Internet Access: 16 Campgrounds, 3 States

[Zulu]

Campground Internet Report 1 . . . some tentative takeaways

[Dutch_12078]

Your results roughly mirror our results in the 18 east coast parks we've been in so far this year. We don't have the satellite option though, nor have we hit any parks where we had no cell service at all so far. We found only a few parks with reliable WiFi, and of those only one fast enough for streaming. As for AT&T vs Verizon, yes, we're pretty close there, with every park favoring one or the other for speed, but most having strong enough signals on both that either service would have been ok. Just as you concluded, with a little more history to go by, we too may drop our Verizon plan in favor of our AT&T Mobley unlimited plan. We would still have our Verizon/Tracfones to fall back on for tethering if really needed somewhere.

[trailertraveler]

We have stayed in 17 parks from Florida to Maryland since January. I haven't kept the detailed records you have. The parks that had Wifi were all useable for email and general things like Google searches. Even those that are fast enough, ask you not to stream and state that excess use will be throttled. I use a ubiquity Nanostation as a wifi extender/external adapter and often can try multiple campground access points to see which gives the best speed.

Experience with Verizon versus AT&T is about the same. However, our AT&T car connect (similar to Mobley) is built into the tow vehicle and requires the ignition to be on so is not very practical for long time use. In addition, connecting by wireless from inside the trailer often results in a connection too slow to stream without pauses. With Verizon, I can usually stream on the tablet directly, but when using a hotspot or tethered connection to the router, the speed is too slow to stream about half the time.

Edited June 8, 2019 by trailertraveler

[whj469]

I have ATT and the BH has Verizon so we mostly can use then as hotspots and we have been pleased with the speed when we use then. I also have an ATT box that we use at home and also take on the road and it is fast. Cost for box is $60 per month about $5 less them the Hughesnet that we used to use. It is much faster the Hughes.

[Zulu]

1 hour ago, whj469 said:

Cost for box is $60 per month about $5 less them the Hughesnet that we used to use. It is much faster the Hughes.

You are probably talking about the "old" HughesNet, not the new Gen 5 system.

[whj469]

No, the new Gen 5 system that we had was slower. When we both had Verizon we couldn't get signal in our house. When I went to ATT we can use that internet box. For many years Hughes was the only option we had for internet because we are very rural. When we go north for the summer we just take it with us for those four months.

[Bill Joyce]

More proof that Verizon and AT&T do not have coverage everywhere.  

[Dutch_12078]

8 hours ago, Bill Joyce said:

More proof that Verizon and AT&T do not have coverage everywhere.  

You're right, Bill, but the combination does cover more of "everywhere" than anyone else...

[Smitty77_7]

Great info sharing!! And mirrors much of what we see as we travel largely in the West. 

We too have Verizon (Hotspot on  Samsung S8) and ATT (Mobely, SIM in a Unite Explore until just before this trip, were on now, to the Oregon Coast - now in a Nighthawk.).

One thing I'll add to your info, is the that for most of the last year of traveling, including now with the ATT Nighthawk vs Unit Explore - that I've tested with our roof top MIMO Mobilemark Magnetic Antenna, and without - in all but two cases, the combo of MIMO Mobilemark, and either Unite Explore (One time) or Nighthawk (Second time) - has greatly outperformed the Download and Upload Data speeds. Not surprising. 

I keep playing with unhooking the Nighthawk from the Mobilemark rooftop antenna, as this reverts it to 2X2 MIMO, to see if the internal 4X4 MIMO antenna performs better. One time, in Redding, CA about 5 weeks ago, it was about 15-20% faster on Download's, and even more so on Upload's. And that is with me keeping it inside of the Communication Cabinet, not moving it around the coach to get the best signal 4X4 MIMO possible:)! (I have the device tethered to a WFR GOac, which all of our data usage in the RV is tied into...). 

I suppose I'm saying, that lots of the time that a rooftop MIMO antenna is going to yield a better signal, and thus the higher speeds... 

Thanks for posting what you've seen so far:)! Look forward to more info when you get more travel in on this trip!!

Best to you, and all,

Smitty

 

 

[docj]

21 hours ago, Bill Joyce said:

More proof that Verizon and AT&T do not have coverage everywhere.  

FWIW I have added a third option by setting up a Google Project Fi account on my Pixel 2XL phone by using its builtin eSIM.  It costs only $20/mo to establish the account.  In the US Fi primarily runs on T-Mobile towers which probably doesn't add too much to the coverage map provided  by AT&T plus Verizon.  But I've activated it primarily to use in Canada where it is reported to run on the towers of all three major carriers.

Switching the phone from its physical SIM to the eSIM is fairly simple and takes only a minute or two.  The marketing "hook" for Fi is that the data charges are capped at $60/mo regardless of usage (but the small print says that there may be network management imposed for usage >15GB/mo.)   Also, the phone can be used internationally without any additional changes.

At the end of the summer I'll be able to say how well it works.

[Bill Joyce]

2 hours ago, docj said:

FWIW I have added a third option by setting up a Google Project Fi account on my Pixel 2XL phone by using its builtin eSIM.  It costs only $20/mo to establish the account.  In the US Fi primarily runs on T-Mobile towers which probably doesn't add too much to the coverage map provided  by AT&T plus Verizon.  But I've activated it primarily to use in Canada where it is reported to run on the towers of all three major carriers.

Switching the phone from its physical SIM to the eSIM is fairly simple and takes only a minute or two.  The marketing "hook" for Fi is that the data charges are capped at $60/mo regardless of usage (but the small print says that there may be network management imposed for usage >15GB/mo.)   Also, the phone can be used internationally without any additional changes.

At the end of the summer I'll be able to say how well it works.

I don't think the Pixel 2XL has band 71 on T-Mobile, which might help in some areas.  But it should be golden in Canada.

[Bill Joyce]

15 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

You're right, Bill, but the combination does cover more of "everywhere" than anyone else...

That is what I use, a combination of Verizon and AT&T and mostly that works great.  But I often see people say they are getting rid of one of them to save money, since they have service "everywhere" on both.  Where we are camped right now we have weak Verizon but solid AT&T.  I know from experience that the next campsite will be the opposite, weak AT&T but solid Verizon.  (I could probably improve things if I either figured out why my Maxamp now does nothing or replace the Maxamp with something else.)

[whj469]

Additionally, the ATT internet box works very well in the UP of MI and southeast Texas and points in between. We have been surprised.

[rbertalotto]

I have all three. AT&t Verizon and T-Mobile. AT&t and T-Mobile are both in United splore units. Verizon is in my Samsung phone. So far 80% of the time I use AT&t. With AT&t DirecTV now does not count against my account. My AT&t account is a Mobly account. The other 20% of the time is made up of Verizon and T-Mobile. Verizon is unlimited streaming on the phone but only 15 g tethered. The T-Mobile account is unlimited for DirecTV now Amazon prime and most other streaming channels. I'm a beta user for T-Mobile and it only cost $30 a month.

 I travel three months a year January February and March from Massachusetts to Phoenix. Spending nearly a month each in Texas New Mexico and Arizona. Last year I went as far as Oakland California. I have not had a night yet when I can't stream video.

 I have three options for better signal. A cell booster with an outside antenna. And yaggie outside antenna on a large 16 foot pole. Or a mimo antenna on that same pole.

  One way or the other with my equipment I'm watching TV at night in my trailer.

[Dutch_12078]

20 hours ago, Bill Joyce said:

That is what I use, a combination of Verizon and AT&T and mostly that works great.  But I often see people say they are getting rid of one of them to save money, since they have service "everywhere" on both.  Where we are camped right now we have weak Verizon but solid AT&T.  I know from experience that the next campsite will be the opposite, weak AT&T but solid Verizon.  (I could probably improve things if I either figured out why my Maxamp now does nothing or replace the Maxamp with something else.)

Our Max Amp is still doing the job in fringe areas, but I don't know how well it works with some of the new bands now in use. So far, anywhere we've been that AT&T was significantly weaker than Verizon, it still supported streaming with minimal buffering, sometimes with help from the Max Amp. I've also noticed that we now have good AT&T service in several locations that I had previously listed as no or very weak service for them, so apparently they're continuing to expand coverage.