iPhone coverage at 11,000 feet
Though an iPhone signal can be hard to come by in San Francisco, it's not a problem on a California mountaintop.
Last weekend I traveled to Mammoth Lakes in California's eastern Sierra Nevada. If you've never been I highly recommend it for its spectacular mountain scenery (Convict Lake is a highlight).
My family has visited the area for at least three generations, but the last time I went (give or take 20 years), the concept of a cell phone barely entered my mind. This trip, however, I took along CNET's
As any iPhone owner can tell you,
So you can imagine my astonishment at receiving a perfect AT&T signal on the very top of 11,000-foot Mammoth Mountain. I had taken the gondola up one morning and I wanted to use Facebook to upload a few photos of the fantastic view. Though I fully expected to receive no reception at all, I actually had a solid signal with five bars. I snapped the photos (check out my slideshow from the trip), uploaded them and updated my status without a hitch.
Though I later spotted a cell phone tower on top of the gondola station, I couldn't get over the fact that I had a stronger iPhone signal there than on my patio in San Francisco. Sure, the tower was no doubt installed to benefit winter skiers, but I still thought it was pretty cool. I even got a signal while hiking in Devil's Postpile National Monument, which is 6,000 feet below Mammoth Mountain but outside a line of sight.
So I ask you this, AT&T. If I can get a perfect iPhone signal in a rugged valley and on a mountain peak, why do I drop a call on the corner of 18th and Sanchez in San Francisco? That's just not right.
