Internet Access

[debbietaylor]

We just purchased a 2016 Airstream Sport 22. We are wondering the best way to access the internet while on the road as we both have work related needs to access the internet. Thoughts anyone?

[idroba]

It is a common issue, with many threads on the subject. My solution is a Verizon MiFi hotspot, which works almost everywhere, and is very secure. Not cheap, and no streaming video, but otherwise is a great system.

[Rich W]

I agree with Idroba, I have a Verizon Ellipses Jetpack, $50 at Best Buy. It's a pay as you go plan, buy what you need, refill when you want more. Verizon has the best selection of data/price, more than AT&T and the AT&T device costs twice as much. I've used mine for two years without any problems. You can refill by the Internet (it will connect to the Verizon site even if you're out of data) or you can call an 800 number to refill.

[Lily&Me]

Ditto on Verizon Jetpack.


Maggie

[alano]

Perhaps not as robust as a Verizon jetpack I simply use the tethering feature on my iPhone as I normally have cell access where I camp. The tethering feature on most late model phones can typically support up to 5 WiFi connections. This avoids yet another monthly subscription

[Drathaar]

Check with someone like Costco. We received an Android tablet, basically free, that takes the place of our Verizon Jetpack. The line charge was decreased as well.

[prairieschooner]

I used the Jet Pack for a few years and it did the job but then started to have connection issues. I am now using the tether feature on my Samsung Galaxy. So far the cell phone has done the same job if not better.

[SilverBuddha]

Visit the www.technomadia.com website and pick up a copy of their "The Mobile Internet Handbook" on Kindle or .pdf E-book. Just updated in Feb. 2016.
They are long time full timers working remotely on the road and have a lot of technical experience.

Best of luck on your adventure.

[OTRA15]

You should be able to find plenty of good existing threads with information on this in the following sub-forum:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f451/

[Rich W]

The plan I have for my Verizon Ellipses Jetpack is pay-as-you-go mobile. If I'm not traveling it just sits in my backpack, no charges. When we get ready to go I log into the Verizon mobile data site or call the 800 number and order more data. It takes me about 10 minutes to get online again. If I run out the Jetpack lets me connect to Verizon and order another batch of data. ($100 for 10gb, $60 for 5gb)

Our smart phones are LG Tracfones (Verizon network) and there doesn't seem to be any option to share the wireless, but the Verizon data is cheaper anyway, so I charge up the Jetpack and use it instead of the Tracfone data. I leave the Jetpack in the AS and the Tracfone picks up the wireless signal as we drive. The Tracfone switches to its own data when I get out of range of the Jetpack.

I spend about $10 a month per Tracfone. Three months of personal and work data on the Jetpack was $150 (3 laptops, 2 smart phones).

[Len n Jeanne]

Really helpful, everyone!

Debbie, I don't know if you are new to RVing or just to your super new AS, but we've generally relied on RV park WiFi systems when we crank up the laptop, and if we boondocked or were in a public lands CG with no WiFi, we just waited till we were making a laundry run to an RV park, or maybe used a local public library. I have a cell plan with data roaming anywhere in Canada, but it gets expensive to buy my service provider's data roaming travel pac in the US.

We were just out for an 8-week snowbird trip in the US, and I got so fed up with the poor WiFi service in many RV parks, just for checking email, never mind streaming anything.

So the above information is really helpful.

If any Canadians are reading this, I would love to know what you use.

[NWGetaways]

Originally Posted by debbietaylor

We just purchased a 2016 Airstream Sport 22. We are wondering the best way to access the internet while on the road as we both have work related needs to access the internet. Thoughts anyone?

It all depends on where you are at the moment. Verizon covers the most rural real estate of the big four, but a lot of it isn't LTE. Their 3G performance is painfully slow - maybe 1.5 Mbps. AT&T is next best, TMobile is great in populated areas and almost nonexistent everywhere else. Sprint I wouldn't consider for a variety of reasons.

Every carrier has poor coverage some place or another. If you don't have coverage and have to get some work done, you have to go find some WiFi.

[Rich W]

My Verizon Ellipses Jetpack says 4G and wherever we've gone we had 15 mb. It seems to either get 15mb or nothing, I don't think I've ever had it go below that. Everywhere we went in Florida we had good service.

We traveled from our home in Lexington, KY and lost the signal 20 miles west of here, over to I-65 and down to Tennessee. Once we were in Tennessee we had the signal all the way to Tampa. We left Florida and went to Texas, going through Louisiana, Mississippi and through Arkansas along old US Hwy 82, pretty rural, with no problem. There were a few spots when we first entered Texas from Arkansas with no signal.

There's an independent 3rd party report available at the Verizon site that states Verizon has the largest and best coverage, but I'm sure that's for cell coverage.

My phone is Verizon but the company phone is AT&T. For cell coverage, I'd put them both about the same, I can always get a signal on one or the other, usually both. At present, no carrier is going to give you 100% coverage, you have to decide which one will match your traveling areas, or get a mobile hotspot from each of them.

Here's an interactive tool from Verizon that let's you check coverage for the different types of coverage: voice, data, text, etc.
http://vzwmap.verizonwireless.com/do...fault.aspx?zip


http://www.verizonwireless.com/landi...etter-matters/
Verizon is #1 where it counts the most.
According to RootMetrics©, the largest independent third-party tester of wireless network performance, Verizon is #1 in speed, data, reliability and overall network performance in the U.S.
And after 3,851,608 tests, 239,941 miles driven, and 6,607 indoor locations tested, you can safely say they’ve done the research to prove it.

http://rootmetrics.com/us/blog/speci...2h-national-us

[David Logue]

Verizon MiFi Jetpack 4620L Verizon Wireless Wi-Fi 4G LTE Hotspot Modem



is this what everyone is referring to????

[David Logue]

Verizon MiFi Jetpack 4620L Verizon Wireless Wi-Fi 4G LTE Hotspot Modem

Is this what everyone is referring to?
my wife and I are looking for something that will boost the lousy wifi from most RV Parks.

Also for boon-docking.

We do not have smart phones. If that make a difference.

[SeaLevel]

Originally Posted by David Logue

Verizon MiFi Jetpack 4620L Verizon Wireless Wi-Fi 4G LTE Hotspot Modem

Is this what everyone is referring to?
my wife and I are looking for something that will boost the lousy wifi from most RV Parks.

Also for boon-docking.

We do not have smart phones. If that make a difference.

That is what people are referring to, but you would use it in place of the lousy Wi-Fi from most RV parks. It wouldn't be used to boost or enhance another Wi-Fi connection. A Mi-Fi device like this would give you your own Wi-Fi connection.

[centennialman]

So...after reading these posts, MIFI looks like a good way to go. Can someone clarify...can you really not stream when using it? I, too, am looking at ways to beef up the WIFI in my Airstream. I will be working on the road during certain parts of the year.

[SeaLevel]

Originally Posted by centennialman

So...after reading these posts, MIFI looks like a good way to go. Can someone clarify...can you really not stream when using it? I, too, am looking at ways to beef up the WIFI in my Airstream. I will be working on the road during certain parts of the year.

It's not that you can't, but if you don't have an unlimited data plan, you would go through your allowed GBs of data very quickly streaming video, and music to a lesser extent.

[David Logue]

Thanks SeaLevel

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by centennialman

So...after reading these posts, MIFI looks like a good way to go. Can someone clarify...can you really not stream when using it? I, too, am looking at ways to beef up the WIFI in my Airstream. I will be working on the road during certain parts of the year.

Hi Steve,

I am sensing a certain unfamiliarity with these things, so . . . [sorry if I have misjudged the situation!]

MIFI and WIFI are two entirely separate and distinct systems. Hard to describe precisely if you are not already familiar with the terminology. See Wikipedia link below.

MIFI -- is a device like the one from Verizon, which uses the cell phone network airwaves to let you access the Internet anywhere a provider like Verizon has cell phone coverage. The device simply translates the Internet access over its own local wireless network You do not need to own a cell phone to use such a MIFI network. A laptop or tablet can use the device to access the Internet.

When you do use a cell phone to access the internet, you are also using this same cell network. Indeed many cell phones are able to become a "Hot spot" which generates its own local WIFI signal (or Bluetooth signal, just to confuse things for you) which others can use to access the Internet with your permission.

Whether you use MIFI device, or a cell phone, you have to pay for the data you use, which in the case of a streaming movie, or music, can add up real quick. Most data plans are capped at certain amounts per month, and anything over the cap is also expensive.

WIFI -- Totally different from MIFI. A WIFI zone starts with a business, hotel, campground, employer, etc. getting its own Internet access from its own Internet Service Provider (ISP), and then turning that access into a local wireless signal for the convenience of their customers, employees and so forth.

In most WIFI hot spots, you do not pay for the data you use -- the cost is usually included in some other fee you are paying -- campground site rental, hotel room expense, employer-covered cost, cost-of-doing business etc..

The problem is that with so many people all trying to use the same WIFI hotspot, say at a campground, the "pipe" carrying the data to all the users gets crowded and unreliable. A drag when the movie you are watching stops to re-buffer the signal . . .

Also WIFI hot spots depend on the WIFI signal remaining on and constant. What happens when someone in the campground office accidentally unplug the WIFI router? The signal dies. In contrast, with a MIFI or cell phone connection to Verizon, in theory the signal source you are relying on is more dependable. Or not, but that is a different story!

Sorry, too many words to cover. Gotta go . . .

________________________________________

Clear as mud, right?

Again, hard to explain if you are not already familiar with the terminology.

Maybe this article will help?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiFi

Good luck!