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Old 09-14-2020, 06:39 PM   #57
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Hi TamPham

I was in a similar position last year. We bought our RV, our first ever, last August. We rolled away "full-time" in November.

I work remotely M-F. My hours offer some flexibility, but typically I work a normal work day 7-4. I have calls on Skype Business and MS Teams daily. We don't use video though. Most of our staff live in very rural areas, so their internet is not as good as they would like. We've gotten used to not using video chat. My day isn't mostly meetings though. Most of my day is spent connected to servers via VPN and writing code.

Last December, I bought a Togo Roadlink, basically a Winegard Connect 2, and a 1 year internet subscription on AT&T. Unfortunately, they have discontinued that plan, so come December, I'll have to figure out what carrier SIM card to get. Right now I'm leaning towards the data plan from Cricket, but that could change by December. As far as hardware, this device is all I've used. It has performed great, and it's not even mounted on the roof. It sits on the dash until I decide what to do about future SIM cards.

When we left, we had our phones on T-Mobile. I think our plans allowed us 25GB each per month as hotspot data. When we arrived for a camp host position in FL, we found zero T-Mobile or AT&T coverage, so we moved our phones to Visible. We got another camp host couple to "party" with us, so we pay $25 a month for each line. The visible plan offers unlimited hotspot with 2 catches: you can only tether a single device at a time, and the speed is limited to 5Mbps. That speed is enough to do anything you could want, video chat, stream video, game, whatever. Some of my co-workers don't even get 5Mbps on their home internet.

We arrived in FL in March and left in August. From December through March, we had pretty reliable AT&T service, but we were not visiting a lot of parks. We were mostly in Phoenix/Mesa area or out in Quartzsite. AT&T in Phx might be the fastest place in the country based on ookla data. We never found a location where T-Mobile worked and AT&T didn't. Since moving phones to Visible and leaving our camp ground in FL, we have camped in many places with no AT&T at all, but the phone hotspot was usable on Verizon. There have been many the opposite too.

I am certain you will be able to meet your husband's data needs. I'm sharing my experience to help you create realistic expectations. As others have said, coverage will be the biggest factor. As an example, I'm in Spokane currently. AT&T via the Winegard device is providing excellent speeds. My phone, on Verzion, is also plenty fast. I was in Colville, 80ish miles north, all last week. AT&T worked great in the morning and evening, but would degrade during the day. Verizon was having a similar problem and had a worse signal where I was parked. The local cable internet provider was down, so I suspect those customers were using phones as backup data for kids schooling at home and working from home. It was still usable most of the week, but I had some heavy packet loss, and it would NOT have worked for a video call during that peak time around noon to 3 or 4. I joked with co-workers that it didn't like the heat.

You absolutely should proceed with your plans.

This is where I will sound a little discouraging, but really I'm trying to help you get to thinking about some things sooner, rather than later, and again, manage those expectations a little. Our reality has been a little different than the romantic vision we had last summer when we bought the RV. We're still happy with our lifestyle choice, but there are some realities of having to work on the road.

How many hours a week does your husband work?

Is his work a M-F business hours type of commitment?

Who is doing the driving?

Can he work while you drive?
If not, this could hinder your mobility somewhat.

My wife doesn't drive our RV (yet). I don't like to drive at night, so that makes it tough to drive outside 'normal business hours'. My job is based in WA, so that's easier if there are a few time zones separating you from "home".

During our recent drive from Flagstaff, AZ to Colville, WA, I worked a split shift. I would get up and work a few hours and handle any emergencies, then try to get on the road by noon and drive 4ish hours. Once we were parked for the night, I would get back on the computer and finish my work day. Granted, we had a deadline to reach WA, so we moved everyday.

If you aren't in a hurry, you can also plan to do your driving on weekends. Easy solution, right? Yes you can. Let's imagine a typical schedule...
You pull into your campsite on one weekend, and plan to stay 2 weeks. You spend the first weekend traveling and setting up camp. Your husband works during the week. Then you get a weekend to explore, then another week of your husband working. Then it's a moving weekend again, so you pack up and repeat.

Yes, you can explore in the evenings. Maybe your husband's work has some flexibility and he can do some of his work in the evenings (after the kids go to bed maybe?). I've found the limited resource is daylight hours. Keep in mind there are also all the other tasks involved with life on the road such as, RV repairs/maintenance, tank management, eating and dishes, laundry, fuel, route planning, etc, etc.

I'm not trying to discourage you at all. I just want to help paint a more realistic mental image of the lifestyle you're proposing. Is it worth the limitations? Yes! Just be realistic about what to expect. Your husband isn't "retiring and seeing the country".

Your kids are going to have an amazing experience. You're going to have a great time.

When are you leaving?
Since you're from WA too, I probably don't have to ask what direction you're heading. It's most likely south if you're leaving soon. I'm sitting in Spokane getting some work done on (and in!) the RV. Then I'm off to AZ for the Winter. I'm hoping to leave this weekend depending on if they can get the work done this week. The smoke might influence the route I choose. *cough cough*

wow. sorry. this got long. just noticed when I went to edit

OK short version. Get data connections on 2 networks, AT&T and Verizon. Now go. The rest you will learn on the way.
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Old 09-15-2020, 07:01 AM   #58
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One thing I want to express is before buying hardware, be sure it will be allowed on the plan(s) you choose. We were with OTR for over a year when they had AT&T and never had any issues. Plan started at $60 and the $70. We stream our TV so we have decent usage. Then OTR had the switch to T-Mobile which went fairly well for us until well into the first month when speeds died. There is Network Management, Throttling, etc and they are done differently by the various carriers. Well, T-Mobile locked us at 3G speeds which made even basic internet searching impossible. OTR was clueless and tried to reset everything but after a week of trying they had no answers. I talked to T-Mobile directly and they confirmed they locked the slow speed until the next billing cycle. Covid-19 was in full force at this time and the demand for internet plans skyrocketed. Then using RvMobileInternet information I found another provider, NeverThrottled, and signed up for an AT&T plan for $85 a month. Many of the resellers did not allow my Netgear M1100 anymore. All of these plans were “Unlimited” with no throttling. NeverThrottled recommended keeping it to 30GB a day and 400GB a month which was no issue for us. We came back to the S&B and cancelled the plan since we will be wintering in FL with cable high speed access. But in looking at current plan options, the $85 NeverThrottled plan is now $125 a month. I checked with several of the providers out there and what they allow on their plans is very restrictive. My older Netgear AirCard 781S is also restricted by many plans.

So, by all means PLEASE verify what your plan provider (not what cellular towers they use) will allow before spending a big money on high end equipment. These are volatile times in the mobile internet world and the trend will probably that way until things settle down.
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Old 09-15-2020, 08:10 AM   #59
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Hello TamPham,


Have ya'll been overwhelmed with advice, or 'what'?


For the record, I would give a hearty endorsement to mobilemusthave. Support prior to & after the sale has been top notch.


Full timing in an RV is not an inexpensive proposition in absolute dollars. What you can not put a price on............ the wonderful, priceless memories you and your family will experience as you travel around this wonderful country. It's not so much the destination, but, the adventure getting there. You have an opportunity to create memories with your children they will remember forever. Don't let it pass you by.



IOT (internet of things) technology will continue to change. Not too long ago, a 56K analog modem was high tech & a few of us actually worked from home (not very often) with this technology. Those of us who want to make it work, will always find a way. You can too!



All of the solutions offered up by the various posters worked for them. Since you already have the RV, you need to figure out what will work for you.


Good luck and safer travels. Enjoy the ride!
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Old 09-15-2020, 12:12 PM   #60
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This is what we use
If you are looking for unlimited, unthrottled internet that can go with you ANYWHERE… check out Nomad Internet.
You can get $25 off your first month by using the following code T0B5v2qA or by using this link: http://i.refs.cc/T0B5v2qA
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Old 09-15-2020, 01:55 PM   #61
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I have AT&T along with Verizon on phones. Have had few times we could not get adequate service with one or the other. Also have a WI-FI booster system in the coach to boost weaker signals and seldom have any real issues.
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Old 09-16-2020, 12:31 PM   #62
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^ Absolutely... join today www.rvmobileinternet.com and pay for membership. You can see about 1/3rd of the info there with the free membership and those of us that "require" internet in our RVs gladly pay for the full enchilada yearly. They have no ads and they don't sell a thing and they spend all their time evaluating and testing equipment, plans, etc. Plus you can count on them to be up to the minute as these things change constantly.

Posting here you'll find that people's needs, technical abilities and budgets are really varied. You'll hear from folks that think their "unlimited" phone is really unlimited when it's not. And that think 5 gigs of data a month is more than anyone would use.

Here's my recommendation for you to investigate:
1. You'll need at least two carriers. We use ATT and Verizon, but TMobile is looking better since their merger, as well.

2. You'll want a router in the RV so you can connect all your devices to your personal wifi network inside the RV. Key things to look for will be WiFi as WAN, 2.4 and 5ghz Wifi and either built in cellular modems or USB connection to external cell devices.

3. Many of us that have been doing this a long time are truly fortunate to have completely unlimited data on our data plans - but these are just not available as they were two or three years ago. Right now your best bets are 3rd party resellers as was already mentioned. And the Visible phone service available online (it's a Verizon subsidiary). Visible is inexpensive at $40 or less per month. 3rd Party Resellers are out there at prices around $100 to $120 a month.

Lastly make sure you understand that there is "unlimited" data and truly unlimited Data. The Unlimited phone data plans sold by the everyone are unlimited in name only. They all have a "limit" to how much 4g speed you get and then they drop to dialup speeds either immediately or occasionally. This makes it really difficult to count on having internet when you need it.

The ATT, Verizon and Tmobile phone stores are NOT the place to get what you need. These specialize in typical folks with phones and small data needs. The employees will nod their heads and say "sure, we can do that" but they can't, nor do they even understand what you will need.

Hope this helps.
Thanks for this info. I switched to Visible and got my phone 2 days ago. Saved almost $40 for same Verizon carrier 4G. Old plan gave me 15G/unlimited data. Throttle back at 15G. New plan is 5G/unlimited with throttle back @ 5G. Phone setup was relatively easy and somewhat intuitive. I am a non-techie. I see my network at Visible. Speed test was not impressive. Good thing we have internet service available here. It tests much faster.
I traded my Google Pixel XL with broken screen in for a ZTE Blade A3 Prime. Simple phone for my needs. Bad feature of phone is the power button location. It is right where the thumb wants to fall. I hung up on a call when I was trying to balance the phone.

I hope the savings is worth it.
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Old 09-16-2020, 06:28 PM   #63
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Thanks for this info. I switched to Visible and got my phone 2 days ago.
FYI Rick, starting in 2020 there are folks reporting that they moved the Visible SIM card out of their phone and into a Verizon Jetpack and everything is working much better and much faster.

That is, of course, if you are just using the phone for internet access and nothing else.

I don't have the full details, but I'm sure a google search will turn up which Jetpack work and if they had to change the APM in the setup (the APN tells Visible what device is being used - sometimes you need to go into the admin program and change the device name).
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Old 09-17-2020, 11:05 AM   #64
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FYI Rick, starting in 2020 there are folks reporting that they moved the Visible SIM card out of their phone and into a Verizon Jetpack and everything is working much better and much faster.

That is, of course, if you are just using the phone for internet access and nothing else.

I don't have the full details, but I'm sure a google search will turn up which Jetpack work and if they had to change the APM in the setup (the APN tells Visible what device is being used - sometimes you need to go into the admin program and change the device name).
I don't have the verizon jetpack. They no longer offer it. It is now a ebay item. But, this is great info for toughs who own one.
My cell phone is my only phone. Pulling the sim card to place in that kind of device seems to defeated the reason I have a cell phone. Most of the camps we work at provide internet. When it goes down or is unavailable I switch to my phone tether. What did we do when we didn't have these options? (I carried a Hughesnet system.)
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Old 05-24-2021, 08:21 PM   #65
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Hi,

We finally pulled the plug and bought our RV. I'm intending to take my kids on an epic (hopefully!) RV adventure next year as we try "remote schooling" and "work from road". We need fast and reliable internet 25/7 and plan to camp in National Parks/Forests and State Parks campgrounds. Any advice for us in terms of internet setup? Both equipment (WiFi and cellular) and plans? (my husband alone uses about 150-175 GB a month for work)

Thanks in advance! Excited to be here!

p.s. we don't need internet while driving, only while we're parked.

So, what did you end up with and how did things work out for you?



We are getting ready to do something similar, but are going with a MobileMustHave system. Hubs needs to video conference for work.
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Old 10-30-2021, 12:30 PM   #66
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Finally, if your husband's job depends on getting 150 - 175 GB per month of data, I'd suggest he stays behind. From my experience, the only way you'll reliably get that much data is with a cable modem which some campgrounds have. But then you'd be chaining yourself to a location. No fun.

I hope the OP didn't listen to this advice. :( We regularly use this amount of data working remote on the road with a mobile cellular modem.
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Old 10-30-2021, 04:39 PM   #67
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From my experience, the only way you'll reliably get that much data is with a cable modem which some campgrounds have. But then you'd be chaining yourself to a location. No fun.
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I hope the OP didn't listen to this advice. :( We regularly use this amount of data working remote on the road with a mobile cellular modem.
I agree. We use 200gb to 300gb per month when traveling and we ONLY use cellular broadband.

And when was the list time you saw anything but a permanent stay at a campground with work campers offer cable modem hookups?????
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