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Long Island Boarder
01-10-2010, 04:30 AM
when I was there last year staying at the Fiddlehead condos we did not have service with Verizon. Has anything improved for this year? Are there other carriers that have service in the area?

tomthumb
01-10-2010, 06:50 AM
I know AT&T works well at Mt Ellen. Verizon installed a temporary tower at Lincoln Peak sometime last Winter. I doubt it reaches MT Ellen though.

Lostone
01-10-2010, 08:14 AM
Quick answer seems to be, "Not likely". But you can read more on the subject here (http://forums.skimrv.com/viewtopic.php?t=2075), in the MRV room.

summitchallenger
01-10-2010, 08:58 AM
When I hiked Ellen in 2007, I had weak coverage at Glen House. Yesterday as I was sitting in there defrosting, I had one bar on my phone. Not sure if it was enough for a call, but I had something.

Interestingly enough, the next time you ride up North Ridge note all of the transmitters and receivers on the top of the terminal:

http://www.skilifts.org/old/images/resort_images/vt-sugarbush/northridge/northridge_top_thumb.jpg

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs252.snc1/9923_134264399666_744459666_2506050_3331635_n.jpg

Some of those are for cell companies I think. The equipment closest to the end of the terminal (above where it says "Sugarbush") are instruments for a UVM icing experiment. If you look next time you are up there, and I think it is still there, you will see some flood lights and weather equipment that are remote controlled. Pretty cool.

I think this electrical box at the base is used for the transmitters:

http://www.chairlift.org/pics/sb/sb80.jpg

Strat
01-10-2010, 12:15 PM
AT&T service is very good over both mountains (and now 3G too!). Verizon has yet to make it to the Valley, but eventually, we hope.

djd66
01-10-2010, 07:03 PM
Actually - there is verizon coverage at South now

shadyjay
01-10-2010, 09:14 PM
The North Ridge terminal at Mt Ellen definitely has cell phone antennas, as visible in the second picture in summitchallenger's post. Look at the tall thick posts on the downhill side of the terminal. Not sure who the carriers are specifically, but I'm pretty sure Sprint is there in addition to Unicel/now AT&T. Sprint made the cut since they were one of the sponsors of ASC during its ownership years of the Bush. I used to have Sprint service and had excellent coverage at both mountains "back in the day".

Verizon's capabilities were added very quickly late in 2008 with a COW (cell on wheels) in the 22 Acres parking lot. After just renewing my contract in Nov 08 with Verizon, then starting work at the Bush a month later, I was frustrated with a cell phone that didn't work where I spent most of my day, but the addition of coverage not only excited myself, but many others, and was big enough news to make the sugarbush.com homepage by year's end of '08... when there was limited snow to speak of, let alone boast about. Take a spin through 22 Acres and you'll see a van with Verizon markings, next to a very temporary looking tower. It's enough to hit the access road down to around the former Blue Tooth spot, and about halfway down German Flats, and covering the entire village area and much of the entire LP area, though by the time you reach Heaven's Gate summit, you're down to a bar or two.

Having worked on cell towers for Verizon in Vermont from 9/05 until 11/08, I know that Verizon wasn't initially a priority at Sugarbush since the cell company was more concerned with covering the major corridors first (I-89, I-91, Rt 7, Rt 4), and preferred to have cell sites connected in a string, vs an island site. Going on that basis, it would have been costly to Verizon to string together a series of towers from Middlesex/Duxbury, down 100, then either down 100 through Granville Gulf to KMart, or over AppGap to Rt 7. However in '07-08, there was a real push to get the resorts of the state covered as "stand alone" sites. We surveyed locations on the mountain at Mt Snow, Bromley, Stratton, Okemo, and Stowe, usually going on existing towers at those locations. Sugarbush, MRG, and Smuggs were on the "location to be determined" list, which by the time I was laid off in 11/08, we never got around to doing. Luckily, however for most of us, something did "come together" by year's end '08, to give Lincoln Peak base area excellent Verizon coverage.

Most likely a permanent structure will take root somewhere at Sugarbush at some point in the future, but being its USFS land, it could be more complicated than other resorts. There is a tower just below LP summit, and existing antennas as mentioned on North Ridge, but whether those locations would fit Verizon's plans for a permanent facility remain to be seen.

Until then, I'm grateful for what we have for VZW coverage at the Bush, and for those guests coming from "down south" who have VZW, I'm sure they are grateful as well.

TimKeogh
01-10-2010, 09:32 PM
Maybe Burlington Telecom can come to the rescue!
:lol:

shadyjay
01-14-2010, 11:14 PM
It started this morning.... the Verizon "tower" at the 22 Acre site off Inferno Road has been "intermittent", leaving VZW customers at Lincoln Peak with on-again/off-again service, a major inconvenience to them, of which I am one. It is my VZW cell phone which wakes me up every morning and is what keeps me connected with my family and friends back in CT and elsewhere.

I have just sent an e-mail notification to Verizon to alert them of the situation, which hopefully they are aware of already.

djd66
01-15-2010, 08:00 AM
It started this morning.... the Verizon "tower" at the 22 Acre site off Inferno Road has been "intermittent", leaving VZW customers at Lincoln Peak with on-again/off-again service, a major inconvenience to them, of which I am one. It is my VZW cell phone which wakes me up every morning and is what keeps me connected with my family and friends back in CT and elsewhere.

I have just sent an e-mail notification to Verizon to alert them of the situation, which hopefully they are aware of already.


Do what I did,... switch to ATT - with 3G coverage at SB South.

John Walden
01-15-2010, 08:07 AM
Thanks for the head's up -Shadyjay. I worked sometimes from my condo with my Verizon wireless card for my laptop. No service, no work. I guess that's my excuse to go skiing.

skibum1321
01-15-2010, 10:20 AM
It started this morning.... the Verizon "tower" at the 22 Acre site off Inferno Road has been "intermittent", leaving VZW customers at Lincoln Peak with on-again/off-again service, a major inconvenience to them, of which I am one. It is my VZW cell phone which wakes me up every morning and is what keeps me connected with my family and friends back in CT and elsewhere.

I have just sent an e-mail notification to Verizon to alert them of the situation, which hopefully they are aware of already.


Do what I did,... switch to ATT - with 3G coverage at SB South.
I just switched to ATT and I have to say that I miss Verizon. From all of my experiences, they had better customer service and were overall far less shady with their charges. The one benefit of ATT is that it works in the Valley, although I sometimes question whether that is actually a benefit or not.

shadyjay
01-15-2010, 07:14 PM
Service appears to be back to normal.

Originally I had Sprint but when I first moved to VT in '05, I had to get out of my contract and went with Verizon. That cost me $180. VZW has really good coverage pretty much all over New England... except where I spent my summer in CT. AT&T on the other hand has full bars there. But I'm stuck with VZW until my contract runs out at the end of the year. I'll probably stick with them, since they're pretty good in most places. But it all depends on what happens this summer - whether I stay on the mtn or go back down south (I hope the former, not the latter happens).