Vladimir

I clicked on your link and found this..... The measurements took into account how easily people can access care, administrative procedures and equity around this care, and the quality of healthcare outcomes. The US came in 11th. BUT the headline "what are the countries with the best healthcare".....has nothing to do with the measurement criteria. If I am a healthcare patient my criteria for the BEST HEALTHCARE......has NOTHING to do with " ........how easily people can access care, administrative procedures and equity around this care, and the quality of healthcare outcomes." In all the countries I have had medical care, the US is by far the best. The criteria used in the study, has little to do with the healthcare people experience when they see a doctor. The criteria used in the study, might be important from a national policy perspective on health care in the US concerning the relative access, administrative procedures, equity and healthcare outcomes. They are important issues, but not really related to the quality of healthcare individuals receive in their respective countries.

Early in my career as a dirt forester I drank the water, unfiltered, in Idaho and California forests for almost a decade or more and never got sick. Just before I retired I did talk to lots of Forest Service Wilderness Rangers and other employees that worked in the woods full time. About half filtered there water and half drank straight out of streams. I was surprised that half did not filter, since everybody that got a water borne illness was quite adamant about not going through that again!! Just before I retired there were studies that suggested water borne illnesses were the result of poor human sanitation by the individual. It means YOU were making YOURSELF sick by poor sanitation practices. A water borne illness is a lottery that you do not want to win. Maybe. I use my RV in the spring, fall and winter months. It pretty much is never used in the summer. It doesn't take long before I end up with issues. Really in the summer, I cannot go more than a month before the water tank is contaminated. The other issue, is that I do use untreated stream and lake water to fill my tank on occasion. I think if your totally running chlorinated city water through your tank you might have better success keeping your tanks "clean". I have previously posted about a Forest Service engineer that tracked his water borne illness to his RV tanks. He concluded that it is virtually impossible to keep the tanks clean. That doesn't mean that everybody gets sick, it just means the tests show contaminated water. When I was working, I was surprised at how often our water systems failed a clean water test. At any given moment maybe 1% failed the initial test. The Forest Service testing showed that the prime source of contamination were the threads on the faucets. That is why there are NO THREADS on Forest Service faucets in campgrounds. Two bad tests in a row, meant a cleaning of the water system. It would be interesting at a Escapees Escapade to have water testing done on the water systems. Once you do get a water borne illness you are much, much more sensitive to bad water. I use my water tanks for showering and washing dishes. The drinking water comes from 1 gallon water containers some of which I do refill from a tap. I even give my dog, treated water just because it is easier. I will drink water from a forested watershed stream before drinking it from my water tanks. I don't think most people actually are aware how much animal "poop" there is out in the woods. I have a mountain cabin on a meadow ringed by a trail for about four miles. It is great hiking for humans and animals. The amount of animal "poop" is amazing. It is everywhere!!! I remember in school, where we did a statistical survey on the amount of deer poop in a measured area in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Amazing numbers. It is a good that animals do not use toilet paper, because the hills would look like winter all summer long!!! My dogs tend to find it first. If your a dog, there is nothing finer then elk "poop". They will sniff, but not eat cougar, coyote, wolf, or in most cases deer. Elk on the other hand has been a special treat for every dog I have owned!!! When I was working I did have a couple of complaints about horse poop on trails and water quality. Horse poop is barely digested so is pretty clean when it comes to pathogens. Must be the reason most my dogs just roll in it, rather than eat it. It would be interesting to have someone do water quality tests at an Escapade. Just because your not getting sick, doesn't mean that your tank is not contaminated. And for folks for health issues, you don't want to get a water borne sickness. The ONE worry that I do have is that I wear contact lenses. And I REALLY try to keep things clean when inserting them. I have used "baby wipes", but my daughter informed me that they do NOT have "cleansing" to them. It is difficult to keep things "clean" while backpacking or RV'ing with limited water supplies. Anybody have tips on coping for this issue?? I do tend to switch and use dailies on fires and camping most of the time.

I have met several Labradoodles up close and personal. Fine dogs. Since both poodles and labs are hunting breeds I expected them to have "some" hunting instinct. Absolutely none. My wife's Bichon is a better hunter than a Labradoodle!! https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PGzJPMYaiQc/Ts0eRmcm4PI/AAAAAAAABag/J5XqLsFQTR0/s1600/vladimiir_snowpatch_pheasan.jpg The Bichon is a great hunter and is easy to carry in the hunting vest. https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--cJVutgrthg/VCxaEdoBuLI/AAAAAAAAD6o/DSOT0azkb60/s1600/vladimir_snowpatch_vest.jpg If you don't hunt go with the Labradoodles. I had a 100 lb German Longhair Pointer that jumped in and out of a one-ton truck and it didn't do his joints any favors. I now have a 25 lb French Brittany. I lifted her in and out when she was a puppy. She can jump FIVE feet straight up for a standing position. Won't do it to get into the truck, I need to pick her up and place her gently on the seat. I call her my French girl. Are all French girls that wimpy?? Get one of these. https://www.gundogsupply.com/garmin-alpha-100-tt15x-combo.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&campaign=DPA&utm_term=GARMIN-ALPHA-100-TT15X-COMBO&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgrPkzva1gwMVPyCtBh24xQjVEAQYBCABEgIRn_D_BwE At least when they run off you will know EXACTLY where they are!! At some point, you can take out the shock prongs and just use the tone controls to get your dog to return to you. For a couple of hundred, you can get a collar without GPS. Train your dog to return to your BEEP, BEEP command when you push it. Remember you might not know where the dog is, but they know exactly where they are and how to get back home quickly. It is really easy just to push a button and then wait for your dog to return. Your neighbors will appreciate you not screaming your dogs name at high volume to get them to return.

I actually got FOUR opinions. Continuity of care might have been an issue. I did find a emergency room doctor that was really good. We will see how my new doctor turns out. He graduated from the University of Moscow. NOT the University of Idaho at Moscow, but the other one 12 times zones out. He was on vacation so I called his nurse, for a trigger that would mean me going to the ER. That worked, as I ended up in the ER that night. The first question his nurse had was "she talking to Vladimir" since he had so many Russian speakers and she thought I was the translator. I told her in my 20's even with a name like Vladimir everybody expected me to speak English. Now that I am in my 70's with a name like Vladimir everybody assumes I do NOT speak English.

Thanks for the concern. Went to my final follow up appointment yesterday. My blood pressure is finally down, and the doctor also added a drug to lower my daytime heart rate. That was new and different. I have always had a high heart rate, except when sleeping. I did get "instructions" on how to deal with lowering blood pressure and pulse in the future. Mine is directly correlated to weight. 5 lbs loss/gain is equal to 5 mg of Lisinipril. The thing I did NOT get was an answer on what happened. Nobody seems concerned about that. Every doctor seems to think, we fixed it!! Yeah, lets move on. Is there a difference between a shade tree mechanic and a shade tree doctor?? I feel like somebody banged on the side of me and the blood pressure went down as a result and the doctors all said "we fixed it". I still think it is somewhat related to the Nsaid pain killer that I was given. Done with those. Not a good year 2023.

I came to the same conclusion. The increase in power draw is significant for me due to the off-grid house. But when traveling I tend to run the generator for those times I am using the internet so it might not be that much of an impact. The gen2 antenna is perfect for traveling. Not sure the gen3 antenna is that handy.

We don't have a Medicare advantage plan. GEHA is our regular medical plan that we had for 20 years and still carry in retirement.

GEHA has been my insurance company for over 20 years. It is the SAME insurance that I had when I was working with the same premiums and benefits. It addition I also carry Medicare Parts A and B. I think I am well insured to the say the least. The troubles with GEHA started as soon as I qualified for Medicare. BTW, I am one of the few people that actually READ and looked at the health insurance contract all 120 pages of it!!! I really think the insurance companies are running scams with Medicare and dragging their Medicare eligible customers into paying EXTRA for already covered services. I did drop my fraud case with the Attorney General Fraud Division in Washington state once the No Surprises Act passed and suddenly GEHA paid for a regular physical just like promised on Page 38 of the health insurance contract. Here are my previous threads for those interested: https://www.rvnetwork.com/topic/144561-medicare-annual-exam-and-federal-employees-health-benefits-coverageplease-read/ https://www.rvnetwork.com/topic/146640-no-surprises-actevery-rver-needs-to-understand-this-new-law/ The insurance companies are denying claims automatically and then approving the claim once you appeal. They are betting that you will just pay the claim rather than appealing the ruling. According to the article ONLY 0.2% of people appealed the claims with the insurance company. It is a great money maker for the insurance companies. That is what the insurance company and the fraud division of the Federal Inspector General's Office told me. Appeal it!!! I told the Inspector General's Office I reporting suspected fraud and have pretty good evidence. I want to stop the fraud. The $51 dollars is chump change compared to what their stealing from the American people!!! They refused to take the case unless I appealed. Which led me to the Attorney General's office. They are working on repealing the No Surprises Act. Read this article for how it works: https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/cigna-lawsuit-algorithm-claims-denials-california/688857/ Other insurance companies than CIGNA are involved in the practice. As noted in the article: The report triggered an ongoing investigation by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, along with state and federal regulators. Here is the membership of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. If you have a Congressional representative on the list, it might be wise to send a note telling them to fix the "fraud" NOW. https://energycommerce.house.gov/representatives

I didn't let it go. But I was/am more concerned than the doctors. I ended up with two consecutive visits to the emergency room and four doctor visits in the space of two weeks. I did have a CAT scan, it was negative. My blood pressure crossed 180/140 which is the threshold to go to the emergency room. Still do not know what caused the spike, but nobody seems concerned about that!!! Today, my blood pressure was 111/86 with a pulse of 68. I did get a new drug to lower my heart rate. The injury started as a pickleball injury, with real significant pain. The initial treatment include a high dose of NSAID drug for pain, which I think started the increase in blood pressure. Then I quit taking it and the doctors assured me that it would flush out my system in three days. After three days quitting the NSAID I went to the emergency room with the sky high blood pressure. I also picked up a splitting headache that was directly correlated with blood pressure. I actually had a good idea of my blood pressure simply by the type of headache I had. The emergency room doctor gave me a shot and tylenol for the headache and it went away almost immediately. If I had migraine headaches I would definitely look into the shot. I suspect it was the NSAID that spiked it, but the doctors disagree. I did get a hydro-condone drug for the pain, and a note from GEHA that they were giving me the drug ONLY because my doctor insisted on it!!! Like I said an adventure. I didn't realize my 70's were going to be this much fun!!! Thanks for your concern.

I had a new doctor appointment in late September, and had him do a quick prescription for blood pressure medicine until my physical in November. In November, I had a huge spike in my blood pressure which resulted in taking many more pills as well as two visits to the emergency room for extremely high blood pressure. My doctor then wrote ANOTHER prescription for my blood pressure medicine ($1.87 with insurance, $20 without). When I went to pick up my medicine, the pharmacist said the insurance company DENIED the prescription. Given my previous adventures with GEHA insurance, I just rolled my eyes and the pharmacist said you can buy it out of pocket for $20. As I was leaving I asked for a copy of the form denying the prescription. This morning I called the number on the denial claim form. On the form there was the Molina Insurance Company of Washington which denied my claim. I had no clue who they were, but assumed that they were a contractor for GEHA. Called them. They administer the Medicaid program for the state of Washington. I am NOT a Medicaid client, nor have I had ANY business connections ever with the insurance company. They confirmed that I was NOT a client of theirs. I asked why they denied my claim, instead of sending a note to the pharmacist that I was not their client and to contact MY insurance company. They refused to answer. What was worse, is when I asked the pharmacist why he accepted the denial. He said ALL insurance companies are the SAME. It doesn't matter who they send the prescription to review!!! They DID have a copy of my previous prescription information and made the denial on that basis!!! I followed that phone call with a call to the Washington State Insurance Commissioner and pointed out that they were going to KILL people depending on the prescriptions that they were denying. They agreed, and are assigning a case number and a investigator to follow up on my denial of the prescription. ANYWAY, after my last adventure with GEHA and taking copious notes I decided this time to RECORD my conversation with the insurance company. All it takes is a phone and another phone or IPAD with a voice memo function. Put your phone on speaker and record on the second phone or IPAD. Full instructions here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-record-a-call-on-iphone/. In many states, YOU MUST INFORM them that you are recording the conversation. I start with stating the number I am calling and then start the conversation with the fact I am recording the conversation and Washington state is a two party disclosure state for recording conversations. It made the call so much easier. I could focus solely on my questions and answers instead of stopping to take copious notes. It did make the people on the other end, slightly more courteous when they realized they were being recorded. But the Molina Insurance guy did say "your not our client and I have nothing further to say" and then hung up on me. The Washington state Insurance Commissioner guy was impressed that I recorded the conversation and gave them the required legal warning. I intend to use this in ALL my future conversations regarding insurance, etc. etc. etc.

I have been out in the desert and had the GPS unit say this way, and I said I don't think so. I do have a forester friend that refuses to get a stand alone GPS unit relying on his phone instead. He has lived in a city for so long that he keeps forgetting their is not cell service everywhere. Last time we were out hunting together. The GPS unit was wrong, Google maps were wrong. As well as the county paper maps. One problem is that the data layers come mostly from county records. In Washington state, the counties get road monies from the state based on miles of county roads. I have run into some "great" county roads that just crossed wheat fields. It is amazing how many people cannot read a paper map. I was running out of gas, when my friend suggested we take a short-cut. I kept following him, until my comfort level reached uncomfortable. Then stopped the caravan and pulled out my Forest Service map and located us on the map. It was then he asked "showed me how you figured that". He worked as a urban fireman and spent a lot of time outdoors. Never did learn to read a map!!!

https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/google-maps-leads-californians-i-15-desert-18509727.php The part I liked was telling 911 that they didn't know where they were, while holding a cell phone in their hand during the conversation. Surprised, that 911 did not tell them how to access lat and long on their phones. We are doomed as a socity. Vladimir

Those suitcase units work that way. You don't need to unplug them. Buy a hundred watt unit and use that for a month or so. Then you will have a much better idea on what to buy, how much you need, etc. etc.

The rest of Randy's statement is also worth reading. But always remember the first sentence. You really need both a generator and a solar panel. Get one of those suitcase panels for a couple hundred dollars and connect it to your battery in the trailer. https://usbackroads.blogspot.com/2012/06/solar-or-generator-for-camping.html I own one of these. https://www.amazon.com/Go-Power-Valterra-GP-PSK-80-Portable/dp/B009MIPH36/ref=asc_df_B009MIPH36/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309845554540&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5240511358936936451&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033619&hvtargid=pla-568972841751&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=60522766686&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=309845554540&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5240511358936936451&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033619&hvtargid=pla-568972841751 I actually own several different "versions" of these as they have become rather common. This is expensive and glass, but still my favorite. The others I use for my trolling motor on my fly fishing pontoon. I bought TWO of these and a 100 watt panel Jackery panel to charge both of them. https://www.amazon.com/Jackery-Solar-Generator-300/dp/B082TMBYR6?th=1 This version is the one I use for my fishing motor. I bought another one to charge my phone, IPAD, computer, LED desk lamp, stereo speakers, etc. They are really handy for all that plus it give you a readout on how much power your using. Well made product. The new version does NOT appear to be as good. There are also other manufacturers now and their products might be just as handy. I have owned a off-grid house for 25 years. It has a lot of gizmo's and 30 solar panels that all they do is charge my batteries!!! Solar is a hobby to some, a religious experience to others, and to a minority it is a way to make electricity. Focus on the electricity part and you will be fine. Oh, almost forgot...the electricity is used to charge your batteries.

Yes, but there is a difference between a professional expressing their opinion and an article written by a journalist or lawyer, that never took ONE class in either economics, statistics, or the sciences. As a forester for 50 years, I have no credibility with the media since it does not fit the current narrative. Instead we have lawyers and journalists practicing forestry without a degree or a professional license. I remember a Sierra Club lawyer when he found out I owned a off-grid home. He asked if I heated my hot water with the solar panels. I told him that I could not even support a Mr. Coffee with my 1.5 KW solar system. He was surprised at that information. And there you have it.....confirmation bias simply because he had no clue about the science or energy generation behind solar panels. He is still a "recognized" expert in Washington state when it comes to alternative energy.

Lots of special forums are becoming less active. This forum splits the difference. Some forums like astronomy are still doing well. Others like the fly fishing forum are useless and will soon disappear. Here is the current topic list for the fly fishing forum: NFR stands for not fishing related SFR somewhat fishing. It is pretty funny reading for a fly fishing forum. Not much useful information if your a fly fisherman.................... Beanies have arrived! Rain Baseball 2023 NFR Good News NFR Humor SFR Fishing Foods (Food near fishing) College Football 2023 Passing Cars Correctly with Space Not fly fishing, but What are you eating? What are you listening to? The Mountain Bike Thread NFR Why is it?? WDFW Considers consolidating Elk Management What are you drinking? 2023 Garden Thread Awesome Dogs of PNW NFR (What are you reading) Raft Anchor Questions......FIRST FLY FISHING TOPIC in the Forum. This was followed by another 15 non-fishing topics. So the RV forum isn't doing to badly. At least it is on topic. Once we get to the fly fishing forum posting we will be in trouble. There are a lot of people on this forum that really know their stuff. Yeah, I use search engines to find answers to technical problems, but many times I will look for confirmation by posting here. Good advice is hard to find on the internet. I think lots of folks are just cranky after the pandemic, and maybe we are just getting older. One thing that would help this forum is more travel related information. After 20 years I have fewer and fewer technical questions. I still travel close to six month a year. Not a blog posting, but information like on the tropical storm in southern California, etc. etc. Crowding at campgrounds, fire updates, etc. A close look at the forum topics and their rearrangement might be worth examining. It is a fine line, between having lots of forum sub-topics and no posts and no enough sub-topics to generate interest. The astronomy forum updates a few of their forum sub-topics every six months or so, but they also set up short term topics like eclipses and other upcoming celestial events. On a tech discussion show, the prediction was that web sites are coming back. Simply, because a lot of other forums like X, facebook, and redditt just have to much noise to signal. So a specialized web site is becoming much more efficient for information gathering. Everything goes in cycles and this might be just part of the cycle.

That is a really good road. You could haul anything up there!! I watched the video, and the road could use a couple more inter-visible turnouts. The lack of inter-visible turnouts while towing could make towing a interesting experience, if you meet another person towing. But as Sandsys says it is the weight and ground clearance in most cases. I worked as a forester for over 50 years. I HATED everybody I worked with that stuck vehicles. My favorite folks to work with were people that drove in with 2wd drive and when they had to put it into 4wd they turned around. However, I managed Jeep trails where I puckered up just sitting in the Jeep. So it all depends on where you want to go and if you find sticking a vehicle and trailer a "recreational activity". Remember National Forest roads were built with timber dollars and most were built so a logging truck could travel on it. Unfortunately, Colorado has a long history of "user" built mining roads, which do provide a interesting experience. As a forester, I find it pretty easy to tell the difference between a logging road and a mining road. Don't tow on user built mining roads.

Call the health authorities in the Provinces that you will be traveling and ask about prices without insurance for the needed services. It might be cheaper to pay out of pocket than getting travel insurance. I lived in British Columbia and needed surgery and decided to keep my US health insurance and do the surgery in the states. That meant that I would have to pay for the post-operative care in Canada. When I showed up for my first post-operative appointment, EVERYBODY went into a panic. OMG, your going to pay out of pocket for the medical visit!!! How will you ever afford it?? After the Dr. visit I went up to the desk to settle up. "That will be five dollars". Give them a call. I suspect it will be more than five dollars, but maybe much less than getting insurance to cover you in Canada. At least, you will have a point of comparison. Make SURE that you do NOT need a Canadian DR. to order the services. That would be a very important question to ask the Provincial Health Authorities.

I ONLY operate ONE. That said, I ran my life on a strict moral and environmental code for years. My family is much poorer for that decision. Our business needed to install StarLink to stay in business. I was not happy about it, but our clients were pretty insistent on having high speed internet.

I live in Chelan County up Burch Mountain Rd. Here is my comment in a amateur astronomy forum on the Washington Post article........................................................... I live in Chelan County up Burch Mountain. The NPS images were taken about four miles from my house. Several important comments that were NOT covered in the article. FIRST...... The Wenatchee Valley has several state highways including the main route through Wenatchee. Washington Department of Transportation INSISTED on brighter and bluer lights than Chelan County put in on their roads. Chelan County Public Utility District #1 did a great job of matching the light intensity needed for safe driving. It is hard to protect the night sky when the state of Washington refuses to consider environmental protection a priority. SECOND...... We have had several large corporations move into the valley during that time that have NO ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES. The worst of the bunch is MicroSoft Corporation. They moved into the rural adjacent county and their data center is BRIGHTER than downtown Wenatchee!!! The light spills over to Chelan County. I don't know why their outside lights need to be brighter than those for a urban center. They are moving into Chelan County and hopefully, they will follow the light trespass and pollution ordinance for Chelan County. I suspect they will once again, try to avoid to do anything to protect the environment. THIRD......... Major out of area retailers like Costco, Home Depot, and Lowes continue to insist on selling outside lights that are ILLEGAL under Chelan County ordinance. And like mentioned in the article, most of those are LED lights. FOURTH..... Major growth in the Wenatchee Valley with urban refugees flooding the valley and lighting their McMansions. Chelan County does not put up streetlights, where most Wenatchee residents are content with ONE porch light, these folks string 50 or more bright LED lights along their roof lines so the less fortunate can see how large their McMansions are in the "dark". As the NPS light surveys were started, these McMansions were just being built. Where I once could see sagebrush under a full moon I can now see twenty of more home with literally a 1,000 bright LED lights on their roof lines. The article focuses on streetlights, but the problem is NOT streetlights. The problem is a state government that actively promotes destroying the night sky. Corporations like MicroSoft that move to a rural area and light up their data centers like downtown Seattle!!! Really?? Why do you have to light up a data center?? Then companies like Costco, Home Depot, and Lowes that put private profit in front of protecting the environment, public resources and selling products consistent with local laws. It is good article for bringing up the with streetlights, but the problem is NOT streetlights. Yeah, I am madder than a wet hen, watching the Milky Way disappear from my home in the past five years.

Magnitude seven is pretty bright. Some of the recent papers I have seen, indicated they need to reach mag 14 to keep from brightening the night sky just because of sheer numbers. We are losing our night sky. We are looking at 200,000 plus of these satellites in low earth orbit in the next few years. StarLink is the first up, next is Amazon, a firm in Britain, Russia, China, and our own DOD. When I am doing astro-imaging with a 8 inch scope I see the tracks of mag 14 satellites. Yeah, doesn't matter for my observations. BUT for professional observatories it is a major headache to remove satellite images. The other issue is flying into space from earth. Hitting one of these satellites will definitely ruin your day, not to mention ending your life. Musk is using StarLink to fund his trip to Mars. He might not able to leave earth safely in a few years. BUT, all the techies think that high speed internet is WORTH destroying the night sky for high speed internet. BIG TECH is really evil. That is a value judgement whether you prefer having vestiges of the real world over a totally artificial one. I for one, will miss the night sky.

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/spacex-starlink-problem-astronomy/ https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/satellites-elon-musk-starlink-ruining-093049566.html https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01420-9 https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/22396388/space-x-elon-musk-starlink-too-bright-astronomy-stars-pollution https://www.science.org/content/article/astronomers-stumble-diplomatic-push-protect-night-sky There was a technical paper on how much these satellites will brighten and destroy the night sky. It did NOT show up in my brief list. If you are interested I will do a comprehensive search and find the science paper. BUT, most of the above links cover the issues for those without a science background.

I have had a Gen 1 dish and a Gen 2 dish at my second home business. Travel with Gen 1 dish would be a pain. The Gen 2 dish works for travel. it is small enough. I have Verizon unlimited service, but most areas I camp in have NO CELL service. Quite frankly, I am thinking of switching to another service. The future plan at this point, is to switch to very cheap cell plan and use StarLink for wifi calling. It works really well for that. Yes, you pay more for StarLink, but you pay LESS for data and you have cell service, internet, and TV everywhere you camp. Now, if StarLink would quit destroying the night sky it would be a win-win.

I have had Verizon for thirty years in the western US. I am looking at switching to ATT. In rural areas, Verizon service has been going downhill at a rapid clip. For years all my friends had been borrowing my Verizon phone to make calls. These days I am borrowing my friends ATT phones. Not sure how the reseller network works. One alternative is StarLink and a very cheap provider. You get internet with StarLink and can also make phone calls using their wi-fi. Not that you save money, but you have service EVERYWHERE.

StarLink could not find a power supply for my Generation One dish. Instead they sent me a new Generation Two dish at no cost to me and I set it up and got it running today. Not a painless conversion since I was all set up for my previous dish and the power and router lines all changed. It is not a mobile application. BUT.....more than fair in my eyes to send a new dish. No complaints on my part. I would have been simpler with just a new power supply, but it seems like a fair solution.