Community Forums

rbosco44 · 03-28-2012, 07:44 PM

My wife and I are RV'ing in the US for our first time. We are Canadian and we want to get mobile internet when we cross the border.

How and what is the best one....in terms of coverage and price

Fred1609 · 03-28-2012, 07:50 PM

We had the same issue and after much checking DW, after speaking with a rep, settled on Millenicom. It was the best we found. You can pay by the month and it provides a lot of GB, unlimited for $69. Dont get caught up in the 4G hype. 4G is only available in/around major cities. We noticed that a lot of places that we are heading too have only 3G. Millenicom | High Speed Wireless Broadband
Good luck

texnet · 03-28-2012, 08:06 PM

Welcome to IRV2 and the USA!

I have had a AT&T Data card for about 10 years and it started off as an unlimited plan but over the past couple of years they have eliminated unlimited and the largest plan they offer is 5gb so I have also been searching. I am considering Verizon because they offer a 10gb plan and I have never used much more than 5gb.

Fred1609 is an actual user of Millenicom and my info is second hand.... I looked at Millenicom but they use the Sprint network and from what I have heard from several friends they have trouble connecting unless they are near a major city. I know in my home town Sprint only has one tower location. Verizon and AT&T have at least 5 tower locations. Look at Sprint's coverage map before you go with them or Millenicom unless you are going to be around larger cities most of the time.

wa8yxm · 03-29-2012, 02:22 PM

YOu have several choices.. Many campgrounds now days offer Wi-Fi, either Free or Fee based (KOA's are usually FEE based) so you only need to connect when between parking or when in a park that has none.. Many other places have free Wi-Fi as well, McDonalds being about the best known, a service called J-wire can give you some information (Just GOOGLE Free Wi-Fi Hot Spots)

Now, the kicker: MOST Cellular data plans, and satellite data plans want a contract, 2 years at around 60/mnth is not uncommon.

VIRGIN MOBILE you buy either a dongle or a "Mi-Fy" card for 60-150 bucks, and then when you need it 10/20 or 50 dollars gets you 1 week or 100 meg, or One month and 500 meg or 1 month "unlimited" (limited high speed though) When you don't need it $0.00 gets you nothing. No dunning to pay, no charge for time not used, Pay when you need it, not when you don't.

FlyingDiver · 03-29-2012, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texnet

Fred1609 is an actual user of Millenicom and my info is second hand.... I looked at Millenicom but they use the Sprint network and from what I have heard from several friends they have trouble connecting unless they are near a major city. I know in my home town Sprint only has one tower location. Verizon and AT&T have at least 5 tower locations. Look at Sprint's coverage map before you go with them or Millenicom unless you are going to be around larger cities most of the time.

Millenicom resells both Sprint and Verizon. You just need to pick the right plan and the right device. They can't tell you on the website which is which, but you can tell if you compare coverage maps. We have Verizon service with a USB modem, and my dad has Verizon with a Mifi, both through Millenicom.

joe

FlyingDiver · 03-29-2012, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wa8yxm

Now, the kicker: MOST Cellular data plans, and satellite data plans want a contract, 2 years at around 60/mnth is not uncommon.

Millenicom is no contract if you pay for the cell modem up front ($99, as I recall). It's just month by month after that. At 20GB for $69, it's definitely the best deal I know of unless your usage is really low.

joe

Ramblin · 03-29-2012, 02:44 PM

NetZero is offering FREE 4G with a low data limit. If all you want to do is check emails occaisionally it may suffice. You have to buy their USB or Hotspot hardware ($50 or $100US). They also have plans with more data for more money. No contracts, pay as you go. It's a new thing, I haven't tried it, YMMV.

srydve · 03-29-2012, 07:44 PM

We use Virgin mobile, it works on the Verizon 3G network. The best deal is buy the modem and pay as you go card at Walmart, the modem was around $90. Buy a $20 card and you get up to a month use and a gig of data. If you just want email and surfing we find a gig is plenty, if you start watching video it likely won't be enough. You can only get the month/gig deal if you buy the modem at Walmart, anywhere else and the plans aren't as good. We've used it for two or three months a year for a couple of years and its worked fine.

easy RVer · 03-29-2012, 11:09 PM

All the talk of 3g or 4g is just that-talk--in most rural places you are out of connectivity or are down to 1X. The same thing has happened to cellular internet as happened to satellite internet- there is no investment in improving the capacity of the system so you are unable to connect to a modem-remember dial up days? or the speed slows to a crawl and you keep losing connectivity as the system randomly drops users to lower their load.

We were used to MiFi with Sasktel and it was a great disappointment to find the short comings of the American networks outside of major centres. No problems when we were camped along the Austin-San Antonio corridor but it was a different story once we headed west on I-10 or in the southwest states.

Try a system that has high capacity(and I am not talking about a 5 or 10g plan) but a cellular system that can handle internet users as well as regular cell traffic-I have come to the conclusion that unless you are in tower range of a metropolitan area of a million people,you best use smoke signals.