Internet on the Road - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Trabuco · RV-Dreams Family Member

Internet on the Road

GENECOP · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have had pretty good results with Available Wifi in parks and then turning on our Verizon Hotspot when needed.....additionally park Wifi is improving every day......G

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

I tell people to try going wifi only first and if that doesn't work then get cellular. You only need satellite if you are going to be in the boonies or/and out of the U.S. Most public campgrounds, city, county, state and federal, do not have wifi so be prepared to haul a notebook computer into town and have some coffee or food at an establishment that has wifi. My experience is we have campground wifi less than 30% of the time, but we don't make an effort to stay places with wifi.

Of course this subject has been discussed many, many times here. Examples are http://rv-dreams.activeboard.com/t48939760/internet-needed/ , http://rv-dreams.activeboard.com/t48342364/6-of-one-half-doz-of-the-other-maybe/ and http://rv-dreams.activeboard.com/t47623623/so-confused-need-help/. Many of these reference Jack Mayer's website, which I also recommend.

Technomadia · RV-Dreams Family Member

All comes down to what your anticipated camping style is, and how important being online is for you.

It's imperative for us, and we like versatility of going all sorts of places. So we have them all, including multiple cellular carriers - plus various boosters.

Our key is avoiding contracts whenever possible, so that we can easily suspend services we don't need at the moment. If we're pulled into a campground with great WiFi, we turn off the satellite and perhaps one of our cellular data options. If we know we're going into the boonies for a while with little cellular data available, we turn on the satellite and turn off most our cellular options. Etc. But regardless, we have all the equipment onboard to find someway to get online.

Here's our article on Mobile Internet Options, that may be helpful in your decision.

- Cherie

Jack Mayer · RV-Dreams Family Member

I find having cellular data and an ability to capture any available wifi to be options that cover 99% of our needs. In other words, it is extraordinarily rare that we do not have a connection using these two methods. But as Cherie said, it does depend somewhat on how you travel, and where.

To cover these methods "properly" you are going to need to spend some money. There is no "cheap" solution if you want Internet most of the time. So in my case I just "grin and bear it".

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

WiFi Ranger Mobile Boost has worked for us in 99.9% of the RV park "Free Wifi" situations. We have yet to stay in an RV park (other than State) where "Free Wifi" was not provided. We are in Oak Plantation RV park in Charleston SC now for a week and this posting is provided by "Free Wifi" and Wifi Ranger Mobile Boost. 5 bars on the scale and plenty fast enough for email and this post as well as downloading photos into our emails.

The WiFi system they provide free is "tengoInernet" - had this in San Antonio TX during our week stay there and the quality was the same as here,

Stay in State or Federal parks most of the time and you won't have WiFi - there is a trade off -

Trabuco · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks for the input. I think we'll go with a cell data system and a wifi system. Don't want to go with the expense of satellite. As much as we would like it, being on the Internet every day is not necessary for us.

MikeH · RV-Dreams Family Member

Trabuco wrote:
For those of you that are the technical experts I have a question. If you where just starting out and looking for internet service would you.......? 1) go with satellite 2) go with cellular data 3) go with wifi 4) go with cellular data and wifi What would be your reasoning? I'm at the point of deciding what to get and would appreciate some input

I went the cellular data rout. We've been using our cell phones (android) to tether for over a year now. Originally we hadn't thought much about it, but service isn't everywhere and eventually we went with a wireless cell phone signal booster. It pretty much guarantees service everywhere, as long as the antenna is on the top of your rig that is.

I figure why pay for an air card if we have data-capable phones? evileye

Jack Mayer · RV-Dreams Family Member

If you are looking for a wireless cellular amplifier I would look closely at the Maximumsignal products. The ones I have tested outperform the Wilson products by quite a bit.

The triband 4G amps are in the works for (perhaps) later this summer. I say perhaps because it is impossible to predict when the FCC will license the new products. Given that, you should consider long and hard before buying anything that is 3G only. Now, if you are in a situation where you HAVE to have a connection now....then I'd go ahead and get a 3G-only product.

MikeH · RV-Dreams Family Member

True, we've been using this for over a year without issue.
At the time 4g was still on the drawing boards, to us super light speed internet isn't a must as we don't really stream movies. Just checking up on the news and paying bills mainly.

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

We're not full time yet, however, we will be on the road for at least 20% of this year. I work a full time job and have to have connectivity when we're on the road for my hubby's art shows. We invested in the Max Signal products and the WIFI Ranger boost and have had much better connectivity this spring than our road trips last summer. Jack Mayer's website had a wealth of information and was very instrumental in our decisions to invest in the technology we now have. Thus far we've stayed at state parks, county/city parks and even the local fairgrounds campgrounds and experienced better connectivity than we'd had in the past. Well worth the investment to reduce my stress when things weren't working right and I needed to be working.

kb0zke · RV-Dreams Family Member

This week we ran into the first time that we had NO cell service. We were in a state park near Hot Springs, and they had signs up saying cell service was nearly non-existent. Since we use a Millenicom 3G "stick" for our Internet service (on the Verizon network) that meant we had no Internet for a few days. We survived. Now if we were full-timing we might decide not to stay very long at that park...

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Riverview RV Park and Campground in Loveland, CO is like that, but they do have decent wifi. They have a special hotspot (femtocell?) by the office for Verizon phones since so many need it. But it didn't work every day and I had to drive five miles east into town to do the nightly call my mother expects. AT&T did have service at the campground.