BajaNomad - Cell service at Gonzaga Bay

Cell service at Gonzaga Bay

beachbum1A - 2-27-2021 at 01:47 PM

A friend is planning a prospecting trip to the Gonzaga Bay area and he is wondering if there is any cellular service in that general area?
IE: currently he has Telcel service.

Thanks!

David K - 2-27-2021 at 02:04 PM

NO.
Internet wifi calling would be it or satellite phone.
The cell coverage ends about 35 miles south of San Felipe.

[Edited on 3-3-2021 by David K]

JZ - 2-27-2021 at 06:06 PM

Quote: Originally posted by beachbum1A

A friend is planning a prospecting trip to the Gonzaga Bay area and he is wondering if there is any cellular service in that general area?
IE: currently he has Telcel service.

Thanks!

What is a "prospecting trip"?

AKgringo - 2-27-2021 at 07:25 PM

Quote: Originally posted by JZ

Quote: Originally posted by beachbum1A

A friend is planning a prospecting trip to the Gonzaga Bay area and he is wondering if there is any cellular service in that general area?
IE: currently he has Telcel service.

Thanks!

What is a "prospecting trip"?

There's gold in them thar hills! :light:

del mar - 2-27-2021 at 07:32 PM

Quote: Originally posted by lencho

Quote: Originally posted by David K

NO.
Internet wifi calling would be it or satellite phone.
The cell coverage ends about 20 miles south of San Felipe.

It would be interesting to play with a wifi (correction: cellular) repeater and high-gain antenna in places like that. I had a friend over by Puerto Mejía (Cortés side of the peninsula east of La Paz) who was blocked by the hills from La Paz towers but claimed he'd occasionally get cell reception through Los Mochis.

[Edited on 2-28-2021 by lencho]

with an antenna folks in the south campo's would get a cell connection as far south as puertecitos, the fernandez family would occasionally get a call out at Gbay.......these were in analog days, they claimed it was across the pond, don't know but it worked?

beachbum1A - 2-28-2021 at 08:03 AM

Quote: Originally posted by JZ

Quote: Originally posted by beachbum1A

A friend is planning a prospecting trip to the Gonzaga Bay area and he is wondering if there is any cellular service in that general area?
IE: currently he has Telcel service.

Thanks!

What is a "prospecting trip"?

Do believe he's searching for a precious metal and was hoping to connect up with Google Earth in the process.

JZ - 2-28-2021 at 08:13 AM

Apps like Backcountry Navigator and Gaia use satellite imagery very similar to Google Earth.

You can download maps for an area for offline use when you don't have cell service.

Can set way points. And later import them into Google Earth.

RFClark - 3-1-2021 at 04:55 PM

The short answer is none. If you have WiFi calling you can text. Alfonsinos and the market have satellite internet. Too much latency for voice.

bajarich - 3-2-2021 at 11:23 PM

Makes more sense to search for minerals where there is a cell tower.

RFClark - 3-2-2021 at 11:45 PM

David K,

Cell service on HWY5 south of San Felipe currently extends to around KM 48 or so. The point to point system currently extends to Rancho Costa Verde. So they can have voice IP Telephone service. Point to point is a 2 hop microwave system that ties into Telcel in SF the 1st hop is the hill south of the cell tower and the 2nd is in Delicias KM 37 ish.

David K - 3-3-2021 at 08:24 AM

Quote: Originally posted by RFClark

David K,

Cell service on HWY5 south of San Felipe currently extends to around KM 48 or so. The point to point system currently extends to Rancho Costa Verde. So they can have voice IP Telephone service. Point to point is a 2 hop microwave system that ties into Telcel in SF the 1st hop is the hill south of the cell tower and the 2nd is in Delicias KM 37 ish.

OK, thanks... so cell service goes to about 35 miles south of San Felipe... I will edit my reply. I personally saw the service working on Shell Island (on someone else's phone), is why I was comfortable saying "20 miles".

PaulW - 3-3-2021 at 10:59 AM

Del Desirto provides microwave Internet service as far south as Costa Verde with a solar powered tower at k53. Not sure about Lynx and where their towers are.
BTW, the Del Desirto is tied into Telnor via hard line in San Felipe and Lynx is tied in to the system in Mexicali with more hops.
Many folks at Puerticitos seem to be using Del Desirto

David K - 3-3-2021 at 11:48 AM

fwiw... Nomad 'Mothership' was driving south of San Felipe while talking to me and his signal dropped off just past Rancho Percebu (~Km. 21). Perhaps stationary vs. driving matters?

PaulW - 3-3-2021 at 12:01 PM

I bet that is the limit at k21
Hmm, Per Clark -- Maybe better at ~km48?
I thot the last Telcel tower was at km8?

[Edited on 3-3-2021 by PaulW]

RFClark - 3-3-2021 at 12:20 PM

The Telcel tower is on a hill across from the entrance to El Sanctuario Baja. It has line of sight as far south as the hill south of Rancho Cosra Verde (KM52ish). I know it works reliably to around KM 46-48. I’ve never tried it at the top of the hill further south. We have a Spot Sat SMS transmitter we carry when we travel further south or off-road!

PaulW - 3-3-2021 at 02:34 PM

thanks for that.
I need to pay attention when I travel.

Kilometer points for reference

David K - 3-3-2021 at 03:22 PM

Costa Verde is at Km. 52.8

2018-8.jpg - 95kB

PaulW - 3-3-2021 at 04:34 PM

Upgrade maps to show towers like the AAA maps. Just kidding.

RFClark - 3-3-2021 at 04:38 PM

Marked up David K Map, (sorry DK) but you get the idea!

B23569F1-55B5-4C4F-88A5-EAD50A0209E2.jpeg - 140kB

David K - 3-3-2021 at 05:36 PM

That's okay RF... I made these maps for everyone to use for their Baja travels. Just one thing, please use colors like yellow, blue, or black for us color-blind guys. Shades of red or green are very hard to see easily.
Thank you!

tunaeater - 3-4-2021 at 04:27 PM

I get cell service off and on K43

PaulW - 3-4-2021 at 05:27 PM

Km43. Very good, that would be ~30Km (=~19 miles) from the tower at km11.
I wonder if folks at Costa Verde (~Km51) with a booster can get cell service?
But close to the coast rather than on top of a hill might still be marginal.
Of course some phones are better than others.

RFClark - 3-4-2021 at 05:58 PM

DK Red/Green color deficit! So Baja in shades of gray! Sorry to hear that, it’s beautiful but mostly red and occasionally green! Yellow is nice, I’ll remember!

RFClark - 3-4-2021 at 06:07 PM

PaulW,

Rancho Costa Verde has a microwave link to San Felipe. Because of the way the coastline curves you can see the cell site. It works on the beach down to KM46 at least. With elevation and a booster probably further. When Nextel was in business I could log on to their Yuma tower access the gulf from the south campos when there was temperature difference tunneling.

PaulW - 3-6-2021 at 12:57 PM

Just got back from south on hwy5. I note that at Km11 there are now 5 towers. My guess is there must be 4 internet providers + telcel for the folks down south. I wonder who they all are?

RFClark - 3-6-2021 at 01:15 PM

We’re going to Todos Santos tomorrow. I plan to take pictures of stuff that’s changed and post here more or less daily. There are a couple of internet signs along the road south from San Felipe. I’ll post those too. We’re thinking of driving the Daihatsu HiJet 4X4 south. We think it’ll be a hoot!

We’ll try and sort out the KM locations where the wrong signs are posted too! Best I can do is GPS locations and someone like David K. can plot them on a map. We’re planning on surveying the EV chargers listed along HWY1 south of the 5 junction and report on them too. EV trucks will be here this fall! In theory if you have 250 miles range you can drive to Cabo!

I purchased a Telcel SIM for my IPad so I’ll report on how that works too.

We’re both vaccinated so it’s time to travel again!

I’ll start a new thread for the report!

David K - 3-6-2021 at 05:00 PM

Quote: Originally posted by RFClark

We’re going to Todos Santos tomorrow. I plan to take pictures of stuff that’s changed and post here more or less daily. There are a couple of internet signs along the road south from San Felipe. I’ll post those too. We’re thinking of driving the Daihatsu HiJet 4X4 south. We think it’ll be a hoot!

We’ll try and sort out the KM locations where the wrong signs are posted too! Best I can do is GPS locations and someone like David K. can plot them on a map. We’re planning on surveying the EV chargers listed along HWY1 south of the 5 junction and report on them too. EV trucks will be here this fall! In theory if you have 250 miles range you can drive to Cabo!

I purchased a Telcel SIM for my IPad so I’ll report on how that works too.

We’re both vaccinated so it’s time to travel again!

I’ll start a new thread for the report!

That would be so great... and valuable!
Maybe note if the kilometer markers still skip and go from Km. 167 to 171 (instead of 168).

Please check on the Coco's Corner road Km. #.
The north one was Km. 179 & 179.5 (both connecting onto the old road. Now, if the signs are moved south of the Las Arrastras bridge (Km. 180) to a new road, as Mothership reported, please note that.

Obviously, we are curious if Coco ever got his Corner moved closer to the highway???

The south Coco's access (old road at Hwy. 5) was very near Km. 190... just south of it.

The end of Hwy. 5 was at or near Km. 201.5 (if we correct for the skipping of 3 kms, this is actually Km. 198.5)!

Have a great trip!!! :light:

RFClark - 3-6-2021 at 07:02 PM

There’s at least 4 KM markers south of Gonzaga on HWY5 that are bad. We planned on stoping by Coco’s to see what’s going on there too! The new Telcel SIM works here in my IPad and the Zoleos SMS/Emergency beacon is up and running! It works with an iPhone app which is a really big improvement. Next stop Starlink and streaming HD video from the middle of nowhere!

It’s hard to believe that when I started they edited video tape with a razor blade and a “visual effect” was a clean vertical interval switch!