Hey Matt,

We are looking into cost of internet options for fulltiming. Do you have any info you can send me on this? Thanks!

Blythe

What type of info are you guys looking for?

Blythe N Chuck,

We've got a variety of solutions from both Sprint and Verizon for service. Did you have any preference on a provider? Let me know and I can start to break down the pricing and options available to you guys!

It's highly unlikely that you will ever get what would be considered a consistently good wi-fi connection no matter where you are. If wi-fi is going to be your only option for internet connections I suspect that you are going to be sorely disappointed. Remember that getting a good strong signal does not mean having a good connection. The speed and loading of any particular signal will vary depending upon the source of that signal. You will likely need a good external antenna and router along with some networking experience. If the folks at the WiFi Ranger company ever get their Boost system together you might be able to use that setup without the networking requirement. They are experiencing some unexpected growing pains so I would not get involved with the Ranger today but hopefully it will be a better product soon.
I would still plan to expect that you will be in more areas with poor wifi that you will be in areas with good wifi so you should either have a plan to travel or a plan to have a cellular backup plan.

(A different Bill here).
What does "cost effective" mean to you? If you are not going to supply your own internet source for wifi, either cellular/aircard or satellite internet, then you have to depend on finding reliable wifi hotspots. Campgrounds are not reliable wifi hotspots, though some are, so you end up driving to a restaurant/coffee shop/hotel lobby that has reliable wifi to get your internet fix when you need it. The cost of chasing down a wifi hotspot and traveling to it a couple times a day can easily be more expensive than the $50 to $60 a month for cellular internet ($50 is Verizon's 5GB plan with a 2 year contract, $60 is Millenicom's 20GB pre-paid plan), plus equipment and startup costs to allow good wifi ($100 to $400). If you only stay in campgrounds with known reliable wifi you will also be paying more, since the rates do include the "free wifi", and having less choice of campgrounds.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Friday 10th of June 2011 11:05:01 AM

RVPAINTER wrote:

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We are not in any RV yet - we hope soon if our &*%$#()&^ house will ever sell! We each have a laptop and Verison for cell phone service. Our concern is to have enough to be able to get WiFi - a good strong signal without the hassle of Rv Park WiFi or having to go into town to Starbucks.
We want to be able to get good Wifi right in our RV. Not looking for a complicated system-just something that would assure us a good constnt WiFi connection. My wife is an author of children's books as well as magazine articles for several publishers and needs to be in contact pretty much on a daily daily with agents etc. This will be all new to us so we are open.

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If you want the most reliable setup I'd actually recommend looking at Verizon for monthly service as they have the largest 3G network and rapidly growing 4G network. A popular combo is the Novatel USB551L and CTR500 for an RV applications. If space isn't a concern you could also look at something like the MBR900, which would offer a larger WiFi network.

If you don't want to go with actual service and stick to WiFi as a source, I'd recommend our WiFi Ranger Pro & WFR Boost kit to pickup all WiFi in the surrounding area.

You can watch a full video demo I did on the WiFi Ranger + Boost Below:

-- Edited by 3Gstore_Matt on Friday 10th of June 2011 01:58:52 PM

Matt - I read thru all that you sent and it's a lot to digest - I suffer from CRS so I will read thru it several more times and I'm sure it will become clearer. Once we are ready and into our RV, I will be contacting you to go over the options in detail - thanks for all your help - appreciate it greatly.