# Spotty cell service



## horsepro (Jul 9, 2017)

I live and (starting next week) will be driving in upstate NY, Catskills region. Very often the cell service is spotty in this part of the state and in some areas, there is none at all. Does anyone else have experience driving in rural parts of their states where this may occur? I also have onboard GPS but find that my Garmin is more accurate in the rural areas.


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## akaBitter (Jul 8, 2017)

I am driving Northeastern New York, primarily Lake George. The Uber navigation app is not good up here. At times the address is correct but the nav sends me to another street. Lake George is filled with small resorts and hotels on hills or down side roads next to something else and the Uber nav will absolutely misdirect you. My advice: call your rider immediately after accepting the trip or a couple of minutes out to confirm their location. Uber stresses that people don't want to be called, but I don't think this is the case up here in NY(based on my limited experience). I tried sending a text "I am at the pickup location" but it was often the wrong spot, so I switched to calling. No one has complained(so far). My rating is 4,98 on 50 trips

In my area, there is very little cell coverage unless you have Verizon and even that is not great. I am running a Garmin GPS as a backup to navigate all the time and it's critical when cell service drops out. It has saved my bacon a few times I was so far up 'yonda I had no idea where I was. "Go Home" got me to somewhere I was familiar with. I have had trips to Luzerne and Brant Lake where there is no cell coverage at all. GPS still works, so I believe the Uber app calculates the trip based on the GPS coordinates and when I end the trip in the app, caching the data until I get coverage.

Just a FYI: most of my pickups here are 10-15 minutes away and unfortunately, that means you may be deadheading 25+ miles before you can even accept another trip. I am not making much at all, even with promotions.


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## horsepro (Jul 9, 2017)

Thanks so much, that’s all very useful information. I suspected that rural driving would be more challenging than they would lead you to believe.

As I said, I do have a very good Garmin GPS that I used a lot when I worked for a local propane company. It found addresses when the in-car system could not. As for cell service in the Catskills, it’s at best hit and miss even with Verizon.

So, I expect that those of us in this part of the country, will have to rely on good old American creativity, if we expect to make this work. Thankfully this is not a must succeed endeavor for me. So, I will give it my best for a while and see how it works.

We currently have the annual migration of the Orthodox and ultra-orthodox up for the season and I expect we will see some increased business in that regard since many of them do not drive. And with the new casino in Monticello approaching completion, there will likely be a bit of an uptick in calls from that as well.

Thanks again for sharing, be safe out there.


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## Rakos (Sep 2, 2014)

If you can ALWAYS call the pax!


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## horsepro (Jul 9, 2017)

akaBitter said:


> I am driving Northeastern New York, primarily Lake George. The Uber navigation app is not good up here. At times the address is correct but the nav sends me to another street. Lake George is filled with small resorts and hotels on hills or down side roads next to something else and the Uber nav will absolutely misdirect you. My advice: call your rider immediately after accepting the trip or a couple of minutes out to confirm their location. Uber stresses that people don't want to be called, but I don't think this is the case up here in NY(based on my limited experience). I tried sending a text "I am at the pickup location" but it was often the wrong spot, so I switched to calling. No one has complained(so far). My rating is 4,98 on 50 trips
> 
> In my area, there is very little cell coverage unless you have Verizon and even that is not great. I am running a Garmin GPS as a backup to navigate all the time and it's critical when cell service drops out. It has saved my bacon a few times I was so far up 'yonda I had no idea where I was. "Go Home" got me to somewhere I was familiar with. I have had trips to Luzerne and Brant Lake where there is no cell coverage at all. GPS still works, so I believe the Uber app calculates the trip based on the GPS coordinates and when I end the trip in the app, caching the data until I get coverage.
> 
> Just a FYI: most of my pickups here are 10-15 minutes away and unfortunately, that means you may be deadheading 25+ miles before you can even accept another trip. I am not making much at all, even with promotions.


I'm finding the same to be true in the Catskill area. Most of my trips are Hassidic/Orthadox right now, which is fine by me but I have had more than one that wants me to take them into the city. I don't want to drive to the city because I cannot get a fair back home from outside my zone. So in effect my trip would be half fair. I did take one from Monticello to Jersey City the other day and that was OK but I arranged a stop to see a sick friend on the way back.

I also have an issue with the app not showing the riders destination until I have already accepted the trip. Its awkward to tell them no after accepting the trip.

I am finding that the Uber app navigation is very accurate even up here in the rural areas. I tried Google navigation and didn't like it.


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## Rakos (Sep 2, 2014)

horsepro said:


> I'm finding the same to be true in the Catskill area. Most of my trips are Hassidic/Orthadox right now, which is fine by me but I have had more than one that wants me to take them into the city. I don't want to drive to the city because I cannot get a fair back home from outside my zone. So in effect my trip would be half fair. I did take one from Monticello to Jersey City the other day and that was OK but I arranged a stop to see a sick friend on the way back.
> 
> I also have an issue with the app not showing the riders destination until I have already accepted the trip. Its awkward to tell them no after accepting the trip.
> 
> I am finding that the Uber app navigation is very accurate even up here in the rural areas. I tried Google navigation and didn't like it.


So are you one of the new drivers...

That Uberhorse is using???

That would be a looong ride...8)

Rakos


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## surlywynch (Jun 22, 2017)

Ask for their destination before you start the trip. Most everyone will say "I thought I put in the destination?" and I have to explain each time that we drivers don't get to see the destination before we start the trip. Most riders are ignorant of this. Add an antidotal tale of woe about some long trip you took one time before you learned to ask, and you missed your son/daughter's choral concert.


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

horsepro said:


> I live and (starting next week) will be driving in upstate NY, Catskills region. Very often the cell service is spotty in this part of the state and in some areas, there is none at all. Does anyone else have experience driving in rural parts of their states where this may occur? I also have onboard GPS but find that my Garmin is more accurate in the rural areas.


Bad cell reception will cause problems. Really bad problems.

I have 3 different GPS navigation programs that i use on a regular basis, you need to use the one that works, and having more than one is a good idea.

Taxis on board navigation system (Dispatched fares beam directly into the navigation program)
Google maps (it shows the front of the house most of the time)
Apple navigation (voice activation)

Periodically one or more of the systems doesn't show right or just won't have an address. Google for instance works MUCH better in the early morning with heavy traffic.


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## horsepro (Jul 9, 2017)

I do ask now, so far none have complained. I am also finding that with the distances involved here in Sullivan County, the dead head distance makes the average earnings much less than they would be in the city. I think I can safely say that I'm averaging about $10-$12 an hour so far. It's a good thing this is not my primary means of income.

I also found the limit of my Uber app yesterday. Up in Parksville, way out in the middle of nowhere at a bungalow colony. It just stopped working and I could not end the ride until I got back into a signal area. It all worked out OK. The app must have somehow approximated where I was when I wanted to end the ride.


Mears Troll Number 4 said:


> Bad cell reception will cause problems. Really bad problems.
> 
> I have 3 different GPS navigation programs that i use on a regular basis, you need to use the one that works, and having more than one is a good idea.
> 
> ...


I have several as well. My GM built in system, Onstar, Siri, the Uber App and my portable Garmin which for rural navigation I have found to be the most accurate. But all in all, the Uber app has worked very well so far. Of course, it all depends on what address the Pax puts in. I go to a lot of bungalow colonies and the addresses can consist of just between this number and that on a given street or road. I have picked up more than one that was just alongside the roadway at the beginning of a long dirt driveway with no address. However, with only a couple of exceptions the app has always found them for me. But way out in very rural areas if the mountains are high and close to the road in a southerly direction the GPS loses it's signal.


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