CELL PHONE COVERAGE AREA?

How old is the phone?

1. They could have shut the tower down for maintenence. Or 2. Their contract ran out with owner of the tower.

To the OP (Portland OR)?
We camp a lot in Oregon State Parks, especially on the Coast. We switched from ATT to Verizon and our coverage/strength increased dramatically.

Where are you camping?

Bob, i hate to break this to you, but tmobile is OK in Portland area, but outside of the metro area is will suck a big one. You may be a long time customer, but att or verizon are your only best choices. There are some resellers that offer no contract plans using these networks. Switching you wont regret it.

WyoTraveler wrote:
Or 2. Their contract ran out with owner of the tower.

x2 ... if you have bars, but the phone says emergency calls only, it means T-Mo has let their roaming agreement (contract) lapse with whomever operates the tower the phone is talking to. Uncle Sam forces compatible tower operators into allowing emergency calls regardless of roaming agreements.

Two things: First: They may have "lost" a tower (That is the lease agreement for the land the tower was on expired or they became "unlicensed" in that county.. I do know of one county where ONE provider, who shall not be named, bribed the county into restricting licenses (Well building permits) for towers to just them, no other company can build a tower there,, NOTE T-Mobile is one of the companies that can NOT build towers there.. Oh, I also won't name the county, Legal reasons,, If I do not name them they can not sue me.

Second: Emergency only.

This can be caused by two things.

1: System overload.. If too many people are making calls at one time the tower will send out an "EMERGENCY ONLY" notice to the remaining subscribers, This should be happening a lot next Sunday (Mothers Day).

2: T-Mobile and AT&T both use the same technology, same frequencies, in fact the phones are 100% cross compatible provided they are not jailed (Locked to one provider). Now let's say T-mobile has a tower 4 miles from the park,, AT&T builds one you can hit with a softball from within the park... Clearly you will have lots and lots of bars from the AT&T tower.. but unless T-Mobile and AT&T have an agreement on that tower's use.. You get EMERGENCY ONLY.

3:Finally, Tower problems can cause it to happen as well.

Most cell towers are not owned by the carriers using them. There are numerous tower owners ranging from large corporations down to individuals and municipalities that own towers and lease space on them to pretty much any carrier. Check this link to see who owns the towers in your area.

This is in need of more info . My phone is probley four years old. I use to get coverage at MT HOOD RV VILLAGE and Ainsworth State park, exit 35 I-84 east of portland. These are the two main places I have hit and miss coverage standing in the exact same spots. When I spoke with T Mobile they did a tower check and said nothing was reported. I like T Mobile but this is frustrating. Any aditional thoughts given the updated info? I really apreciate you folks

wa8yxm wrote:
Two things: First: They may have "lost" a tower (That is the lease agreement for the land the tower was on expired or they became "unlicensed" in that county.. I do know of one county where ONE provider, who shall not be named, bribed the county into restricting licenses (Well building permits) for towers to just them, no other company can build a tower there,, NOTE T-Mobile is one of the companies that can NOT build towers there.. Oh, I also won't name the county, Legal reasons,, If I do not name them they can not sue me.

Second: Emergency only.

This can be caused by two things.

1: System overload.. If too many people are making calls at one time the tower will send out an "EMERGENCY ONLY" notice to the remaining subscribers, This should be happening a lot next Sunday (Mothers Day).

2: T-Mobile and AT&T both use the same technology, same frequencies, in fact the phones are 100% cross compatible provided they are not jailed (Locked to one provider). Now let's say T-mobile has a tower 4 miles from the park,, AT&T builds one you can hit with a softball from within the park... Clearly you will have lots and lots of bars from the AT&T tower.. but unless T-Mobile and AT&T have an agreement on that tower's use.. You get EMERGENCY ONLY.

3:Finally, Tower problems can cause it to happen as well.

Umm no on #1 and #2.
#1 if overloaded the site sends nothing- its busy and you get a fast busy tone
#2 happens all the time in the city and your phone still works.

You are roaming onto another carriers tower and have roaming disabled on your phone or by your service contract with your regular provider.