My wife and I enjoy spending a few days in Death Valley, California most winters. In the early years the place was just in the middle of no where and not visited that often. Then, many years ago it was designated a national monument, with attendant restrictions. Clinton designated it a National Park, which was a wise decision in this case.
The National Park Service is very protective of the park, and ever fearful of population creep from the Nevada side (far out suburbs of that Hell called Las Vegas).
Pacific Bell, now AT&T serves the park. It is a very expensive proposition with only the two lodging areas (Stove Pipe Wells and the main Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch area) having any wireline service. I don't know whether they have a remote switch or a SLC96 arrangement. (I suspect the latter.) But, the link is via microwave from Rogers Peak on the west side of the valley. The park service will not allow trenching for fiber optics to come in from the east side. And, they strictly limit helicopter flights to maintain the Rogers Peak site.
So, the long and short of it is a lack of trunking or linkage to provide wireless service. The resort manager has told me that in recent years the younger group is grumbling about lack of wireless and high-speed internet service (only dial-up internet at the hotels); that some of the younger crowd will no longer stay in the valley.
A lot of Germans visit Death Valley and, according to the resort manager, they take it in stride. Their view is why does anyone need these inane gadgets when visiting such a remote area? In other words, the Germans don't seem to be obsessed nearly to the extent Americans are.