Capable RVers but new to Airstream

[WilmaAndFred]

Hey there,
Excited to get rolling in our new to us 2021 27FBQ. Had a cheapie TT in the past then went class A then to class c and now to Airstream. Pretty sure we’ll be happy with this one.
Biggest problem I’m having is figuring out the WiFi situation. It comes wired with Airstream Connect but don’t know if it works. From what I’ve read it doesn’t seem very highly rated. Anybody have any advice on whether we try to activate a plan and start it up or should I be looking elsewhere (but not Starlink, I won’t support that company).
Any advice is appreciated or a link to some up to date info on Connect (can’t find much out there).

[Piggy Bank]

Congrats and welcome to the Airstream community.

We honestly have pretty good success just tethering to our cell phones. We have Verizon.

The obviously doesn't work when you don't have a good cell phone signal.

We do use a DISH for camping in national parks without cell phone signal, but aside from that we just use our phones. We have Direct TV at home, and with the APP we can cast to the TV to get regular channels (like watching the Masters )

[WilmaAndFred]

Thanks, tethering to a phone is not always optimal, especially for streaming movies IMO. but with a trip coming up next week, that's probably what we'll do since we won't have this figured out before then.
may need to find out more about the DISH thing.
Cheers.

[Piggy Bank]

Sure. I get that.

Here is some basic information on the DISH.

We have the RV model. You buy the dish and it hooks up by cable to the port on the side of the Airstream with that round type cable with the hand screw fittings like old style cable TV.

You pay for the purchase of the Dish, of course.

For utilization, you can pay monthly. So you pay for a full month, and then if you don't use the next month it automatically suspends your account. It's around $80 a month what we have. Basic cable type of service. No HBO, etc. No internet.

When you are traveling you have to set it up with line of sight to the satellites. We have never had trouble with this, even in national parks with trees and no phone service. Sometimes you will need to call customer service to get them to do a re-set based on your location. So best to use on a trip before you get someplace without phone service.

Here we are watching football using the generator parked next to a lake. Game was at 11 and we couldn't check into our campground until 2.

[Andy543]

You may want to try a plain old 5g home internet router. I recently got one from T-Mobile to use in my home for $50 per month, but I take it with me when I'm in the Airstream. It has so far worked everyplace I've tried it up and down the east coast. Of course you need to be near a T-Mobile signal, but that seems to be everywhere, especially if you're near a highway or in a town. Since I have it for home use anyway, it doesn't really cost me anything to use in my trailer. I typically get 350-400 MBPS, enough to stream two TVs, a computer and a couple of phones/iPads. Upload speeds are really low, though, so if you need to send large files it may be a problem.

[BGClassic]

Originally Posted by WilmaAndFred

Hey there,

Biggest problem I’m having is figuring out the WiFi situation. It comes wired with Airstream Connect but don’t know if it works. From what I’ve read it doesn’t seem very highly rated.
Any advice is appreciated or a link to some up to date info on Connect (can’t find much out there).

Do you have a physical Pepwave router, or is it just pre-wired? Your manual should have info on Airstream Connect. You can download the manual at Airstream's web site. If you have it, all you need to do is provision it, by buying data. Good luck!

[kb0zke]

Our 2021 Flying Cloud 30 RBQ, which we bought used in December, came with the router, antenna, etc. all set up, only no plan attached. The manual said it is only a 4G system, so I just unplugged it since we use our phones for everything anyway.


When we have the solar upgrade done this winter I'm thinking about just removing the whole thing. We don't use it, and pretty much every part of it is in the way.

[BGClassic]

We use our Airstream Connect. Obviously it's better when you have good cell reception. We also have a Verizon hotspot that we used when we started RVing. I don't really like the Connect app, as it's not consistently reliable.

We use the DVD player, and have a collection for those times when we are off grid (I know, that's funny). We do like to glamp.

[Duckear]

Originally Posted by Andy543

You may want to try a plain old 5g home internet router. I recently got one from T-Mobile to use in my home for $50 per month, but I take it with me when I'm in the Airstream. It has so far worked everyplace I've tried it up and down the east coast. Of course you need to be near a T-Mobile signal, but that seems to be everywhere, especially if you're near a highway or in a town. Since I have it for home use anyway, it doesn't really cost me anything to use in my trailer. I typically get 350-400 MBPS, enough to stream two TVs, a computer and a couple of phones/iPads. Upload speeds are really low, though, so if you need to send large files it may be a problem.

That’s been working well for me for the past year.

T-Mobile was supposedly going to come down hard on that last year and start charging more if you were moving around, but it seems they never did.

Nice loophole for now.

[Andy543]

Originally Posted by Duckear

That’s been working well for me for the past year.

T-Mobile was supposedly going to come down hard on that last year and start charging more if you were moving around, but it seems they never did.

Nice loophole for now.

Yes. I noticed that, too. I figured I'd try it, and it worked. There's a lot of competition from Verizon and ATT right now for 5g home internet and they probably want to build up their customer base before chasing customers away.

[WilmaAndFred]

we'll take a couple of favorites with us too!

[WilmaAndFred]

Yes, ours came with all that turns out. I've purchased another unlimited data plan for the router. should be plug and play. but, the former owners have the router password protected so we can't use it. Will contact Airstream support this week and maybe they can help us crack the code. Using cell phone hotspot for now.

[Daquenzer]

We use our cell phones with a WeBoost amplifier. I guess it depends upon how much traveling you are going to do and where you travel. But even if you get a 5G router you may need a WeBoost signal amplifier (or something similar).