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Old 01-29-2015, 06:36 PM   #1
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WiFi on the road

We are taking our maiden voyage and have a wifi question. I do not
Iike to use public wifi.. Any suggestions?
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Old 01-29-2015, 06:46 PM   #2
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A cellular hotspot.

I use the AT&T Unite Pro, but many folks prefer Verizon for better coverage.
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Old 01-29-2015, 06:46 PM   #3
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We use a FoxFI hotspot on our Verizon phones.

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Old 01-29-2015, 07:09 PM   #4
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We use the Verizon Mifi, buy as you go, that way we pay only when want to use.
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Old 01-29-2015, 07:09 PM   #5
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Verizon MiFi.


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Old 01-29-2015, 07:13 PM   #6
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Verizon MIFI


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Old 01-29-2015, 07:28 PM   #7
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Verizon MiFi.

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Old 01-29-2015, 07:38 PM   #8
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Verizon Hotspot from iPhone or iPad.
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Old 01-29-2015, 08:38 PM   #9
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Verizon MiFi. Had it for years, works in most places, and in lots of obscure places in the northwest that you would never guess you can get Net services.
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Old 01-29-2015, 09:21 PM   #10
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Can those who are using mifi describe how it works? It seems like it provides a dedicated wifi network for multiple devices in your trailer - but does it have to connect to the campground's wifi (usually bad) or is it connecting somewhere else - and if so - does it provide a more consistent connection/better bandwidth/something else? What's the advantage other than a mini local network? Thanks muchly!
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Old 01-29-2015, 09:25 PM   #11
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It creates a wifi network for you to connect your devices to. It then connects to the cellular network to give your network Internet access. It doesn't connect or need the campground network, but it does need a good connection to the cellular network (Verizon, AT&T, etc) in order to give you good internet access.

The advantage is that you have your own mini wifi network and access to the Internet.
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Old 01-29-2015, 09:54 PM   #12
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For Internet access the MiFi uses the same cellular data connection as your phone. It creates a wifi network to which you may connect any wifi capable device (laptop, printer/scanner, Apple TV etc.).
A note of caution....
If you use the MiFi to connect your printer/scanner or a video streaming device such as Apple TV or connect to Netflix, it uses the data allowance on your data plan. We used half of our data plan in one evening scanning paper work we wanted to digitize.
To avoid this problem we only use the MiFi when we want to connect to the Internet. To create a wifi network to print, scan, or stream photos or video to the Apple TV we use a Netgear 3G Broadband Wireless Router MBR624GU. Runs on 12v or 110 and creates a wifi network without having to be connected to the Internet. This router was designed to use an Air Card for Internet access.


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Old 01-29-2015, 10:00 PM   #13
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Z boater has it right. I use an external antenna on mine often, but then I travel in remote areas a lot. Usually all you need is the MiFi itself which is cell phone size. It can run for a few hours on it's own internal battery, or use a 120 volt or a 12 volt adaptor.

The Verizon one works on Verizon network and in a few places on partner networks. The ATT one works on their network. They do not work on each others. Most think that Verizon has the best coverage. I know I get reception virtually everywhere (but my home...lol, we have no cell of any kind which works where I live)

Cost is about $60 a month for 5 gb of service. No movie downloads, not enough bandwidth. The main limit is bandwidth. That is how much data per month you can transfer.

They have a pre pay system too, slightly more expensive but you can shut it off when you are not using it. I use mine enough year around so I pay the higher cost of always on service. BTW, works in motels too, if they don't have wifi or if it costs or if it is poor quality.
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Old 01-30-2015, 02:16 AM   #14
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Verizon MiFi. Converted from Millenicom, so we get 20Gb for $99.99.

As an aside, did anyone ever figure out what happened to Millenicom? I think Verizon shut down several small resellers around the same time as the Millenicom conversion fiasco.
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Old 01-30-2015, 05:34 AM   #15
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Mine is a little complicated, my son set it up, he is an IT person for a major corp. But it works and is as secure as it gets. When we travel all our banking and bill paying is on line, so no public connections.

He set up a VPN in his home for his own use and now we connect to that VPN through our Android Tablet which he configured. Then we use that hot spot for our laptop to connect to where my wife has all the banking information and bill paying. We could use the tablet, but we prefer the LapTop for these transactions and as stated connect through the VPN.

To have a VPN one needs a server in the home, ie a computer which is always running and then a person (or yourself) to set it up. As long as we have a cell signal we can now connect to the VPN and surf, do banking, check the forums etc all securely.

Bud
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Old 01-30-2015, 06:32 AM   #16
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You can get a VPN with a service like Private Internet, or you can set one up on your own computer. Don't need a separate computer, FYI.

Verizon MiFi is the best.
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Old 01-30-2015, 06:58 AM   #17
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We travel extensively in our Airstream all over the country, and have done so for the last nine years. We also run an Internet business from the Airstream while traveling. Regular Internet access is a necessity in our case as we need to review and print order invoices and confirm receipt and shipment. We have found that campground Internet access is generally terrible, and we rarely use it. We have gotten to the point that we don't even waste our time checking out the campground Wifi.

What we have found that works for us is using SuEllyn's Verizon Smartphone as an Internet hotspot. We create our own private Internet hotspot using an Android application called FoxFi. Using this method, we do not incur any additional charge from Verizon. We are very fortunate in that SuEllyn's phone is under an old service plan and has unlimited data. My phone, on the other hand, has a 2GB data limit. I do use my phone occasionally as an Internet hotspot, but carefully monitor my data use.

We have found that we get cell service in almost all of the areas that we travel in. This includes the back country of Maine and the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming. We sometimes use a cell phone range extender to make our Internet connection. It has been our experience that if we have one bar of signal, we can get usable Internet access.

Our main concern is getting Internet access to conduct our business while out in the Airstream. We dot not generally use our Internet connection to stream video, but we do web surf regularly.

Brian
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Old 01-30-2015, 07:07 AM   #18
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An important point to consider is data usage. As a previous poster mentioned, it is easy to eat up the monthly data allowance.

Generally speaking, if you do email, blogging, Facebook, and browsing, it's easy to stay within the allowance. When you start streaming music and especially video, you can easily spend your monthly allowance in one day.

I have a 30GB plan and use the Internet a lot, but I never stream music or video through my cellular. I never go over. Different people of course have different needs. Pictures and scanned images use a lot of data.

I like my Unite Pro hotspot device because aside from being small, portable, and having a large battery, it has a screen that tells me how much of my 30GB plan I've consumed. It comes in handy when I'm nearing the end of the month and I have 25GB left. I may choose to go YouTube crazy for a little bit.

I've been looking at some signal booster options. I have similar challenges with my boat and marinas having poor wifi service. If you plan on using a cellular hotspot, you just need to be aware of your internet usage needs and how much your carrier charges for overages so you can manage your expenses accordingly.
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Old 01-30-2015, 07:23 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BoldAdventure View Post
You can get a VPN with a service like Private Internet, or you can set one up on your own computer. Don't need a separate computer, FYI.

Verizon MiFi is the best.
Did not know that, paid for my sons college and extra and simply say this is what we do, this is what I would like and he sets it up. His basement looks like a server farm as he "gives" a lot of server time to medical research. I don't understand, don't know and at this point don't want to know. All I need to know is I turn it on, connect and it works.

My Best

Bud
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Old 01-30-2015, 07:53 AM   #20
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I am still working all this out. Here is what I have and what I think of it:

2x high gain antennas on the roof.
Wilson 4G booster
Pep wave surf on the go
verizon 4G usb stick.

It all works pretty well. The 4G stick plugs into the Pepwave and shares the signal to all the devices. If there is free wifi then we can get a good signal on that with one of the antennas.

I have to say I would like to change the pepwave out, my work laptop (some crappy DELL) does not like staying its network and I just do not get good wifi speeds through the WLAN...

So, still working it out
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