Need Central Texas Help

[TaftCoach]

My wife and I will be "distance teaching" for a while. I'm looking for what may be a needle in the haystack. A rustic campground with rock solid internet within 100 miles of San Antonio. We're more state park, Dutch oven cooking, small campfire, gravel site, campers so the KOA type places aren't for us.

Thanks y'all

[RetiredOne]

I don't think you can find "rock solid Internet" anywhere, except maybe at home. Most campgrounds are marginal, at best.

You might be better off getting a cell booster and hotspot off of your phone.

[TaftCoach]

I should have added T-Mobile cell service would also work.

[20 Penny]

I would tend to agree with RetiredOne. You've probably got your work cut out for you without some sort of hotspot. Even then, with few exceptions your provider is going to throttle you after using a certain amount of data on the hotspot device. We use a Verizon MIFI on what they call an unlimited plan, which technically it is, but it's so slow you can't really use it once you exceed the unrestricted data limit on your plan.

I would check out Marble Falls State Park, about 85 miles north of San Antonio on 281 or Bastrop State Park, Southeast of Austin or South Llano River State Park outside of Juction, although this one is a little over 100 miles. (Lots of turkeys at this park) Our visits to Bastrop and SLR were back in our early days of camping when we didn't use technology as much as we do now so I'm not sure of cell service quality. Never been to Bastrop but it's on our bucket list. You might call their office(s) and ask what the feedback from campers has been.

Please let us know where you end up going and how well the internet situation works out for you.

[TaftCoach]

South Llano had intermittent T-Mo when we were there a couple months ago.

Basically we'll need email primarily and some ability to upload documents.

[RetiredOne]

Many of us have gone to WeBoost cell boosters that have made a significant signal boost to existing cell service. Obviously, it varies by cell tower location, but for email and document downloads, it could be a solution for you.

[20 Penny]

Have you ever tried Palmetto State Park in Gonzales? Never been there but just noticed it was listed as a "featured park" here on the main forum page today. Reviews seem pretty good.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by 20 Penny

Have you ever tried Palmetto State Park in Gonzales? Never been there but just noticed it was listed as a "featured park" here on the main forum page today. Reviews seem pretty good.

It's a pretty nice park, but relatively small. The camping spaces are not super tight in most areas which is nice. But the park loop itself seemed tight from a maneuverability standpoint last time I was there. That being said, I did see some sizeable 5ers in there, so it couldn't have been too bad.

I doubt you would have excellent cell coverage out there; it's somewhat remote. But that may have changed since it's near where A LOT of activity for the Eagleford Shale play is/was. I'm sure cell providers upped their game in the area to support all that oil activity.

Bastrop SP is one of my favorites. We've been there MANY times. We stopped going for a long time because of the grass burrs. We had a long-haired dog, and he would get LOTS of burrs in his fur, then he would chew them out and get sick. So we just chose to go elsewhere for a while and haven't been back in a while. I don't remember how the cell coverage was, but one of the nicer camping areas is up on a hill with pull-thru spaces; I would imagine it would have pretty good cell coverage up there. Plus Bastrop is somewhat of a "bedroom community" for Austin, so I would imagine they have pretty decent coverage. The park itself is beautiful IMO. But I grew up in the Piney Woods in East Texas, so the Lost Pines there in Bastrop bring up a bit of nostalgia for me.

Cell coverage in S. Llano River St Park is miserable. NO Verizon coverage at all. T-Mobile used to be great, but even that isn't so good anymore. Your T-Mo phone will switch to a different third party network that is somewhat spotty, and not real fast. My dad is on a deer lease just a few miles from that park, so we're pretty familiar with the coverage. Great park though; I enjoyed it thoroughly last time we were there.

If you're at a state park, you pretty much have to bring your own internet. It's available in some places, but it's not great.

[20 Penny]

Very good info Camper Bob, thank you!

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by 20 Penny

Very good info Camper Bob, thank you!

You're welcome!

Forgot to mention Blanco State Park, and Guadalupe River SP.

The outlaws LOVE Blanco, they go there all the time for short 1-2 day getaways. I haven't been there in many years. I want to go because there's a brewery in Blanco I want to try out...

Guadalupe River SP is pretty nice too. Some of the spots are pretty secluded and private (which I really like). It's a big park with lots of places to explore.

Both parks are close enough to major areas of growth that cell coverage SHOULD be pretty decent, but I don't know for sure.

There's also COE parks all around Canyon Lake. Haven't been there in many years, but they were nice back in the day. A lot like State Parks, just run by Corps of Engineers instead of TPWD.

[cpjeff]

If you are not 100% stuck on the 100 mile radius, Inks Lake SP is excellent. It is ~105 miles per the Google...
Although not sure if you can find a site on such short notice. It does have excellent amenities, plus excellent cell coverage for a hot spot. They just refilled the lake after fixing their boat ramp, dock, etc. Good trails, good swimming, boating, fishing, etc. I highly recommend ILSP!

[SloPoke]

We (DW and I) both work full time while we are on the T-mobile network. Yes, I say 100% on the 4G-LTE network, Both of our jobs require good connections for her work that we both have VOIP phones in addition to our Mobile phones.

I use this page to search for the coverage at a specific destination we are considering: https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/coverage-map

This is VERY Accurate and often times provide verified signal data. We can either use the hot-spot function of one of our phones to connect all of our stuff to, or we use a couple of Mikrotik LTE units that are nothing more that a "Cat-5 wired hotspot" we put on a mast outside our motorhome for better reception. We often are running up against our 50gb/mo tethering limits, and sometimes will have to swap SIM cards to another when we go over the high speed limit.

[20 Penny]

Originally Posted by cpjeff

If you are not 100% stuck on the 100 mile radius, Inks Lake SP is excellent. It is ~105 miles per the Google...
Although not sure if you can find a site on such short notice. It does have excellent amenities, plus excellent cell coverage for a hot spot. They just refilled the lake after fixing their boat ramp, dock, etc. Good trails, good swimming, boating, fishing, etc. I highly recommend ILSP!

In one of my previous posts, I recommended Marble Falls SP to the OP. That park name is incorrect and is actually Inks Lake SP as referenced by CPJeff. Sorry for the confusion.

[hammer55]

https://www.truckcampermagazine.com/...tloSj-G0v6IrN8

KEEP THE NATIONAL AND STATE PARKS OPEN FOR US THAT ARE FULL TIME,

[poohbear]

We like Perdanales Falls SP but has been a few years since there. However I do not remember anything about that areas cell service.
In my area north of Tyler if you device has TMobil or Sprint just put it away as it won't work.

[GollyGwiz]

If Austin is an option, then McKinney Falls SP is a great place to stay. 80-90 miles to SA depending on what part of town you are going to. It is within the Austin city limits and close to the freeway to get into the city or down to San Antonio. Once you are in the park, you have no idea you are actually within the city. Have stayed there several times and always had full cell signal but on AT&T.
https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/mckinney-falls

[Camper_bob]

+1 to McKinney Falls SP. Once inside the park, you'd never know you were in East Austin, which is "a little seedy". But easy access to the city, and a nice park.

We stayed in a pull-thru space in our TT last time there. The spot was so unlevel that I nearly had the tongue on the ground once I had the trailer in position. I had to take out ALL the blocks and push the adjustable foot ALL the way in, and I only had about an inch of travel in the tongue jack left by the time I got the rig leveled out.

No sewer hookups at that park on the sites. This is sometimes a deal breaker for DW, especially if she has to wash her hair... I don't mind for up to 3 nights or so, and I have some "tricks" for stretching time between tank dumps to go longer than that if needed.

Some of the other parks listed have full hookups available IIRC. If you're staying a while, that may be a consideration...

I don't know if it's within 100 miles, but Choke Canyon down South of the city on 37 is decent as well. Especially if you have a water craft of some kind. Those sites don't have sewer either though. You can fish from shore in any State Park without a fishing license. So if you like to fish, Choke Canyon is nice. And there are several trails, and lots of opportunities for "birding". It's not all that far from the Interstate, so I would assume cell coverage to be decent. Full disclosure, it's near a prison as well. It can be disconcerting for some to see the "don't pick up hitchikers; they could be escaped inmates" signs right outside the park...

[TaftCoach]

Originally Posted by cpjeff

If you are not 100% stuck on the 100 mile radius, Inks Lake SP is excellent. It is ~105 miles per the Google...
Although not sure if you can find a site on such short notice. It does have excellent amenities, plus excellent cell coverage for a hot spot. They just refilled the lake after fixing their boat ramp, dock, etc. Good trails, good swimming, boating, fishing, etc. I highly recommend ILSP!

Inks Lake is an interesting situation. T-Mobile is dead there. Plus, because T-Mo claims they have coverage, roaming to the very strong AT&T signal is not allowed. I spent many happy moments with T-Mo tech support about the issue.

It is a great park.

[TaftCoach]

That map is so useful. THANK YOU

[BrentB]

State parks close to SA include Blanco, Guadalupe River, Lockhart, and Palmetto. If you want full hookups you're looking at Blanco and Lockhart.

This is a good site with lots of reviews, pictures, and even a tab for cell service reports:

https://www.campendium.com/texas/san-antonio