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Slow and Unreliable: Top U.S. Tourist Attractions with the Worst Mobile Internet
Learn which U.S. tourist attractions have the slowest mobile internet speeds so you can plan ahead for your trip.
Today’s tourists have the ultimate guidebook in their pocket: the smartphone. An ever-growing number of pages offer tourist guides, visitor reviews and parking information — plus the ability to instantly upload your vacation snaps to the social network of your choice, spreading FOMO among your stay-at-home friends.
That’s the idea, anyway. The reality is that many of America’s top tourist attractions have a really bad data signal reception. While the average mobile internet speed across the U.S. is around 107.87 MB/s (megabytes per second), dozens of the most famous destinations have download speeds in the double or even single figures. You could spend more time gazing at your browser’s sluggish progress bar than astonishing views of our national parks and monuments.
Of course, you need to know whether your phone’s internet connection will be usable before you travel. So, The Holafly Research Team decided to find out which U.S. tourist attractions have the slowest mobile internet speeds so you can plan ahead for your trip.
What We Did
We cross-referenced the ZIP codes of over 290,000 tourist attractions with the mobile download speed data by ZIP code from CoverageMap.com. Then, we calculated the average download speed across the top three service providers for each ZIP code and ranked the attractions with the worst average mobile download speed overall, by state and by attraction type.
Key Findings
- Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming is the U.S. tourist attraction with the worst mobile internet, with an average download speed of 1.7 MB/s.
- At Silver Dollar City in Missouri, the average internet speed is 17.6 MB/s — the slowest of any U.S. theme park.
- Tulsa Zoo in Oklahoma has an average download speed of just 79.7 MB/s.
Yellowstone is America’s Slowest Tourist Spot for Mobile Internet
First, we ranked the tourist attractions with the slowest download speeds overall. Yellowstone National Park is number one, with average speeds of just 1.73 MB/s. The area is protected from the erection of imposing cell towers. As a vast undeveloped area interspersed with mountains and forests, the park’s natural features break up signals from those cell towers that do exist.
While you may catch a stray signal at Yellowstone or plan for the chance to use the Wi-Fi at one of the park’s lodges, it is best to plan to be offline for your visit. “The availability of in-park internet is governed by park regulations,” explains the park’s website. “In-park internet service is slower than typical residential, business, or workplace service… due to limited bandwidth, access to the internet is limited to one device at a time, per room.”
The Tourist Attraction with the Slowest Data in Every State
Next, we identified the attraction with the slowest mobile internet in each state. California’s is Vernal Fall, where the average speed is just 12.9 MB/s. It makes sense that connectivity can be a little sketchy at the bottom of a 317-foot waterfall at the heart of a national park, but there is Wi-Fi available a couple of miles away at Degnan’s Kitchen or the Curry Village — if you’re a paying guest.
Florida’s Sanibel Island Lighthouse may be a beacon of light and hope for sailors of the Gulf Coast, but with average mobile internet speeds of 32.6 MB/s, it is no beacon of connectivity. Sanibel was majorly impacted by Hurricane Ian in 2022, with the lighthouse severely damaged and put out of service by flying debris. During the storm, the fiber cable connecting the mainland to Sanibel Island was severed, cutting off web communication with the island. At the same time, towers used for mobile data were also knocked offline.
Silver Dollar City is the Theme Park with the Worst Connectivity
As highly developed areas associated with state-of-the-art entertainment, you might expect America’s theme parks to boast high connectivity levels. But many only have speeds in the double figures, with the slowest — Silver Dollar City in Missouri — averaging just 17.6 MB/s. Crowded areas with many people accessing the same network can lead to slower speeds. At the same time, the short wavelengths of 5G signals — which are supposed to be the fastest available — are stopped in their tracks by the tall buildings and thick walls of a densely built environment.
Yellowstone is the Slowest National Park for Data Downloads
Yellowstone (1.7 MB/s) exemplifies the issues with data reception in America’s national parks. Development restrictions mean a limit to the number of cell towers (although “Mammoth Hot Springs, West Yellowstone, Old Faithful, Grant Village, Lake Village, and Mount Washburn provide service to most developed areas,” according to the website). And natural barriers prevent signals from traveling further. Yellowstone’s website notes that at average Yellowstone speeds, it takes one minute to download a song, eight to upload a photo and over an hour to download a TV show — and streaming TV or movies is impossible. The best way to communicate remotely in the park is via texting.
West Virginia Penitentiary Among Worst Historic Landmarks for Cell Data
Old Faithful Inn in Wyoming is both a historic landmark and Yellowstone’s “most requested lodging facility.” Due to its position in the park, the Inn has an average data download speed of just 1.7 MB/s (see Yellowstone is Slowest National Park for Data Downloads, above). The landmark with the second slowest mobile internet is West Virginia Penitentiary (13.7 MB/s). The Gothic structure features stone walls that are five feet thick at their deepest, while the interior is honeycombed with steel-barred prison cells that may also hamper the comings and goings of mobile radio waves.
New Mexico Geological Wonder Has Slowest Data Among Nature Spots
Wyoming’s Old Faithful Geyser is another victim of Yellowstone’s park-wide mobile internet issues. With average download speeds of 1.7 MB/s, the geyser is the worst-served nature spot in America for download speeds. Outside of Yellowstone, the nature spot with the worst mobile internet is the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument in New Mexico, which finally reopened in November 2024, having been closed since the COVID-19 pandemic, with an average speed of 2.8 MB/s. Parts of the land are 6,760 feet above sea level; it is punctuated with tent rock formations and protected from development. “Cell phone reception is hit or miss (mostly miss) depending on where you are standing,” according to New Mexico Nomad.
Visiting From Abroad? Consider Getting an eSIM
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was an indispensable tool for the overwhelmed space tourist of Douglas Adams’ eponymous sci-fi novel. “[R]ather like a largish electronic calculator,” the device “had about a hundred tiny flat press-buttons and a screen about four inches square on which any one of a million ‘pages’ could be summoned at a moment’s notice.”
It may not have had the Instagram or AllTrails apps installed, but at least the Hitchhiker’s Guide didn’t depend on Earth’s uneven mobile internet infrastructure to stay functional. Since your smartphone’s online capabilities heavily depend on your location, planning ahead is crucial for a smooth journey. Downloading essential resources before traveling is a good first step. However, for greater flexibility and more options for connectivity in unfamiliar territory, installing an eSIM can make all the difference. An eSIM (embedded SIM) is a digital SIM card built directly into your device, eliminating the need for physical SIM swaps. Think of it as upgrading your travel toolkit with a universal, intergalactic passport for uninterrupted communication. With an eSIM, your device can automatically connect to the best available network, even in areas with limited coverage or during network congestion. It spares you the dreaded “no service” notification and helps you avoid exorbitant international roaming charges.
While we haven’t yet achieved the galaxy-spanning technology of the Hitchhiker’s Guide, eSIMs are bringing us one step closer to unlimited connectivity. If you’re planning to visit any of the popular American tourist attractions highlighted in this study, consider installing an unlimited data eSIM USA to ensure a fast and reliable connection throughout your trip—whether you’re navigating a bustling city or exploring the most remote and awe-inspiring tourist attractions across the U.S.
Methodology
We started by compiling a seed list of over 290,000 tourist attractions and their addresses across all U.S. states. We then cross-referenced the ZIP codes of these attraction addresses with the mobile download speed data by ZIP code from CoverageMap.com.
Next, we calculated the average download speed across the top three service providers for each ZIP code before ranking the attractions (above 1,000 tourist reviews) with the worst average mobile download speed overall, by state and attraction type, as of November 2024.
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Hi, I'm Brenda Beltrán. I'm passionate about travel, technology, and video games. In 2019, I started my career as a journalist in entertainment and technology. Then, I discovered that content creation was my true calling. Now, at Holafly, I'm dedicated to sharing travel tips and experiences that will make your adventures unforgettable. ✈️ Hola, soy Brenda Beltrán, apasionada por los viajes, la tecnología y los videojuegos. Desde mis inicios en 2019 como periodista en entretenimiento y tecnología, descubrí que la creación de contenido era mi verdadera vocación. Hoy, en Holafly, me dedico a compartir consejos y experiencias de viaje para que cada una de tus aventuras sean memorables.✈️
