WiFi on the road / boondocking - How ?

[FlyFishers]

WiFi on the road / boondocking - How ?

We will have a TT and Truck and a Samsung 4G.

Are there some good reasons for having a laptop? Is there any value in buying the Verizon Jet Pack?

[Wizard]

We use our laptop any time we are on the road. We use Verizon Jetpack and have always got a signal. Just remember that with the jetpack you also must have a data plan.

I have an Iphone but the laptop is much easier on us older folks

[Doggy Daddy]

I have an I-Phone which I use for all e-mail and numerous apps without having to use a hotspot. My I-Pad has its' own Verizon "hotspot" which I turn on when needed. When ever shopping for groceries, using laundry mats, or getting fuel, I use free wifi hotspots that are available.

[powerboatr]

samsung s3 and s4 is what we use. it turns on the hotspot and we use the laptop as normal.

biggest we have found is signal strength to the phone from the towers
if your really out in the stix......your out of luck

[vsheetz]

Hawking Technologies repeater/range extender to help improve and reach any public wife that might be available. Failing that, then a Verizon 4G hotspot device. However, from my iPhone with AT&T service I can do banking, Facebook, email, etc. If no services, just do without until making a trip to town.

[Okiedoke]

For us fulltimers, a Jetpack has been great. I use a laptop for bills, banking and normal internet use. The DW uses a tablet. We boondock a lot and sometimes are completely without a cell signal, but being able to use the Jetpack with a roof antenna has allowed us to use a weak 3G signal from fringe areas quite often when our phone wouldn't. The data plan for it ain't cheap though.

[candro]

Originally Posted by Okiedoke

For us fulltimers, a Jetpack has been great. I use a laptop for bills, banking and normal internet use. The DW uses a tablet. We boondock a lot and sometimes are completely without a cell signal, but being able to use the Jetpack with a roof antenna has allowed us to use a weak 3G signal from fringe areas quite often when our phone wouldn't. The data plan for it ain't cheap though.

Hi, how do you use a roof antenna with the Jetpack? What brand of roof antenna? I have a Jetpack on order, but Verizon was not certain an extended antenna could be used with it.

[vsheetz]

Originally Posted by candro

Hi, how do you use a roof antenna with the Jetpack? What brand of roof antenna? I have a Jetpack on order, but Verizon was not certain an extended antenna could be used with it.

Not all have an external antenna jack. To me, this is a must have capability. It should be noted in the detailed specifications of the device or go to a Verizon store and see for yourself.

A Google on antenna and whatever model number hotspot device you have will find a variety of antennas. I use a ~5 dB gain omnidirectional antenna.

[Okiedoke]

Originally Posted by candro

Hi, how do you use a roof antenna with the Jetpack? What brand of roof antenna? I have a Jetpack on order, but Verizon was not certain an extended antenna could be used with it.

Our Jetpack (4620LE) connects with an adapter to a Wilson brand omni-directional antenna. Not a great improvement, but sometimes the difference between getting a good signal or not.

[Big-Foot]

I don't want to be a negative-nancy but wanted to share a word of warning about Free WiFi zones..

There are hackers hiding around literally every corner and they will take advantage of people every chance they can.
When you see a free WiFi connection, how can you be really sure that no one is monitoring your connection and capturing information? Well, you really can't always be 100% sure. But there are ways to prepare yourself such as firewall software that will stop them from getting into your computing device.

The one that gets me is the hackers that look like ordinary people. They will sit in cars or in the coffee shops and restaurants with their own computers, and sometimes they are hidden. They are broadcasting a WiFi HOT SPOT which is wide open.

You're in a McDonalds and see they have free WiFi.
You go to connect to McDonalds-223-WiFi for free to do some quick email to the kids and check your credit card balance at the bank.
You log on and all your business is done in 5 minutes. Log off and eat your sandwich.

What just happened?
You logged on to your email with your User-ID and Password.
You sent an email to your kids telling them where you are and where you're headed next.
You logged onto your bank account with your User-ID and Password and checked your balance. You may have paid the open balance from your checking account.
You logged off.

You just gave the hacker - who was capturing every keystroke - your User-IDs and Passwords to your email and your bank account.

The next time you log on, you may find your account empty or see nothing...

Most hackers are smart nowadays... They won't just try and clean you out. But what they will do is set up periodic charges or automatic payments of smaller amounts (under $10) in order to slowly milk your account without raising suspicion. They basically set up a paper route. Deliver a thousand papers for $.10 each and get $100. Rather than just trying to swipe $100 from you and getting busted.. They do this with thousands of people and they are now rich as kings!

My advice to you all is this -

Never trust a free WiFi for sensitive business - even for email..
Use your Cell Phone and a Data Connection for doing these. They are encrypted and extremely secure.

I work for one of the largest financial institutions in the world and my job is aligned very closely with Data Security. I hope this is of some help to you. I hope to be on the roads with you next year at this time as my wife and I try our first year of Snowbirding..

[docj]

Originally Posted by Big-Foot

Never trust a free WiFi for sensitive business - even for email..
Use your Cell Phone and a Data Connection for doing these. They are encrypted and extremely secure.

Your post is correct that it is important to know that the wifi you are connected to is actually the one that McDonalds (or Starbucks, etc) is broadcasting, but that's usually pretty easy to do by looking at posted signs or asking the staff.

Where you are wrong is in the fear-mongering you are doing by perpetuating the internet myth that unsecured wifi is, by itself, a risk. All financial institutions in the US, and many more sites in addition, use HTTPS protocol which provides exceptionally strong encryption and protection for your sensitive information. When you see HTTPS in the header line and the little lock symbol on your browser's screen you can be confident that you are safe if you are connected to a legitimate wifi and not a scam.

Virtually all Webmail sites are also encrypted, including Gmail. If you use Outlook or another email client, it is easy to set it to create an encrypted connection to your email server.

The often repeated claim that open wifi is inherently insecure doesn't help to educate the public as to what the real issues are. Always make sure that the wifi you are connected to is the one being provided by the entity you think it belongs to. Dangerous, scam wifi's do exist, but IMHO they are far more likely to be at public locations such as McDonalds and airports than they ever are going to be at a campground. A large volume of constantly changing victims is what scammers are looking for and campgrounds simply don't have that compared to many other locations.

[MSHappyCampers]

When there's no Wi-Fi available I use my I-Phone as a personal hotspot!

[dunkonu23]

Originally Posted by docj

Where you are wrong is in the fear-mongering you are doing by perpetuating the internet myth that unsecured wifi is, by itself, a risk. All financial institutions in the US, and many more sites in addition, use HTTPS protocol which provides exceptionally strong encryption and protection for your sensitive information. When you see HTTPS in the header line and the little lock symbol on your browser's screen you can be confident that you are safe if you are connected to a legitimate wifi and not a scam.
.

This statement is incorrect. If you are on an unsecured WIFI connection and use https, there is a still the possibility of a man in the middle attack. The poster you quoted is more than correct in his assertion. It is not fear mongering at all. Then, how can you be sure you are connected to a legitimate wifi? I'll tell you: Use your own. Never use public wifi for anything important, not even E-mail unless you use a VPN connection. It is that simple.

Scott

[dvmweb]

We use Verizon 4G on a Samsung GS4 and an iPad. The iPad hooks up to the internet throught the GS4. We have a direct HP wifi printer, ie. the signal goes from the iPad to the printer directly, when we need a hard copy of something. If you get a wifi hotspot remember it will cost about $40 per month or nearly $500 per year, so just use your phone as your wifi hotspot. I am looking into getting a cellphone booster, Wilson?, to be able to get more bars out in the bushes.


2013 FleetWood Expedition 38B