Community Forums

Don Rob · 09-02-2013, 04:55 PM

I like documentaries on military and natural history, science and how stuff works.
I guess some of my favorites have been dramas set in a historical setting, like HBO's
Rome and Hell on Wheels (the building on the transcontinental railroad). I don't want to pay for cable and would not have that in the RV anyway. I have to get my programming over the Internet. I send the signal to a big screen via an HDMI cable. I do this at home and in RV. Anyone have any suggestions about what service I should go with?

wa8yxm · 09-02-2013, 06:39 PM

Well .. Video via Internet is not a good Rv plan as a rule, (Exceptions apply) if you have your own, personal, UNLMITED highspeed internet.. Go for it. Else, avoid.

TechWriter · 09-02-2013, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Rob

I don't want to pay for cable and would not have that in the RV anyway. I have to get my programming over the Internet.

The current best-in-class Internet bandwidth provider is Millenicom where a 20GB/month plan over Verizon 4G network will run you $70.

But I'll bet you'll need a LOT more than 20GB/mon.

SarahW · 09-02-2013, 07:41 PM

I don't know about Hulu, but NetFlix has a free 30-day trial. You could sign up and see how you like it. We also have Amazon Prime which provides a lot of freebies as far as movies, videos, etc. I have several National Parks videos in my watchlist on Amazon. AMAZON PRIME NATIONAL PARKS Amazon Prime also has a free 30-day trial.

We only use our Roku for streaming at home, not in the RV.

Ramblin · 09-02-2013, 07:56 PM

If you try to stream video on campground wifi, you'll most often be disappointed, and your neighbors will hate you if they find out it's you hogging the bandwidth.

Wayne M · 09-02-2013, 07:56 PM

Some links for informational purposes:

Bandwidth

Data Calculator

How Much Bandwidth Being Used

Streaming video in an RV can get pretty costly unless you have unlimited data and you provider does not limit you after a certain point.

Davdeb1 · 09-02-2013, 08:09 PM

That was my plan originally. I had a grandfathered unlimited data plan on my cell from Verizon. I rooted my 4 g phone, and I thought I would be all set, but problems kept popping up with the operating system. I tried everything, but it still wasn't reliable.

What I will do now is download shows from iTunes, and stream the occasional show. I have the millenicom 20GB plan, but even that is not seamless. We start our journey 9/14. I will see how we get along without going the DISH route.

You can get pretty much everything you need for about 50 a month from dish network with the Tailgater package.

docj · 09-02-2013, 08:16 PM

We have an unlimited Verizon plan and stream quite often. With a 4G connection streaming usually works perfectly; with a fast 3G connection it can be done sometimes.

Even if we didn't have an unlimited plan, if your data plan charges $10/GB for usage beyond your allowance you can set your Netflix video quality so that 1 GB ~ 2 hrs. Video quality will be ~720p. At that data rate a 2 hr movie ~1GB ~ $10 which isn't all that much more than a pay-per-view on DirecTV or the cost of driving to a RedBox (including the gas). Of course, if you have a 20 GB Millenicom plan that will cancel you if you go over 20 GB you will have to be careful.

Don Rob · 09-03-2013, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SarahW

I don't know about Hulu, but NetFlix has a free 30-day trial. You could sign up and see how you like it. We also have Amazon Prime which provides a lot of freebies as far as movies, videos, etc. I have several National Parks videos in my watchlist on Amazon. We only use our Roku for streaming at home, not in the RV.

The free trial sounds like a good idea, thx for that. I have a wireless ISP, I don't use WiFi. The modem is small and I just move it to my RV or any other place I want to use it. As long as the signal is strong enough. The main disadvantage with an wireless ISP, is the upload speed being slow. But, it has plenty of download to watch videos. Which is why I have been using it for 3 1/2 yrs now.

itgeekgal · 09-03-2013, 09:12 AM

We use Millenicom's Verizon 20GB data plan and have Hulu+. I would love to get rid of DirecTV and go 100% streaming but we decided to wait another year or two until more live streaming coverage of NASCAR and other interests become available.

docj · 09-03-2013, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by itgeekgal

We use Millenicom's Verizon 20GB data plan and have Hulu+. I would love to get rid of DirecTV and go 100% streaming but we decided to wait another year or two until more live streaming coverage of NASCAR and other interests become available.

We're running ~35GB/mo doing, on the average, 1-2 hours/day of streaming with the rest used primarily by our laptops and the smart phones themselves. If we didn't have DirecTV our usage would probably go to at least 50 GB/mo.

For the past several weeks we've been in areas with spotty 4G coverage which reverts back to 3G on occasion (Verizon calls these Extended 4G areas). We were able to watch all the episodes of Orange is the New Black on Netflix with the resolution turned way down but some days it kept re-buffering. I don't think I'll be giving up DirecTV anytime soon.

TechWriter · 09-03-2013, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docj

We're running ~35GB/mo doing, on the average, 1-2 hours/day of streaming with the rest used primarily by our laptops and the smart phones themselves. If we didn't have DirecTV our usage would probably go to at least 50 GB/mo.

For the past several weeks we've been in areas with spotty 4G coverage which reverts back to 3G on occasion (Verizon calls these Extended 4G areas). We were able to watch all the episodes of Orange is the New Black on Netflix with the resolution turned way down but some days it kept re-buffering. I don't think I'll be giving up DirecTV anytime soon.

Well, we'll . . . I thought our 30GB/month was a lot.

SarahW · 09-03-2013, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Rob

The free trial sounds like a good idea, thx for that. I have a wireless ISP, I don't use WiFi. The modem is small and I just move it to my RV or any other place I want to use it. As long as the signal is strong enough. The main disadvantage with an wireless ISP, is the upload speed being slow. But, it has plenty of download to watch videos. Which is why I have been using it for 3 1/2 yrs now.

Go to Roku.com and click on the "channels" section. You can see info about all the streaming channels (cost, availability, programming, etc.) Several of them have the free trial. We also like the PBS channel for lots of public broadcasting programs.

Davdeb1 · 09-10-2013, 09:52 AM

Since September 1st, I watched about 15 or more episodes of The Sopranos on my I-pad. Thankfully I finished,, because I just received an e-mail from millenicom that I had used over 11 GB of data through September 9. They advised me to greatly curtail my usage through the rest of the month!

I knew this would happen so yesterday I ordered the tailgater with the pay as you go 120 package.