Cell problems in parks?

[PrincessaC]

We were at WDW the week before Christmas and both DH and I had major problems using our iPhones (AT&T).

 

[smitch425]

DH and I also have the Sprint Evo 4G, and I agree with you that it might as well be named 3G. We didn't have any noticable issues when we were there in October. We listened to the 2nd half of a college football game one day and nearly an entire game on another day. It buffered a couple times, but that is fairly common for some radio apps. I don't recall any dropped calls, but there was one time that our texts were delayed. That happens at home here in Ohio, so I don't think it was anything necessarily WDW related. Best of luck to you on your upcoming trip. Have a great time!

 

[serenitygr]

Does anyone use Wal-marts Straight Talk phones there? Hoping they work- that's all we can afford!

 

[carrie1626]

I have US Cellular nation-wide.............. no problems in the parks
although I was only using cell service ( no apps )

 

[Tomh]

I'm gonna agree with the Previous Poster who pointed out that Verizon is a partner with the Kim Possible missions, and will likely be involved with the upcoming, similar system in Magic Kingdom, so I would expect that Verizon coverage is going to be very complete.

DD16 and I both had Motorola DroidX phones on Verizon this past summer, and except for inside buildings, our coverage seemed very good.

 

[branv]

Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences! So funny that some of you were on similar phones and carriers to each other, yet had different levels of success! I guess the moral of this story is -- it depends, and best of luck to us all Perhaps I'll invest in a sturdy carrier pigeon before my trip.

 

[pika2000]

I carried 2 smartphones with me during my trip. 1 on AT&T, 1 on T-Mobile.

AT&T:
-decent coverage, you'll get at least few bars. Obviously no signals once you're inside rides, etc.
-USELESS data connectivity in the parks. I was going to use some apps on my visit, and those apps depend on data connectivity. It's useless. Even at 3-4 bars on 3G, I usually get time outs/no data. The connection is flacky too, reverting to EDGE/disconnect completely very frequently. Even on EDGE, it's useless. The only times it's useful is when I got back to my hotel.

T-Mobile:
-less coverage than AT&T, although fairly minor. There are few spots where my AT&T phone can still get a signal while my T-Mobile phone showed no signal at all.
-Better data connectivity. Throughout my trip, my T-Mobile phone gives much better data connectivity, even during the peak hours in the parks. Sure, there are times when things slow down, but most of the time I can still get data connectivity and use my apps while my AT&T phone is timing out for the whole day.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

My DH and I have Sprint, an Evo and a Photon. We have not had service issues anywhere at WDW and we visit pretty often. The one spot we do not get service is deep inside Soarin and it's pretty much there till right when you get to the pre show area. We also don't have data issues and take our laptop w/ aircard to all the resorts.

The one service I have had a problem with at WDW is with the touring plans app, we have used Lines for 10+ trips now and the last 2 trips in Sept/Oct and Thanksgiving weekend it was spotty and iffy most of the time. In Sept/Oct we were with other Lines users and it was spoty across all carriers at times. We were getting can't load and just times when it would constantly sit on the refresh screen, but there were 15 of us together submitting times so it may have been overloaded. Thanksgiving weekend it was not being updated, park hours were showing off, waits were off and not updating to submitted times and the chat going back to weeks old threads, etc. I thought it was just us till we got home and saw complaints from others on the website. Turns out it was not a sprint issue b/c all other apps (included undercover tourist wait app which is simliar) worked just fine it was a tp issue. Maybe it's a traffic thing for them as the busiest days is when it was slowest (10/1 and Thanksgiving and weekend after) and the app has gotten much more popular and has more users than it did in the past when it worked better.

 

[Bearybear]

I have Virgin Mobile, and though they show 3G coverage for DW, I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with it there. I'm considering buying touring plans app, but not if it won't work.

 

[trekker93]

Both of us are on the Verizon family plan and we use HTC's incridable 3 phonea and loved the reception. We have downloaded the Disney app for it and it SAVED us alot of TIME!!! When we were in the park and were trying to decide what to do next, we'd check the wait times and it let us not waste time in long lines!!

 

[PSUGuy]

Another satisfied Verizon 'Driod user here. Last March I actually streamed live on UStream from the parks, including the entire Great Movie Ride.

Bill From PA

 

[Tiger926]

Just got back Dec 27-Jan 6 and both of our Blackberries were having major problems in Epcot and MK. Our Rogers phone were roaming on AT & T.

AK and DHS were totally fine, as were resorts and Downtown Disney, but those two parks were utterly horrible for BBM and Internet.

Hubby thinks that Verizon will always work well due to the special Mobile Magic App. He is a conspiracy guy! LOL!

Tiger

 

[chartle]

Hubby thinks that Verizon will always work well due to the special Mobile Magic App. He is a conspiracy guy! LOL!

Tiger

Or maybe just that overall, Verizon has better coverage?

 

[Tiger926]

Or maybe just that overall, Verizon has better coverage?

Could be.

We are Canadian and have no experience with Verizon at all. When our phones roam at Disney, they only ever connect to AT & T or T-Mobile.

Tiger