radio phones in alaska (Kenai, Susitna: house, to buy, camps)

[c0wg1rl76]

Hello everyone,
I grew up on a homestead that was 100 miles out side of Whitehorse YT. 5 miles from the Yukon Border & our closest town was Atlin BC.
As you can imagine we had no indoor pluming, running water, electricity, ( not even a generator )
we had a beautiful green house & garden , hunted for food, picked wild berries, canned , had livestock , had a working team of horses, the who nine yards. My Dad is a artist, ( Dixon Pagnella ) & we traveled all over Northern BC. the Yukon, Northwest Territories & Alaska. He drew pin & ink drawings of the Lodges along the Highway, along with specialized post cards which were called Hasty Notes. any way's it was a Amazing way to grow up, would not want it any other way.
My husband & Daughter & I miss the North soooo much & we are wanting to buy some land up in AK. hopefully within the next year or two. I know obviously a lot has changed but the fundamental are still the same.
We are interested in theMatanuska Susitna area because of it seeming to have more agricultural capabilities .
Am I correct in that assumption ?
We are also queries about about places like the Kenai as well though. Can anyone shed any light on the differences per say, if any at all , as far as growing a garden thing's like that. I know the green house remains the same, as far as growing tomatoes, cucumbers things like that.
The other question that I have is.
If you live out side of town limits, do people still use Radio Phones ? Do they still have operators, or is that a complete thing of the past & everyone uses cell or satellite phones ?
Thank you so much,
WD.

[AKStafford]

You can get cell coverage throughout *most* of the Valley and/or Peninsula. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find the infrastructure for a radio phone today.
I grew up in logging camps in Southeast Alaska in the '80s and we had radio phones. Well, radio phone. One of them for a camp of a couple of hundred people. And it was in the bosses' house. Yeah, awkward.

Here's the coverage map from ACS, one of local cell providers: Welcome to Alaska Communications : Online Care : Service Coverage :

[c0wg1rl76]

Cool, thanks, I bookmarked it & will check it out in depth. Looks like they have good 4 g. coverage.
I had a feeling that radio phones were not used anymore , but thought I had heard that some people were still using them in the YT.
Does anyone use Verizon up there or just strictly go with local company's ?
lol. AKStafford , that would be awkward :-)

[AKStafford]

Originally Posted by c0wg1rl76

Does anyone use Verizon up there or just strictly go with local company's ?

Verizon is still building their infrastructure and will not be offering service until next year. AT&T is currently the only national carrier. The local companies are ACS, GCI, and MTA. I'd say it's about half & half on what people use. In my opinion the local guys have better coverage & customer service (except GCI...) but AT&T has better plans and pricing.

[c0wg1rl76]

Great info. thank you,
With the local company's , do they work just as well down in the lower 48 ?

[Dakster]

I had my Verizon phone and a ATT Phone up in AK this summer. They both either had or did not have any service in tandem... So unfortunately, I didn't get much of a benefit of having two different carriers with me. Back down in the lower 48 there is an advantage at times.

I can't speak about the local AK cell companies...

AK I did not find to have nearly as many dead spots as on the Taylor and Alaska Highway in Canada.

[c0wg1rl76]

That's kind of what I figured, hit & miss, to many mountains darn it :-) :-)
what a shame, hahaa, not :-)

[dcbrewmeister]

Oh but how we have become servants to our devices...

There are more "Will my cell phone from XYZ Co. work?" than there are "While I'm in this area, what should I make sure I check out or do...?" on this and other forums...