Cell Phones - Which ones work in the parks?

[Barb D]

We have TMobile and its free to call mobile to mobile so communicating with family members in the parks will be great. That is only if they work in the park. Does anyone here have Tmobile phones? How was your coverage?

Maybe we can also hear about others who have cell phones and what works and what doesnt. We use to have Sprint and we never carried them to the parks but from teh Beach CLub we had no problem when my family called me to check in. (The call originated from home)

Barb

[BriarRose]

We have T mobile and for the most part it works well as long as we are in the open. We have the most trouble with the phone reception in our room. Animal Kingdom had no reception at all though!

[TiggersPal]

I think when we had Sprint before they worked great, only the problem with most phones is that if you're in the queue for a ride especially one like Splash that goes kinda downhill, you don't have any reception! And then when we would come out of the ride, it might take a long time for us to be notified that we had a voicemail and you could miss someone!

We had Alltel when we were there in the fall, does anyone else besides us in Arkansas have Alltel? Anyway, they didn't work great, but not too bad. We relied upon the FRS radios most of the time when we were all in the same park, and if not, we kinda made a time to call, etc., so we would be waiting for the call and expecting it.

That's my best memory of the service we had, no trouble with Sprint but some trouble with Alltel. Hope that helps just a little bit:)

[Stinkerbelle]

I have At&T and so do several family members and we have never had a problem with reception anywhere on WDW property in Florida. I have travelled with people who had Sprint and Cingular and they did have problems, but I think only within MGM and at AllStar Sports. Hope this helps.

[SuzyQ]

Hey Barb!

We used our T-Mobiles this past December without any problems.
:D :) :D :)

[Bookwood]

I have Verizon and had no trouble whatsoever- even inside. DH had tmobile (needs the international plan they have for work) and has trouble everywhere. He even has to go outside to talk here at home!

Pam :mickeyWalk: "Bookwood"

[WillCAD]

My Verizon cell also seemed to have pretty good signal strength through most of WDW. I don't take it into the parks with me often unless I'm meeting someone later, but I did carry it through most of MouseFest and found high signal strength through most of the parks. Of course, when I was inside an attraction, I wasn't looking, so I don't know if the signal strength dropped while I was on Mission: Space!

I did make a few calls in the parks and they were totally clear. Reception was pretty good in the ABC Commisary.

[DisneyBUff]

We have Verizon and i will be testing it in a couple of weeks we plan on calling my mom from some of teh rides. (like dumbo. she was the first one to take oldest ds and he remembers so he said it isi a nan and him ride) so we will do the can u hear me know test.. lol

[Smiley]

I used my Verizon cell phone a couple of times with no difficulty at all.

[BriarRose]

You know I wanted to make a sad comment on our times! I love my cell phone but it would be great to get away from it. We took ours because DD was at home and we wanted her to be able to talk to us whenever she wanted. I can't wait until our cruise - no phones, no boats (tee hee) oops that's the gilligan's island song. It is so funny to walk around the park and see everyone's phone glued to their ears. One man was with his family on vacation and still doing business. No wonder we don't know how to truly relax.

[JennyAnne]

One man was with his family on vacation and still doing business. No wonder we don't know how to truly relax.

I am setting definite boundaries with DH when we are on vacation. We will carry cell phones in case we want to separate (doubtful) or in case we get accidentally separated (more probable :roll: ). But there will be NO, I mean NO checking voicemail, NO helping his subordinates with jobs they should already know how to do, and absolutely NO conference calls (something they like to have him do even when he has taken a personal or vacation day. :evil: ).

Having said that, we have Sprint so we'll see how our phones do when we're there!

[Barb D]

Jenny Anne I agree with you. I refuse to do work on vacation. I will be traveling with 3 seperate families (Its my kids and their families ) I want to be able to split up but and once in a while meet back up for some together time.

I tried the wlakie talkies before and that was terrible. The cell phone with vibrate will be our best solution I think.

[Sheryl]

Hi barb,

We have a Sprint phone and had some trouble getting the calls last year. We figured it was while we were on a ride or something but some calls would not ring, but rather go right to our voice mail. I just like knowing that if something happens at home our family can reach us. But I have seen a man doing business on the phone (and with his computer) at Blizzard Beach while his family is having fun.

:mickeyWalk: Sheryl :minnie:

[Snickerdoodlesmommy]

We have used T Mobile for years and never have had a problem. With the only exception being in the Ft Wilderness Cabin when it was a little cloudy.

MMMM Sher... You have to turn the phone ON for it to work! :rofl:

LindaC :sun:

[Owl]

Stayed at CBR... spotty at best.. and nothing in room, nothing at check in and DH was getting very "nervous" that we wouldn't have any signal at all anywhere at WDW -- was impt. since he was on a conference and we needed to be in touch w/each other, Was a mixed bag in parks, but WAS better than at resort... spotty at MGM, better at MK.
Carolyn

[Belle]

Verizon (current) was pretty good - missed maybe 2 calls to VM. Cingulair (had till last year) STUNK! Never got a call no matter where I was. I ended up dialing in from a land line daily to see if I missed any calls, because I wouldn't even get a VM signal. Needless to say I dumped them as soon as the contract was up.

{hugs}
Belle

[LisaS]

Our Verizon phones work well. DD has TMobile - she was talking to friends as we awaited our PS at Whispering Canyon (catching up after not seeing those friends for 5 whole days!!!) When they called us for our seating, I told her to finish up quickly and then come join us at the table. Our server wanted to know where our 4th person was - I said she was just finishing up catching up with her friends - Well, you guessed it - He loudly called out - ANDREA!! HANG UP THE PHONE AND COME AND JOIN YOUR FAMILY!!! She was in the WL Lobby, not even the restaurant - and boy did she hear him loud and clear - so did her friends on the other end of the phone!!! Needless to say, for a pre-teen girl (at the time) it was quite embarrassing!!! We laughed, of course, and fortunately, she was a good sport (although that could have gone either way!!) Anyway, the point of the story is that T-Mobile worked fine at the WL!!!!!

[BriarRose]

Oh my Lisa! I love it. I think I would have shrunk from embarrassment at that age.

[WDWFanJordan]

Hi Everyone!

My husband and I have Nextels. My family also does. In case people are not familiar they are the cell phones that are also a walkie-talkie. They worked great. When we were down with the whole family we were able to get in touch with people with just the push of the button so we knew where to meet up.