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Wifi options

amontanagl
Explorer
Explorer
Hi all,

I am looking into options for Wifi connectivity while traveling. Here is our situation:

We head over to a friends ranch in Winnett MT for about 5 to 7 weeks to help with the cattle, while there, we have 1 bar of cell service (enough to get a text) and no internet service. We camp to far away from the house to be able to connect to their wifi. We camp about 500 yards away from the house and there are barns/buildings between us and the house.

We also go camping a lot thru the summer months and hardly ever camp in a campground where there is wifi. Like Fort Peck Reservior, Holter Reservoir and places that just don't have service of any kind...cellular or wifi.

We will also be heading to AZ this winter to camp and ride with the side-by-side and I know we won't be in a place that has wifi there either.

We always take our kindle tablets (2), tracfone phones (2), 1 laptop.

I am not worried about streaming movies since I have a large collection of digital movies on an external drive that I just play on the SmartTv via the laptop.

Would like to be able to get on the internet to pay bills, check email, facebook and such.

So my questions are:

1. Would a mobile hotspot work for this type of camping situation?
2. If you use a mobile hotspot....which service provider do you have?
3. I don't think Wifi boosters or repeaters would work for us...am I correct in thinking this?

Thanks for any help!
Cindy
31 REPLIES 31

valhalla360
Nomad
Nomad
navigator2346 wrote:
"1. If you have no cell service, the hotspot won't work (a jetpack is basically just a cell phone that only does hotspot)."

Not always true.I have been in spots on the east coast where cell service was dead but the hotspot worked fine. So, to make a phone call, I used SKYPE with the hotspot


No, it's true.

We have two identical cell phones bought at the same time and have had situations where standing next to each other one will make a call and the other won't. When you are on the edge of coverage, little variations can make the difference in operating.

Now if you connect it to an external antenna, that's a different situation but that's the antenna not the fact that it's basically a cell phone with no functionality other than being a hot spot.
Tammy & Mike
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CA_Traveler
Explorer III
Explorer III
1492 wrote:
I doubt Starlink is going to allow changing service addresses to each campsite visited? More likely, they will realize its being used as a mobile dish, and discontinue service.
Wondering if that is because of the Beta limitations for connectivity, etc? I've read that a more robust antenna for ships, RVs, temperature, etc is waiting for FCC approval. For RVs I refer to this as parked mobile.
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Bob

1492
Moderator
Moderator
TechWriter wrote:
1492 wrote:
Here's a member's forum post suggesting "We have Starlink and travel extensively with it...".

It appears to violate Starlink's current TOS . . .

I don't think so. According to the Starlink Reddit, people just change their Service Address and then move the dish.

I doubt Starlink is going to allow changing service addresses to each campsite visited? More likely, they will realize its being used as a mobile dish, and discontinue service.

TechWriter
Explorer
Explorer
amontanagl wrote:
I am thinking that if I want anything it would have to be a satellite type setup.

Besides cell data service, there are a number of satellite data services:

STARLINK
Cost: $500 for dish. $99 monthly fee.
Speed:100 to 200+ Mbps (my average)
Mobility: Kinda sorta. You can move your Starlink dish by changing your Service Address. However, the area you're moving into may not have Starlink service. Also, when you may not be able to return to your "home" service.
Notes: Expect a 6-month to 1-year wait time to get your equipment. You'll need a clear view of the sky like my roof setup. Don't hold your breath for a truly mobile version of Starlink. Check Starlink Reddit for more info.

HUGHESNET (KU BAND)
Cost: Way too much for what you get.
Speed: 1 - 3 Mbps (at best)
Mobility: Ku-Band HughesNet ("your father's HughesNet") was made for RVing. Lots of Rvs had that dish with the blue light on their RV roof.
Notes: Ku-Band HughesNet is still available and service is typically supplied by iDirect.

HUGHESNET (KA BAND) -- Business Service, NOT Home Service
Cost: $1500 for equipment (dish, tripod, etc). Data Plans from $40 to $600/month.
Speed: 10 Mbps (my average speed)
Mobility: My .98M HughesNet Gen5 dish was a PITA to set up, but it was easy to aim, and ultimately always performed well. Rooftop automatic HughesNet Gen5 systems are available.
Notes: To reaffirm, this is the Business version of HughesNet Gen5, not the home version. FYI - the home version uses a .74M (29 in) dish while the Business HughesNet Gen 5 uses .90M (35 in) to 1.2M (47 in) dish. In this case, size does matter. Finally, you're locked into a 2-year commitment.
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navigator2346
Explorer
Explorer
"1. If you have no cell service, the hotspot won't work (a jetpack is basically just a cell phone that only does hotspot)."

Not always true.I have been in spots on the east coast where cell service was dead but the hotspot worked fine. So, to make a phone call, I used SKYPE with the hotspot

TechWriter
Explorer
Explorer
1492 wrote:
Here's a member's forum post suggesting "We have Starlink and travel extensively with it...".

It appears to violate Starlink's current TOS . . .

I don't think so. According to the Starlink Reddit, people just change their Service Address and then move the dish.

However, two gotchas:

- There may not be Starlink service in the area you're moving to.

- If you return to your "home" base, there may not be an available spot for service. In other words, you could lose your Starlink home service.
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I joined Calyx Institute for my traveling wifi needsโ€ฆ. For the 1st year you pay $500/year and you receive a free hotspot and 12 months of UNLIMITED, NON THROTTLED wifi..

Thatโ€™s $41/month first yearโ€ฆ. Then you pay $400 per year, thatโ€™s $33/month..

I changed my membership last year to tge highest levelโ€ฆ With that I pay $41/month for 5g wifi..**. BUT LIKE STATED ***. If cell signal is weak, these hotspots utilize cell signals and could be hit or miss depending on YOUR camping styleโ€ฆ. We are able to muse ours about 100% of the time
Me-Her-the kids
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1492
Moderator
Moderator
Here's a member's forum post suggesting "We have Starlink and travel extensively with it...".

It appears to violate Starlink's current TOS: "You acknowledge that you are only authorized to access Services at the location identified on your Order, and you will not divert the Starlink Kit or Services to any other locations,.." In which case, the risk would be Starlink could cancel your service.

j3ff9ack
Explorer
Explorer
amontanagl wrote:
wa8yxm wrote:
FMCA tech connect is 50/month plus 50 setup and the annual membership fee,Uses sprint/T=mobile NO LIMIT on date no throttling if you hit xxx Gig per month.

But like all cellular providers it is not 100 % coverage.. There are dead spots.
(Coverage among the bit 3,, AT&T, Verizon and the T-mobile family (T-Mobile, Sprint, Metro, Boost and a few others) is very close but the deadspots are different)

Star Link is, I believe, in Beta with their Low Earth Orbit satellites the chinease are type b itching about and that is about the limit of my knowledge.

Hughes net also works on Sats but Geo-Sync not LEO so the ping times are longer.


Thanks for the info...I do know that T-mobile sucks in the state of MT, so will stay away from anything that uses them. I am thinking that if I want anything it would have to be a satellite type setup.


Having lived in Montana or Idaho most of my life and all of the years that cellular service has even been available, coverage is spotty in the Mountain West at best. If you want consistent high bandwidth and low latency, you are probably going to need Starlink. They are working on the FCC waiver for mobile service. In the meantime, I use AT&T (phone hotspot) and Verizon (MiFi JetPack). Sometimes I have to drive to the top of a mountain to get one or two bars, but until Elon gets his waiver and equipment in place, that's about as good as it's gonna get.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/08/starlink-for-vehicles-plan-has-ruggedized-ter....
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TechWriter
Explorer
Explorer
amontanagl wrote:
Thanks everyone for the idea's and suggestions....I will research everything suggested. Appreciate the help!

Also look at MIRC. They know what they're talking about.
2004 - 2010 Part Timer (35โ€™ 2004 National RV Sea Breeze 8341 - Workhorse)
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valhalla360
Nomad
Nomad
amontanagl wrote:


So my questions are:

1. Would a mobile hotspot work for this type of camping situation?
2. If you use a mobile hotspot....which service provider do you have?
3. I don't think Wifi boosters or repeaters would work for us...am I correct in thinking this?

Thanks for any help!
Cindy


1. If you have no cell service, the hotspot won't work (a jetpack is basically just a cell phone that only does hotspot).
2. Verizon is probably the best coverage followed closely by AT&T. There are many resellers who use the primary networks.
3. They might work, particularly if you use a directional antenna. Both wifi and cellular are line of sight. A little bit of signal may go thru or leak around an object but really you want a clear straight view between antennas to get good range. A wifi repeater half way with a good line of sight will probably work. A remote cell antenna is going to depend on where the tower you are picking up is located. If you are down in a valley and the cell tower is in the next valley over, raising the antenna may do nothing.

A cheap test for cell height would be to tape a cell phone with hotspot to a pole and raise it up as high as possible. Then tap into the hotspot and see if it works better. If it works noticeably better, a cell booster raised up is likely a good option. If it still struggles, good chance a booster will still struggle.
Tammy & Mike
Ford F250 V10
2021 Gray Wolf
Gemini Catamaran 34'
Full Time spliting time between boat and RV

amontanagl
Explorer
Explorer
Thanks everyone for the idea's and suggestions....I will research everything suggested. Appreciate the help!

TechWriter
Explorer
Explorer
amontanagl wrote:

1. Would a mobile hotspot work for this type of camping situation?
2. If you use a mobile hotspot....which service provider do you have?
3. I don't think Wifi boosters or repeaters would work for us...am I correct in thinking this?

Well, it depends on what, if any, cell service is available.

As previously mentioned, you can try Verizonโ€™s Visible system. They send you a phone you can use as a hotspot or remove the phoneโ€™s SIM card and put it in a hotspot. I did the latter when I had Visible. Visible is cheap, but the Verizon network it uses is also cheap. However, itโ€™s a good place to start.

I think all the major cell carriers all have hotspot data plans. The smart thing to do is to have a Verizon and an AT&T data plan.
2004 - 2010 Part Timer (35โ€™ 2004 National RV Sea Breeze 8341 - Workhorse)
2010 - 2021 Full Timer (41โ€™ 2001 Newmar Mountain Aire 4095 DP - Cummins)
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theoldwizard1
Explorer
Explorer
If you have weak cell service, you need to start with a good antenna.b probably dual yagis mounted on top of a tall pole. He higher the better but I would say 10'-12' minimum.

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