National parks, desert highways and small towns: how to plan your mobile data for the great American road trip.
Coverage in US cities and along interstate highways is excellent, but the landscapes that make a road trip special (canyons, forests and deserts) are often where signal disappears.
Plan for dead zones
Many national parks have little or no mobile coverage away from visitor centers. Download offline maps for each park and save your hotel details before you set off each morning.
Navigation and music
Turn-by-turn navigation uses surprisingly little data, but streaming music for hours adds up. Download playlists and podcasts on Wi-Fi at your motel.
Share the connection
Traveling as a group? One phone with a larger plan can act as a hotspot for everyone's devices on long drives.
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