Ok, I feel dumb as rocks asking this. Please forgive me if this has been asked a million times - all this information is wonderful but overwhelming! We are new to RVing and it's like learning a new language ;)
We are looking to go full-time in just a few months. We need internet and possibly TV. TV is a wish not a must - internet is a must have. I have a home based business that will be coming with us and need to get on the internet for orders, shipping items and e-mail. A dealer told us (so I take this with a grain of salt) that most places offer free internet and often cable. Is this true? Please understand we will not be staying at 5 start hotel type places. We are middle of the road kind of people and need to keep our costs as low as possible.
What options are there for internet and tv? I need to find the most cost effective solution for both. We have a cell phone that will allow us to tether to our laptop but I know that will only work if we have cell phone coverage (it is also rather slow).
Any opinions/suggestions/thoughts are greatly appreciate!
thanks,
Blythe
Racerguy said
12:50 PM Jul 1, 2011
You can't rely on campground wi-fi.if it's a necessity.Very few campground systems work as advertised.Get an Air Card or if you have the funds a satellite internet system.We have had good luck with our Cradle Point Router and Verizon air Card.Cable TV at campgrounds is almost as unreliable with poor picture quality or just basic channels.Depends what you require.
Bill Adams said
05:54 PM Jul 1, 2011
How much money are you making with your internet business and how much money will you lose if you do not have access. NO! Free wi-fi in NOT available most places. Certainly many places and many of these will provide very poor service. The service is also never guaranteed to be available where you park but rather somewhere in the park. If choose your campsites carefully (near a big city or not far from the local McDonald's) you can likely do OK. If what you want to do is travel where you want to go then you at least need a cellular account of your own (still many gaps as you travel and many more if you travel out West) and at most you will need a satellite internet connection. Sat. Internet is very expensive compared to the other options but it is the only service that is available everywhere in the US (including AK), Canada and Mexico as long as you don't park under a tree!
NorCal Dan said
09:15 PM Jul 1, 2011
I agree. WiFi is hit'n'miss at most RV parks. Even those that charge for access do not always provide usable internet access. Best bet for internet is to get your own source. I think the aircard would work if you don't plan to camp in remote area's. We used to have a Sprint aircard and used it along the I-10/I-20 corridor without to many problems. In the northwest it was useless. Take a look at the coverage maps for each provider and compare to where you plan to travel and see if one of them would work for you.
As mentioned, sat access is more expensive, but will work just about anywhere.
TV at most of the campgrounds we stayed at that provided service was terrible. We have DirecTV and use the Slimline roof mounted dish. We also carry a 18" oval dish for when trees block our roof dish. Doesn't happen very often, 2 or 3 times in our 4 years on the road, but it's nice to have a backup plan when it does.
RVRon said
06:15 AM Jul 2, 2011
It would also depend on what kind of campsite locations you like. Hardly any of the government campgrounds (City-State-Federal parks) will have either Wi-Fi or cable TV. Some may have Wi-Fi available only at the park office.
For internet, we've had good luck with our Sprint Overdrive Wi-Fi hotspot. It works like any Wi-Fi hotspot at Starbucks or McDonalds - you can connect up to 5 computers to it wirelessly. Verizon has a similar unit called Mi-Fi.
For TV we use Dish Network. We recently upgraded to HD and can get all 3 satellites on one dish... as long as we can see the Southwest sky. We're not yet fulltime so the Dish setup in the RV is a $7.00 monthly addition to our home account. Because we like primarily wooded sites with shade there are a lot of sites that we love but can't get through the trees to the satellite. Then we just use the rooftop antenna. We installed the Wingman addon to our factory Winegard antenna and it's helped a lot to bring in more channels. We'll typically get 13-20 channels, most of them HD, via the rooftop antenna only.
Ok, I feel dumb as rocks asking this. Please forgive me if this has been asked a million times - all this information is wonderful but overwhelming! We are new to RVing and it's like learning a new language ;)
We are looking to go full-time in just a few months. We need internet and possibly TV. TV is a wish not a must - internet is a must have. I have a home based business that will be coming with us and need to get on the internet for orders, shipping items and e-mail. A dealer told us (so I take this with a grain of salt) that most places offer free internet and often cable. Is this true? Please understand we will not be staying at 5 start hotel type places. We are middle of the road kind of people and need to keep our costs as low as possible.
What options are there for internet and tv? I need to find the most cost effective solution for both. We have a cell phone that will allow us to tether to our laptop but I know that will only work if we have cell phone coverage (it is also rather slow).
Any opinions/suggestions/thoughts are greatly appreciate!
thanks,
Blythe
As mentioned, sat access is more expensive, but will work just about anywhere.
TV at most of the campgrounds we stayed at that provided service was terrible. We have DirecTV and use the Slimline roof mounted dish. We also carry a 18" oval dish for when trees block our roof dish. Doesn't happen very often, 2 or 3 times in our 4 years on the road, but it's nice to have a backup plan when it does.
It would also depend on what kind of campsite locations you like. Hardly any of the government campgrounds (City-State-Federal parks) will have either Wi-Fi or cable TV. Some may have Wi-Fi available only at the park office.
For internet, we've had good luck with our Sprint Overdrive Wi-Fi hotspot. It works like any Wi-Fi hotspot at Starbucks or McDonalds - you can connect up to 5 computers to it wirelessly. Verizon has a similar unit called Mi-Fi.
For TV we use Dish Network. We recently upgraded to HD and can get all 3 satellites on one dish... as long as we can see the Southwest sky. We're not yet fulltime so the Dish setup in the RV is a $7.00 monthly addition to our home account. Because we like primarily wooded sites with shade there are a lot of sites that we love but can't get through the trees to the satellite. Then we just use the rooftop antenna. We installed the Wingman addon to our factory Winegard antenna and it's helped a lot to bring in more channels. We'll typically get 13-20 channels, most of them HD, via the rooftop antenna only.