Personal wi-fi on the road

[azeeb]

Originally Posted by CruizinDux

Dames7. Can you clarify. Is there a Comcast device from Walmart that picks up Netflix only?

Apologies in advance for what is probably a basic question.

Thanks Bob

I think Dames7 meant Chromecast, not Comcast. It lets you stream things to a TV, but you still need a separate device to create the internet connection.

[dames7]

Yes that correct, stteam thru your cellphone. You need unlimited data to make it work

[CruizinDux]

Originally Posted by dames7

Yes that correct, stteam thru your cellphone. You need unlimited data to make it work

dames7 & azeeb, thanks guys!

Bob

[Rocinante]

We went all in, adding antennas, a booster, and an LTE / wifi router. We have a Verizon plan that gives us 18gb, with rollover for any we don't use in a given month. We'd prefer a truly unlimited plan that applies to Internet devices like our router, but those are very difficult to find these days, and seem sketchy when we do.

[dames7]

Verizon now has a unlimited data plan for $10 a month, been on the road last two months and watched Netflix and Amazon prime movies each night with no problems.

[WayneG]

I picked up a new Verizon MFI7730L after my older MiFi became erratic.
This one supposedly has dual transceivers in it, that could double your throughput.
So far I have only used it in a sketchy signal area on the NY-PA border and it may be a bit better than the 5 year old device, but not 2X better. It helps to use an external antenna.
Mine is a setup for pre-pay because I only use it occasionally. My phone will also do a hot spot but then if I leave the MH and someone is using my ROKU or laptop then they loose connection.
It is not a cheap investment, $200 for the device and 10 gigs was $100 for 2 months. No other charges unless I run out of data or time on the data.
Also, it comes in handy if the home cable internet goes out.

[tschambo]

Just got this message from Verizon:
Second, as part of our new Unlimited plan choices, we are introducing Beyond Unlimited. This plan has all the benefits of your current plan, plus an increase to 15GB of Hotspot usage at 4G LTE speeds. So you can do even more with your unlimited data across all your devices.
So now on my unlimited plans this gives me 22GB per phone which I use for the hotspot to stream TV plus an extra 15GB hotspot usage. So a combined 59GB of streaming data. We have been using our phones alternately to stream Netflix, Amazon Video, YouTube etc. for a billing cycle and stayed under the 44GB we originally had to use. This extra 15GB will definitely give us enough data now to beat the painfully slow wifi connection at the RV Park. Another tip, if you have a DD214 ex military you can submit it to Verizon for a 10% discount and automatic payments will knock off another $10 a month. Now I wonder why I bought the DISHNET tailgater. It will probably not be used much at all. Cancelled the service when I went to unlimited.

[WayneG]

Originally Posted by tschambo

Just got this message from Verizon:
Second, as part of our new Unlimited plan choices, we are introducing Beyond Unlimited. This plan has all the benefits of your current plan, plus an increase to 15GB of Hotspot usage at 4G LTE speeds. So you can do even more with your unlimited data across all your devices.
So now on my unlimited plans this gives me 22GB per phone which I use for the hotspot to stream TV plus an extra 15GB hotspot usage. So a combined 59GB of streaming data. We have been using our phones alternately to stream Netflix, Amazon Video, YouTube etc. for a billing cycle and stayed under the 44GB we originally had to use. This extra 15GB will definitely give us enough data now to beat the painfully slow wifi connection at the RV Park. Another tip, if you have a DD214 ex military you can submit it to Verizon for a 10% discount and automatic payments will knock off another $10 a month. Now I wonder why I bought the DISHNET tailgater. It will probably not be used much at all. Cancelled the service when I went to unlimited.

I have not tried the DD214 yet. I have a 18% as a NYS employee, but it only covers a phone, not data plans.
What is your total monthly bill?

[Rich W]

Originally Posted by tschambo

The only problem is the jet pack is limited to 10 GB before throttle whereas the phones have 22 GB each. We use our phones alternately to stream video and with 44 combined GB it works well. I wanted to get a jet pack but why pay extra when limited to 10 GB. I'm thinking that they will have to increase the jet pack on the unlimited plan to 22 GB as well in the near future if they want to stay competitive.

This must be something different than ours. We have two Verizon Ellipsis Jetpacks ($49 each) which are pay-as-you-go. We pay $35 for 2gb, use it or lose it in 60 days. 2 gb each works well for us, email, surfing, bill paying etc. We watched 1 movie, used 6 gb. We don't do that anymore. We go to the theater or use our 3TB drive of movies and a media player.

Current Verizon pay-as-you-go data plans are:
$100/10 gb, 2 months
$15 /500 mb, 1 week
$20 / 1 gb, 1 month
$35 / 2 gb, 2 months
$60 / 5 gb, 2 months

If you burn through it you just buy more, no throttling at any time.

We've have excellent service pretty much wherever we go. I had to put the Jet Pack on a pole once, because of the trees blocking the signal. Otherwise, it's great. We have Tracfones and find the Jet Pack prices are better than buying data from Tracfone. We use one of them around our city, safer than public WIFI. We just have to remember to turn it off when we get home. Our other Jet Pack is just for traveling so we don't buy data for that unless we're on the road.

I have added some Velcro to the bottom on one, other piece of Velcro to a window sill in the AS; great reception, no issues inside.

We have used them since 2013, been very happy with the service, connections, coverage and portability.

[Rich W]

Originally Posted by CarolynSteve

....
Worked great for checking email and paying bills provided you were in a cell phone service area. Does NOT work in Canada as represented by the service adviser at the Verizon store.
It provided good reliable service for paying bills, checking email and sending photos.
Not enough to stream movies or use Skype or other video apps.

Worked in the tow vehicle as well as long as we had cell phone connections.

$20. for a private network, we were "happy campers".

We have cameras around the house so we can watch for any problems. I've never had any problems streaming those, but we haven't tried to use Skype. We watched a movie once, used 6 gb, but it streamed OK. at $100 for 10 gb, that was an expensive movie, but we learned.

We use the Ellipsis Jet Pack wherever we go, have had good reception. I tried it as an experiment back in 2013. I had to do computer support for an application with my company. It worked well, no issues, even inside the AS. I have now added Velcro to keep it in the front window, but that's just so I know where it is, keeps me from losing it.

[jsfranchek]

Originally Posted by SMWASONMYMD

Or you can buy a cell/modem and install wifi throughout your AS as we had done - still uses your phone data like Verizon or T-Mobile but it is far more powerful and really reliable.

What brand and type of modem please?

[TravlinMan]

I just use my phone, which is Verizon. I use the lil hotspot button on my phone when I wanna use my iPad. I use a booster when my coverage ain't so good.

I believe most phones have that lil hotspot button nowadays.

[nvestysly]

To the OP,

As you can see... Lots of options and it's difficult to make sense of it all. I'm still learning what works for us. For now, we've settled on using our Verizon smart phones as a hot spot. That allows us to do some modest streaming, plenty of web surfing, and lots of smart phone app usage and we share 16GB between 4 smart phones.

I'm leaning toward using more and more data as we are traveling more often. Previous posts on this thread had indicated $20 per month for unlimited AT&T Wi-Fi. Sounds like that's available via On-Star but it's also available via an AT&T device called ZTE Mobley. The Mobley is intended to install in the OBD-II (diagnostic) port in your automobile/truck. It can also be used remotely by purchasing adapter cables that allow it to be powered from USB ports as well as AC outlets. Here's a thread on the subject.

[Rocinante]

Originally Posted by jsfranchek

What brand and type of modem please?

Cradlepoint.

[Lily&Me]

I’m just off a long conversation with Verizon tech support, and had a similarly long one about 10 days ago, on the same subject.

My issue....why the discrepancy between what Cellular Data shows me at any given time as the amount of data used, and what Verizon records as being used?

Before my Home WiFi turned back on 9/26/17 (had been off for seasonal hold while traveling three months) I got an alert that I had less than 2 GB left.

My cellular usage showed at the time that I had 3.3 GB left, and it still shows that today, tho Verizon shows I now have less than 1.5 GB.

That is a BIG difference.

The answer...what consumers see as usage is not the same as what Verizon records, and the only way to accurately know how much data has been used/is left is to login to your Verizon account and look.

Given that my IPad has a Verizon LTE card in it, that seems inexplicable to me. I do reset my statistics the first day of each billing cycle, so that especially when traveling I can be careful not to go over my data plan...but, this is not enough.

Verizon says this is an Apple issue.

Maggie

[Rocinante]

FWIW, I completely ignore Apple’s cellular data numbers and use the My Verizon app to track data usage.

[Lily&Me]

That’s what I’ll be doing from here on out, and I have also set my first alert at 50% usage.

Maggie