Wife fearing TV withdrawal

[agesilaus]

We are planning going to long term camping starting next May. My wife likes her TV and fears a lack when we do. We traveled for 8 weeks last summer and rarely had a good TV signal. Now I am familiar with the old style batwing antenna that had a crank down in the living room and an on/off amp switch. I cannot find a crank and no obvious switch for the new AF 25Y TT. The batwing lays down on the top of the RV. Is it supposed to raise off the roof? I was told it's omni directional and does not need to be moved, is that correct?

Also when we were in Campingworld yesterday I saw some Winegard TV antennas that the display claims is better that installed units. That would be the sensar

Lastly we have a sat antenna dome installed on the RV, a salesman at an RV show told me it was the 'old style' antenna dome. Could we use that, I dimly understand that there is some confusion in the sat TV market right now. Would we just need a box for the TV and a subscription? How much are the subscriptions running now?

Sorry for all the questions. And thanks for any replies.

[Randyretired]

I am NOT a TV expert by any means but our built in TV antenna has a crank directly below the roof antenna on the ceiling.  Most I have seen are that way.  You crank it up and point it towards the best signal.  It also has a 12v amplifier where the indoor TV coax connection is.  There is a switch to turn it on.  That system seems to work pretty good if there is over the air TV available.  If you camp where there is limited or no over the air signal then a satellite system from Dish or Direct TV can be used most anywhere that the sky is open.  The dome that you have may work but I would visit a satellite dealer to find out.  My guess is that depending on what stations you want the cost would be $50 to $150 a month.  Finally there are some internet streaming services available but if you are in an area where cell service isn't available it probably won't work and you need a really good cell service plan.  The satellite TV covers nearly everywhere but usually requires you to do some setup. There are also some options for you to authorize the local stations wherever you are.

Edited October 19, 2019 by Randyretired

[agesilaus]

Well I am getting the TOGO Roadguard C2 which has unlimited data. I need to figure out how to get data, aka video, to the TV which is not a smart unit but maybe has a USB port, I need to check that.

[Dutch_12078]

4 minutes ago, agesilaus said:

Well I am getting the TOGO Roadguard C2 which has unlimited data. I need to figure out how to get data, aka video, to the TV which is not a smart unit but maybe has a USB port, I need to check that.

If your TV has an HDMI port, an Amazon Firestick or a Roku streaming device will give you lots of TV viewing options as long as you have a good Internet signal.

[D&J]

We spend 7 months + on the road and we are tv junkies and we haven't used our batwing antenna in years. We have a Pathway X2 automatic dish with dish network, we get our HD locals off it that my wife likes and I get my sports and Nascar with the other channels thst I want. We also have a Roku streaming device that we get other free streaming moves and other programing when the cell data signal are strong enough. We have a pay as you go outdoor account so it can be shut off when not in use but that hasn't happened since we started using it because we use the same reciever at our home base. No matter where we are at we have tv and because the dish is portable it can be moved to get around obstructions, there's a lot of places out west that don't have free over the air chanels and cell service can be problematic. 

Denny 

[edatlanta]

The batwing antenna that came with my 5'er is in a landfill somewhere.  Even with proper maintenance it leaked on my bed once too often so I threw it away and plugged up the hole.  DirecTV with DNS and a tripod mounted antenna for 9 years now.

[Jaydrvr]

If you have the "old style" satellite dish, it probably won't work with today's systems. I had a King Controls in motion dish and it became obsolete several years ago, so I had to upgrade to a newer one. Although I lost the in motion ability, the new antenna was much faster to acquire satellites and was a worthwhile upgrade. If you need 24/7 TV access, that's probably the best way to go. Dish Network is more RV friendly than DirecTV, with no contract plans from $40 up. We've moved to streaming though, as we don't need a lot of TV. Jay

[docj]

2 hours ago, Jaydrvr said:

We've moved to streaming though, as we don't need a lot of TV.

With all due respect, those two elements are not related.  We do like to watch TV AND we are now streaming all of it.  We have both AT&T and Verizon "truly unlimited" hotspots and that gives us coverage pretty much anywhere we choose to go.  Sure there are some dead spots left in the country, but that's no worse than the places where we couldn't get satellite TV because of tree cover.

[Randyretired]

I think cell coverage is very dependent on where you like to go.  We like to camp in the mountains in Colorado and Wyoming in out of the way places.   Cell service where we go is spotty at best.  In fact we have some land we camp on a lot and the only way to get internet is satelite. We have Hughes Net setup there but our data is limited.  Satellite TV is way cheaper than trying to stream.

[noteven]

I have a HD flying saucer over the air antenna up on top on the roof. It can pick up dozens of channels in some locations mostly with nuthin’ worth watching.

You think them airplane chem trails are mind control you should watch “news”...

 

[Zulu]

2 hours ago, docj said:

We have both AT&T and Verizon "truly unlimited" hotspots and that gives us coverage pretty much anywhere we choose to go. 

Are either of these still available?

[Jaydrvr]

2 hours ago, docj said:

With all due respect, those two elements are not related.  We do like to watch TV AND we are now streaming all of it.  We have both AT&T and Verizon "truly unlimited" hotspots and that gives us coverage pretty much anywhere we choose to go.  Sure there are some dead spots left in the country, but that's no worse than the places where we couldn't get satellite TV because of tree cover.

Perhaps I wasn't precise enough in my response, Joel. My point was that our viewing habits have changed to no longer include much network TV, so we don't have a subscription to say, YouTube TV OR Dish Network. Our tastes run more to Netflix, YouTube, Prime, etc. In general, we're not interested in scheduled shows or sports, but rather in programming on demand. Yes, all our viewing is streaming and that serves us well for our way of watching. For every viewer, there's a different perspective on what works best. Jay

[Jaydrvr]

19 minutes ago, Zulu said:

Are either of these still available?

These tend to come and go. You have to be ready when they're available and pounce. The Mobley we use was not easy to get even during the time it was available, because it was so unexpectedly popular. Jay

[docj]

2 hours ago, Zulu said:

Are either of these still available?

There are a number of people selling unlimited AT&T SIMs for hotspots.  We have ours through OTR Mobile.

As for Verizon, the truly unlimited prepaid hotspot is no longer available but it appears that Verizon Visible pretty much provides the same capability (using a phone rather than a dedicated hotspot.)

[agesilaus]

3 hours ago, Zulu said:

Are either of these still available?

ATT via TOGO Roadlink C2, $400 for the antenna and $360/yr paid all at once for the AT&T service. That's $30/mo. The antenna has 5 antennas, looks like a sat dome and is self contained. 3 antennas are 4G/3G and 2 WIFI, or maybe the other way around. It only needs 12V to work. And then broadcasts a WIFI signal that you use. Supposedly  you can use the WIFI while driving and towing the RV.

Verizon via Visible (their subsidiary) You need a phone from visible or an approved phone that will take their SIM. Then $40/mo flat rate

Both are 22GB and then if the antenna you are on is busy they can use network management which will slow you down. But reports say that is rare.

I am in the process of getting both. I needed a new phone since mine is running on Android 5 and has problems. So I'm getting a Moto G7 power for $200 with a $100 rebate coming. I also ordered the TOGO which will be here Tuesday.

I'm thinking about pulling the plug on our AT&T DSL which is execrable and just using the WIFI off the camper parked in the yard. So that will save us over $30/mo from what we pay AT&T right now if it is practical.

 

Edited October 20, 2019 by agesilaus

[Zulu]

4 hours ago, docj said:

There are a number of people selling unlimited AT&T SIMs for hotspots.  We have ours through OTR Mobile.

As for Verizon, the truly unlimited prepaid hotspot is no longer available but it appears that Verizon Visible pretty much provides the same capability (using a phone rather than a dedicated hotspot.)

Are you talking about this?

 

4 hours ago, docj said:

As for Verizon, the truly unlimited prepaid hotspot is no longer available but it appears that Verizon Visible pretty much provides the same capability (using a phone rather than a dedicated hotspot.)

I think Visible has more limitations than the no-longer-available Verizon Unlimited plan.

My Point: OP, there is currently no such thing as a truly Unlimited Cellular Data plan. By Unlimited I mean . . . no throttling, no network management, no connection limits on hotspots, no use of inferior cell networks, etc, etc. However, people have pretty much accepted the bogus "unlimited" label created by the cell data providers . . . and most have even dropped the quotes from around "unlimited". Let me create a a non-marketing term -- Ersatz Unlimited.

Anyway, I suggest making use of the Mobile Internet Resource Center before making up your mind on streaming.

 

[docj]

1 hour ago, Zulu said:

: OP, there is currently no such thing as a truly Unlimited Cellular Data plan. By Unlimited I mean . . . no throttling, no network management, no connection limits on hotspots, no use of inferior cell networks, etc, etc. However, people have pretty much accepted the bogus "unlimited" label created by the cell data providers . . . and most have even dropped the quotes from around "unlimited". Let me create a a non-marketing term -- Ersatz Unlimited.

Actually, OTR Mobile claims that its AT&T plans aren't subject to network management nor are they subject to a resolution limit on streamed video.  You can verify these statements at the Mobile Internet Resource Center.  We have been using our OTR Mobile SIM exclusively for streaming with our Rokus for the past month and it has performed admirably.  There have been remarkably few pauses for buffering and i can state, without exaggeration, that none of them have lasted more than ~10-15 seconds.  We don't get the high speeds that we have seen on our Verizon prepaid SIM, but the speed has been more consistent.

[Zulu]

37 minutes ago, docj said:

We don't get the high speeds that we have seen on our Verizon prepaid SIM, but the speed has been more consistent.

So the speed is limited?

[Dutch_12078]

7 minutes ago, Zulu said:

So the speed is limited?

I have never seen any Internet service provider that offers "unlimited speed". "Unlimited data" on the other hand is offered of course. And even if the speed is slowed down due to throttling or even minimally with management, the data allowance is still unlimited. It just takes longer to use it...

[Zulu]

3 minutes ago, Dutch_12078 said:

I have never seen any Internet service provider that offers "unlimited speed". "Unlimited data" on the other hand is offered of course. And even if the speed is slowed down due to throttling or even minimally with management, the data allowance is still unlimited. It just takes longer to use it...

That's not the point, guys. Just because Real Unlimited™ cell data isn't offered, doesn't mean it's ok to call a good cell plan "unlimited". It isn't. Though my AT&T Mobley is filling my data needs, it ain't unlimited.

[docj]

36 minutes ago, Zulu said:

So the speed is limited?

No, I don't think it's being "limited" I just don't think AT&T has the bandwidth at our location that Verizon does. At the moment Speedtest on my phone (connected to our OTR Mobile SIM) is reading 10.1 down and 9.6 up.  Running the phone on LTE using a postpaid plan gets me 16.2 down and 8.13 up.  Using my Verizon prepaid plan is giving me 5.10 down and 9.29 up.

It's my impression that when the download speed is considerably less than the upload speed then it is most likely being "network managed."  That would imply that my Verizon prepaid is seeing a slowdown due to that.  But all of those speeds are enough to get good streaming video.

Edited October 21, 2019 by docj

[Dutch_12078]

8 hours ago, Zulu said:

That's not the point, guys. Just because Real Unlimited™ cell data isn't offered, doesn't mean it's ok to call a good cell plan "unlimited". It isn't. Though my AT&T Mobley is filling my data needs, it ain't unlimited.

The point is that these plans are promoted as "unlimited data", and that's what they deliver. Slowing down the rate that data is delivered at is irrelevant to the promoted claim since it does not restrict the amount of data that can be transferred, only the time it takes to transfer it. "Data caps" on the other hand, do restrict the amount of data that can be transferred, regardless of the speed. Don't get me wrong, I don't like having my speeds throttled of course, but if that's the provisions of the plan I knowingly signed up for, then I accept that. Fortunately, I currently have two cell plans that are only subject to congested tower management at times, something that I can't say I've ever noticed happening.

[Tom_M]

I signed up for Visible early June and it has been working great. I have their ZTE R2 android phone which they are currently selling for $19. Service is $40/month for unlimited talk, text, and data. I am three weeks into my current billing cycle and have used 360GB of data. I'm getting a fairly consistent 17 Mb/s download speeds connected to the hotspot. I have seen it as fast as 30 Mb/s.

[agesilaus]

I got my Visible Moto G7 power yesterday and think it's mostly setup. The hotspot shows up on my WIFI list but I haven't connected to it yet. I was rather displeased that they knew my VISA card number without me typing anything it. I paid for the phone using PayPal not a card.

I got my TOGO too and have been waiting for the rain to cease to try to install it. But it answered my original question. They have an offer for SlingTV at $20/mo and if you pay for 2 months they send you a no charge Roku Express. Apparently you plug that into the HDMI port on the TV and it acts as a WIFI card picking up TV shows from your WIFI hotspot.

Edited October 23, 2019 by agesilaus

[Dutch_12078]

I ordered the Visible R2 today, and should have it tomorrow. It'll be interesting to see how the hotspot mode compares to our Verizon 6620L on the prepaid unlimited plan. The 6620L just renewed for another month, so I'll have some time for testing before deciding which one is the keeper.