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

[Driver8]

Major inconvenience in the fact that cell phone service at Pinkham Notch is so poor! I have Verizon and two of my hiking partners this week have AT&T. Our party of 6 had split into three groups, and we very much wanted to check in with Group 3 from the base, having finished our day's hikes, and we were unable to summon cell service at Pinkham. I'm floored that this vitally important and useful communication service, available at points along Boott Spur Trail (luckily I picked a good spot up there from which to make a call to one of the three parties), is NOT available at the home base.

Does anyone here know what the story is on this? One cell tower at the base carrying all four major service providers would seem to be an obvious move. Anyone want to pool money to make this happen?

[bobqzzi]

Just curious, how old are you? Please don;t take that amiss,or as some type of personal attack- it's not, I'm just really curious

[Driver8]

Just curious, how old are you? Please don;t take that amiss,or as some type of personal attack- it's not, I'm just really curious

Relevance?

[Slo-go'en]

Cell service in this area is provided by towers on Pine mountain, which overlooks Gorham and services the general Berlin/Gorham area. Unfortunetly, the signal is blocked by Madison and Adams from getting into the notch. It is not economically feasable to provide service into Pinkham notch. Fact of life in a very mountainous and relatively sparcely populated area.

[Lone Wolf]

Major inconvenience in the fact that cell phone service at Pinkham Notch is so poor!

surely you're not serious

[gumball]

surely you're not serious

Lol, I almost posted a similar comment but decided to wait for this.

Oh, and ditto. Its hiking. The great outdoors. In the woods. Lack of modern conveniences like this is why many of us GO hiking...

[Lone Wolf]

i ain't got no cell phone so i don't get what the big deal is

[Lone Wolf]

i ain't got no cell phone so i don't get what the big deal is

and i certainly wouldn't be "floored" if i had a phone but couldn't get service. funny stuff. should be in the humor section

[Marta]

Funny. It's not just kids who are getting impatient about not having constant access/control. My 80-year-old mother was complaining to me last week that her granddaughter had not instantly returned a phone call while on a trip to New Hampshire. Surely there was no place in NH without cell service, she said. I assured her that NH has that combination of mountains and sparse population that makes cell service the spottiest.

[hikerboy57]

and no wifi at the shelters? come on now.

[Driver8]

Cell service in this area is provided by towers on Pine mountain, which overlooks Gorham and services the general Berlin/Gorham area. Unfortunetly, the signal is blocked by Madison and Adams from getting into the notch. It is not economically feasable to provide service into Pinkham notch. Fact of life in a very mountainous and relatively sparcely populated area.

A serious, substantive reply. Thanks!

Who says it's not economically feasible to provide service into the Notch? It'a possible to put smaller repeater tramsitters in place atop existing structures, one at the busy, well-developed summit and one at Pinkham.

Of course it's mountain country, but it is also very heavily used, and such minor additions would be major aids to health and safety in a dangerous place. We, as a group, didn't expect crystal clear service in all spots on the mountainsides out there, but to ask for decent service in Pinkham doesn't seem like so much - not as costly or obstrusive as some might think - nor does it to have a small transmitter put in place on the summit grounds, given all the activity and structures up there.

[Jeff]

Wait until you hike thru Maine.

[Driver8]

It's different, Jeff, when it's expected. As I outlined in the post above yours, it needn't be hard or expensive to service the large traffic going through Pinkham and to the Mt. W summit and, in the process, much of the ground in between, so it's reasonable to expect, with all those people flowing through, somewhat decent cell service, especially at the two bases. The USFS uses an expensive walkie-talkie system - I walked with an employee who was using one the last 0.4 of my hike. Bet they could save a good chunk of change putting in cell transmitters at PN and at the summit and then piggy-backing off that for their communications.

[Driver8]

In short, it's not unreasonable to expect or to ask for cell service at Pinkham and the W summit. No one expects cell service in the Bigelows or the 100 Mile Wilderness. ...

[hikerboy57]

ask the rescue folks about cell phones in the mountains. the problem is too many people become reliant on a cell phone to get them out of trouble that good planning and common sense would have kept them out of in the first place. they tend to take more chances,with a cell phone as a security blanket. the whites can be very unforgiving, and Mt Washington has a long deadly history. When you use a cell to call for rescue, you can be putting many other lives in danger.Yes, its an inconvenience, but thats all it is.

[bobqzzi]

Relevance?

I am interested in how a person's age affects their expectations about technology.

[Driver8]

When you use a cell to call for rescue, you can be putting many other lives in danger.

That's true regardless of the means of communication. If you send a person as a messenger, the same threat to the safety of the rescuers applies, and it will take longer for help to come than if you, or someone with you, could just call. You are of course correct that cell phones can be like security blankets for SOME hikers, but not for all, certainly not for smart, well-prepared ones. I and my partners three such, and we just wanted to check in with our other three partners from one base, at a time, as it happened, when they were at the other (the summit, awaiting the 5 pm shuttle).

I doubt you would suggest people shouldn't hike difficult and dangerous terrain such as the Presidentials at all on the contingency that they might require rescue. The "security blanket" effect you cite, in my opinion, is far outweighed by the massive increase in safety and convenience which would be afforded by a small cost to improve cell service in the area, as I've outlined. If you believe it would be a bad idea to put in two small transmitters as I suggest, I simply ask, are you hostile to cell phone service generally?

[Driver8]

I am interested in how a person's age affects their expectations about technology.

The youngest person in our party was 17 and the oldest around 70. We all hiked safe and smart and got back sound though tired and sore. And we all expected to be able to place and receive calls at such busy places as Pinkham Notch and the summit of Mt. Washington.

[hikerboy57]

Again, talk to the SAR guys, get their opinion.and its not the same as sending someone for help.lack of cell service is expected in the mtns.
its just an inconvenience.

[Driver8]

Again, talk to the SAR guys, get their opinion.and its not the same as sending someone for help.lack of cell service is expected in the mtns.
its just an inconvenience.

So you're saying it's a bad idea to put in two small transmitters as I've suggested? Are you hostile to cell phone service generally?

I bet if you talked to SAR guys and gals they'd also tell you of a person or two, well prepared and smart but unlucky, who was hurt by a falling rock or similar problem - not by stupidity or lack of planning - and who they were able to save due to immediate cell phone communication, whereas the rescued might've died with the delay due to having to send someone as a messenger. Bet there's lots of stories like that.