docj

One problem that we're having this year is the absence of the volunteer activities that we usually filled our winters with. We were volunteers at a free health clinic in Corpus Christi staffed by retired and/or volunteer doctors and nurses. It has all but closed because most of the "staff" are in the high risk age group. As a result we're at our winter location without nearly as much to do with our time.

One way to avoid the problem of slowdowns due to deprioritization is to use more than one internet connection. We currently have three plus the local park's wifi combined in a Load Balancing router. Load Balancing isn't as good as connection bonding but it's less expensive and easier to implement. Even if all your sources were being slowed, you still have the benefit of multiple "pipes" to the internet. The bottom line is that we can stream all our video even though our connections are usually <5Mbps.

What phone are you using? What problems are you experiencing? Dropped connection? Please PM me your concerns about you previous interaction with customer service along with your Spruce's ID number and your contact information.

We are also full-timers with an SD mail service address. Four years ago we purchased a site in an ownership RV park in coastal TX, however, we have no intention of giving up our SD legal residence. So far we haven't encountered any problems as a result of doing this. People can own property in states in which they are not domiciled. Both addresses show up on our credit reports. We were able to obtain a mortgage on the property from a community bank which, I believe, is a defined banking category in TX. The bank officer had no problem using our SD address along with the physical address of the property.

If you use a router with dual radios (2GHz and 5GHz) you can eliminate the need to receive and retransmit data packets using the same radio. Most newer phones, laptops, etc, support both bands. Just use one radio to connect to your hotspot and the other radio to connect to your network devices.

With all due respect, with the quad-core processor used in the Spruce, I think you'll find little difference between USB tethering vs WiFi. With your old Go2 this was a much more significant issue. Joel (AKA docj)

Not to be picky, but the speed of your hotspot after it is throttled is ~500kbps, not 500MB. "kbps" stands for kilobits per second and it's a measure of speed (a very slow speed). "MB" stands for Megabytes and is a measure of a quantity data, not its speed. I've you're having issues tethering to your Ranger, feel free to contact us and we'll assist you in resolving the problem. Normally, tethering is foolproof and rocksolid stable. I tether a Jetpack7730L to a WiFiRanger Aspen and it runs for weeks without supervision. FWIW are you sure that your 8800 has the latest firmware update? The earlier firmware versions had issues relating to dropped connections.

We had taken a ~100 day excursion last summer and had been visited by two of our children back in March. As a result we are (reasonably) content to stay home this summer. We own a 3,000 sq ft site with small casita in a park in Rockport TX so we have plenty of space for the two of us. Our "big" excursions are to the grocery store and those physician appointments that can't be handled via telemedicine.

With all due respect, unvented dryers and combos don't hear up rooms nor do they increase the humidity in the room. We have an unvented Splendide combo and all it's water vapor and heat are cooled and condensed by cold water. This internet "myth" is impossible to kill off. As for heatpump dryers, they do make a lot of sense, but for RV use to my knowledge only Dometic sold such a device as a combo. They also decided that warranty work on the device meant that owners had to physically bring it in for service which could have been one reason why it didn't sell well. With respect to LG appliances there is an LG combo I would be interested in, but it is a bit too deep to fit in the space I have. Just be careful with the one you are looking at to make sure it will fit.

I don't know what you think is produced when you burn a hydrocarbon fuel, but even the most efficient burning process possible must produce both H2O and CO2. Yes, inefficient combustion can lead to the production of CO, but CO2 is unavoidable. You make the comment that CO2 and CO production is not the same as oxygen depletion, but that makes me wonder if you understand where the oxygen goes when it is depleted? Two reasons some people don't like unvented heaters are that they add water vapor to the air and they consume the oxygen. They're perfectly safe when used in accordance with instructions, but depleting the available oxygen by producing CO2 and H2O is unavoidable; that's what combustion is. Joel (AKA docj)

As far as I know it's the same remote. For the "stick" type of Roku, which hang on the back of the TV, only RF is used. Only the Rokus that have "consoles", such as the Ultra, can be used with IR AFAIK FWIW we recently replaced a Roku Streaming Stick+ with a Roku Ultra to see if it would improve WiFi performance. It was really difficult to determine beforehand if the Ultra was going to provide much, if any, better performance with anything else. To our surprise the Utra is much faster in acquiring channels or switching between them. I've now gone ahead and ordered another Ultra to replace the aging Roku Premier on our other TV.

Are you using your remote in IR mode or with radio frequency (RF) control? We use all our Rokus with RF control and don't have any problems. As for the buffering issue, I agree that it appears as if YouTube TV has more problems with this than do Netflix and some other "channels". When a slowdown in your internet speed is detected the video stream is supposed to be reduced in resolution to avoid rebuffering. That's why the picture can become "grainy." YouTube TV can do this, as can all the other channels, but I don't think its process for doing so is as sophisticated or as rapid as, for example, what Netflix uses.

I've been on Medicare for 8 years and, like you, haven't had any problems, either for me or my spouse. I have learned one thing about lab tests that get rejected by Medicare. It's worth your while to file a protest and use whatever rationale applies in your case. For me it's usually because I'm on a medication for which the standard of care necessitates more frequent tests than Medicare would normally allow. What I've discovered is that if you appeal, the chances are pretty good that neither Quest nor Labcorp will respond to Medicare's request for more information. As a result, you will officially lose your appeal, but you don't have to pay for the test! I've had this happen ~4 times in the past 2 years.

One feature we especially like about YouTube TV's user interface is that you can re-order the channels in the guide and can even disable those you know you will never watch. That way, alll the shows you are interested in show up at the top of the guide.

Another vote for Mattress Insider. We purchased a latex foam mattress from them ~6 months ago and are very satisfied.

My wife also likes to have a simple TV interface and she is quite able to use the channel guide provided by YouTubeTV. In actuality, it is little different from what she was accustomed to with DirecTV. With the exception of HBO, every channel we watched on DirecTV is on it. The only one that has been missing has been Comedy Central and it is being added later this summer. When she turns on the TV in her sewing room it boots to the Roku home screen which gives her the option of YouTubeTV, Pandora and several of the other streaming channels we subscribe to (Acorn, Britbox, Amazon, etc). She has no problem navigating those icons.

We dropped DirecTV six months ago and use YouTubeTV exclusively.. Since you are doing this at your own property you probably have access to a fixed internet connection (cable or fiber). If that's the case I wouldn't think twice about making the change to streaming. If you have to use cellular internet connections, the question is more problematic. However, as long as you have more than one connection to rely on you should be Ok, We use several cellular connections plus a park WiFi in a Load Balancing router to keep us connected.

Complicating the installation is that you will need to have a large patch of open sky. it's not at all like what we're used to with satellite where you can "thread the needle between the trees." With a phased array antenna, it needs to be able to switch from one satellite to another as they cross the sky. It probably will work well in the West where treed sites are less common, but east of the Mississippi, at least half the places we camp at would probably have too many trees.

Thanks for posting this excellent summary of Starlink's status. Unlike so many of the "puff pieces" that have appeared in the popular press, you have taken the time to write a thorough, objective and realistic analysis of the pro's and con's. All too many people in the RV community have spoken of Starlink as if it will be the communications panacea for RVers. Your analysis will help to "bring them back to earth!" Joel (AKA docj)

When you did a factory reset of the phone, did you reinstall the Visible app? I'm not sure that the phone can connect without it. I wouldn't be surprised if the app sets the APN which is different from the Verizon APN.

We had an extensive antique china collection that I initially thought would be upsetting to get rid of. It wasn't. We have a couple of antique items scattered around the MH most of which are held down with museum putty as we drive. We kept a >100 year old crystal lamp that belonged to my grandmother. It too is "glued" down and jingles as we drive. During the past ~9 years we have driven over 65k miles around North America and have visited every bucket list item we've ever had and lots more we didn't know about. No "stuff" could ever replace that!

Then the same reasoning should be applied to those who use AT&T Mobley Connected Car devices in other than their vehicles or in modems other than the Mobley. As I recall some of them may have even responded to this thread. Quite honestly, I can't imagine people being upset about "taking advantage" of a cellular carrier. After the way the carriers have routinely changed the groundrules on customers with respect to plans, prices, features, I personally can't get worked up about using what they provide in whatever manner I can. That being said, I don't intend to use my Visible SIM in an unsupported device because that is something the carrier is more likely to prevent.

To my knowledge the only effective way to monitor this would be to observe the TTL values of network packets. I suspect this is more complex than it is worth to Visible. Many users will just assume the "one device" limitation is real and won't try to find a way around it. The more technologically sophisticated user will realize it is pretty much a toothless warning. Furthermore, if they were to do TTL monitoring, I gather there are ways around that, also. FWIW, although I've not done it myself, I know that some people have used Visible SIMs in unapproved devices. Simple SIM swapping doesn't work because Visible has its own APN, but, to my knowledge, if you use the correct APN it will work---for a while at least! Joel (AKA docj)

What appears to be missing from this discussion is any mention of the use of more sophisticated routers in either Load Balancing or Connection Bonding modes. Both of these approaches make it possible to use less expensive cellular internet connections simultaneously so that the peaks and valleys of one roughly balance out the others. Currently, I am using three low-cost cellular connections along with my RV park's WiFi in a Load Balance mode and we stream all our video! Even with the overall internet slowdown being experienced because of so many people being at home, we still can stream with very few rebuffering pauses and those, when they happen, usually occur for only a few seconds. All of the connections I am using are in the $40-70/mo range, so the cost isn't all that great. Essentially, by not having DirecTV I save enough to offset much of this and the $50/mo I pay YouTube TV. When I had DirecTv I still needed a service for streaming Netflix, Acorn, et al, so at least one connection (other than our phones) was still needed. Load Balancing is available on routers from a number of manufactures and I'm not going to name any to avoid being accused of making a commercial post. One step beyond Load Balancing is Connection Bonding which is a more complex process in which the speeds of multiple connections are made roughly additive. It's a bit more expensive and complex to implement, but it can be done if you really need high speed internet 24/7.

I think you are referring to OTR Mobile It is still in existence.