Jas1317
NY
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Joined: 10/10/2020
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Hi we just bought our first travel trailer and are about to hit the road for a few months! What are the best options for reliable WiFi? I want to be able to run a video and temperature monitor in the trailer if we ever leave our dogs (for short periods of time) (I could use equipment suggestions here too). I also need to be able to reliably work via zoom meetings. We plan to stay at campgrounds with WiFi service but you never know how reliable that is. Any tips appreciated!!
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agesilaus
North Florida
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Joined: 05/06/2008
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Park WIFI can be OK but often is not, the more people that try to use it the worse it gets. Most folks these days are going with call phone hotspots. Either Verizon (the best) or ATT are favored. We use Visible which is on the Verizon cell phone system. A good plan is to put one person on Verizon and the other on ATT to provide a backup. I have rarely not had service even when boondocking. You will want a cell phone booster system.
Visible costs $40/month and has 'unlimited' data. We generally use 30+ GB/mo and have had no trouble so far. If you plan to watch movies all the time or otherwise burn thru a bunch of GB then I'm not sure how it would work. There are other services, the major companies have killed most of their cheap offerings. Lots of these small companies fail in a few months leaving up up the river, de-paddled.
Arctic Fox 25Y Travel Trailer
2012 Ford F-350 4WD Lariat 6.7L
Straightline dual cam hitch
400W Solar with Victron controller
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pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
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Hi,
Hot spot is what you are looking for. Use and "add a line" and get a dedicated device for data.
Regards, Don
My ride is a 28 foot Class C, 256 watts solar, 556 amp hours of AGM in two battery banks 12 volt batteries, 3000 watt Magnum hybrid inverter, Sola Basic Autoformer, Microair Easy Start.
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MitchF150
Puyallup, WA
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Joined: 07/13/2002
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Smart phone hot spot. Even my most basic Galaxy phone that's many years old can act as a wifi hot spot. You just need to have cell phone service wherever you are.. But, relying on a campground wifi setup is good for email at best.. No streaming and especially no Zoom... That service takes a TON of band width and will suck data pretty fast, so make sure you get a plan that has a lot of data per month!
My office has Verizon MiFi hot spot units with "unlimited" data... But, after 15 GB it gets throttled down to a crawl.. I had a user use up all 15 GB in less than a week with just doing Zoom and Teams meeting video meetings...
Anyway, good luck!
Mitch
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Second Chance
Wherever...
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Joined: 07/23/2013
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Read and research here - they are the gurus:
RVMobileInternet.com
Rob
U.S. Army retired
2020 Solitude 310GK-R
MORryde IS, disc brakes, solar, DP windows
(Previously in a Reflection 337RLS)
2012 F350 CC DRW Lariat 6.7
Full-time since 8/2015
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Lwiddis
South of Lone Pine, California
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"We plan to stay at campgrounds with WiFi service but you never know how reliable that is." It won't be reliable for work purposes. Don't count on any RV park's WiFi.
"I want to be able to run a video and temperature monitor in the trailer if we ever leave our dogs." You'll need plug in power but spotty RV park WiFi may sink this plan.
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2020 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, 300 watt solar-parallel & MPPT, Trojan T-125s. TALL flag pole. Prefer USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state & county camps. Bicyclist! 14 year Army vet-11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad
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wa8yxm
Wherever I happen to park
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Best option is two different Cellular Wi-Fi providers
FMCA has Tech Connect 50 /month Spring Mi-Fi UNLIMITED Data No Throttling
I also have T-Mobile 55Plus plan 72 dollars a month includes unlmited data (Throttled after so much) Voice and Messaging.
Now T-Mobile and Sprint have merged but as I travel
Some places i get good T-mobile.
Some Good Sprint (GReat in a few places)
Some both
Some ... Well not so good.
But the best option is two different providers.
What is good? Speed test hits 40 or more MbPS
What is great 80-100 MbPS
What is bad 20 or less.
What is worse ZERO
Home is where I park it.
2005 Damon Intruder 377 Alas declared a total loss
after a semi "nicked" it. Still have the radios
Kenwood TS-2000, ICOM ID-5100, ID-51A+2, ID-880 REF030C most times
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pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
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1. find a cell company that offers the amount of high speed data you desire.
2. buy a dedicated backwards compatible 5G data device (for example, a mifi)
3. purchase a cell booster and good antenna to boost reception, a mast is a good addition to have. I used a painters pole which could be extended as necessary.
4. 25 miles is the outside limit--if you are farther away than that, the necessary "hand shaking" will time out, even with a strong signal.
5. don't use the booster unless you must--they may slow down data when there is an adequate signal.
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philh
Belleville MI
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I currently use OTR Mobile... looking into better value options, but this service works
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Jas1317
NY
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Joined: 10/10/2020
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This is exactly what I need thank you. Are you a member? I’m wondering if I sign up will they give me a direct consult. I was up for hours last night reading all the free material lol.
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