Cellphones on the rez

Cell phone coverage making inroads on rezCell phones are taking over the phone market these days, especially in places like the Navajo Nation where it's too expensive and impractical to run land lines--conventional poles and lines--to all areas.

Wireless technology, by contrast, goes everywhere: the Laundromat, supermarket, wellness center, the workplace.

Navajo youth, in particular, have been quick to snap up cell phones, flooding their friends with text messages and customizing their ring tones with their favorite pop song or movie phrase.

St. Michael High senior Joanna Rieck has had her Verizon phone for a year and calls it her "lifeline." It enables her to keep in constant contact with her friends, who all have cell phones as well.