There are four primary wireless telephone service providers in Ulster County: AT&T, Sprint/Nextel, T-Mobile and Verizon. Additionally, non addressed phones and “pay as you go” phones also operate on one of the primary service provider’s networks.

Ulster County has been capable of accepting Wireless Phase II calls since July 2004 (this is the ability to plot the location of a wireless caller). However, the various wireless telephone service providers employ different technologies to provide the longitude and latitude of their customers. Some use a handset based technology, others a tower based technology. Therefore, your wireless service provider, and the model handset you have all have an effect on our ability to plot exactly where you are. Lastly, the signal strength of your phone, your physical location and proximity to a tower site determine which cellular tower receives your signal. Consequently, if the tower site picking up your signal is in another county, chances are your will initially be routed to that county. You may be transferred to the Ulster County Emergency Communications Center, or you may be asked to provide all relevant information to the dispatcher taking the call. No matter where your call is initially routed, professional telecommunicators are ready to assist you.