WE NEED RELIABLE HIGH SPEED INTERNET...HELP!

[tltaylor]

Hi Everyone,

 

My wife and I are planning to go full-time soon and will continue to work from our on the road home offices. We currently have Comcast at our home so we need something as fast and as reliable on the road. If anyone is currently working from the road and can help us out we would greatly appreciate it (Datastorm?).

 

Thank you,

The Taylors

[skunk workz]

We use a Verizon Grandfathered Unlimited plan, and that's worked extremely well for us.

 

Cherie and Chris at RV Mobile Internet have literally written the book on this subject. I'd start with their overview of the available options here:

 

https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/overview/

 

And they have a facebook group with tons of info here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/rvinternet/

[2gypsies]

Depending where you'll be traveling it is generally known around full-timers that Verizon will give you a good signal even in the boonies. Some go with two carriers such as Verizon and AT&T in case one doesn't work. We just used Verizon and were very satisfied with it. Toward the end of our traveling years we mainly stayed west of the Mississippi and we used public parks and boondocked a lot. We still got reception.

 

Don't try to rely on campground Wifi if you're working a job. It's meant for quick emails and easy surfing, not for streaming or work. You'll need to get your own way of getting on the internet.

 

Look up the blog sites for Technomadia and WheelingIt. They have good 'how to' sections on most every aspect of full-time RVing, including ways of getting good internet.

 

Good luck!

[Dutch_12078]

Regardless of which plan on which carrier you go with, you should probably be aware that you will NOT get the same speeds and reliability as you get with Comcast everywhere you go, or even the same availability. There are variations from area to area and even cell tower to cell tower, along with time of day variations. As long term RV'ers, it's just something we all learn to adjust to...

[jbh]

http://3gstore.com/product/5618_pepwave_max_br1_3g_4g.html with an external antenna and Verizon, easy peasy. Not particularly cheap but a very good 4G AP and wifi repeater with fallover. It'll take two SIMs; you could use two accounts and one service might work when the other doesn't. If you need to boost voice there's Skype and Viber for Android to do VOIP.

 

I'm nine miles east of the teeming metropolis of Navasota Texas; the nearest Verizon tower is about seven miles away from me giving an RSSI of around -80 dB and the Pepwave rocks along for weeks and weeks unless I switch it to CG wifi. I can work the CG repeater from four-tenths mile away with the rubber duckie antenna on the Pepwave inside my equipment closet. One thing I really like about its wifi-as-wan is that I can set high output power to talk to the wan while using low power for the AP.

 

If you don't want to do all this stuff it'll pretty much do plug-an-play with minimal setup.

 

One thing; obtain your SIM directly from your carrier.

[wildmandmc]

depending on area/ state, something like metro pcs an a hot spot with them would be a good way to go. but it all boils down to location, most all carriers offer a coverage map on there site, showing amt available. .

[youngfulltimers]

We use a Verizon Grandfathered Unlimited plan, and that's worked extremely well for us.

 

Cherie and Chris at RV Mobile Internet have literally written the book on this subject. I'd start with their overview of the available options here:

 

https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/overview/

 

And they have a facebook group with tons of info here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/rvinternet/

 

What Robert said... except I would stop your research and start shopping for existing grandfathered data plans. The sketchy process, upfront costs and steep monthly rates are worth the peace of mind. We live stream MLB baseball games, catch up on Hulu, and - oh yeah - work each morning for about five hours a day.

[Jack Mayer]

The very first thing you have to do is to change your expectations. You WILL NOT find the same speed and reliability as a home broadband solution. Period. So don't expect that.

 

You may find as good from time-to-time, but it won't last if you travel at all. And it depends on what your work requirements are. There may not be a viable remote solution for you if you are required to be on a high speed VPN all day, for example. But for periodic use, a cellular connection from Verizon or ATT will meet many needs. You just have to be VERY FLEXIBLE in dealing with the idiosyncrasy of a cellular connection.

 

You will not find reliable campground wifi, so don't expect it. Concentrate on a "best in class" cellular solution, and take any wifi you find as a "bonus". In other words, don't put money into a wifi solution until after you have the best cellular solution you can find.

[RV_]

tlttaylor,

Welcome to escapees forums. Any questions?

[LiveWorkDream]

Ditto. It also comes down to where you see yourselves camping. If your preference is to be out in the wilds like we do, then yes, RV satellite Internet is the most reliable connectivity (however we do have Verizon as redundancy when in urban areas). This system does come with its own set of technical challenges but thankfully speed and reliability are better than ever. You really do need to be comfortable with networking troubleshooting to have a system. Our blog posts about our own nine year experience with RV sat connectivity tell the whole story.

[TreyandSusan]

x2 what Jack says.

[Yarome]

RV satellite Internet is the most reliable connectivity

 

X2. And it has become increasingly more affordable. There are several plans available including no contract "prepaid". Down/Up speeds are typically going to be in the 10-12mbps/3mbps range, and some even offer "free" no throttle data time blocks (ie., 12am-5am daily).

[trailertraveler]

I'll add my Welcome to the Escapees forum!!

 

In my experience, you do not necessarilly have to be in the boondocks to get slow or no internet connectivity with Verizon cellular sevice. Last fall, we had no cellular data service in locations in MD, WV, KY, and several places in New Mexico. In the past month, we have had no 4G or very slow transfer rates in several locations in Northern Georgia. At our location last week at a Corps of Engineers campground near Ellijay, GA the connection varied from a 10-13mbps 4G to a 1-2mbs 3G connection when it rained hard. The week before that at a campground on Lake Sinclair near Eatonton, GA, the 3G connection(only 1X & 3G was available) was less than 1mbps. These were all developed campgrounds not boondocking areas. In some cases, you just had to go around a bend or to the top of the hill to get a much better connection.

 

I have no experience with satellite internet, but can tell you that in forested areas in the mountain West and in the Eastern states connection to the TV satellites can be very challenging when there are leaves on the trees or lots of pine trees. In the Western States, even in desert areas, hills or canyon walls can block the satellite signal.

 

Again, Welcome to the Escapees forum.

 

 

[harley-dave]

We were in a park some of last winter that had local phone service and several of the winter visitor folks had signed up for their DSL and used that.

 

Dave

[Jack Mayer]

We were in a park some of last winter that had local phone service and several of the winter visitor folks had signed up for their DSL and used that.

 

Dave

That works really well when available and you are long-term. You can also do that with many cable providers.

[Jimalberta]

This is partly why I don't fulltime. 6 months of crappy wifi is enough for me. When we get home we have unlimited high speed internet. What a breath of fresh air!

[pugsly]

 

X2. And it has become increasingly more affordable. There are several plans available including no contract "prepaid". Down/Up speeds are typically going to be in the 10-12mbps/3mbps range, and some even offer "free" no throttle data time blocks (ie., 12am-5am daily).

 

I'm continuing to watch that space. Haven't pulled the trigger yet but it is tempting.

[SpaceNorman]

I work my day gig as a network analyst from my coach - using a Cradlepoint router provisioned on the Verizon network in conjunction with a Weboost Drive 4-GX cellular signal booster. I usually check the Verison Service Locator to determine if Verizon thinks there is service ​at wherever we're planning to stay. So far - we've yet to run into a situation where I've been without sufficient connectivity to work. I spend most of my working hours connected via a VPN connection - "RDP'ed" into devices located in my employer's primary data center. As long as I'm not performing tasks that require the movement of large files across the network to my laptop - I don't notice much (if any) difference in performance working from the coach than I would were I connected via cable modem at my "stick and brick" home.

 

On a typical work day - I use between 200MB - 250MB of data - so I can work all month on 6-8 GB worth of data plan. Adding in the data used by our 2 personal cell phones and our personal browsing - means I sign up for a 20 GB data plan. Verizon's new pricing plans mean I can increase / decrease that at will depending on my travel/work plans for each month.

 

It's certainly not the cheapest solution - BUT, I've found it to be extremely reliable which is what I require in order to live the dream of traveling while I continue to work to pay the bills.

[Jack Mayer]

On a typical work day - I use between 200MB - 250MB of data - so I can work all month on 6-8 GB worth of data plan. Adding in the data used by our 2 personal cell phones and our personal browsing - means I sign up for a 20 GB data plan.

Wow, I'm not sure how you get by with that little data. We use 40 gig a month, typically. We have a 20 gig double data plan, with an extra (free) 2 gig for the silly Go90 app. So we pay for 20 gig.....but I never go a month with less than 38 gig. I am updating a number of websites, constantly, though.

[Zulu]

Wow, I'm not sure how you get by with that little data. We use 40 gig a month, typically. We have a 20 gig double data plan, with an extra (free) 2 gig for the silly Go90 app. So we pay for 20 gig.....but I never go a month with less than 38 gig. I am updating a number of websites, constantly, though.

 

A variant of Parkinson's Law ("work expands to fill the time") at work . . .

 

When we are Wintering in our park model with a 250 GB/month SuddenLink plan, we often get close to or go over that limit (WiFi cameras, binge streaming, . . .)

 

Now that we're on the road, it's back to a measly 40 GB/month. C'est la vie.

[Dutch_12078]

I'm going to start testing one of the $5/month unlimited Verizon 3G hotspot deals offered on eBay probably around the end of next week. If it works fairly well, we'll use it to offload some of our lower speed high data usage requirements to save on overages on our $100/month 20GB plan. At $8/GB, the overages do add up. The 3G deal is only $55 to flash one my spare 4620LE Jetpacks including return shipping and the first 6 months of service, so even if it only works for a month, I could be money ahead. I am aware that Verizon is beginning to repurpose some of their 3G locations for expanded LTE coverage. Hopefully that will be moving slow enough that this deal will last for awhile in the areas we travel the most.

[SpaceNorman]

Wow, I'm not sure how you get by with that little data. We use 40 gig a month, typically. We have a 20 gig double data plan, with an extra (free) 2 gig for the silly Go90 app. So we pay for 20 gig.....but I never go a month with less than 38 gig. I am updating a number of websites, constantly, though.

 

It's the nature of how I'm connected. All of my network analysis tools reside on a server in my company's data center. I use Microsoft's Terminal Services utility to connect to my "tools server" in the data center. This establishes an RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) session with my tools server. When connected in this manner - the data traversing the cellular connection is really nothing except display data and keystrokes. All the "heavy lifting" is performed by the server in the data center. It's very efficient from a bandwidth perspective. I tracked my daily use every day I worked remotely for roughly 3 months (I work remotely 3-4 days per week from my "sticks and bricks") - using the network management tools I use in my day gig.

 

If I'm not careful - it's an inefficient WIX editor that poses to biggest threat to my data plan!

[jerryneal]

If you're only checking email, reading news and viewing text on Facebook, 6 Gigs may meet your needs. I scrape by with 20Gigs each month, but my work requires sending and receiving large video and graphics files. We have to be very disciplined with our personal use and try to use the campground Wifi as much as possible. Campgrounds usually have poor service, but we recently had Wifi in Louisiana and one in Texas with amazing service, only to go to a COE campground with nothing. In these instances with use the Verizon service sparingly for personal use. Just be careful with the video viewing. It will burn though your plan in days.