Internet Access at Michigan State Parks

I have Verizon service and have excellent 4g reception at most of the state parks i've visited along the west coast (along the Chicago pipeline I guess?)

If you have to work while camping, pick parks in the pipeline I guess, since a lot of those out of state are camping and working too, and Verizon knows it.

Some of the more remote parks, like Wilderness, I had no signal without using a booster, and then it was mostly 3g and slow 3g at that.

Along the east coast, I don't have much experience, sorry.

It must be the iPhone antenna, as I was at Algonac and had Verizon coverage though I had to turn off data roaming as it wanted to connect to Canadian towers. Also good coverage at Traverse City SP. And finally have no coverage at Taquanamin Falls but later found it was only in the lower portion of the park. The area of it near the check in was adaquate.

We have Verizon 4G and have had no problem at Algonac the last couple of times we have been there..

At Algonac, you can have fair connection or you have great connection to Canada. But there are places in the campground that get great connection. Depends on weather and who is using the service.
The only Michigan Campground we can't get phone or internet service (so far) has been Orchard Beach.

Thank you all for your responses. It's starting to sound like it may be that I am using Apple products. My husband also has an iPhone and he's having the same problem that I am. For those of you that are getting a strong enough signal AND can use your phone as a hotspot to give your laptop internet access, please let me know what phone and what service provider you have.

Also, one post mentioned a Booster - what's that? Another question - would a mobile hotspot like one from Verizon work better than using a cell phone? Do they have a more reliable signal/better antenna?

pdubuc wrote:
Thank you all for your responses. It's starting to sound like it may be that I am using Apple products. My husband also has an iPhone and he's having the same problem that I am. For those of you that are getting a strong enough signal AND can use your phone as a hotspot to give your laptop internet access, please let me know what phone and what service provider you have.

Also, one post mentioned a Booster - what's that? Another question - would a mobile hotspot like one from Verizon work better than using a cell phone? Do they have a more reliable signal/better antenna?

I use an LG G2, with Verizon to act as a hot spot. I also have an "ellipsis jetpack" hotspot that I put the card from my phone into sometimes, esp if I'm camping more than a day or two.

As for the booster, I use a Wilson Sleek 4G (for Verizon)... I bought it when it first came out for $99, now they're almost $200 (bummer, I wanted to get another but not at that price)

Is using a jetpack instead of a phone better? Not in my opinion, maybe worse in some cases. If you're closer to a Canadian tower than an American one, there's no way I know of to tell the jetpack to connect to the American tower. With the phone, you can disable international mode and tell it you dont want foreign roaming. The advantage is, you can leave the jetpack in the booster, and take your phone with you and not interrupt the Internet.

For me had nothing to do w/ Nokia or Apple products just lack of an upgraded tower.

Go to AT+T's website and pull up the coverage map. Then plug in the zipcode(s) of areas you are interested in camping at in MI. I had a similar problem at a SP in CT and realised that the tower was too far away. Also checked the local Patch website and saw that permission for a tower had been granted so that when I returned the following year had great coverage. I'd check the website before buying a signal booster to save money.

My favorite CG is Algonac and I have an argument with Verizon every time I am there and in St. Clair. I always get billed as being in Canada. I have a granddaughter who lives in St. Clair and has the same problem. I go to big Boy I Marine City for internet access.

We're going again next weekend. I spoke to a representative at Verizon and they are going to let me try a Jetpack to see if it works better that my iPhone for a hotspot. This search has led me to another couple of questions related to the same topic. Has anyone tried BGAN satellite access? What does one do when travelling out west, where all the provider coverage maps are extremely sparse. Do you only find campgrounds that provide wifi?

pdubuc wrote:
We're going again next weekend. I spoke to a representative at Verizon and they are going to let me try a Jetpack to see if it works better that my iPhone for a hotspot. This search has led me to another couple of questions related to the same topic. Has anyone tried BGAN satellite access? What does one do when travelling out west, where all the provider coverage maps are extremely sparse. Do you only find campgrounds that provide wifi?

I am very addicted to being connected and for the first several days "off grid" it causes me some anxiety. However, once the withdrawal subsides, it's great.

When I was traveling in central Utah and Northern Wyoming a few years back, there was no terrestrial radio reception of any kind - no fm, no am, no att, no verizon. Just XM radio and lots and lots of beautiful scenery. Ditto for much of the Canada's Yukon, and there even XM reception was very poor once you were North of 60 deg or so.