RV's and internet connections

[892834060]

We are new to RV'ing. Apparently there is not good internet for TV viewing when camping. We have 1 smart TV & 2 regular TV's. I was told to purchase 2 Roku's for the non-smart TV's. We have Xfinity for home internet, TV, and cell phones. I am reading that using your phone as a hot spot does not give you enough band width. Any recommendations out there? Do I need a separate hotspot device that I have to pay for and add that to my Xfinity plan?

[wanderingaimles]

Look closely at your carriers data package, Then look at the others, do they have coverage where you are, or plan on going?
ATT (and the others too I'm sure) offers a hotspot plan for data only that gives 100 gigs for $55 a month. T-mobile claims unlimited data on their plans, but has little to no coverage where I live, so have not tried them.
t-mob home internet
This is meant to be a home unit, will need a 120 household power source, but a small inverter could easily handle it for remote usage.

[way2roll]

valhalla360 wrote:

jdc1 wrote:
Watching TV is now the new Camping. Who wouldda thought?

How old are you? We had a camper with a TV over 45yrs ago. It was nothing unusual back then.

Of course, now we split time spending 6-12 months of the year in the camper, so yeah, we watch TV.

Translation - "I don't watch TV when I camp and neither should you" - Judgy Mcjudgerson

[valhalla360]

jdc1 wrote:
Watching TV is now the new Camping. Who wouldda thought?

How old are you? We had a camper with a TV over 45yrs ago. It was nothing unusual back then.

Of course, now we split time spending 6-12 months of the year in the camper, so yeah, we watch TV.

[wa8yxm]

Lwiddis wrote:
I also have success frequently with over the air (OTA) channels for local news.

That is how I did TV and with two DVR's that were "Chatty" (Talked to each other shared shows) I occasionally ran out of disc space.

How well a cell phone or cellular hot spot works depends on the campground and the nearest cell tower. Some were not that well connected.

Remember height is Might at Cellular frequencies. a "My-Fi" device in a pelican case atop a flag pole may work better than the same thing inside the RV.

[pbeverly]

We watch very little TV while camping, actually watch very little at home.

Use OTA for local news and weather. For rainy weather or if we have grandkids I do download content beforehand. Netflix, Disney, Amazon all allow you to download content. I have a Chromecast device on the TV that I can cast the content to. I do have to have Internet for this to work, but it uses VERY LITTLE bandwidth as the content is already downloaded and it gets pushed via local wifi to the Chromecast. I use my phone as a hotspot.

Now if my phone gets no service then so much for that. Most campground wifi is pretty much useless.

[2oldman]

jdc1 wrote:
Watching TV is now the new Camping. Who wouldda thought?

Amazing. I hear these new-fangled campers have kitchens in them too!

[Lwiddis]

Take note, jdc1, not everyone is 70 and full of excess energy.

[goducks10]

jdc1 wrote:
Watching TV is now the new Camping. Who wouldda thought?

Not everyone is 40 years old and full of excess energy.

[jdc1]

Watching TV is now the new Camping. Who wouldda thought?

[1492]

A Verizon service that does have unlimited 4G/5G mobile data/voice/text is Visible.com which you can get for $25. month by joining a party pay group - anyone can and easy to do. However, there are some limitations. You can only have one hotspot device connected at a time, and limited to a consistent 5Mbps speeds. Good enough to stream on all major services.

If you wirelessly stream to your smart TV directly from your smartphone, then you may be able to access higher data rates. However, you have to check whether it works with your particular streaming service.

Best part is that Visible includes unlimited high speed mobile data, with some users reporting using close to 1TB per month without throttling.




From Visible just now with an IPhone 4G smartphone. Personally, I'd take this result with a grain of salt. More likely half this speed with real world data transfers. Especially, for streaming media.

[way2roll]

For most users a phone as a hotspot will work just fine. Data is data so whatever you are streaming will use the same amount on a phone or dedicated hotspot. The advantage to using the phone is that you won't have to pay for another device or line. The disadvantage to a phone's hotspot is that it will kill a battery quick and the number of devices that can connect is less than on a dedicated hot spot. The advantages to a dedicated hot spot is the ability to connect stronger antennas, many more devices and battery usage is much better. I work remote and need to stay connected when travelling. Sometimes a signal booster with an antenna on a dedicated hot spot will get a signal when the phone can't. The downside, it's another line and device to buy/maintain. In either case, you probably want an unlimited data plan. And read the fine print, unlimited doesn't really mean unlimited. A lot of plans throttle your bandwidth after you churn through a certain amount.

[2oldman]

valhalla360 wrote:
If you have a long weekend that turns rainy and you decide to do a movie marathon with high resolution video, you can burn the 28G plus your 55G over a weekend.

Yeah, I have to watch it closely. 3 or 4 gig a day is not hard to do.

I love my all-you-can-eat Xfinity at home, watching 8K aerial tours of tropical islands. Amazing.

[ford_truck_guy]

I have been using Calyx Institute for a couple of years... NO throttling.... It is truly unlimited.... I set up camp and can set all 3 TV's to the hotspot provided and watch unlimited TV while camping.. PROVIDED I HAVE A DECENT CELL 9 wifi ) SIGNAL... If our in th eboonies, all bets re off, normally, if you have a good phone signal, the hotspot will work.. It is part of T mobile/Sprint ..

[valhalla360]

2oldman wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
The problem as mentioned getting a plan that gives you enough data without throttling.

I have that, the old XXL Verizon plan. 28G a month, with carryover, and no throttling. Last I looked I had around 55G, which is pretty good for watching Breaking Bad and Japanese cats.

I'm not sure if there's an upper limit to what you can carry over.

If you are just watching a 1/2hr show once a week, 28GB is plenty.

If you have a long weekend that turns rainy and you decide to do a movie marathon with high resolution video, you can burn the 28G plus your 55G over a weekend.