Internet
Hi everyone, I was wondering what everyone is using for internet while camping?
Forum Discussion
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.
