Wireless Internet Card Opinions Needed - RV-Dreams Community Forum

billiew · RV-Dreams Community Member

Wireless Internet Card Opinions Needed

tiki · RV-Dreams Community Member

We use a sprint card and have been very pleased. The biggest problem is when we are in our port home in Florida and we are under roof all the metal I guess that is what it is anyways make the connection slower. I have only used in on the east coast but have had very few areas without service and it seems fast to me. Wish you well

Jack Mayer · RV-Dreams Family Member

If you are willing to pay for a data plan, Verizon has the largest Broadband coverage area, and the fastest speeds, with its EVDO network. If you are in a non-EVDO area, the card will "fall back" to National Access, which is the "better than dialup" network. The NA network is available on all Verizon towers - or essentially all. We have used it across the country, with no issues. If you have Verizon service (native Verizon) then you have data.

We choose to not subsribe to a data plan. We use our free and night minutes for data access via NA. We use the mobile office kit with our phone tethered to the laptop. We can not use the higher speed EVDO using this method, but we do not pay anything, either.

mikeway · RV-Dreams Family Member

After trying to sign up for a data plan this past May, I found that all(??) of them are PC based. My poor Mac was not compatible. That's okay though, thanks Motosat.

Mike

kevinpvb · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hi There.

I use the SprintPCS service utilizing a Sierra model 580 card. I'm trying to build an RV LAN to allow me to connect a couple of work laptops. I have a topic dedicated to searching for answers there. I think I have an answer. It just costs $275. So, I haven't done it quite yet.

At any rate, the Sprint service is pretty good. I've had to purchase a signal amplifier to boost both voice and data signal to allow me to receive service on the fringe areas. But, other than having it noticeably slower than my home DSL, all seems acceptable to me.

JackieandTony · RV-Dreams Family Member

mikeway wrote:

After trying to sign up for a data plan this past May, I found that all(??) of them are PC based. My poor Mac was not compatible. That's okay though, thanks Motosat.

Mike

Mike.....the new Express Card from Verizon Wireless is compatible with the MacBook Pro. Actually Mac had launched the computer before the Verizon ExpressCard was available. We were at Verizon today and they told us they were "flying" off the shelves.

jas · RV-Dreams Community Member

Mike:

I've had the newer (Rev-A) Verizon V740 ExpressCard/34 installed in my new Macbook Pro. It just works. Mac OS X recognizes it and makes it available directly as another network connections You do not need to install any other software.

I also have a PC card to ExpressCard/34 adapter that lets the card be used in older laptops, as well as the Top Global MB6000 EVDO router. I've not yet tried using this card in my wife's older Powerbook. I believe in that case, the Verizon software will need to be installed. I think the WAN integration with my Macbook is an Intel Mac only feature.

The V740 works great in the router, which lets us share the connection via WiFi. When using the router, it does not matter if the computers are Windows, Max OSX, Linux etc. There is no software to install in that case, and the router itself is managed using a web interface.

Cheers,

Jeff

-- Edited by jas at 14:29, 2007-07-07

bcampbell · RV-Dreams Community Member

I use T-mobile. Good coverage for most areas exceptfor the boondocks.

jcw · RV-Dreams Family Member

I have a comment to add wrt the Sprint vs Verizon air cards. Both offer the same air card hardware and both offer about the same data plans. $59 with voice plan or $69 without voice plan. However, the major difference I've learned is that Verizon caps your "unlimited" bandwidth if they feel you are violating the Fair Use Policy. Sprint has no such policy. It's unlimited bandwidth truly is unlimited. We download video podcasts and movies from iTunes all the time and have never been capped.

BTW, as for sharing the connection, the way I accomplish that is by connecting the air card (USB version) to my Mac Mini, then share that connection out the Ethernet port. I then run a short ethernet cable to the wireless base station (Airport Extreme, 802.11n) and place the wireless base station in 'bridge' mode. The Mac Mini then assumes responsibility for DHCP ip assignment and DNS lookups. Now both our Macbook Pros, our AppleTV, and the Mac Mini all share the air card's connection to the internet all at the same time. Works great!

What I *can't* speak to is how well the Sprint service works outside of the California area. We haven't begun our travels yet. I'll update when I have more experience with it on the road. I do plan on obtaining one of those Wagner Truck antennas along with a booster amp. I hope that setup allows me to forgo a Datastorm satellite setup. $5K+ is a bit much for internet for me at this time.

phyllen · RV-Dreams Family Member

Three weeks ago after getting REALLY tired of home dial up - I got the Sprint card. Different as night and day. Love the speed. Can only say it works great here in Southern NJ and driving up the NJ Turnpike to an RV SHow. Hopefully we will be just as happy when we fulltime in 1 year and 4 days! (Still counting).

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

You can also get routers that let you plug the card in and use wi-fi, with security set. Works best with USB cards, but some ExpressCards work.
I went through all of our camping spots we have camped since 2001 using the Verizon and Sprint maps along with my personal knowledge about how satellite internet friendly the places were. I did not rate T-mobile or AT&T since Edge is much slower than EVDO. I did not rate Alltel since they are not where our address is and their maps do not scale down.

Sprint fell far short of Verizon for me with weaker coverage out west and no coverage in Alaska. Even with the missing coverage in Canada, where we had satellite internet most places, Verizon came out ahead of satellite by a small amount. I rated for satellite a “1” if hard to get online, “2” if somewhat hard (I rated few places a 2) and “3” if easy to get online. I rated cellular a “1” for 1RTT, “2” for EVDO maybe with an external antenna and amplifier, and “3” for EVDO.

I would love the higher download limit of Sprint, but it won’t work for me. My contract with Hughes.net goes month to month in September. We will see what I decide.

Donna162 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Any updated opinions on air cards would be greatly appreciated since I'll be using that method for internet within the next 2 weeks. Currently have cell service with AT&T and would kind of like to use their air card. Thoughts?

Jim01 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Donna162,

We have been using Cingular/AT&T for about a year and 1/2 now and for the most part have been very pleased with the coverage. Now, all of this time we have been pretty much in the Eastern half of the U.S.

This fall we will give it the real test, as we'll be going out West.

I did a search on Google, and found coverage maps for both AT&T and Verizon. By those maps, it looks like Verizon has better coverage, but it's hard to tell.

From talking to people, It seems like most Full-timers use Verizon, but then, I've never been one to do what everyone else does. biggrin

Hope this helps,

Jim

Old Snipe · RV-Dreams Family Member

I just completed a round trip from Norther VA to Astoria, OR and back this past month. I have the Sprint aircard and used it alot during the trip. It worked well, virtually anywhere I had cell phone service I had internet, including riding down the highway, and I do not have any extra antenna booster, etc.

A few places in the wilds of Montana it did not work, but neither did my cell phone.

All in all, I am very pleased with it and it works at pretty good speeds. I pay $59/month (before taxes) on a two year contract.

I'd buy it again. biggrin

Best Regards!

Judy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Like Jack said Verizon has the biggest broadband coverage. We also did our homework when we bought our Pc and it gave the best coverage. For cell service we have AT&T. Both have served us well. We also have invested in a Wilson Antenna.
southwestjudy

phyllen · RV-Dreams Family Member

Still liking our Sprint aircard. We've been down to Va, MD, DE, PA, and throughout NJ. Never a problem. Cost is around $60.00/month unlimited usage.

rwarner22 · RV-Dreams Family Member

We are still mulling it over but are leaning to continuing with the Verizon card. I had some trouble setting up my Sprint EDVO card a couple of years ago while in Arizona. Even though those issues were resolved, I think Verizon's has the edge in coverage nationwide.

DataStorm is an option but I can't justify the $5,000 cost.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

I have been running a Hughes.net tripod internet dish for five years and it costs much less than the $5000 for a Datastorm for the same service. A Datastorm has some real advantages over a tripod, but internet satellite works in many places nothing else does like Canada, Mexico and those nice remote parks we like.
I have had a Verizon aircard since March since we have had some stays where we had no access to the southern sky and no wi-fi (or rotten wi-fi, which is very common). We don't watch TV, but we are addicted to the internet and do our banking and much of our communications via the internet. Our latest Hughes.net contract expires in September, which was our upgrade to a HNS7000s modem. We were hoping to cancel our Hughes.net service in September but the world of Verizon aircard service is not as rosy as people want to portray. We have an external antenna and amplifier and have needed them both, including the place I am currently staying, Hungry Horse, MT close to Glacier National Park. We got the aircard in Florida and have used it or tried to use it in many states.

Where Verizon is extended network the internet service is 1XRTT, which I translate as too slow. In many places Verizon has not upgraded their own towers to high speed, so we are again on slow, slow 1XRTT. Even in many EVDO areas, the high speed service, the towers can get bogged down and feel closer to 1XRTT some of the day.

It looks like we are keeping both the tripod and the aircard for now. If you start with dial-up, 1XRTT is OK, if you start with better service, it is too slow. In our favorite campground in Missoula, MT we had 1XRTT even though on the Verizon map we were supposed to have EVDO. Here in Hungry Horse, MT we have EVDO but need our amplifier to have decent service. You just can't trust where the service will be good. We did have a two day outage that Verizon had to fix on their end, glad I had the 42 minutes of cell phone time to work that problem.

Hughes.net has a pile of its own issues and their tech support is outsourced and lousy. But after five years I know a lot and can work through most issues.

-- Edited by bjoyce at 20:46, 2008-07-11

Bigfish · RV-Dreams Community Member

We have been using a Verizon aircard for about a year now and the speeds are great and when you get in rural areas it automatically goes to National Access which is slower than it's Broadband coverage. We invested in a Wilson Amp and have found that it really helps in the fringe areas. I also have a Yagi Antenna, which is a directional antenna. We have Verizon for our phones and data. I mount the Yagi to my rear ladder on my fifth wheel with and eight foot stick of One and a half inch white PVC which I attach to the ladder with 3 inch hose clamps. I then set my cell phone to test mode and turn the antenna until my phone tells me I have the strongest signal. I can then use my cell and computer in some very remote areas. We were in a park where we were the only ones gettiong cell service and we let quite a few use our phone to call out.

Mr Geek · RV-Dreams Community Member

We just gave our "Internet on the Road" seminar at the FMCA Convention in Minnesota to a large crowd.
We always do an unscientific survey of what folks are using and their satisfaction level.
Verizon cards for cellular are still most popular, with ATT closing fast. Many more users are sharing their connection with routers, a very good solution for the Mac users.
So much depends on how (and where) you travel and use the 'Net. A cellular solution works for most. Supplement that with WiFi when and where available, and you have 80+% coverage.
If you really, really need the 'Net, you need to add the satellite solution.
No one solution works reliably everywhere, all the time.
-Jim

-- Edited by Mr Geek at 22:20, 2008-07-14

Donna162 · RV-Dreams Family Member

We're not moving place to place yet but I just wanted to add a quick note that I got my AT&T Air card a couple of weeks ago. My mother has been in the hospital and I've used it there and now at her house and "I love it"!!!!! I realize there will be places we won't have cell coverage and it won't work but I still think I'm going to be very happy with it. I also purchased an antenna and amplifier from Prime Cellular. That increased my cell phone service using my phone from no service to 4 bars where we are parked right now. Just haven't been home long enough to try it on the air card yet but Prime Cellular said it would work the same. I'm excited to try it!!!

gypsy97 · RV-Dreams Family Member

I understand that the wireless internet card gives you access to the internet, but I'd like to know what most of you use for email. I've tried gmail and DO NOT like it. I doubt that I will ever like it, and I think I've given it a good try. One of the things I don't care for is that when I open an email the ads to the right of the msg pick up words from the email and post ads that are (or seem to be) related. Example, I wrote to someone explaining that since my furniture is gone I am using a camp chair to sit on. To the right is an ad for "The Best Camping Chairs", and so on and on. I feel that it is an invasion of my privacy to scan my emails and then select advertising to go with selected words and phrases.

I also don't care for yahoo, from the standpoint of using their email. Is there an alternative out there that I could try before I am on the road? I just want plain and simple email, using outlook express, with no advertising.

gypsy

Donna162 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well, here's my humble opinion. I'm going to try to keep my email address that I have with my local phone company by just putting my phone and DSL on vacation for around $16 a month.....kind of an expensive email account but I have lots and lots of stuff that I would have to change. I may eventually do that but for now I'm not going to change. After reading your post asking about email, I went to gmail and opened an account and set it up to automatically come in to my Microsoft Outlook on my computer. I did all that and tested it within 30 minutes. I saw the ads you were talking about when you log on using the web. Those ads do not come with the email when it shows up on my computer with Outlook. I haven't used gmail for an extended amount of time yet; but, if I eventually decide to change and I may change gradually, I will use gmail so that I won't ever have to change again.

gypsy97 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Donna, thanks for sharing your experience with gmail. I have followed the directions for adding gmail to my outlook express, but it hangs up every time. I'm hoping that when I am through with my Charter service, I can cancel Charter and make gmail the default email with outlook exp. and maybe it will work then.

It might work for me if I can use it with OE, but I still don't like the way it keeps adding all the msgs on a thread together. Sometimes you have a one sentence reply and maybe would like to delete that one, but gmail just piles one on top of the other. I also find it difficult to create folders and save msgs to a particular folder. It's trial and error every time. I hate to think I've become such an old dog I can't learn new tricks, but dang, this one has me stumped!

gypsy

travelfables · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hi, I’ve been full timing for a year or so now, and I use the Sprint EDVO broadband card. Some places I’d like to have the Verizon (as I’ve seen their towers when I had no bars, but I’m sure the reverse is true as well), but the Sprint has been ok. I have a Wilson external antenna I use with it sometimes (it helps a little even though you don’t see extra bars on the signal meter)
Some speed suggestions are:
1. Don’t use the card during peek cell usage times (like 5 pm when all the rat-racers are calling home). Its time to take a walk then.
2. If you have to do heavy usage things, or want to have mongo-speed. Then do your “I want speed” things when there is plenty of network bandwidth (I have a Sunday night at the Movies for instance, few people use their cell phones then). And I have decent speeds on my Netflix instant viewing. ) You do need to watch your monthly download allowance if you have a limit (or just don’t want to be too greedy).

Doncat · RV-Dreams Family Member

travelfables wrote:
You do need to watch your monthly download allowance if you have a limit (or just don’t want to be too greedy).

Have you ever come close to your monthly limit?

travelfables · RV-Dreams Community Member

I signed up for the Unlimited account with sprint a few years back. So no I don't have a limit. but these days they have put a 5GB per month limit on new service signups. I am under that most months. but I have been up to 6Gigs per month. I do quite a bit more however than just check email and browse web sites. services like streaming video can eat up that allowance if you do lots of it. I try to stay within 5Gig even though I'm unlimited.

Jbbar · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have a Sprint Compass 597 coupled with a Cradlepoint MBR 1000 router and a Wilson Wireless Amplifier. We chose Sprint because for part of the year we live on a farm in Canada. Up to now we have had Xplornet Satellite coverage at home but were not pleased with the speed it allowed. We have not found the 5GB limit to be a problem even though we do most of our communications (and news reading) with the computer. The Sprint North American plan although a little more expensive allows us much higher speed access at home and when we take it on the road we find that for the most part it works well. This link takes you to Sprints Coverage Maps for both voice and data and I have found it to be a pretty accurate reflection of what we are actually seeing.

http://coverage.sprint.com/IMPACT.jsp?language=EN

Sometimes it is a little difficult to figure out why a place in the middle of nowhere has EVDO coverage while a spot like Yuma has much slower rates but I guess there has to be a little mystery in every life.

Hope this helps
2009 Discovery 40X
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee
A few laptops and a lot of electronics