Sprint in Alaska

[candlelady]

Just returned and thought I'd let those of you with Sprint know that I got service in Juneau, Anchorage, and Fairbanks. Places where I did NOT receive service were Vancouver, B C, Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point, Skagway, Talkeetna, and Denali.

Had BEAUTIFUL weather at all of the port cities but misty rain most of the inland cities on the land tour. Never really cold enough for a heavy jacket thought....mainly a fleece vest and light rain jacket.

It's beautiful and hope everyone going this summer will have a great time. If you have any questions about the places I mentioned, I'll try to answer.

We did the flight with Michelle at Island Wings, whale watching with Capt. Larry at Orca, a "bush" excursion for wild life at Icy Strait, the White Pass railroad (bus up, train down),and the TWT at Denali, Cabin night at Denali, and Salamon bake and Golden heart review at Fairbanks, plus the Discovery Riverboat.

[RB24]

Did you enjoy the TWT? Can you give a few details (i.e. what you saw, hours of driving vs. stopped and off the bus, comfort, etc.)?

 

On the train ride down in Skagway, which side was best to sit on and did you get good commentary? I'm doing a heli-hike-rail and the heli is up and the rail is down.

[rglbjl]

Add Sitka and Seward to places with no Sprint service.

 

Also just returned and found, like you, only Juneau and Anchorage (did not make it farther north than Talkeetna) with Sprint service.

[sea_u_onboard]

Was this in network or with roaming?

[candlelady]

Cheryl, it was regular networking...not roaming...at least my phone was.

 

RB24, The TWT was great but I think alot of it was because of our driver...Justin. He was very interesting and was great at spotting wildlife...which was a good thing because it was misty rain and the windows got messed up very fast. It's just an old school bus but it did have monitors and he would use a camera with a good zoom so that we could see. We stopped and got out twice, I think, to use the rest rooms. I think there was suppose to be a third stop but Justin had been told that there were two bears out in the open a little ways up from the rest stop and he asked what we wanted to do, go on or stop and take a chance of missing them....of course, we went on! I think we went 53 miles in and turned around because that's as far as they were going that early in May. Most of what we saw was farther in so I'm sure later in the season you'll see more than we did. We saw caribou,

bears in two locations, lots of dall sheep, but all of these were pretty far off and you'd need a good camera with good lens if you wanted a decent picture. Justin was able to zoom in on them so we saw them on the monitor. On the way out we saw a nest of five ravens and a moose with a little one. These were very close to the road. I enjoyed it but I guess I thought it would be like Yellowstone and it wasn't at all....not even close.

On the White Pass train...we got on in Frasier and I think we sat on the right side, if you're facing the engines. I don't remember a lot about it but my husband is the train and history nut and he really enjoyed it. We were suppose to take the train up and the bus down but Royal Carribbean changed it on us. I don't think they had enough people so they combined them....no explanation. It was a nice excursion but not the highlight of my trip! You'll probably enjoy the heli ride more...we did a float plane in Ketchikan and it was wonderful.

[sea_u_onboard]

Cheryl, it was regular networking...not roaming...at least my phone was.

I'm adding the roaming just for the trip at a small fee. We'll see if I fare any better.

[tbenson81]

I checked the Sprint network and roaming in every port, and you do get a Sprint PCS Signal in ANC and Juneau but is very very weak. Add roaming for 5 bucks and you will get a great signal everywhere. ANC, Denali, Fairbanks, Seward, Whittier, Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan all had great roaming signal.

[sea_u_onboard]

I checked the Sprint network and roaming in every port, and you do get a Sprint PCS Signal in ANC and Juneau but is very very weak. Add roaming for 5 bucks and you will get a great signal everywhere. ANC, Denali, Fairbanks, Seward, Whittier, Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan all had great roaming signal.

Thank you for posting. I was told it would work with the roaming. We are going to add it to one of the phones and use it.

[Boca_Raton]

I checked the Sprint network and roaming in every port, and you do get a Sprint PCS Signal in ANC and Juneau but is very very weak. Add roaming for 5 bucks and you will get a great signal everywhere. ANC, Denali, Fairbanks, Seward, Whittier, Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan all had great roaming signal.

 

I called Sprint this evening in preparation for upcoming Alaskan cruise. Told my plan includes roaming for up to 225 of my 450/month anytime minutes so I'm good to go. So I don't think paying extra will help me. She also said I will also be able to access my email (I have a Palm Treo) but the data transfer will be slow.

By the way, the twit I spoke with at Sprint CS this afternoon told me there was NO coverage in Alaska at all. This was after being on hold for 20 minutes.

The people at Sprint are probably being recruited by the US Gov't to handle passports, which is why they're taking so long. :rolleyes:

[sea_u_onboard]

Well - just returned and don't believe everything they tell you. Our plan was an old one and we couldn't add just roaming to one phone as I had planned - had to change plans completely but got roaming on all 3 phones as standard - SUPPOSABLY without raising our monthly rate (I'm waiting to see) but had to sign new 2 year contract (not a big deal). Anyhow - I was told that my son could still text and use internet - well that didn't happen. It may be different with the Palm - he has a nice phone (can't remember right now). We did have service - digital and antalog roam for most of the trip - lost it for a time between Portage and Seward and part of the inside passage. It was wierd and sometimes difficult to talk on antalog as there was a lapse and sometimes we would be "stepping" over each others words - or they couldn't hear us. Also *2 talk does not work in Alaska. Be sure to take the direct dial number for Sprint in case you have to call them.

[araniqkslvr]

I just cruised on 9/1/08 and had no service in Ketchikan or Juneau but did have service in Skagway and Anchorage. Could not even pick up roaming in those places where I couldn't connect.

 

I did run into the other in my party downtown in Juneau. Maybe not a big city but considering the many ships in port, it's a wonder we found each other!