenance in the mountains would likely almost double the cost quoted below. Google and you’ll find:

$150,000 - This is the average cost of a cell phone tower, more or less but you'll need at least this much to complete the project. If you don't have that kind of money, you'll need to secure a loan that you personally guarantee with other collateral. Don't make the mistake of expecting the bank to finance a tower construction project like a commercial building or residential home.

So You want someone else to spend over ½ million dollars just because you’re too lazy to walk inside Pinkham and use a pay phone?

[Sierra Echo]

Thanks - that means so much to me! P.S.: You have spelling, grammar and punctutation issues.

Generally, people resort to insulting peoples spelling, grammar and punctuation when they realize they have lost whatever the argument at hand is.

[Driver8]

Yes, Sierra, Lone Wolf has been straight to and all about the substantive issues here. Couldn't possibly just be that he was tweaking me and I was tweaking him back, could it?

[Sierra Echo]

But if you are going to do then you should think outside the box. Be creative. Don't fall into a generalized pattern.
Now let the CREATIVE tweaking begin!

[Driver8]

But if you are going to do then you should think outside the box. Be creative. Don't fall into a generalized pattern.
Now let the CREATIVE tweaking begin!

Lone Wolf's not worth my A material. He gets B- at best. ...

[Sierra Echo]

Lone Wolf's not worth my A material. He gets B- at best. ...

Ouch!! LOL
Now that was much better!

[Driver8]

So You want someone else to spend over ½ million dollars just because you’re too lazy to walk inside Pinkham and use a pay phone?

Clearly your Google search string was better than mine, Fhart - I got a Wikipedia article on cell towers and signals which gave nothing on price, and nothing else nearly as useful in the first three results pages. Tip of the cap to you there.

Your reading comp is off, though. If you'd read my OP and others spelling out my view, for comprehension, you'd see that part of my point is that a good 2000 hikers pass through Pinkham daily mid-summer and similar numbers at the summit, and the call volume flowing through the locales would easily be in the 100K's per year. Doubtless you're smart enough to see that the 1/2 million $ or so, over the life cycle of the towers, would be amortized over more than just my lazy no-good self, wretched though I be. I mean, I am immensely important, but I don't insist on my own personal cell tower at these two locations. Hope this clears that up for you!

[Sly]

if the huts weren't there you're ****rd. plan better next time. you counted on a man-made structure

You can try again too. I was planning on staying in the foyer of the closed hut, but I could have just of easily camped. What I didn't plan on was getting thrown off the mountain by an ******* from the AMC.

What's ****rd?

[weary]

that sounds dirty. if that's the case, you should probably FYOS. in the meantime, here is a trail, with cell service, that you can probably handle:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/rec...ail-adventure/

now quit whining. if you're going to go in the woods, you should expect NO cell service. carry on.

MY advice is to never, under any circumstances, carry a cell phone on any trail. That way the lack of cell phone service will never be an issue. Millions climbed the presidentials before the devices were invented. They are wisely illegal on equally difficult Katahdin, though violators rarely, if ever, are apprehended.

The devices result in scores of rescues that otherwise would be unnecessary. More importantly, just the fact of carrying the devices cause many people to quit a climb that they would otherwise complete, and thus adventures of a lifetime are lost.

[Driver8]

MY advice is to never, under any circumstances, carry a cell phone on any trail. That way the lack of cell phone service will never be an issue. Millions climbed the presidentials before the devices were invented. They are wisely illegal on equally difficult Katahdin, though violators rarely, if ever, are apprehended.

My cell phone, for the time being, is also my camera (its more important use 99% of the time on trail). So it will join me on my treks until, at least, I get a fancier camera. Probably after that.

It has never been anything but useful and convenient to me in my hikes. Certainly never an excuse or a reason for not continuing a hike or for cutting one short. Leg cramps last week? Hyperthermia one day last summer and hypothemia once this past winter? Yes to all. The Droid? Nope, not a once. Seldom does it get used as a phone on trail - maybe 10 times in 60 hikes in the past 13 mos, half of those incoming calls. ...

[Lone Wolf]

Yes, Sierra, Lone Wolf has been straight to and all about the substantive issues here. Couldn't possibly just be that he was tweaking me and I was tweaking him back, could it?

wasn't try to tweak anybody. just pointin' out how childish your demands for cell service are. really dude, stay in your safe home and don't go to the white mountains for your little day hikes

[rickb]

The point being I don't care what the croo dude says next time, if I feel I'm unable, or risking injury, I'm staying put.

I would as well.

My guess is that the likelyhood a a crew member attempting to physically removing me (or anyone, for that matter) is next to zero.

[hikerboy57]

Okay, heres the deal. Many of us cherish any wildness we can still find on this planet, and we wish to preserve as much of this wildness as we can. we hike the AT to learn to be self reliant, to learn TO DO WITHOUT, to learn that we've become too reliant on others to substitute for our own sense of personal responsibility. that there are consequences to making poor choices in the wild, and learn to make better ones.If you really need to stay connected 24/7, stay home, or visit a park, and dont forget extra batteries.

[Driver8]

wasn't try to tweak anybody. just pointin' out how childish your demands for cell service are. really dude, stay in your safe home and don't go to the white mountains for your little day hikes

Again, it is so cool that you're looking out for me, man. How lucky am I?!?