I used to get roaming thru Stockton and Modesto on a 1/3W analog handset from Chews Ridge. No more.
Every new generation of cell phone provider equipment has increased the density of the cells and lowered the range to get the denser clustering and cram more users/revenue out of the same limited number of frequencies.
The newest GSM networks all have R/T signal timing that will not let a phone connect beyond a maximum hard distance limit of 23.5 miles no matter how strong the signal. In practice this max distance turns out to be for only a very limited number of ports per tower at 800MHz. The majority of 1.8GHz frequency cell ports have much shorter distance limits-- no matter how strong the signal might be or how good of a line of sight to the tower.
I can now get cell service through only one lousy tower in Cachagua, through precious few of the longer-range 800MHz ports. There has been almost no accountability for cell networks to provide a grade of service that is reliable--ever-- let alone during emergencies. This goes back to the industry's inception in the early 80's.
