Cell phones in the wild

MSNBC recently had an article reporting recent changes to cell phone reception in Yellowstone National Park. Up until recently, the vast majority of the park and certain surrounding towns went without cell phone reception because of the lack of infastructure or desire to have the landscape studded with cell phone towers. The article mentions the public outcry over placing a tower in the vicinity of Old Faithful about ten years ago; I can remember when that happened I too was not a fan, mainly because cell phones weren't as widespread as they are now.

Being an outdoorsman myself, the questions this issue raises are valid ones. On one hand, as cell phones are becoming more prolific, the question of safety comes into play. If the park had more cell phone coverage, people would have a lifeline they could call in the event of an emergency. On the other hand, there are aesthetics both visually and aurally to take into consideration. The vast majority of people who visit Yellowstone, or any other national park, are there (I hope) to get away from technology, and the stress of their everyday lives. To go there and see cell phone towers dotting the landscape, or to have everyone and their neighbor constantly talking on the phone would detract from that experience. Until there is an improvement over cell phone range (which I think there will be), or universal, affordable satellite phone service (another hope of mine), this debate will continue.

In my opinion, according to the options presented by the article, the park is doing a fairly good job at bridging the gap between the two positions. There are certain parts, the more urban portions, where more and better cell phone towers can be placed with moderate, in the words of the article, impact to "visitor use and experience". I am a fan of not having coverage anywhere more than necessary. The general public should know what to expect going into a place such as Yellowstone, and should not expect to always have cell phone reception. A national park is not a city block, people hopefully understand that nature is defined by the absence of human influence. Human influence that includes visitors talking away on their cell phones, their inescapable ties to society.