Help with internet and TV solutions - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Blythe N Chuck · RV-Dreams Family Member

Help with internet and TV solutions

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

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 · RV-Dreams Family Member

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 · RV-Dreams Family Member

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 · RV-Dreams Family Member

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.