Community Forums

brobox · 03-03-2021, 06:32 AM

We are doing a shakedown on the 21 with a short road trip to get Karen's Covid vaccine.
I did not activate the Sat receiver for just the two nights knowing we have the new Netgear Nighthawk on the AT&T mobiley plan, new Smart TV's and good OTA reception.
First night Netflix was working on all the TV's perfectly. OTA getting all the channels for news.
Last night a front moved in, we are in a Snowbird park with 400 spaces, everybody was inside. Apparently streaming is the new thing for Snowbirds. AT&T dropped from 27.85 Mps to less the 5.Mps, not enough to stream.
Lesson learned Satellite is still going to be needed if staying in fringe areas or large RV parks. My experience last night, streaming became equivalent to park wifi.

With AT&T being non usable, that left DishAnywhere still at home and not usable in the MH.

Johnontheroad · 03-03-2021, 07:40 AM

I switched from DTV to streaming/OTA three years ago and have learned how to use it. I have the Mobley unlimited, a grandfathered Verizon unlimited, an u limited Visible as backup. I'm a full timer so I get a lot of use.

My streaming/OTA viewability is better than my DTV was. Since we spend summers in the PNW sat reception under trees was always a problem. I have Youtube TV and get local stations pretty well anywhere I can't get OTA. Its taken a while to get to this point, you have to learn what works.

At this point, all my equipment is over a year old, ancient as far as internet is concerned. Newer systems, like T Mobile's 100G plan on 5G, are coming on line making streaming an improved alternative as time goes on.

So I haven't missed DTV and in total my monthly cost is less as well. Better viewing at lower costs. I'm happy....

TXiceman · 03-03-2021, 07:40 AM

I have found that there are all too many places that are low or marginal signals to stream, so we use Off-air or satellite. Streaming is just not quiet ready for total dependency.

Ken

buddy110 · 03-03-2021, 07:48 AM

We streamed Netflix last night with less than 3mbps last night. I was shocked, actually.

brobox · 03-03-2021, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TXiceman

I have found that there are all too many places that are low or marginal signals to stream, so we use Off-air or satellite. Streaming is just not quiet ready for total dependency.

Ken

Exactly what I found last night. So many post of "cutting the cord", I thought for 2 days what the heck. Found out real quick in is going to take several backups to be able to fully cut the cord, or there will be several campfire evenings

Johnontheroad hit the nail on the head, 3 cell carries and hope one is not a popular one with the others when in a large RV park. It was a learning experience for me.

ECVB · 03-03-2021, 08:57 AM

Since going full time last year and going full cut cord.. its been a challenge at times.. Example i am here in San Antonio right at out edge of the City and this area is not favorable for ATT and VZO . If lucky ii will get 3 to 5 meg speeds and sometimes less than 1 MEG, but my Sprint will get 20 to 35 MEGS. I currently use a CradlePoint ibr900 with dual modems with load balancing between providers. ATT/VZO so its hit or miss on the speeds based on location. Example , stayed at Cabelas for an over night stay.. and parked right under a CELL tower. Both VZO/ATT speeds were 20 to 30 megs vs my SPRINT /TMO was pushing almost 300 MEGS. It's all dependent on how those cell towers are provisioned that i have learned working with AT&T on developing LTE solutions for companies. I have shopped on EBAY for unlimited plans but they come and go based on the sellers contract. I have found one dealer that been solid for the last 6 month with different data plan pricing. Starlink is currently beta testing you can sign up on their site fr 99 dollars , but then the cost is 400 plus for the equipment. but that service is GEOO TAGGED so not feasible for roaming

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobox

We are doing a shakedown on the 21 with a short road trip to get Karen's Covid vaccine.
I did not activate the Sat receiver for just the two nights knowing we have the new Netgear Nighthawk on the AT&T mobiley plan, new Smart TV's and good OTA reception.
First night Netflix was working on all the TV's perfectly. OTA getting all the channels for news.
Last night a front moved in, we are in a Snowbird park with 400 spaces, everybody was inside. Apparently streaming is the new thing for Snowbirds. AT&T dropped from 27.85 Mps to less the 5.Mps, not enough to stream.
Lesson learned Satellite is still going to be needed if staying in fringe areas or large RV parks. My experience last night, streaming became equivalent to park wifi.

With AT&T being non usable, that left DishAnywhere still at home and not usable in the MH.

MRUSA14 · 03-03-2021, 09:21 AM

I don't have the patience to deal with streaming. The quality of signal varies from place to place and from hour to hour. Some places have no signal at all. And then there are the data caps. I do not want to juggle all these issues, plus two or three different providers, and then still not get to see what I want to to see at at times. What an administrative zoo.

Say what you want about satellite, but it is reliable everywhere you can see the sky. Trees or no trees, that is the only variable. It never slows down, and you never run out of bandwidth. You don't have to subscribe to numerous providers to get the shows you want. If I have a signal (not blocked by trees), I can watch as much TV as I want 24/7 if I wish and only pay one monthly bill. A lot would have to change for me to give up satellite.

Rumline · 03-03-2021, 10:13 AM

Depending on what you're trying to stream, you could be well-served by looking into PlayOn. http://www.playon.tv Basically you install a program on your PC, give it the credentials for the streaming services you already have, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, whatever, and then you can browse for and download any shows/movies/etc on those services to your PC. Then to get it to your TV you can either use the PC as a media server, or more easily, download them to a thumb drive and plug that into your TV. Most newer TVs support playing videos off of a USB device. You can get a 512 GB thumb drive, enough for hundreds of shows and movies, for $60 on Amazon. There are many options but here's the one I got: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083ZS4HYD/

The benefit is that you decrease your dependency on having an adequate signal at the same time everybody else is trying to stream too. Over time you can build up a huge video library.

This may be harder to pull off for fulltimers, but you can set up a big download queue and then resume it anytime you are somewhere with good WiFi. Friends' house, Starbucks, rare campgrounds that care about their wifi, etc. If a video fails to download for whatever reason, the software makes a log entry so you can easily restart it later.

In case you are concerned, this is completely legal and is different from "torrents" or other forms of piracy. PlayOn tags the beginning and end of the videos you download with your personal information so if you try to distribute them to others you could get in hot water. But for watching on your own TV that is what they call "fair use". Basically the modern equivalent of taping your TV shows to VHS.

If you want more information or need help, come check out the Technology forum here on iRV2: https://www.irv2.com/forums/f53/

brobox · 03-03-2021, 02:27 PM

Marc, after my recent trial, I have to agree 100%. I do not have the patience to play connection bingo. I tried it, it's not for me.

hdgoldie · 03-03-2021, 03:12 PM

Netflix will work with 3 mbps. Did that for a few years before our area got high speed internet. Disney needs 25+. Dish Anyway can be used on any cellular plan and cast to your TV.

brobox · 03-03-2021, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hdgoldie

Netflix will work with 3 mbps. Did that for a few years before our area got high speed internet. Disney needs 25+. Dish Anyway can be used on any cellular plan and cast to your TV.

Great discussion point Linda. Last night I could not connect to Netflix with 4 Mbps. Dishanywhere I have always used a Firestick, but that was a no go with the AT&T hotspot shot. Being I use internet 99% of the time, my cell data plan is only 2 Gig. Good thing I was in a good OTA location, there were some good reruns last night.

Turbojack · 03-03-2021, 03:41 PM

I have netflix on my phone and can download movies. Download them when I am at home or the office. Then cast to my TV and watch when I want. I guess you could download them when you have good bandwidth and watch later.

Gary.Jones · 03-03-2021, 05:12 PM

Ive said before and will say again..... I have tried, and streaming is not yet ready for prime time. Sat can be frustrating in some circumstances, but all in all, unless you are sitting under the cell tower, streaming is just not something that works for Dee and me.

I will be willing to try again in future years, but for now, and recently, I'm not willing to put up with the hassles to stream my TV. Your experience may vary.

Gary

RVFunlovers · 03-03-2021, 08:48 PM

I think streaming is getting better and better over cellular. 10 years ago it was hard to stream on cellular even on low def. The wireless networks have gotten faster and more speed is on the way in the next few years. With that said, when the wireless provider you are using has the cell sector you are on overloaded then speeds drop dramatically. This is most frequently during prime tv time.

Using multiple wireless providers might help. No provider is best everywhere.

As a backup I download shows and movies in advance and use over the air tv.

I have worked from my RV for the past 9 months. Most of the time my day time speeds are far better than my evening speeds. I have almost always been able to stream though without buffering. But not 100% of the time.

We stream instead of satellite because I like it more. No commercials, watch when you wants, etc... But we are not big sports fans. Live sports still has an advantage over cable ‘ satellite. Agreed RV park WiFi is 90% worthless.