I, too, watched Frozen couple of weeks ago. Rather good movie (although not without couple of typical logical mistakes). Also good for pondering about what should have been done/ what would you do/ what would you bring etc. It reminded me the thread here on ETS about paracord rappeling .
Maybe I did not pay enough attention but what was the reason why no one carried a cell phone? Where they out of range?

You might want to test that out. Sprint has worked for me on mountain peaks in Tahoe, including Heavenly and others. I'm talking 4 out of 5 bars. I was quite amazed.



That's certainly a good idea, no question. Facebook has been instrumental in finding people and solving a few crimes.

Sprint will work outside of town, CDMA carriers have a lot more coverage. AT$T/GSM is non existent outside major towns.

That's certainly true in some areas. However, some areas I've been my AT&T phone worked fine where Sprint and Verizon did not.

There's an argument to be made for carrier-diversity among your party.

I guess I should have prefaced with my area. From the west end of TN to Washington DC, South to the Carolinas and North to Michigan GSM coverage has been getting worse once you get out of any decent sized towns. Its almost like they have transmitters at the town limits, people's gsm phones drop there. I was keeping an analog cdma and a gsm phone for diversity but in the last few years the coverage areas of either has gotten so low it doesn't matter anymore.

Cell coverage certainly isn't great in the I-81 corridor or 60 miles west of DC in Virginia. I have Verizon and always lose the signal about 70 miles west of DC in Virginia headed toward the mountains. Friends and I caravanned to Pigeon Forge, TN in October and relied on walkie-talkies to communicate between vehicles (I-66 and I-81). I wouldn't bet a nickel on getting a cell signal anywhere along that route -- outside of the few significant towns.

At 3700 feet in the Shenandoah Mts, at the campground we frequent, there are only a couple of campsites where a signal is possible for most peops I know. But I did meet someone with a Droid last summer and they were pulling up weather radar away from the usual good spots for a signal. I don't think they were on Verizon.

In the movie, Parker (girlfriend) had a phone in the locker but was talked out of getting it by the boyfriend as he tried to repair a wrongly taken conversation.

AT&T in Arizona is horrible outside of town and that includes stretches of state routes between cities, (not major freeways). I have been on the top of 4 Peaks and at the 1.5 mile rest house in the Grand Canyon and AT&T had no service. My hiking partner who has Verizon had good signal at both and had to use his phone. In the Superstitions when I had Sprint I knew exactly where I could pick up service coming out of the canyon. With AT&T I have to travel an extra 4 miles out and even then have to reset my phone or wait another few minutes to pick up a tower. YMMV with provider and location.

Some areas have set moritoriums on building additional cell towers.
I don't know the reasoning.

I'm 5 miles off Interstate 5, and always had bad cell coverage. I bought a TracFone and couldn't get any kind of signal. My vet's wife refers to this as 'cell hell'. So I called a couple of cell phone services and asked if they wanted to put up a cell tower in my back yard. They said they would like to, but they couldn't due to the local moritorium.

Sue

I have had great experiences with Verizon, connecting on the Channel Islands, which are outside their official coverage area, aw well as other odd locations. On one trip, my basic phone worked where a sat phone flunked out.

Mountains add in a lot of dead zones as the signals get bounced and or blocked. My parents home is in a valley and we can't get a signal there, but 1 mile down the road I get a perfect signal where the two streams and valleys merge so the area is open enough that the signal can get in.
Now with a droid I only have to go 1/4 mile down the road, the reception has improved that I can still get a signal that last 3/4 of the mile where I couldn't before. The higher end phone has that much of a better antenna.
I drove down on the 4 wheeler to meet someone who wanted to visit us, she had to turn around 1 mile away from there and drive the 7 back to town then make a call on her at&t phone, I assumed she had called from where I was and wondered where she was when I got then so I had to sit and wait for 20 minutes for her to drive the 7 miles back from town to meet her again.
On top of the mountain I have a perfect signal vioce and data, yet no one else on other carriers can get a call in or out. So its partly the better carrier but partly a better phone too.
I actually have the cb radio to converse with others who don't have the coverage.