Full-time with Full-time remote job

geekymom · March 6, 2018

My husband works 40 hours per week at a full time job, but remotely from our home. I've found lots of information from people that are consultants and don't have stereotypical 9-5 job full-time RVing. I was curious if there was anyone that did have that type of a job and could make it work travelling full-time as well?

We already have a travel trailer that we use for vacation and weekend getaways. We took at 2 week trip from GA to Maine and back. We didn't have to work though and were on vacation. We just used our cells and tried to disconnect from the internet as much as we could since it was vacation. However, if we were living full time we would probably have to have both a Verizon and ATT internet device. We would need 1 solely for my husbands work bandwidth utilization.

Does anyone actually do this, or know of anyone that does, or is this my far fetched dream of being able to make it work?

BlueLghtning · March 6, 2018

I've been full time since Aug 2017 and I work a regular 9-5 job remotely. So far it's been good and I have really had good success working on the road. I had been working remotely for 7-8 years before we hit the road and making the transition to full time RV'ing really wasn't that much different, other than working in other time zones. I actually have a little leeway with my schedule and can work as early as 7-3 ET or as late as 9-5 ET and can fluctuate that as I need. I've been doing a lot of 7-3 ET, especially when we have been in MT as then my day locally is 5am-1pm and I have lots of time in the afternoon to do stuff. Working 7-3 in PT was a bit too much since that was like 4am - 12pm local time, but I did do it a few times.

I joined Technomadio's group at RVmobileInternet.com before we hit the road and I learned so much even though I was a techie already. The biggest advantage though was getting the heads up on deals to snatch up and just staying up to date on all the latest phone plans. I lucked out than between the time I started researching going on the road and actually hitting the road, all the big carriers were having their unlimited data fights and I benefited big time.

I have hotspots with AT&T, Verizon, & T-mobile. For AT&T I lucked out and grabbed the Rural Homebase 250GB plan for $60/mo and then also was able to get one of the Mobley $20/mo plans. I have the most bandwidth with AT&T so I rely on them the most. We put both our phones on the new Verizon unlimited when it came out, although it probably would have been better to maybe have an AT&T phone. We also got a Verizon hotspot, but as you may know Verizon's unlimited is only 15gb of hotspot use per line. Verizon is very important to have, but with such low bandwidth, I have to be careful how I use it. Finally we have a Tmobile 6g Simple Choice plan with binge on. This was mostly so we could stream netflix and not count against our data, but also have Tmobile as a backup as it does roll over up 20gb/mo. I have found a few cases where T-mobile worked really well, especially sometimes in busy areas where Verizon & AT&T towers were just overloaded.

Trying to set yourself up right now would be tough. AT&T just phased out the use of hotspots on their unlimited plans (really wish I had picked one of those up), but I'm setup pretty well with the homebase and Mobley. Verizon still has their unlimited plans, but they are far from unlimited. Tmobile is coming along and I see good things for them as they grow their 600mhz spectrum, but that's going to take a bit.

The best advice I can give is join Technomadio at RVMobileInternet and read a lot. I did get a Weboost cell booster and I haven't even hooked it up yet. I should hook it up where I'm at as this is the first place I really could use it, but it just so happens the campground wifi here rocks (very rare) and I'm running off that this week.

We have started to boondock a lot more and that has definitely made the internet a lot more challenging at times. So far though I've never had a day I couldn't work, but be ready as they might happen.

Edited March 6, 2018 by BlueLghtning

Barb & Jason · March 11, 2018

Geekymom, we have been on the road since selling our house last fall and I am a fulltime employee with a daily schedule working in the technology field. Much of my time is spent hosting WebEx based meetings with my colleagues. It is a perfect time professionally to be doing this because the organization is beginning to embrace telecommuting in general and I was the pilot for that in our organization. I work for an University and I was able to negotiate for being "away" three-quarters of the year and I am "on-site" just around our fall busy time.

I use WebEx as a virtual office space most of the day, I consume a lot of bandwidth sending and receiving video in those meetings. Most of my connectivity is using AT&T. I have a government class AT&T hotspot that doesn't get throttled since I work for the government, but our personal AT&T hotspot is also unlimited. The personal hotspot occasionally does get slowed down, but rarely to the point it is not useful. We also have a RV model WeBoost installed with both an omni directional antenna and also a directional antenna for the problem spots. We also have a personal Verizon hotspot that shares with our two cell phones the monthly allowance and I have had to use that from time to time because of AT&T issues. Recently, also I just ordered a Verizon hotspot from Unlimitedville and that is not cheap! But it is much cheaper than buying more and more GB from Verizon each month on a standard plan. I am finding most people that work fulltime are using Verizon limited plans. However, like you said many are in a consultant role but don't really use as much data.

I have met two other people on our journey in the last four months that are also 9-5 sort of workers in technology. Both used Verizon, one on a metered plan and the other on an unlimited plan. I can agree with them that the structure of the 9-5 is good in this lifestyle. Those that don't have the structure may play more in the week, but they struggle with meeting performance goals at work each week at the same time. I struggle with being "on" more than I want to be and I need to leave my "office" deliberately.

There are a number of commercial RV internet routers on the market. I made my own using http://ofmodemsandmen.com/ and am very happy with it. I actually just made a second, so that personal and work are on two separate networks. With this geeky platform you can also tether from the RV park WiFi, use the LTE/4G services, etc. It is the "core" of my networks to be able to attach outside sources onto.

Also check out http://livinlite.net/connectivity/ as he has done a good job explaining what he uses.

The moral of the story is, you need options and you will need a bigger than living in a stick house budget for internet. Mobility comes with costs to stay connected. However, if you cannot make money by spending this money can you afford the lifestyle? We will be paying about $350/mo in Internet costs (plus our cell phones on to of that.)

Jesse A · June 7, 2019

My wife works full-time with her company. She has to always be working on CA hours. In the beginning it seemed like a pain in the but because we were so excited to be on the road. I feel like its great now because we have some sort of routine. We have been on the road for 3 months, she uses a Verizon phone and hotspot. We have very little issues with cell coverage, but we check the coverage before we go to a new location with Open Signal ( its an app). Hope this helps!

GlennWest · June 7, 2019

I am full time RV and work full time. Though I do take time off between jobs. Weld for a living and our jobs are not permanent. We either build it or repair or upgrade, then leave. Go to next one when I get ready to. We got Version wifi device and it is unlimited but that promotion is over now. We have it now and intend to keep it as long as possible.

kb0zke · June 10, 2019

Our s-i-l works remotely and they have talked about going full-time for a year or so. The question that I couldn't help them with was how to handle travel. We prefer to travel on weekdays, so that we are landed for the weekend, but then we are retired. We leave after any rush hour and stop before the afternoon one. How do those of you who have to work set hours handle the travel part? Our son also works remotely, but as long as he gets 80 hours in in a two-week period the company is happy. Yes, sometimes there are meetings at specific times, but otherwise he pretty much sets his own schedule. Unfortunately, he isn't at all interested in the RV life. Too bad, as it would really work well for him.

sandsys · June 10, 2019

3 hours ago, kb0zke said:

Our son also works remotely, but as long as he gets 80 hours in in a two-week period the company is happy. Yes, sometimes there are meetings at specific times, but otherwise he pretty much sets his own schedule. Unfortunately, he isn't at all interested in the RV life. Too bad, as it would really work well for him.

I couldn't do that even when we were young. It's hard enough working 40 hours weeks while keeping up with the laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, and food prep & clean up without have to fit in travel planning and travel time. If you are not going to have time to travel why bother?

Linda

derekb · July 9, 2019

I work in technology and my DW is a registered nurse. We're currently trying to figure out if full timing will work for us. I have about one more year before I'll be able to be a full-time telecommuter. Not real sure if the lifestyle could work for an RN but without the burden of S&B we would be more than fine with just me working. If we can't make it work on paper we have to wait another nine years to retire. I'm not very patient. 😉

sandsys · July 10, 2019

4 hours ago, derekb said:

I work in technology and my DW is a registered nurse. We're currently trying to figure out if full timing will work for us. I have about one more year before I'll be able to be a full-time telecommuter. Not real sure if the lifestyle could work for an RN but without the burden of S&B we would be more than fine with just me working. If we can't make it work on paper we have to wait another nine years to retire. I'm not very patient. 😉

There are a lot of traveling nurses who take 3 month jobs here and there. That gives you time to explore what's around that location.

Linda

GlennWest · July 10, 2019

Yes, my general foreman on this job, his wife is an RN. She got a job as soon as they came here. No problem at all. This job 1 1/2 years long

Solo18 · July 15, 2019

I work only half-time teaching online remotely, but I can choose when to do my work as long as I meet deadlines in returning papers and posting class sessions on time. I use two Verizon hotspots, one of which I bought used on EBay.

One warning is that I have been misled a lot of times about the availability of cell service. I will call a campground or state park ranger station and be assured I can find a good Verizon signal but when i get there I find out that to do that, I have to be standing next to the lake holding my cell phone up in the air--not appropriate for a business meeting! Very irritating, but after a while I have gotten better at checking coverage maps and interpreting a potential signal strength.

Another thing I learned early is that I needed duplicates of stuff--two laptops and two hotspots. My lesson-learned was when my laptop hard drive died in the town of Okracoke in the Outer Banks and had to take a ferry and drive to Virginia Beach to buy a backup laptop. Dell sent a part and walked me through installing it, but it did not solve the problem and I had to meet a service guy in the campground at Virginia Beach. (I had a home service warranty on the laptop.) I immediately found a Best Buy and bought my backup.