2oldman is correct. They work on totally different reception methods. For cell phone service, you must be close to line of sight with a cell phone tower which is ground based. The satellite signals come from satellites which are in the southern sky for those of us in the U.S. As long as you aren't blocked by a canopy of trees, buildings or mountains, you should be able to get good reception. We were in 28 different states this last summer, from California to Maine. Only twice were we not able to get a signal due to thick trees blocking the signal.
