Bill Joyce

Fort Stockton has a nice museum, the Annie Riggs Memorial Museum, that is worth visiting.  

Our diesel pusher has a side radiator and only once in 17 years has anyone needed to go in from the top and the access panel was large enough that nothing else needed to be removed.  When we needed a new fuel pump they quoted us 1-1/2 days and then when they found it was a side radiator, it took half a day.  The rest of the quote was to remove and replace a rear radiator.  

Many cell phones will do VOIP as part of their cell plan.  We have used our Verizon phones to make calls and texts via WIFI in the USA and overseas. 

A couple friends have upgraded to Windows 10 in the last couple years for free, so I know it works.  

My wife and I both have main 15" and 13" laptops.  The 15" are what we use every day and the 13" ones are what we take to the coffee shop and on airplane trips.  I have an old 14" 32-bit laptop dedicated running  VMSPC (https://www.silverleafelectronics.com/node/6 ) to monitor my motorhome diesel engine while traveling.   I also have an old 15" 32-bit laptop as a spare for VMSPC, which I have used once when I had a weird issue with the 14".  Then there is the 15" laptop running Linux, which I do use for certain tasks.  I also have a 15" 720p laptop I carry around that my mother-in-law gave me since she bought a replacement.  That is 8 laptop computers.  Then there is my 8" Android tablet, which I got for "free" from AT&T, but it is feeling slow these days and it might get trashed like the 10" Android tablet it replaced many years ago.  We also booth have smartphones.  

33 minutes ago, Big Rick said:

Would actually have them get it right the first time!

Why would you expect anyone to get something right the first time?  First impressions of people can be wrong and you have lots of experience judging people.  How many foods did you dislike at 10 that are now favorites?  Why did it take years to create an airplane, since there were already scientists and engineers in the 1800s?  It is better to keep learning, gathering information and figure out what really works.  

3G will feel much slower, but you can do email and a small amount of internet usage with patience.  2g will feel like nothing is happening and you will wonder if you are online at all.  

I am sure you already use https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/ to get your information.  I just go the Calyx Institute Sprint plan, $500 for the first year for unlimited at full speed.  I am planning to use it as my main plan,  supplemented by my no longer available Verizon and AT&T plans.  Many who depend on internet for work are paying hundreds per month.

"The reason I was interested in the Nighthawk is because it has an ethernet port. I have a video encoder that prepares the video for sending to Youtube and it uses an ethernet port. I'm not sure if there would be any reliability problems if I have to encode the video and then send it wirelessly using my laptop or a Raspberry Pi through the 4G modem. "

With many hotsoots you can tether them to a router that has USB tethering, like the Pepwave Surf SOHo MK3 I use.  The Pepwave has 4 Ethernet ports.  This router is about $200, but you can get simpler ones for under $50 from GL.iNet with only one Ethernet port.

You can also find out if the MoFi 4500, about $300, is allowed on the network, but it is 4G only.  

Visible runs through its own servers and that adds an extra hop, extra processing and delay potential to internet access.  I suspect it not having straight through access to the internet is some or all of the problems.  I tell people that if they have a choice, to not depend on Visible as their only internet source and to be really worried about it as your only phone for voice and texts.  But many don't want to spend much money and are willing to deal with the issues.  

I have no skin in the game since I do not have Visible, but do recommend it with caveats. I have the no longer available unlimited Verizon prepaid hotspot plan, so I have Verizon covered.   But that plan costs more.

I distrust these kind of articles about "best or worst places", since I have been burned by them.  I still remember going to a steakhouse in Bismarck ND on some list my wife found and being very disappointed. I know that is minor compared to Covid risk, but...

They have been going downhill for many years.   I quit going when I found lots of bare shelves and old merchandise.

I remember how excited all my tech friends were when they opened a store in Renton WA, a Seattle suburb,, since the closest store was just south of Portland OR.  When in Arizona I would go to the Tempe store a couple times a winter.  

1 hour ago, LindaH said:

Can someone post the URL to the T-Mobile site where this is offered?  I can't find it on T-Mobile's prepaid site.

https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/prepaid-internet

2 minutes ago, noteven said:

Ropeshaft - why are Alaska bound cruise ships required to stop at a Canadian port? 

I am not Ropeshaft, but most cruise ships are not registered in the US and because of US law they need to stop at a foreign port during the cruise.  For an Alaskan cruise there is only one choice, Canada. 

Mobile Internet Resource Center has a guide on working remotely, https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/working-remotely/ , and is a good start on your research.  

I don't know anyone with a King Connect and did not find it with a search on Mobile Internet Research Center, but I know they have talked about it.  It looks to be a WiFi extender and router, but does not have a SIM slot to add a cellular plan.  That means you still need to provide your own internet.

The main trick with supplying your own internet is having multiple plans and boosters or external antennas. There are current deals out there, some examples are Visible (Verizon owned) phone plans ($40 or less for unlimited, but 5mb speeds on the hotspot), the Calyx Institute (I have) and FMCA Sprint (T-Mobile) unlimited hotspot plans ($500/year or $50/mo) , the T-Mobile deal docj mentioned, and AT&T resellers like Nomad Internet and FireWiFi (around $100/month).  

X2 on https://www.rvmobileinternet.com , start here - https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/getting-started/ 

Kirk: Even accounting for population, some small population states are not doing well by either measure and some larger population states are doing fairly well.  These numbers also depend on timelines and accuracy of reporting, which is questionable.  I do know not to trust the politicians. But my feeling is most states are getting their act together and will be ready for how much vaccine they get allocated in a few weeks.  Now to get the vaccines manufactured, distributed to the USA (and other countries) and out to the states.  It can't come soon enough.  

The most concise list of how states are doing is https://covidactnow.org/ . Go to "Compare", select "States", select "Vaccinated (1st shot) and at the bottom of the list select "view all states".  Washington is in the middle of the pack at 6.9% at the time I looked, with Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada and Idaho all doing worse.  The best 5 are Alaska (12.5%), West Virginia, Connecticut, New Mexico, and North Dakota (8.8%) and the worst 5 states are Iowa (5.8%), Illinois, Kansas, Idaho and Missouri (5.1%).  I am in Arizona.  

Having to do our own cooking we decided to take the time to cook more from scratch and use healthier ingredients.  It has been working.  Almost no sugar, very little prepared food (we do not make our own pasta), using whole grains when possible and controlling portions.  Neither of us was that into snacking, so that was easy.  Biscuits made using whole wheat pastry flour are quite tasty with Irish butter.  Anyway we are both having to buy smaller clothes.  I have pants with labels still on them that are too large.  Luckily an Aloha (Hawaiian) shirt that is a couple sizes too large still looks OK.  

Bought an Instant Pot in November to give it a try.  It is a winner and we use it more than we expected.  

We have internet most of the time where we camp and when we don't, we drive into town to get it..  Even in Alaska we were online every few days and could check and pay bills online.  Your "theoretical rv'er" is not the norm, not to say they do not exist, but I don't think they would be on an internet forum like this one asking questions.  

Maybe your computer is set to sleep or hibernate instead of turn off when you use OFF and something is making it come back on.  Go to Settings->System->Power & Sleep and select "Additional Power Settings" on the far right.  Then "Choose what the power buttons do".  

Many years ago we were in a campground and a guy told me my WIFI was not secure.  He was trying to sell his services securing WIFI's and computers. He showed me the files on my computer, except it was not my computer.  The WIFI he assumed was mine was someone else that turned it on about the same day we arrived.  He went off to find the real WIFI owner, since my WIFI was secure.  

Arizona is moving the age down to 65 next week from 75, so there is hope if they get their act together.  

T-Mobile does include the language about additional charges without a voice line in their documents, but so far the additional charge is zero.  

Those getting the 50% off deal, watch that they don't charge you insurance every month.  I once had a cheaper phone on a T-Mobile installment plan and they required a monthly insurance payment that was almost as much as the payment. 

One Canadian is on our campground street, since she has a trailer parked year round.  She is walking to the grocery store across the street, since she does not have a car with her. 

https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/t-mobile-launches-new-data-only-plans-inseego-5g-mifi-m2000-mobile-hotspot/ for details.

Since T-Mobile has expanded its coverage, including the merger with Sprint, it might be a good choice for RVers.  This plan also includes 5GB in Canada and Mexico, while most all mobile hotspot (Mifi/Jetpack) plans from the other carriers are USA only..  The mobile hotspot price of $336 might put some off, but you need that device to get all of the T-Mobile bands and thus coverage.