Newbie...Need to understand internet and TV on motorhome

[Reverse62]

We just bought an ACE 30.1 and are dumping our Apt in Bay Area (but have a home in Murphys). We need to live down here 3-4 days per week for business (hubbie does Reverse Mortgage and I do IT Consulting). We are fairly IT savy...and we need the following: TV, Internet (relatively fast and very reliable) and are TOTALLY OVERWHELMED with the options and opinions. Here is what we have: hotspot 4 gbs w/Verizon; Verizon cell; Tivo premier and TIVo romio remote; chomecast hdmi; ipad; DirectTV at our home in Murphys. We love to record on our TIVO.

We plan on staying put during our days in bay area w/potential for wifi in the RV area. And on the move to State Parks and various areas for the next year...with occasional stops in Murphys.

We are trying to understand Direct TV remote capability (frankly we hate their interface) but would consider a remote satellite if it means more consistent service; the potential of putting the Tivo Premier in Murphys and then use the romio capability to get it on my ipad and project on tv in MH. And waht we do for good consistent wifi capability--verizon hotspot w/some type of antenna boost when we are in State Parks. Also, some RV parks have cable connections to the RV and don't quite understand if that means we just get local channels/internet/or other things.
UT
Okay....I admit we are overwhelmed and confused!......but EXCITED! This is our exit plan from the rat race.

Thank you for all who help us!

Chris and Dave....on the go! (did I mention we also have a 36' sailboat in SF Bay...so we aren't exactly clueless on some of the systems!)

[B Bob]

If you already have direct TV in your house at Murphy's get a second receiver and put it in your rig. Tell them you are going to put it in a TV.

Park cable hookups are for TV channels and not internet.

Verizon is usually very reliable for data / internet. 4 gigs likely not enough. When on the road I go through 10 gigs real fast.

Some park wifi good some not. We stayed in a place last summer for a week where the owner was upgrading his wifi so guests could use his internet for TV.

[texnet]

When you are on the road, or parked away from home you will find that you will not be able to use your iPad or any other computer to stream Video from your Tivo unless you plan on spending LOTS of money for your Verizon hotspot.

When you refer to the Directv Remote capability, I assume you are referring to using your iPad to watch Directv. Unfortunately you must be on the same WiFi network as your Directv receiver, which is connected to the Internet, to be able to use that. This is not feasible in an RV due to the speed and data limits of your Internet connection.

Most, if not all, RV parks limit the speed you can use with their Internet connection. The more that are in the RV park and on the Internet the slower your speed is. Most parks have a router or speed limiting device that will slow your Internet speed to a crawl if you are trying to stream video.

All of the above is the bad side. I owned an ISP from 1995 until 2009. We sold the business and retired in 2009 and travel much of the year in our motor home. At first I didn't think I could live with slow Cellular data, but I have learned to budget my data and make the best of it. I also supplement my data with WiFi from where ever we are, but we don't stream video unless we are at a location that allows. We don't do Tivo, but we do have a Directv receiver with record capabilities.

[paz]

For internet, you might want to consider Millenicom. They offer a 20GB plan using the Verizon network for $70 a month. If you have good Verizon reception, Millenicom will work exactly the same.

Millenicom requires you to buy the MiFi up front ($100 for the device, $50 for activation and $15 for shipping), but there is no contract. You can end the service at any time. You can also suspend the service and reactivate it at a later time, but there is a reactivation fee.

[PyrateSilly]

Here's some sites to go thru for internet/interweb stuff
http://changingears.com/rv-sec-in-touch-internet.shtml
http://www.jackdanmayer.com/communication.htm
http://www.internetanywhere.us/home.html
http://www.mobileinternetsatellite.com/Index.html?expandable=0
http://www.rv-satellite-internet.com/Choose_a_Satellite_Internet_Provider.html
http://www.highspeedsat.com/
http://www.datastormusers.com/rvsatinternet.cfm – MotoSat is now closed, but there is still information available
http://www.bigrigcentral.com/big-rig-satellite.html
http://dmbruss.com/zFullTimeLifeStyle/FTLS_StayingConnected.htm
http://www.exede.com/ - Thom called and several people on the phone said yes they are now doing RV and mobile satellite internet. Other's have emailed them and they emailed back with no so double check …....
http://www.autonetmobile.com/
http://millenicom.com/ and/or http://www.dslreports.com/forum/millenicom
http://www.groundcontrol.com/ - expensive but supposed to be the best

[Reverse62]

My husband was blown away w/the great suggestions....this is an awesome site and I appreciate the feedback....now I need to synthesis all of it!

You all are great!