Eastport Information for a newbee (Washington: buying, cars, parking)

[dramamama6685]

Originally Posted by Fort Lauderdale mermaid

No cell phone usage on IAH either. Sometimes on a clear day, if you climb Mt Champlain you might be able to pick up a very weak signal.
Smoke signals and carrier pigeons are much more reliable.

It's got to be more reliable than Verizon up there(spotty at best and charged me the international rates for calls). Hopefully, the service will be better once were there (the only reason I'm happy were waiting; albeit a small one)or I will probably go down to a text only plan. Our daughter's not fond of talking on the phone, but she'll text like crazy. DH is a fan of always having a land line so we'll probably still have one of those.

[Elcarim]

Wow! I haven't been without a cell phone in my pocket in at least 10 years. I can't fathom the thought! How am I gonna call Molly and chat while I sit in the lines at the school drop-off???

[maine4.us]

Will is correct. Cell phones in Eastport are......well just about useless in most places. All the calls I was able to place were placed on the New Brunswick towers. I think US cellular has a plan that allows reasonable Canadian roaming. This year Verizon wouldn't even roam. I received a message that my phone was not able to place calls on the system, both in French and English, so I knew it was a Canadian tower.

[txmom]

Originally Posted by Elcarim

Wow! I haven't been without a cell phone in my pocket in at least 10 years. I can't fathom the thought! How am I gonna call Molly and chat while I sit in the lines at the school drop-off???

The lines go quick up here I would venture to say you'll be back to your house in no time, if it's anything like Old Town.

[mensaguy]

Every time I arrive in Eastport, I simply turn off my cell phone and leave it off until I leave. It's a good feeling to go out for lunch or out to a yard sale and be completely unreachable. I got along just fine before there were cell phones, and Eastport is so small that it seems quite unnecessary to cary a phone with me all the time.

[mollysmiles]

lol... oh El thanks so much for the morning laugh!

First of all.... there are no lines for school drop off.... lol.... omg... trying to stop laughing long enough to type this!!! ok, I'm better now... there actually is a little line for drop off and pick up at the Calais Elem School, but only the pick-up line would allow you time to talk because you'd go a little early... the line at pick up time is probably 20 cars or so. Our buses are safe, the drivers are very strict, and most kids ride them. No cameras either ohhhh geez..... lol

We use US Cellular. And I can get service at the Eastport house, but it's tricky. If you go out the back door, lean over the left, no wait, right, right hand side of the railing and look directly at the house I grew up in, you have service. BUT, don't turn your head. Once you get out toward Quoddy Village you'll have it. You will learn where you have service and where you don't. You will learn to stop someone in a middle of a conversation and say "wait, I'm gonna lose you... I'll call you back when I get to the Strawberry Patch" US Cellular is really good about taking your calls off when you bounce the Canadian tower. Most people here who had Verizon switched because they will not remove those calls-- that's what I've been told anyway. To set up a plan, we would want to go to the US Cell in Bangor. The customer service at the one here in Calais is horrible. We don't go in there for anything. I wouldn't send the dog in!

Like mensaguy said, it really is unnecessary to carry one. And if you need to find someone, just ask someone else.... you'll go through the "I just talked to them in the IGA and they were heading to the post office" or "well they usually take their walk this time of day, by now they should be downtown somewhere"

I can't begin to tell you how different things are going to be for you! The more I think about it the more I think we need to get you to Calais first.... the shock may be a little less! I'm keeping my ears open

[CoastalMaine]

At a funeral this summer in Brockton, Ma, I met a cousin of the deceased who now lives in Me. He owns the cell towers in Me. He said he just signed a contract for 90 more, but I haven't a clue where they'll be going.

When I am in Searsport, everyone around the country who tries to reach me knows, it's probably easier to send me an email message than try to reach me on the cell phone. lol If the phone actually rings while I'm at the camper, I often have to say, hold on, don't hang up, I can hear ya, but I've got to walk about 50' uphill to a different campsite that isn't under a canopy of trees. lol

When I leave Maine to come back to the Cape, I shut my phone off and turn it back on when I get on the Tpk. so I can retrieve all the messages everyone's left. haha It's great! It's just the way life should be !!!!!!!!!!

[CoastalMaine]

Oh, I have AT&T.

[island mermaid]

Molly, that was so funny. We had the same problem in Harpswell. I had to go out on the back deck, point my head in one direction and hold still too. I remember telling people while driving "wait, I'll have you back again once I hit the top of the hill"

I just leave my cell and my laptop (I use an air card) in the car in Stonington. I don't miss either of them while I'm out there.

[corgis]

I have Alltel and can only get service on the front deck - our next door neighbors can only get service if they are in the upstairs bathroom standing in front of the window. But as both Molly and Mensaguy said, you don't need a cell phone in Eastport. Everybody knows who you are, where you live, your daily errand habits and where you're from.

Case in point: When we first bought our house in Eastport 5 years ago, we brought a rental truck with our belongings in it and returned it to the rental place in Bangor a couple of days later. The rental people asked for our address to return the deposit to us. About a week later, we were in the water company office setting up our account and the lady who was working there looked at Mensaguy and said, "Oh, there's a letter waiting for you at the Post Office, you need to go pick it up."