Cell service in the parks?

[luv]

AT&T was horrible for me in and around home, but Verizon was amazing.

At&T seemed to work a little better in the WDW hotels.

Both have served me well outside at WDW.

 

[Space Mountain]

It's not you. If you're on AT&T I find it common for the data service to be all but unusable especially in Magic Kingdom and Epcot on a regular basis (I'm a local so I'm there often). It used to be an issue only on major holidays but over the last 6 months I seem to have problems of some sort during nearly every visit.

Its any of the Orlando theme parks during busy times. Try going to Universal's Halloween Horror Nights and get good cell service waiting in a 90 minute queue.

 

[rct247]

I have Sprint with a new top of the line 4G capable phone.

My service for phone calls and texting usually isn't a problem unless I'm in a building sometimes. Data however is awful. If it is early in the morning, very late at night, or just not busy then it is alright. If it is average crowds, it is slow, but during major holidays and big crowds, I drain my battery trying to refresh and reconnect just to check Facebook or check the weather.

 

[Choodles]

The reality is, ANY location that has hundreds of thousands of people all trying to connect to the same towers will result in problems, and those will be across the board for all carriers...wether that is Disney World, your local baseball stadium, or anywhere else.

The problem at WDW isn't that the cell service has gotten worse -- it's that the use of data-based cellphones has exploded in the last two years and they just absolutely can not keep up. You will normally find that your PHONE will work --but your DATA will not (i.e. SMS, photo upload, internet use, Facebook, etc).

You will also find that your battery will wear down in just a few hours instead of lasting all day, because your smartphone is trying to connect to the data towers all day long, and wearing down the battery without even using the phone. My iPhone, for example, goes from 100% to 65% in just a few hours walking around the parks WITHOUT EVEN USING IT....

It's a huge problem, but it isn't Disney's problem -- it's the cell providers problem, and it costs hundreds of millions to upgrade those things, so they just dont....

I never have a problem in Yankee or Giant stadium so I think there is something wrong in WDW.

 

[love disney]

It's a huge problem, but it isn't Disney's problem -- it's the cell providers problem, and it costs hundreds of millions to upgrade those things, so they just dont....

Well said. I don't know the actual cost to do an upgrade, but this is definitely not a Disney problem. Complaints should be directed to the service providers. As others have said, with more and more people using smart phones and data plans there currently just isn't enough bandwidth for it to function perfectly all the time. I wonder with all the talk of this NextGen project potentially relying on smart phone technology if these concerns are being taken into account (not that I am looking forward to this project, nor do I even have a smart phone. haha!).

 

[loveofamouse]

Ive been with Sprint for almost 10yrs. I don't have issues in the park except when DEEP in a few queues. I really think it boils down to the amount of people concentrated in the parks that are ALL hitting the SAME towers. Data does get the short end of the stick. Sprint even admitted to me once that when smartphones first came out, hardly anyone had them and they weren't pulling the amount of data that they do. Now, they are overwhelmed with the amount of smartphone users hitting the network. They had to start charging an extra $8 for smartphone users so they can upgrade the network. I will be taking my smartphone and tablet with WIFI hotspot creator next time. Not holding my breath, though.

THink of it like this: Whenever a disaster of some type happen, what's the first thing to go out? Cell service. Too many people jumping on their phones at the same time. I was in the DC area at the time of that little (big to us) earthquake. Cells were useless but landlines were fine.

 

[donsullivan]

I've never really had an issue with not having coverage inside many of the buildings; I kind of expect that with many of the buildings on site. My issue is when I'm standing in a wide open area of the park and can't even read an email or update my Twitter client.

I make it a point to regularly report the problems to AT&T from the AT&T app on my iPhone called Mark the Spot to alert the issue whenever I have it (which is most of the time in the last 4+ months. The hope is that if enough people report issues they'll (the carriers) actually do something about it but I don't hold out much hope.

 

[epcotisbest]

We quit taking phones into the parks several years ago. You would be amazed how much better the day is without a phone. Don't even carry a camera some days, just tickets, car keys and wallet. Then we knowingly smile at each other when we see people wasting their day yakking on a phone while lugging around a backpack filled with who knows what while seeing WDW on a tiny screen on their cameras. To each his own. Hands free, carefree and spur of the moment has become the best discovery my wife and I have ever made about the parks.

 

[Gravydeen]

So is AT&T 4G LTE service better in the parks than 3G or is it even available?

 

[captainkidd]

...ON THE OTHER HAND - we should probably put our cells away and enjoy the parks.

Bingo.

 

[loveofamouse]

I personally don't spend a lot of time on my phone at the park but having SN kids kinda makes it mandatory to have one on me at all times. Also, my family uses cells as Walkie Talkies whenever we are seperated. We used to carry walkies back in the 90s but was a PITB at parks with so many people sharing, like, 15 channels. When someone isn't riding, they just shoot a text that says where they'll be sitting. When we come out of the ride, we text that we are out and looking for you.

Don't judge everyone carrying a bag. Many people bring in their own water and just cause you've been enough to not take a pic, some don't go often or ever and will take pics. I take my camera mainly in case I catch my kids doing something memorable. I also try to take artsy kinda pics. It's my own little challenge.

And since does cell use mean someone isn't enjoying the parks?