“Unfortunately the only carriers that work here are AT&T and Verizon.”
.
I’m also on a “deserted” island, but there are no hills to climb in the Florida Keys.
I quit Verizon because after a year or two of good expected service, I was totally blanked at my house. After a year or two of AT&T, my Smartphone lost the internet for hours at a time in different states. AT&T later said I wouldn’t be charged for those lost hours.
:-/
Out here they both go down for sometimes half a day couple times a week. And we only have one tower available for service and both are on the same tower and it is fringe, two bars max on a good day. So if the power goes out all phones go down too. They have a propane generator and solar back up, but they will not maintain these and keep them working. Neither really care if we have phones or not out here.
About two months ago Verizon turned off 4G and was only sending out 5G. Well that was it, no more phone at all. 5G just doesn’t carry out as far as 4G. Luckily there were enough complaints from the State road department and big corporations who have the railroad, electrical lines, and pipelines to force them to turn 4G back on because their hundreds of workers out in the field who needed them.
But they still did not upgrade their one tower equipment so it still goes down a couple times a week. Be ready, if you are fringe and rural , soon you will not have telephone. They are all going to force 5G soon and rural folks are going to lose their service altogether. And because there are not very many they are just not going to spend the money to add more towers and service.
And here is the worst part. They are subsidized by the government to supply rural areas with phone service. So they are collecting and not maintaining as they should. They are ripping off the taxpayers and not delivering service. It is fraud... Just had a long talk with a Verizon Corporate Manager about this. She told me “too bad... Then move...” That is how the city people think. It is discrimination against rural culture...