Summary
The near-universal presence of mobile internet has made the absence of internet service a rare experience. However, there are still areas where there is no mobile internet access. If you find yourself driving through one of these areas, here are some things you can do in advance to make your phone useful.
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We are used to having internet access at all times. However, even with a smartphone, that’s not always the case. There are still places in the US and around the world where internet service could be better. But here are a few things that you can do to make your phone useful even when there’s no service.
For Personal Tech Media, this is Two Minute Tech. I’m Jim Herman.
First, if you want to listen to music or podcasts while you’re on the road, ensure that you have plenty of media downloaded. Streaming media is great until there’s no stream available. You may also want to download a few TV programs or movies to your phone in case you’re spending the night somewhere with poor signal.
Second, download maps of the places that you plan to visit. Google Maps has allowed you to download maps for offline use for years, and Apple Maps finally introduced the feature last month. If you’ll be going somewhere with no service over a wide area, you may also want to download a GPS app intended for offline use.
Third, know which apps will work when offline and ensure that they’re signed in. Many apps that will work even without signal may require you to sign in if you haven’t been active in the app recently. If you think you might need that app while you’re offline, make sure you’re signed in while you still have signal.
And fourth, download any reference material that you’ll need to your phone. You can download individual Wikipedia articles using the Wikipedia app. You can also use other apps to download all of Wikipedia’s repositories of information. This can help you in many special purposes, such as if you need information about living off the grid.