Cell phone signals inside passage to Alaska

[Johnknutson]

Originally Posted by northwestsailor

As others have said up and down the BC coast cell service is spotty. One thing we did notice is that simple texting works best. It may take a few tries but somehow the messages get through. Don’t try anything fancy with photos iMessage etc. Just simple SMS messaging is the best even on the west coast of Vancouver.

Thanks for your comment. I was looking at pictures of your boat. That's really something. Looks like it could go anywhere in the world.

[Johnknutson]

Originally Posted by rbk

Could be 50% could be 0% but plan on motoring sailing when it works. You regularly get outflows out of different channels. You’ll be dead calm one min, pass an inlet with a 30knt out flow and 3 miles later back to dead calm. If you’re lucky you’ll get a good southerly that can carry you a long ways. If it’s blowing at sun up it’ll probably blow hard all day. If it’s calm you may or may not see wind around lunch building til evening. If weather permits (this is touchy in the spring) you can hop outside for more consistent winds but be careful as you can end up stuck in an anchorage weeks, where if you were inside you’d be moving along nicely. Lots of hideouts on the outside but watch the tides as big rips occurs at mouths if you’re trying to take shelter. Plan your tides and currents. Sometimes leaving/stopping at an inconvenient hours can gain you 1/3 more mileage.

Thanks for your help. Really appreciate your comments.

[01kiwijohn]

My experience has been about average. Really close to the small BC communities there is some cell service.
Verizon claim to have Alaska coverage, the locals tell me ATT is better, but neither are what you'd call satisfactory. Once again, near towns is ok, also, keep an eye on the mountains as you cruise by. Oftentimes you'll see a tower up there and, bingo, SMS is available but maybe no phone.
For the family and friends, I have an InReach. They can see my location and, if necessary, e mail me anything significant.
You'll come to appreciate being "out of touch" so enjoy the trip.

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by Johnknutson

Yeah, what's that saying... Until you try, you don’t know what you can’t do. Thanks for commenting.

My concern is that, by being so ambitious, particularly later in the summer and into the fall, you are going to push:going when you shouldn't because you are tired, because of bad or marginal weather, or because something really ought to get fixed before you move on. On this coast, and particularly off Washington, Oregon, and Northern California late in the season, things can go bad in a hurry. Many crews have deserted and many vessels and marriages have been wrecked along the "Graveyard of the Pacific".

You say this is your first major voyage. I don't know where you are starting from, or where your home waters are, but to me this is a two or three summer plan, not one: one or two summers exploring BC (which alone has 17,500 miles of coastline) and Alaska, then another to get from southern BC or Puget Sound to Southern California and beyond. If you are determined to end up in SoCal or Mexico this year, and since reliable cell service seems important to you, forget BC and Alaska this time around and concentrate on heading south.

Overly ambitious plans kill: if not your life, then quite possibly your pleasure, your resolve, and your relationship(s).

[tanglewood]

You mentioned Seward, and so far all the discussion has extended only through SE AK.

For the gulf crossing, there will be no service. And throughout PWS there will be no service except in proximity to the few towns. Seward (outside of PWS), Whittier, Valdez, and Cordova are about it, I think.

[rbk]

Originally Posted by tanglewood

You mentioned Seward, and so far all the discussion has extended only through SE AK.

For the gulf crossing, there will be no service. And throughout PWS there will be no service except in proximity to the few towns. Seward (outside of PWS), Whittier, Valdez, and Cordova are about it, I think.

Yakutat has service now as well. Elfin is spotty and better reception out in Cross sound.

[rbk]

Originally Posted by Johnknutson

Yeah, what's that saying... Until you try, you don’t know what you can’t do. Thanks for commenting.

As a benchmark I’ve done from Vancouver to Skagway on the inside in 14 days (sailboat). Mostly motoring, motorsailing when permitting and a good 24 hour run downwind in 35kt winds (only winds that really cooperated). If really considering making it south I would seriously consider making the jump on the outside in early August and go straight for Port Angeles/Victoria reprovision and plan your next hop. Outside weather there’s little reason you couldn’t be in CA before the end of August beginning of September, you won’t see much but doable.

[Macblaze]

Not a bout cellphones but...

Andy is an editor for ThreeSheetsNorthwest.com and did Alaska to San Fran last year in one big go. It makes for an interesting read, and be sure to go back through some of his older posts.

Sea Stories: Romping 1,300-miles from Alaska to San Francisco – Rolling With Yahtzee

[smac999]

Originally Posted by rbk

If you can find an old flip phone with analog capabilities you will get better phone service but data is touch and go. Sometimes you’ll have full bars but data transfer is still impossible or extremely slow. I’ve had plenty of Spot signals fail as well. Try and look for signal when our cruising in open bodies rather than at anchor. You’ll have full service cruising along and nothing a mile away tucked into an anchorage.

there is no analog cell service in BC. it was removed 10 years ago.

a cell booster will help you. I think there is lots of little spots along the way with coveridge if you try to find it.

get yourself a telus sim. they likely have the best coveridge

https://www.telus.com/en/bc/mobility...=content_panel

[rbk]

Originally Posted by smac999

there is no analog cell service in BC. it was removed 10 years ago.

a cell booster will help you. I think there is lots of little spots along the way with coveridge if you try to find it.

get yourself a telus sim. they likely have the best coveridge

https://www.telus.com/en/bc/mobility...=content_panel

That was intended for Ak, there is virtually no service in BC. In the north they tend to leave the old 1G systems in place for emergency situations (like grandma with her old flip phone broken down on the road in the middle of nowhere) I can almost get constant coverage with old Blackberries almost anywhere in the Yukon and Ak where my iPhone won’t work. You’re lucky to get 3G coverage in most areas of AK.

[MJH]

Originally Posted by Johnknutson

Thanks a bunch! What percentage of the trip did you sail? I have been working on fuel estimates and hoping to sail 30% of the distance. Not sure if this is realistic.

We sailed very little: some crossing Queen Charlotte Sound (Central Coast) and some north of Prince Rupert into Alaska.

We chose the outside route east of Aristazabal and Banks Islands rather than the Inside Passage hoping for more wind but it wasn't to be last year. That was very similar to my earlier trip up there.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[DeepFrz]

More Youtube on the inside passage if interested.
https://www.youtube.com/user/bcsailor2003/playlists

[Liberty Risk]

Did this sail in 2012 and I suggest just going... silent. I used my Spot for a location indicator but other then that not much needed. You'll have a lot of local help if needed but enjoy the silence.

[dcruz99801]

make sure to tell your friends/family that they don’t always work and if you don’t contact them for a few days not to panic and that you have VHF and the coast guard available. Lots of non boaters don’t get that and figure cell/sat phones are guaranteed 100% to work everywhere.

I was in Juneau when a cruise ship went aground in Glacier Bay, and a friend at the local CBS affiliate got a call from the L.A. network office telling him to "get over there and get some footage". He tried to convince them it was too foggy to fly, and some young twit said "Well then, just drive -- they've got roads into every national park, right?".



In the 70's people used to sail off to Hawaii/Tahiti with just a VHF, a good watch/clock and a sextant; when they arrived they called home to let folks know they were alive. Alaska can be like that sometimes, but there will be a lot of traffic May-Sep just in case you do need help.

[StuartWeibel]

I've made three trips up and down the inside passage in recent years; The maximum stretch with no signal at all is north of Klemtu to just south of Prince Rupert (5 or six days if you're as slow as I am (5 knot planning speed). You can reduce that to 3 days by poking around at the opening of Coughlan Anchorage near Hartly bay and the southern entrance to Grenville Channel. I rely on GRIB file readers for most of my weather updates, and three days works out fine for that... more than three days, and the forecasts get a bit dodgy.

The outsides of Baranof and Chichigoff Islands are pretty barren-of-signal as well, but you probably won't be spending much time out there.

The only problem you're likely to find in other areas of Inside Passage Alaska is who your carrier is. Ironially, T-mobile, which gives me unlimited (sort of ) in BC, is nearly useless in Alaska. I ended up buying a cheap phone and data from ATT to fill in that blank.