Internet
Hi everyone, I was wondering what everyone is using for internet while camping?
Forum Discussion
13 Replies
I don't this the OP ever came back so this is probably moot but there are pros and cons to any method you choose. Cellular requires a decent signal but not constrained to line of sight and the equipment and plans have gotten cheaper. Cellular can be used in motion and the equipment, once set up pretty much stays that way. Anymore you'd have to be pretty remote to not find a decent cellular signal especially with a booster. But there are dead spots. Starlink is pretty expensive especially on the outset and requires line of sight but is not constrained by the need for a decent cellular signal, it can be used literally anywhere. The equipment requires more setup and you need a roam plan to use it in motion. This is probably a better option for boats. Obviously campground wifi is a poor alternative as it's usually throttled if usable at all to stream. For these reasons most people that work remotely have redundancy (Starlink and cellular, 2 different cellular carriers, etc) as it's critical they not be without internet.
Cellular requires a decent signal but not constrained to line of sight and the equipment and plans have gotten cheaper
Both are line of sight, on is along the horizon and the other is up.
Cellular can be used in motion and the equipment, once set up pretty much stays that way.
both can be used in motion and once they are set up they are set up.
you'd have to be pretty remote to not find a decent cellular signal especially with a booster.
not really, 20 min drive up here out of town and no signal, very rare to find a campground with cell or anything unless you are in a major campground. Come up to Canada where the population is 1/10th of the US and the land mass much larger.. the only places you see good signals is in towns/cities and along major routes. if your rural and you have a signal you are lucky. you will also see that in Alberta the signal travels much farther than in say BC, so the coverage area in rural is much better because it is flat prairies. I live in the mountains where on one side of the mountain there is 5 bars and the other side there is 0. if you don't have a good base of 1 or 2 bars then a cell booster doesn't do anything.
Stop cherry picking snippets in my posts. Cellular signals do NOT require line of sight. If that were the case every single cellphone would need to have a tower visible. This is how cellular (radio waves) work by refracting the signal to reduce towers needed. I have a great signal now, can't see the closest tower a mile away through the trees and other houses. Or maybe I am employing some sort of magic and defying the laws of physics. Better signal with LOS? Sure, but not in all cases. Good signal without LOS, yes. Happens all the time.
Starlink can be used in motion but you need the roam plan. I said that in my previous post.
So you live in remote Canada where you don't have difficulty finding an area with no signal. Good for you. That's not the norm. I live on the East coast in the US and have been up and down the coast and never not had a cellular signal. I've been to the Midwest and never not had a signal. If you look at coverage maps from various carriers in the US, there aren't lot of places you won't get a signal. Again, never said it doesn't happen. Most of the state parks I visit have great cellular reception with a lot of tree coverage where satellite doesn't work. I know that because I've had Satellite.
Some of you get a little wound up in your own experiences they're jaded to the point of making things in accurate facts for the general public.
The best way to ensure coverage at all times is redundancy, which was really the moral of my post. Stop trying to make a different point for me to suit your perspective.
Cell signals are line of sight. If you have a hill/mountain between you and the tower, it will cut the signal off. An old trick is to move the phone up higher to "see" over trees/buildings/hills. Back when we lived on our boat, I had an antenna I could plug into the phone and then I would hoist the antenna up in the rigging.
Outside built up areas, it's still quite common to not have a signal, so the OP really needs to consider where he will be camping. There are online maps showing coverage, so he can pre-check where he thinks he will be traveling.
Starlink needs a clear view of the sky. While technically line of sight, there are thousands of satellites, so all of them need to be behind trees/cliffs/etc before you lose internet. We've been in some pretty heavily forested sites where there is only a small pocket of blue and it still works. Phone calls can pop in and out but internet and streaming issues are far less noticeable.
While a direct line of sight between a phone and a cell tower is ideal for a strong signal, cellular signals don't strictly require it. Radio waves can bounce off buildings, hills, and other structures, allowing signals to propagate even when there's no direct path. I can't see the tower(s) nearest my house about a mile away and through trees and houses and yet I get a very strong signal.
My brother uses starlink, he seams to love it.
We are about to retire and are going to purchase Starlink. We keep seeing others with it, and it seems to be a good option where you can pause the membership when you are not traveling.
Cell phone booster and phone hotspot. It's rare to have enough signal to stream movies, but checking mail and doing the banking is fine.
Weekending in areas with cell coverage...cell phone with mobile hotspot.
Weekending in areas without cell coverage...try to download what you need ahead of time.
Long term over a wide range of areas...starlink has become the goto. Hard to justify for short term use as it's pricey to buy the equipment and pricey for the monthly plan. If you happen to have starlink for your home, then it's not so bad to upgrade to the mobile plan.
Depends on what I want to do. Usually my phone is fine for just browsing and emails etc. For streaming TV or working remote, I have a T Mobile system, or if the campground wifi is good enough I'll use that. Usually campground wifi is weak and using too much restricts other users so I like to be conscientious of that. Plus, I like to be self-sufficient. I've never used Satellite but some folks on here have had good luck with Starlink. I do think that is restricted to line of sight though.
Mobile data on my phone
