This evening, I was delighted to receive a call from a fellow who was interested in purchasing one of our listings.  Unfortunately, he was attempting to call from a cellphone from downtown LaPointe, on Madeline Island.

Our Island has poor cellular service that is almost legendary.  Unless you have Alltel local service (from Chequamegon Telephone Cooperative on the nearby mainland) or your cellular carrier is AT & T, you can expect to have problems using your cellphone on Madeline Island.

I have a Blackberry World Edition phone (with Verizon service), however in this part of the world, it doesn't work very well).  On Main Street, in front of our office, I get one or two signal bars, occasionally three at best.  In various parts of town, I get zero signal bars.  I can receive incoming calls but if I dial out, the call is usually dropped shortly after the recipient answers.  Clients and friends who subscribe to a Verizon plan tell me that they've had the same problem up here.  I've also heard that Sprint and T-Mobile work poorly on the Island, if at all.

Apparently "3G" stands for "going, going, gone" when you try to place a call in the Apostle Islands.

For those of you who don't plan to terminate your Verizon, Sprint or T-Mobile plan early (and pay a penalty for doing so), there are a few options.

Firstly, get as close to the water's edge as you can when placing a call.  Lines of sight are important when you make a cellular call in a remote area.  I've found that I can get a decent signal sometimes by standing on the Ferry Dock in downtown LaPointe.  The dock shared by the Beach Club and our Madeline Island Realty office is a fairly good place to get a signal as well.

Perhaps the best and clearest signal location I've identified in LaPointe is the beachfront area next to the Pub Restaurant and Rendezvous Center for The Inn on Madeline Island.  I usually get three or four signal bars there, at least when weather conditions are clear.

Another good signal location can be found within a few yards of the Marine antenna behind the Madeline Island Yacht Club.  The MIYC antenna tower and its Yagi antenna may be a place where you can "hitch a ride" and pick up a signal that's a little stronger.   

I'm hoping some enterprising person will decide to open a cellphone rental service on the Island.  In the meantime, I wish we could get a cellphone tower on Madeline Island that would be compatible with the digital service available from most major nationwide providers.