The cell coverage index
61 famous hiking trails, cycling routes and road trips — 47,448 km analysed against public signal data and ranked by how much of the route has usable 4G/5G data (TrailSim model estimates; mountain routes marked ≤ are upper bounds).
The least connected of them all: Overland Track (Cradle Mountain–Lake St Clair) has no usable 4G/5G data at all along its 57 km, with Pacific Crest Trail — Washington (Bridge of the Gods–Manning Park) (10%) close behind. Every figure links to the route's own page, where the same analysis picks the eSIM whose networks hold best and the purchase includes the full dead-zone report (PDF + GPX).
Key findings
- 18 of the 61 routes have usable 4G/5G data on less than half their length — on a data-only eSIM, "some bars" and "working maps" are different things.
- The most silent ground is on Continental Divide Trail (CDT): 2,465 km with no signal from any compared network, across 201 separate dead zones.
- Across all 61 routes, 1,018 dead zones of 2 km or longer add up to 13,504 km of modelled silence — and only 10 routes have some signal end to end.
Quote or republish freely — the data is CC BY-SA 4.0. Credit "TrailSim" and link this page or the route page you cite. The dataset is also mirrored on GitHub at TrailSim/coverage-index. Writing about a specific route? Its page carries stage-by-stage tables and named dead zones; for custom cuts of the data, email support@trailsim.com.
All 61 analysed routes, least connected first
Download the data (CSV) — free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA 4.0, link to trailsim.com).
How this is estimated. Modelled from public signal data — OpenCellID crowd-sourced towers, FCC provider filings (US), Ofcom drive tests (UK) and the ACMA licence register (Australia; based on Australian Communications and Media Authority information) — mapped onto OpenStreetMap route geometry. Figures use each route's highest-coverage network combination; the value-oriented pick on the route page can sit lower. † marks mountain tower-position estimates without terrain modelling — treat those as upper bounds. Estimates, not guarantees; each route page names its own source. A further 23 catalog routes sell eSIMs without a published report. Updated 2026-09-07. Route data: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). © 2026 TrailSim.
Walking one of these?
Every route page compares current eSIM plans on these exact numbers — and the coverage report rides along with any purchase.
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