Even parts of Route 66 need better cell-phone coverage

A lot of folks use smartphones today. But more than 1 million residents in the United States still can’t use them to a great degree because of the lack of 3G or better wireless coverage in their region.

That includes part of Route 66, especially in the West.

David Talbot of Technology Review wrote about the lack of 3G in some areas:

It includes 1,738,828 residents—and 653,392 miles of highways and secondary roads (including a few stretches of the fabled Route 66 through northern New Mexico and Nevada). If you live in one of these areas, or are driving through, you’ll find no 4G or even 3G service for your new iPhone5, Droid Razr M, Nokia Lumia 900, or other smartphone.

Talbot mistakenly identifies Nevada as a Route 66 state when it never was. But when you look at this interactive map showing the lack of 3G coverage through September, you’ll find, if anything, that he understates the problem on Route 66.

The map shows many more counties on Route 66 lack complete 3G coverage than have it. In addition to New Mexico, pieces of Arizona, the Texas Panhandle, the Mojave Desert in California, and the Ozarks in Missouri lack wireless service.

Even the relatively well-populated Macoupin County, Ill. — where an older alignment of 66 traverses — sees some spotty areas.

However, there is some good news. Thanks to a $300 million in grants announced Wednesday by the FCC, the number of residents without 3G service soon will drop by nearly a quarter-million. (Map here.) That new coverage includes swaths of Quay, Guadalupe, Torrance, and San Miguel counties in New Mexico, all which host the Mother Road.

2 thoughts on “Even parts of Route 66 need better cell-phone coverage

  1. I don’t think we had cell service from east of Oatman until we got into California. I wasn’t surprised that we didn’t have it up in Oatman, though!

  2. I have had several guests this summer at the motel I work at who have told me they are following Route 66 off their Ipad or smartphone. I always caution them that particularly in the west there are areas that there is no cell coverage. Even with all the advances in technology, it is still best to have a hard copy map with you when on 66. There are some places that, because of the terrain, may never have good coverage — or that is least what both Sprint and Verizon have told me in the past.

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