Internet
Hi everyone, I was wondering what everyone is using for internet while camping?
Forum Discussion
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.
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.
Satellite and cellular both use radio waves and if you work with ratio installations, they are considered line of sight. But once there is significant blockage of the fresnel zone, you lose the signal. If it's close and the signal is strong enough, some of the signal can leak past an obstruction.
Bouncing off buildings can occasionally happen. Bouncing off hills and other natural formations is much less common as trees, grass and other organic items tend to absorb/scatter the signal. Maybe if there is a nicely placed cliff with nothing growing on it.
But again, it's still quite common to find areas with no cell coverage when camping, so the OP should look at where he plans to camp and compare that to some of the easily searched coverage maps.
