Whether it's your first Bonnaroo or you’re a music festival veteran, we welcome you to Inforoo.
Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
this will be my first Roo and I am wondering if people get cell service at Roo. I have a power inverter so i am not really worried about bat life more about will it work.
1-1-12 Bassnectar NYE SHOW! 1-21-12 G. Love and Special Sauce 3-1-12 Radiohead 3-9-12 Experience Hendrix 5-15-12 Jack White @ The Ryman 6-7-12 Bonnaroo 6-19-12 Roger Waters presents "THE WALL" 7-7-12 Ringo Starr's 72nd Birthday Party Extravaganza at the Ryman
i have sprint and last year even though i had full service the only time i was able to make/recieve calls/messages/internet was at 8 in the morning when people were trying to sleep
I have Sprint too. Last year it seemed to work ok. In my opinion, battery life was the biggest problem. I'm thinking there are 2 things working against cell phones on the farm.
1) The heat seems to negatively effect how effectively the battery charges. 2) With so many phones in such a concentrated area, every phone is constantly trying to negotiate for an available channel on the tower. This uses more battery. Though there is 1 permanent tower on the site, I noticed several "mobile towers" last year. No idea what carriers they belonged to.
It seems like the best strategy is to not rely on it much. At some point last year, I started turning my phone off when I wasn't using it. "Airplane mode" might also be a reasonable choice.
i think the mobile were ATT.. i remember reading something about them having a strong presence there last year. i'm gonna try turning off my data service this year and carrying an extra battery. i won't get emails but i should still get texts and calls
Post by th3int3rn3t on May 22, 2011 12:31:27 GMT -5
i have AT&T and last year, although i had full signal, calls from people not at roo didnt even make it through, and if a friend sent me a text it either took 8 hours to get to me, or i never got it. on the way home from roo i remember getting about 10 messages at once that i was supposed to get during roo.
conclusion: keep it off and in your car, because its not worth carrying around. (if you have AT&T)
Post by superv1x3n on May 22, 2011 13:19:42 GMT -5
Since I'm a huge nerd AND worked for Sprint for 4 years, I think I might have some insight for cell phone usage. Zacd is right....the heat makes getting a "true" full charge harder, especially if you're a smartphone user. The worst day for signal will be Thursday as everyone is arriving. Wednesday night will probably be a struggle but not as bad. I'd keep texting to a minimum as each text in and out of your phone burns about 3 minutes worth of talk time. If I was any good at math I could break that down for you as to how quickly you would use a normal 6 hour battery (again, using smartphones for purposes of argument) but I'm not, so I don't try. Last year I was using an android phone and would get a solid 6 hours out of it AFTER leaving camp in the afternoon. I invested in a solar charger (ok, job gave it to me) so I could charge on the fly while in Centeroo, and saved the actual long term charging for night time on the car charger. I'm glad I had it. Friends at another camp had a generator and chargers so I never had to leave it unplugged till around 3pm every day. Some juice off the solar charger before night fall and I was good to go all night. Keeping phones off unless separated from your group will obviously also help.....or airplane mode so you can still know what time it is. Hopefully the networks amp the towers around the area up again (I checked in with friends at VZW and our Sprint techs who reported that both networks boosted output for the weekend) but still expect to have issues. Last year nobody could dial out for a few hours right around the 4 pm mark as we were hitting capacity. Once things evened out we were at least able to make phone calls, and that's really the most important part. Texting and internet will be the last priority for the network so you may have a lot of this conversation: "hey *roo compatriot's name*, we couldn't find you before abc's set, so we took off. I sent you a bunch of texts, why didn't you respond?" "What texts? I was blowing you up trying to find everyone. I ended up at the brooers festival talking to some strangers"
and then randomly in the middle of the day you both get 20 texts all past the point of being helpful. Also, get whatever apps (the Bonnaroo one,duh) you will NEED during the weekend downloaded before you hit the farm. It'll be less headache than trying to battle the towers.
And if nothing else, you could always invest in the walki-talkies and use those while in Centeroo.
Long story short: If you get separated, don't worry. If you don't run into each other at that set at "That" you all were planning on going to together, you'll meet up at the campsite by nights' end.
And getting separated is the best thing that can happen to you. Don't let it ruin your Roo by trying to find your buddy/group. Meet new people and start a new group.
This. Been to every Roo since 2006 with varying phones but always Verizon service. Never missed one text, call, anything. I use texts to communicate 99% of the time out there.
Post by pondo ROCKS on May 22, 2011 15:02:03 GMT -5
Yes AT&T was HORRIBLE last year (Every other time I have been up until then had been wonderful). i do hope for better signal this year (I also dropped AT&T for lousy overall service) As far as battery concerns...
Easy solution is to go on Ebay and buy 2-3 extra batteries for your phone, charge them up and use them at Bonnaroo. You can get cell batteries pretty cheap and you don't have to worry about charging up your phone. Never had my phone off last year and used 3 extra batteries.
Providing an outlet and a voice for music lovers to unite under the common theme of music for all. Join The Pondo Army to show your allegiance to musical freedom! Fighting for no censorship of the arts & music education in schools, The Pondo Army will triumph! The Pondo Army Movement
Follow me on twitter@Pondoknowsbest
ok so everyone has commented on the service and battery life which i can understand is very important and its good to know about calling rather then texting and charge life and what not.... but since im a Roo virgin, does anyone have any suggestions for keeping it safe and dry? I was just gonna leave it in my car, but since im going alone, i might make friends, might want to call them later soo im kinda stuck between just shutting it off completely and leaving it in my car all weekend, or taking it with me just in case.
I've had an iPhone on AT&T at Bonnaroo the last 3 years. Usually, I could make and receive calls and text if it was early in the morning, anywhere from 6-9. Once everyone wakes up, the network gets more and more congested. It would be great if they would blanket Centeroo with WIFI so that people could use Skype or Facetime, etc.
Post by cory's beard on May 22, 2011 15:34:13 GMT -5
Strange, I didn't have that big of a problem with AT&T last year. Calls were hit and miss, but I was always able to get through with my friend who was also there. My texts went through, as I used texting to update my Facebook. I still have a dumbphone without data, so I wonder if that helped me out a bit.
ok so everyone has commented on the service and battery life which i can understand is very important and its good to know about calling rather then texting and charge life and what not.... but since im a Roo virgin, does anyone have any suggestions for keeping it safe and dry? I was just gonna leave it in my car, but since im going alone, i might make friends, might want to call them later soo im kinda stuck between just shutting it off completely and leaving it in my car all weekend, or taking it with me just in case.
If you want to bring your phone/camera/whatever into Centeroo and keep it safe from mud, water, beer, etc., just put it in a smaller sized Ziplock bag. The touchscreen should still work but it's still sealed tight.
ok so everyone has commented on the service and battery life which i can understand is very important and its good to know about calling rather then texting and charge life and what not.... but since im a Roo virgin, does anyone have any suggestions for keeping it safe and dry? I was just gonna leave it in my car, but since im going alone, i might make friends, might want to call them later soo im kinda stuck between just shutting it off completely and leaving it in my car all weekend, or taking it with me just in case.
I put anything that I don't want to be damaged (phone, camera, whatever) in a ziplock bag inside of the bag we carry our stuff in. Never had an issue while doing that.
ok so everyone has commented on the service and battery life which i can understand is very important and its good to know about calling rather then texting and charge life and what not.... but since im a Roo virgin, does anyone have any suggestions for keeping it safe and dry? I was just gonna leave it in my car, but since im going alone, i might make friends, might want to call them later soo im kinda stuck between just shutting it off completely and leaving it in my car all weekend, or taking it with me just in case.
keep anything you dont want to get wet in a ziplock type plastic bag....and then put that bag in your backpack or fanny pack if you for some reason roll that way!!
mmm So I think I got this make plains to meet up with people,bull horn,birds with notes,get lost make new friends hope you find yours have a good time and if you need to use a phone take your friends Iphone and only use it at like 7 am.
Post by 10goldbees on May 22, 2011 17:29:39 GMT -5
establish a few meeting places inside centeroo. each morning pick out the shows you want to see together then plan on meeting at spot X at time Y. then when you adventure throughout your day it will be no problem if you separate. no phones, no hassle.
obviously this will not help anyone that needs to get in touch with work or family (back on earth) but it's about all the communication i ever need.