Community Forums

Muskokaman · 05-23-2022, 07:22 AM

My wife & I are planning a 5 month RV trip from Ontario Canada to South Carolina, Georgia & Florida starting in November. I want to be able to access internet wifi access as we travel for several apps including Sirius radio, Waze, etc.
Using Bell monthly packages is way to expensive so I have been researching Hotspot wifi devices & their data plans. I’m looking to be able to use it both in Canada & USA. My research seems to indicate that Glocalme Duo/mini turbo, Roam WIFI 10, Travlfi Journey 1 appear to possible choices. Any recommendations from your experience which one i should consider purchasing for our extended trip?

blueridge-fl · 05-23-2022, 08:27 AM

I would not attempt a universal hotspot. They are expensive and the carriers change band plans over time that can make your expensive hotspot obsolete. Better to get a cheap carrier specific prepaid hotspot from Walmart or similar. With prepaid, you only pay for it when you travel. We have an ATT hotspot that was $39 at Walmart. It sits dormant most of the time and only pay for service when leaving on a trip. Several tiers of service are available up to 50 gig a month for $55. I imagine you can do something similar for Canada resulting in 2 hotspots for around 80 bucks instead of hundreds for a universal unit.

Muskokaman · 05-23-2022, 09:06 AM

Thanks for the suggestion Blueridge-fl. I’ll investigate this option as well.

Paul P. · 05-23-2022, 11:58 AM

Huge amount of information on the tech forum (RV forums>Technology)..lots of threads including the specific items you mention

jacwjames · 05-23-2022, 01:23 PM

Last year I went through the same thing, I wanted a monthly type plan that I could add/drop as needed.

ATT has a plan but their 5G hotspots were +$500 and they did not have any in stock.
I checked on Cricket, they offered a 4G hotspot for a lot less money. I went ahead and signed up. I was surprised at how well the hotspot worked, I don't there was one place that I didn't pick up a signal. My T-Mobile phone coverage was a joke. I ended up using Wifi calling to make calls in a couple spot using the Cricket hotspot. I believe the plan was $55 a month but you could save $5/month if you did auto pay. Used it over two different trips, 20 states, and it worked everywhere, some places were slow but I still had a signal.

gatorcq · 05-24-2022, 06:34 AM

I have the Visible Phone Party Plan. They se the Verizon network.
$25/mth. Unlimited. Use it as a hotspot.
There is a way to get a used MiFi device and put the visible sim inside .

Airboss68 · 05-24-2022, 06:46 AM

Depending on where your ttravels take you....
https://www.starlink.com/rv

Unplanned Tourist · 05-24-2022, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blueridge-fl

I would not attempt a universal hotspot. They are expensive and the carriers change band plans over time that can make your expensive hotspot obsolete. Better to get a cheap carrier specific prepaid hotspot from Walmart or similar. With prepaid, you only pay for it when you travel. We have an ATT hotspot that was $39 at Walmart. It sits dormant most of the time and only pay for service when leaving on a trip. Several tiers of service are available up to 50 gig a month for $55. I imagine you can do something similar for Canada resulting in 2 hotspots for around 80 bucks instead of hundreds for a universal unit.

I agree with this. We just did a 5 week trip to Arizona, and it was the best option for us. Buy it after you cross into the states.

The little hotspot we got easily fits in a pocket to take along. The battery also lasts pretty good.

Romer1 · 05-24-2022, 07:04 AM

Look at StraightTalk. Data plans run from $15 to $75. Been using mine for years. Only pay for month you need it. You can buy the device and plans at Walmart.

nehog · 05-24-2022, 07:08 AM

We have a MoFi, a NightHawk, and a couple of other cell hot spots. (yea, way more than we need...) The MoFi is setup with a T-Mobile SIM, the NightHawk is Verizon. Which ever one gives the best performance is what we use--usually T-Mobile or Verizon are pretty equal however, and that makes it easy.

We pay $50 a month for T-Mobile (FMCA's program) and $25 for Verizon (Visible's program...) We did have AT&T but I dropped it because of poor performance in most of the places we tried to use it.

Muskokaman · 05-24-2022, 08:26 AM

I appreciate the advice several of you have provided & i will research those options as well.

nehog · 05-25-2022, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gatorcq

I have the Visible Phone Party Plan. They se the Verizon network.
$25/mth. Unlimited. Use it as a hotspot.
There is a way to get a used MiFi device and put the visible sim inside .

That's what we use with our Nighthawk box. Yes, you have to change the IMEI to make it look like a tablet and not a cell data box, but that's not really hard.

Souljourner · 05-25-2022, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gatorcq

I have the Visible Phone Party Plan. They se the Verizon network.
$25/mth. Unlimited. Use it as a hotspot.
There is a way to get a used MiFi device and put the visible sim inside .

I agree. I also use Visible as my phone carrier, then I use my phone as a WI-FI hotspot when I want to use electronics like my laptop or tablet. $25 a month on their party pay. $40 otherwise.

As long as I have cell service I have WI-FI and Internet.

pvcampbell · 05-27-2022, 07:46 PM

I have an AT&T SIM in my Pepwave router, and I also can connect by hotspot or tether to a Visible cellphone, my Verizon Galaxy S22+ cellphone and a T-Mobile 5G hotspot. I've travelled to all 48 states, and the Visible is the most unreliable and usually has the slowest data throughput. It is a backup, but seldom my primary service. I would not want to have it as my only option.

YMMV.