Internet in the Desert

We spent a night in Death Valley on our way to Las Vegas. Sin City and Mother Nature are a curious combination for a family vacation but I wanted to break the long journey from the San Francisco Bay Area to Las Vegas.

We stayed at the Panamint Springs Resort. Water comes from a local well, electricity from a diesel generator; there is no telephone and, you guessed it, no cell coverage.

What they do have at Panamint Springs is a restaurant with reasonable food, extremely friendly service, and… internet connectivity! A bunch of WiFi access points, connected to a VSAT satellite dish, provide a free internet connection to the motel’s guests.

Bandwidth was reasonable, latency acceptable, and the nerd factor priceless.