Internet Network

[LIVEWIRE]

I have a tommy bahama 19cb and I want to live in it full time. I do a lot of online work off of my macbook pro. what can I do to get "portable internet" in my trailer?

[wulfraat]

Hotspot on your phone and / or dedicated Verizon jetpack hotspot. Couple that with a 50 or 60db LTE booster and you are off to the races..

[gsp_]

Everything that wulfraat mentioned, but consider temperature regulation (heat, a/c, dehumidifier, fan), as well as additional power demands if you aren’t at full-hookups. Also - not much room for an ergonomic working space - I’ve done it full time, and it must be considered.

[daleyocum]

The Mobile Internet Resource Center should be your go-to resource. https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/

SO much info there from people who make a living on the road.

[Hittenstiehl]

Technomadia website also has good info for mobile working.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Since you are east of the Mississippi, an AT&T modem with an unlimited plan tacked on to it would be a pretty good option. We routinely run 50 to 100 GB (no typo gigabytes) on ours with no obvious issues. We have yet to find a campground that did not allow us to stream video ( = darn good data rates ....).

Bob

[LIVEWIRE]

Thank you all for your input. I guess now I have to do some research on data plans..

[wulfraat]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

Since you are east of the Mississippi, an AT&T modem with an unlimited plan tacked on to it would be a pretty good option. We routinely run 50 to 100 GB (no typo gigabytes) on ours with no obvious issues. We have yet to find a campground that did not allow us to stream video ( = darn good data rates ....).

Bob

You must have a grandfathered plan from the early 2000s unless you are using hotspots across multiple lines of service.... current unlimited plans will throttle your speed after 22G per line in a given month. Cap after 15G if you use hotspot functionality.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by wulfraat

You must have a grandfathered plan from the early 2000s unless you are using hotspots across multiple lines of service.... current unlimited plans will throttle your speed after 22G per line in a given month. Cap after 15G if you use hotspot functionality.

Hi

It's not a grandfathered plan. The key wording there actually is "may" cap you. Also, video does not count towards the cap. So far no throttling and about 90% of the usage has been through the device mounted here on the trailer.

Bob

[wulfraat]

You WILL get capped in hotspot mode.

[DKB_SATX]

Originally Posted by wulfraat

You WILL get capped in hotspot mode.

Re-read his post. He's not "in hotspot mode" he's using a dedicated mobile hotspot device, which is a bit different. Also, he mentioned zero-rated video (DirecTV Now probably) so that may significantly affect how AT&T polices his data usage.

There exists the chance that he'll get throttled at some point but it's not treated the same was as burning through a bunch of data using the phone as a hotspot.

[wulfraat]

I have a dedicated hotspot with att and Verizon - they both get severely throttled at 15G of data (minus DIRECTV streaming on the att device)

A dedicated hotspot device like the Verizon jetpack on an “unlimited plan” is provisioned on the network in the same manner that hotspot on the phone is treated - data caps. Trust me, I’d love if a dedicated hotspot device had no limits on the line, but they do, so people don’t use them as their home internet device [emoji4]

Now the exception is absolutely DIRECTV streaming / watchTV streaming on an att device, hotspot or otherwise. That data does not count towards your ceiling.

I’ve got 6 devices and regular rotate in a given month to maintain high speed without hitting ceilings [emoji4] streaming DIRECTV over the att devices is awesome and works well.

As 5G rolls out hopefully we will start seeing plans with higher ceilings. I believe it’s Verizon that will start offering 5G home internet service accessed directly via radio on the mobile network.

[Fair_Enough]

Originally Posted by daleyocum

The Mobile Internet Resource Center should be your go-to resource. https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/

SO much info there from people who make a living on the road.

X2 This couple keeps up to date and their information is excellent. If you have to have internet on the road, this is the info source for you.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Most of the video we stream is YouTube. DirectTV is a very small part of what we watch. There are a few YouTuber's we keep up with, even when on the road.

The data all comes through a cellular modem that links to a WiFi Ranger. Maybe not a perfect setup, but it's what we run. It works.

We're well into our second year of doing this. When we are out and about, there is never a month where we are below 30 GB. How much is going to what ... who knows .... So far, no throttling.

Bob

[wulfraat]

Hi bob - YouTube (and netflix) can run all day long at 600kbs streaming rate which is the rate at which Verizon throttles. I’ve push 40G with Verizon using Netflix. The problem is every other usage (web browsing, uploading photos, gaming, etc.... is slooooow after you hit the ceiling)

Are you sure you speed is not capped at 600kbs (assuming you’re in verzion network - att hotspot speed cap after 15G of data is even slower at 128kbs)?

Have you done a speed test from a laptop after you’ve used 25G or what have you? Now I’m intrigued if you are somehow getting 10 or 20MB d/l speed rates after 15G of data in hotspot mode. Who is your provider?

[uncle_bob]

Hi

It's an AT&T plan rather than Verizon. We run some 4K video off of YouTube so it's well past a 600K rate. It's not just streaming, there are PC's, tablets and phones involved as well. There's even the massive data load imposed by the Victron Venus ..... probably adds at least a kilobyte a day....

I am indeed enough of a geek to run Speedtest from time to time. The one I just ran shows 17 Mbps down, 13 Mbps up. That's not an unusual result. Obviously it varies a bit depending on how good a signal we get at this or that campground. Checking the AT&T site, we are at 51.8 GB for the month with about a week left. Best guess is that at least 80% of that data went through the single modem in the trailer (which is also what I just tested). ... double checking ..... yes, that is indeed what I just tested.

I'm by no means trying to sell everybody on AT&T, they do have their issues. My only point is that if you are in the eastern part of the country, they are a darn good way to go.

Bob

[wulfraat]

Boom. I have been schooled. May I ask what att plan you are on and what dedicated hotspot device you have? Is this a buisness account / hotspot line? You’re not swapping SIM cards with your handset to fool the network / make it think you are using handset data are you?

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by wulfraat

Boom. I have been schooled. May I ask what att plan you are on and what dedicated hotspot device you have? Is this a buisness account / hotspot line? You’re not swapping SIM cards with your handset to fool the network / make it think you are using handset data are you?

Hi

It's the stock AT&T "unlimited" plan that they sell pretty much everybody / anybody. The magic device is nothing more than a Netgear modem that they also sell. I don't do any SIM card swapping or other crazy stuff.

The full setup in the trailer:

Wilson cell booster
Netgear modem (from AT&T)
WiFi Ranger talking to the modem
Gear in the trailer all on the WiFi net from the WiFi Ranger

I *do* have a number of devices on the same plan. I also do worry about per device capping . I've got another device in the truck and both phones can run as hotspots. So far, none of that paranoia induced backup inventory has been needed to keep data moving....

The really nutty thing about all this right now: I can literally hit the back feed dish on the campground WiFi with a rock from the door of the trailer. I'd bet we have darn good WiFi here. It's metered and you get 200 MB free every 4 days. I haven't even bothered to hook up to it. With my data usage, it would run for what ... maybe an hour?

Bob

[wwillson]

AT&T may throttle your bandwidth when you go over your plan throttling threshold. The reason AT&T may throttle your bandwidth is if the RAN (Radio Access Network) you are connected to is congested. If the RAN is not congested, frankly, AT&T doesn't care how much bandwidth you use, but if it is congested, the congestion has to be managed and your device may be chosen to be throttled.

I have 12 AT&T LTE radios in various devices and I have NEVER seen throttling, even on devices that use 100GB/month. AT&T has built in intelligence about which devices they chose to throttle and likely only throttle the most offending devices.

BTW - I work for AT&T.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

One (possibly subtle) point - we stream video after the sun goes down and all the bugs come out. That could quite easily be when everybody gets off their cell phones ....

BTW: I don't work for anybody anymore .....

Bob