Cell Phone Coverage in the Park

[badknees]

Going to BB next week, I haven't been since I was a kid.  Very excited!

Can you quickly tell me what the cellphone situation is there?  My brother is going to meet me there and we were hoping to get in touch via cell phone.  Can we recieve calls throughout BB or not?

Thanks

There few spots on the Green Gulch Road to the Basin that are pretty reliable. The little parking area on the right as soon as you turn to head up has never failed me.

[presidio]

I'd say that map exaggerates mobile phone reception. If you have a GSM-only device, I wouldn't count on any reception once you get 10 miles south of Marathon (5 bars in Marathon though).

I've made GSM calls from the porch of the PJ visitor center. Worked fine. The key is altitude. There is a cell in the Study Butte area. You should be able to make a cell call from many of the peaks in the park.

[jim2]

with at+t i got a strong signal at the junction of  grapevine hills road and 118 and paint gap road and 118 . also good signal at junction of 118 and glenn springs road. jim2

[KDann]

My little brother got good cell reception at one of the Paint Gap road campsites we stayed at last July.

[STARLITDARKNESS3]

We have taken a Cingular phone and a Sprint phone.  NO luck at all with Sprint inside the park or Terlingua.  Cingular phone had decent service at PJ and Terlingua.  Sprint picked up signal atop of Emory Peak once. 

[okiehiker]

I have T-mobile which often has terrible reception in surprising places.  I was pleasantly surprised last year however that I had service on much of my trip climbing Casa Grande, at PJ and on any summit from Indian Head to Cub Spring to Slickrock to the Paint Gap Hills.  I even had service in a fair amount of the Rough Run drainage. 

Further south in the park I have not had as much luck.  I did have service climbing Emory in June and once I was headed down towards the main road, perhaps a mile past Panther Pass.

[jamesb]

the map above is stretching it a little bit, but usually there is good coverage along the road going north to Marathon, at PJ at the PJ gas station. Along the road going up into the basin, but not all the way up. Its spotty in a few areas.

In August this year a buddy of mine tried is AT&T GSM phone and it worked up on the top of the Oak Spring Trail just above the Window pour off.  His Verizon Phone quit working around Alpine

So if you have a GSM phone you will get some reception in the park and out in Study Butte and Terlingua and out in Lajaitas. Its not reliable so do not count on it working.

James

[Al]

I couldn't get service at Roy's Peak Vista last year with my Verizon phone even after hiking toward the Chisos and climbing a bit but my bud's phone connected no problem at the campsite. I don't know his service but it wasn't AT&T or Cingular.  It may have been Sprint.

Al

[BigBendHiker]

We have Cingular.  We had phone service in Study Butte and some phone service on the road to Rio Grande Village and Ross Maxwell Drive.  No service up in the basin area.


BBH

[Goldilocks]

We have taken a Cingular phone and a Sprint phone.  NO luck at all with Sprint inside the park or Terlingua.  Cingular phone had decent service at PJ and Terlingua.  Sprint picked up signal atop of Emory Peak once. 

I have Sprint and get terrible reception in the Park.  I got a signal once on the Green Gulch road and once at Croton Springs but I definitely don't count on it.  Also, unless they have changed it, some of the pay phones won't let you use a calling card but the one in the Basin Lodge will, I think. 

[SHANEA]

some of the pay phones won't let you use a calling card but the one in the Basin Lodge will, I think. 

The pay phone outside of PJ will accept calling cards, if the phone is still there due to the renovations...   

[xseption]

some of the pay phones won't let you use a calling card but the one in the Basin Lodge will, I think. 

The pay phone outside of PJ will accept calling cards, if the phone is still there due to the renovations...   

For the last two years, I have had luck using a calling card at RGV pay phone and the pay phone at the ranger station at RGV. I used the calling card sold at the gas station at PJ to good effect.

~ edd

[RichardM]

The "cell phone pullout" was mentioned as another reliable spot.

There's a pullout on a high spot about 2 1/2 miles west of PJ that the locals refer to as the cell phone pullout. The FedEx, UPS, etc. trucks are frequently stopped there - no, they're not snoozing...

[PyramidBlaster]

"cellphone pullout, eh?" I was wondering about that--it seems like there was someone parked there EVERY time I went past on this last trip---something like 7-8 times...

I'm with Verizon, and the only places I got a reliable signal were around Lajitas, at Ocotillo Grove campsite (near Terlingua Abajo) and at high points on the south end of the Old Maverick road....And even then, the calls often got dropped...And of course, it was only Analog service...Just enough to be able to check in with the wife and kids....

[RichardM]

Here's the Cell Phone Pullout location compliments of Google Maps.