Cell Reception in Rural Central/Western US

[WDW Princess 71]

I am contemplating whether I should rent a satellite phone for our 3 week cross country trip in August. I drove cross country in 2007 (San Diego to Grand Canyon, GC up through Denver, Denver up to Wyoming/South Dakota, then eastward) and there were several days where cell service was non-existent for hours at a time. I was wondering if reception is better now three years later, or if it is still "patchy"...I've found decent rates for satellite rentals, but just figured I would check first to see if anyone has any experience with regular cell service recently in these rural areas.

 

[skiingfast]

In the mountains it can be patchy. I've never found it really bad there are more towers along the freeways and usually in even the small towns.

Personally in my opinion if you aren't going into the back country a sat phone is excessive.

 

[WDW Princess 71]

In the mountains it can be patchy. I've never found it really bad there are more towers along the freeways and usually in even the small towns.

Personally in my opinion if you aren't going into the back country a sat phone is excessive.

Thanks for the input. Actually, the bulk of our trip is on Route 66--all the still-driveable portions from Chicago to LA. I know in many areas '66 is right off of the interstate, so cell reception should be fine, but in many areas it gets desolate. Also, in 2007, the areas that were hours between reception were through some desert areas, and particularly in the Navajo reservation all the way from Grand Canyon (South Rim) up through the Four Corners, and the mountainous areas of Colorado. It was fine after that. This time we are doing Route 66, and a few Western national parks, so those are the areas I'm concerned about, and we are two single women traveling alone.

I am leaning toward just getting the sat phone just to be safe, the rental was less than what I pay for one month of my regular cell phone so I'm just going to have to look at it as an added precaution in the rare event that we break down in one of these remote areas and need to call for help.