Internet Service

[atom ant]

My Verizon wifi gets us through most, and I've never even come close to the 6gb limit with multiple family members.

However - I made the mistake of connecting the LG Blue Ray in the Redwood and watching a couple of HD episodes of Breaking Bad last year - zappo! 3gb in a couple of hours. Wifes phone starting sending her warnings before the show was even over and she looks at me and says "what did you do?".

I'm usually in deep when those words come out!

[LadyEcooper]

We are very happy with our service. We use Verizon and have only been in 2 spots (the last couple of years) throughout the U.S. that we have not been able to access our mifi. We use around 20-Gs most of the time. This month will be more. Yes, it is expensive....but just part of doing business on the road. Happy to have access.

There are lots of campgrounds that have free WiFi so we access theirs as much as we can. One time, our Verizon phones didnt work ...so we purchase a Go phone from Wal-Mart which was AT&T...we are able to load it with a few dollars and use it when our Verizon service didnt work. We are pretty happy with our service over all.
Sure ...it would be nice if it was cheaper though.

[Caribe77]

We use our AT&T phones for a hotspot with 15gig monthly. Good service if you are in a LTE market. As far as Wifi, we just installed the Wifi Ranger hardware. Works great. It will amplify a parks signal if you are a distance from the source thus making a strong connection; however, it will not help a poor source signal better.

[Tobys Home]

We use Verizon's hot spot as well. Looked into the I phone hot spot but that meant, where you go so goes the hot spot. I work full time and my phone would be the hot spot as my wife has the Ipad and the Macpro. So we kept the hot spot and I use my regular cell. The IPhone set up would cost another $30 +tax. We have full service at home and thought that three access points was to much. If you are on the road together all the time the cell phone option is the way to go.

[hoosierguy]

Originally Posted by 5th_Time

It's surprising how lame campgrounds are about their Wi-Fi offerings. It seems like most made an initial investment solely for the advertising value, but have never actually checked that their Access Points cover their entire campground, or can handle the number of connections required. Remember, if you arrive with your multiple smartphones, tablets and laptops, you might take up 10 connections on the Access Point yourself. I'm sure that many campground owners fear that guests will be streaming movies and absorb all the bandwidth (the more capacity I add, the more they will use), but internet access is hardly optional these days.

I'm all for getting away from it all - and leaving my office behind. In fact, we just got home from Myrtle Beach after staying for a week at a major campground there. They had multiple networks and multiple access points. None of them could hold a signal for more that a minute or two - and Verizon was surprisingly weak near the shore. If you have ever been there, you know that this isn't exactly the "boonies".

Even now, years after starting to offer access, if you unexpectedly need an internet connection to remotely access your office or research a medical condition, get directions, or make a reservation somewhere, most of the time you're in for a long, exasperating experience - if you can log-in at all.

When checking in at any campground, I generally ignore the "Free Wi-Fi" sign and look down at my Verizon phone. If it has 3 stars or less, I know it's going to be a rough week.

Mike.........you are supposed to be camping. R E L A X

[Titan Guy]

Using an AT&T hot spot and have a Verizon based iPad that I use as a hotspot when AT&T fails me. Have been full timing since December and have had no issues with service. Issue is with price for data use.

[Adamsvr]

Originally Posted by Titan Guy

Using an AT&T hot spot and have a Verizon based iPad that I use as a hotspot when AT&T fails me. Have been full timing since December and have had no issues with service. Issue is with price for data use.

Yah, it's a scam by the cellphone companies. Did you know it takes more bandwidth to make a phone call, then send an email or text message. Yet the phone companies give us unlimited voice calls and charge us up the wazu for data.

[TNTBaker]

I consistently hear good things about Miilenicom on this and other forums.

[0nTheRoad]

We're very happy with Millenicom...and saving bucks over the Verizon plans!!!

When we started with Millenicom the MiFi device they were selling was a Novatel, it had some serious issues so I purchased a Cradelpoint router with USB input and a Pantech UML290. Now I can program the router to use the Pantech or if the park WiFi is decent I can close to use that.

[Oriana]

Originally Posted by 0nTheRoad

We use Millenicom, have for over a year. Their plan uses the Verizon 4G/LTE/3G network [same as Verizon's data plans] with 20G per month, the cost is increasing on May 1 from $69 to $89 but it's still MUCH less than Verizon's plans. You do need to purchase a MiFi hotspot with the plan, it cost $100 and a one time setup fee of $50.

It's cellular so it does have it's limitations but it's the best deal I've found.

We also use Millenicom and it works well for us. No contract, so we only pay the monthly fee when in the US.

[COLJDM]

I wonder if Winegard could adapt to receive a signal by adding another head to their existing array? I am going to get with them and find out.

[Foxfire]

Saturday I went to use the campgrounds wifi and it didn't reach our site. For some reason every site I'm on the wifi doesn't reach our site. I went to the verizon store which we past on our way to the supermarket and picked up a "jetpack". Now as long as i have phone service i have wifi. It's was $20.00 a month for the service and the jetpack literally would be free once I get back the rebate.

[almcc]

Originally Posted by COLJDM

I wonder if Winegard could adapt to receive a signal by adding another head to their existing array? I am going to get with them and find out.

John, that would be an interesting project. If you are talking about a wifi antenna to get a better signal, most of the ones I'm familiar with have USB runs where the runs into the RW from Winegard are coax. It might be simpler to add a discrete antenna on the roof somewhere. And, if you are talking about rigging a Winegard to receive both TV and sat internet, that's a whole different project!

[0nTheRoad]

I'm guessing John is talking about satellite internet???

Foxfire, how much data are you getting for $20/month?

[almcc]

If John is thinking about Sat internet, it would be a more "heroic" project, the main difficulty is the transmitter for the internet is quite large and bulky compared to a TV lnb and it has to be mounted on the arm where the TV lnb currently is. a better soultution could be to find a used Motosat (or other make) internet sat dish and install it. A number of folks are abandoning these for cell based internet. After the sat dish is installed, you can hang the TV lnb's off the side, the dish will then receive both signals (with some limitations). That's how my sat internet/TV works (with a tripod and me aiming, not the electronics!).

[0nTheRoad]

I researched internet quite a bit, looked at most every option I could find and to me the most economical solution was cellular MiFi through Millenicom. No contract, pay as you go, small start-up fees and 20G per month on Verizon's 4G/LTE network for what was $70/mo, just raised the cost to $90/mo but still the best deal for the amount of data you receive.

Campground wifi, even when you get a decent signal is marginal at best. In the many campgrounds we have stayed in the wifi has been terrible in most, the worst was a C/G that had no cell [AT&T or Verizon]. I could take a shower while downloading email!!!

[Oriana]

Chuck - I concur, as I also spent hours researching the various options and found Millenicom to be the best fit for our needs.