T-Mobile in Alaska- No Coverage?

[Bilyeu5]

T-Mobile rep told me that they don't have coverage in Alaska, nor do they have any reciprocal agreements for roaming. He sounded unsure, though, so I'm wondering if anyone knows? We're going to Star Princess to Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway.

[australian_girl]

I hope the rep. is wrong!

[sonomaphil]

Look here for maps: http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/?class=coverage

 

It shows coverage, but not T-Mobile coverage if you move the map to Alaska.

[AkSusan]

Well my Mom's T-Mobile (she has prepaid) worked here in Anchorage last summer. It picked up on the Cellular One network, which now is AT&T. She'll be back in a couple of weeks, so we'll see if the change has any affect and since we're cruising Sapphire Southbound, I'll just turn it on at all the ports to see if she'll get a signal or not.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

[KL&KR]

If you use the same website ( http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/?class=coverage and do a search using the drop-down state list -- it DOES show coverage in Alaska (go figure).

[greatam]

As AkSusan posted, there will be service for T mobile users through the AT & T network. However, it is my understanding that there is very limted GSM service in Alaska, which is what T-mobile runs on. So you need a dual band phone to get into the AT & T/Cingular networks with a T-mobile plan.

 

One of my employees is a die hard T-mobile user. He is actually going to spend 8 weeks in Alaska for my fish shipping. He has spent the last month trying to figure out how he can make his T-mobile service work from Juneau/Ketchikan/Homer without incurring extra charges calling his girlfriend in NJ. A new, pricey dual band phone and an expanded package of minutes he thinks will work. He sent me this info:

 

 

T-MOBILE: Run GSM only, and only at PCS (1900 MHz) frequency.

 

AT&T: Run TDMA and GSM, as separate networks, and at both PCS (1900 MHz) and cellular (800/850 MHz) frequency. There is one plan, and one phone, that allows access to both networks. TDMA-only phones also allow access to the analog (AMPS) system, which is the only non-digital technology used in the US.

 

CINGULAR: Run TDMA and GSM, as separate networks, and at both PCS (1900 MHz) and cellular (800/850 MHz) frequency. Some markets have TDMA/GSM/analog (called GAIT) phones and plans. No TDMA or GAIT plans are available in the West (CA, NV, WA, ID), and GSM is not available everywhere in the rest of the country.

[lovesublime]

Well, we have T-Mobile and our phones worked perfectly in every port we were in. We incurred no extra charges. Everything worked as though we were back home. And yes, we made frequent calls to the lower 48. No problems at all.

[Tobester]

I second what lovesublime said. We are T-mobile users and have used it with no roaming or long-distance charges on our last two Alaska cruises (2005 and 2007). We are from Hawaii and even made calls home with no problems. We'll be cruising Alaska in 3 weeks so we'll let you know, but we're not anticipating any problems.

[Bilyeu5]

Now that I'm back from Alaska, I'm happy to report that my cell phone did work in all ports. Despite what I was told at the T-Mobile 800#, it does appear that they have an agreement with another carrier in Alaska. The digital display read "Cell One". My tablemate has Verizon. He had been told by Verizon that his cell phone wouldn't work. Wrong again; it was active in ports, also.

[FSUFAN]

Now that I'm back from Alaska, I'm happy to report that my cell phone did work in all ports. Despite what I was told at the T-Mobile 800#, it does appear that they have an agreement with another carrier in Alaska. The digital display read "Cell One". My tablemate has Verizon. He had been told by Verizon that his cell phone wouldn't work. Wrong again; it was active in ports, also.

I have Verizon and my phone (Blackberry) worked fine. I was even able to use the internet connection service with it and log on with my laptop.

[odblnt]

I'm sorry that I didn't see your original post before your left for your trip, but glad that everything worked out OK. That's what I was going to tell you, since we had our T-Mobile in Alaska last summer.

 

The only issue we had was when we were notified about a voicemail and couldn't access it since we didn't have the instructions on how to do it when you're "off-network." We just had to wait until we got back to Seattle and then had no problems accessing our voicemail.

 

Before we went to Europe this spring, we researched how to check voicemail and used that method a couple of times. I don't remember the exact method, but it is on the T-Mobile website.

[travguy]

Does anyone have first hand experience of Sprint please?