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Old 01-20-2023, 04:43 AM   #1
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On the road internet service

I have seen hundreds of articles regarding internet providers. I haven't seen any that seem to be above the rest. We are planning an extended road trip with our 5ver. I am not retired so I still have to be able to communicate with my company. Is there any real internet/TV provider out there that actually works and is worth the money?
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Old 01-20-2023, 05:12 AM   #2
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They all work, to some degree. Here's a good resource. : https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/

You have to have a clear idea as to what you need to accomplish in order to be provided with good feedback.

Ultimately, depending on your needs, you will likely need more than one source.

How demanding you are will reflect in your cost. How much are you willing to pay ? (Rhetorical question)
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Old 01-20-2023, 05:12 AM   #3
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Depends on what you want to spend.

We have the one through FMCA and is truly unlimited, works to stream 4K movies etc.

It is AT&T and we have had zero issues with it.

About $60 / month for 24 meg speed.
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Old 01-20-2023, 07:41 AM   #4
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They all work, to some degree. Here's a good resource. : https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/

You have to have a clear idea as to what you need to accomplish in order to be provided with good feedback.

Ultimately, depending on your needs, you will likely need more than one source.

How demanding you are will reflect in your cost. How much are you willing to pay ? (Rhetorical question)

The above is probably the most accurate information you will receive.


Many people living & working full time in their RV's use equipment that will allow connectivity with Starlink, cellular (multiple carriers) & RV park WiFi when available.


Another consideration.... what restrictions, if any, might your employer put on you with connectivity from outside their network.


With decent equipment, data plans & scheduling your travel to accommodate your work schedule what you are trying to accomplish is very doable.
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Old 01-20-2023, 02:02 PM   #5
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All great advice so far. As said, there is no "one size fits all" solution.

The more critical your need is, with the least amount of restrictions will cost the most. The more flexible the lower the cost.

I remote worked for 2 years using an AT&T dedicated cellular router and wired external antenna. They are my current service provider, so this "line" costs ~35/mo. The plan is unlimited with "may throttle" and I never had an issue while working to include video conferencing. The only issue was that I had to make sure we were in locations with adequate speeds which is not the same as adequate "bars of service". Anything over 5 down and 1 up was minimum for my needs. This meant we did not get to travel to some of the locations we wanted to.

I added Starlink this summer and we have been able to travel anywhere we wanted. Only one location has SL not worked well and that is at my house due to tree cover. We have solar on the RV and any location that is good for solar is also good for SL coverage. I do have mine mounted on a 15' pole that that gets attached to my RV ladder. Of course the SL option is $1620/year.
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Old 01-20-2023, 02:29 PM   #6
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A friend of ours is a vendor that travels to various events to sell their products. They need connectivity to process credit card transactions. They've seen it all and they carry cell phones for hot spots as well as a portable home type unit for each of the three big cell providers.

We were at an event with them last summer and our Verizon phones had ZERO signal. They ended up having to use one of their cell phone hot spots on T-Mobile.

So, like was stated above, if connectivity is important to you, you will need a broad based strategy using several cell providers.
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Old 01-20-2023, 03:52 PM   #7
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I remote worked for 2 years using an AT&T dedicated cellular router and wired external antenna. They are my current service provider, so this "line" costs ~35/mo. The plan is unlimited with "may throttle" and I never had an issue while working to include video conferencing.
Was that a business plan? They don't seem to do any unlimited router plans for consumers these days.
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Old 01-20-2023, 09:30 PM   #8
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I travel full time. I have all three phones, ATT, Verizon and T Mobile. I have been as far north as Fairbanks and as far east as Mississippi River. and as far south as Baja MX. . I really can't say which service is better. Being I boondock a lot, many times only one service will work.
I also have two boosters for Cell Service. One is the weBoost Destination RV Signal Booster Kit | 470159. It takes some set up and you have to launch an extendable 25 foot antenna, which I have permanently mounted. Only works when parked. The other unit is Cel-Fi by Nextivity. This unit will boost when moving or camping. Nextivity is allowed more decible boost because it will only boost one service at a time. (User adjustable in the app) Which is better??? Again, can't say. Sometimes one works well. Sometimes the other. Many times neither do well.
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Old 01-20-2023, 10:46 PM   #9
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Was that a business plan? They don't seem to do any unlimited router plans for consumers these days.
No, it is an additional phone line on my plan. It falls under the same plan rules as all of our cell phones (other than mine on a First Net plan). Depending on what your plan is, will determine the price and the features. This works with the MF-279 or IWFA-40 routers, not to be confused with a hotspot.
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Old 01-21-2023, 06:10 AM   #10
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No, it is an additional phone line on my plan. It falls under the same plan rules as all of our cell phones (other than mine on a First Net plan). Depending on what your plan is, will determine the price and the features. This works with the MF-279 or IWFA-40 routers, not to be confused with a hotspot.
I'm not sure what to make of that. You know what you have and have been paying so I don't doubt what you're saying but I haven't seen a plan like that mentioned anywhere else. I can't find it on att.com although I guess that doesn't mean much. It would be interesting to know exactly what the add-on plan is called or any other info on how to get it.

I think you're saying for about $35 per month you can add a data only plan to a AT&T phone line that you can legitimately put in a router and get unlimited data, deprioritized after some limit. This sounds like the near perfect plan, direct from a carrier, that many people wish for.

I don't know why it's not on the likes of the Mobile Internet Resource Center's "Top Picks" list or why there are so many dubious resellers or why I've never seen it mentioned on various other groups focused on rural or mobile internet. This plus the phone plan would cost about the same or less than the unreliable reseller plans.

I know it's possible to add an unlimited tablet plan to many phone plans for about that price but an add-on router plan is news to me.
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Old 01-21-2023, 09:36 AM   #11
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I'm not sure what to make of that. You know what you have and have been paying so I don't doubt what you're saying but I haven't seen a plan like that mentioned anywhere else. I can't find it on att.com although I guess that doesn't mean much. It would be interesting to know exactly what the add-on plan is called or any other info on how to get it.

I think you're saying for about $35 per month you can add a data only plan to a AT&T phone line that you can legitimately put in a router and get unlimited data, deprioritized after some limit. This sounds like the near perfect plan, direct from a carrier, that many people wish for.

I don't know why it's not on the likes of the Mobile Internet Resource Center's "Top Picks" list or why there are so many dubious resellers or why I've never seen it mentioned on various other groups focused on rural or mobile internet. This plus the phone plan would cost about the same or less than the unreliable reseller plans.

I know it's possible to add an unlimited tablet plan to many phone plans for about that price but an add-on router plan is news to me.

Again it is NOT a hotspot and NOT a data plan. It is a phone plan and falls under the same rules as a phone, because it is a phone/phone plan. I have one in the RV and one for the house (rural with satellite as the only other option). It is not uncommon for us to use 500-1000GB of data/mo.

I am not sure why you can not find it. Here is a link, https://www.att.com/plans/wireless/ and we have the "unlimited extra" plan.
"Unlimited talk, text, data + 50GB of Premium Data
After 50GB, AT&T may temporarily slow data speeds if the network is busy." May throttle unlike Verizon who will throttle after your "premium" data use.

Again the cost will depend on your plan. We have 7 lines (wife 1, parents 2, kids 2, IFWA-40 2). So each line I pay for is $32.01/mo which includes the fees and taxes. A single line of service I am sure cost more. I have ZERO data plans.

I can't speak to why the sites you listed do not mention it. I know its is a popular option where I live since there are limited options for internet.
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Old 01-21-2023, 10:23 AM   #12
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Again it is NOT a hotspot and NOT a data plan.
Okay, thanks for explaining. That makes more sense. Sorry, you did say phone plan earlier that I missed. I thought you had found a real router plan for that price.

But ... just to be clear, putting a phone plan in a router is not a legitimate, approved solution and anyone doing it should be aware of the risks. Of course plenty of people do it. I'll admit to doing it myself. You'll get away with it for some indeterminate amount of time before you get shut down for terms of service violation or get a note from the carrier saying "please return the SIM to an approved device" (i.e. a phone).

Rightly or wrongly lots of people go one step further and do some so called "magic" configuration on the router / modem so that the network sees it as a phone or tablet or whatever the plan is really for. I'm familiar with that too.
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Old 01-21-2023, 10:52 AM   #13
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Keep in mind, that sometimes item purchased to support work related activity, can get a bit of help from Schedule A...

And in your situation, I'd follow the input of having multiple sources of Internet Data available to you... And keep in mind that if your work requires Zooming like meetings, and larger file Uploading of data... That can make a difference too.

Much will depend on how and where you plan to travel. If you are near major interstate and highways, and cities - much higher probability of getting useable Internet Data speeds.

A one year membership in the above linked RVMOBILEINTERNET would be a solid investment.

Some one liner tidbits of opinion:

- Roof Top Antenna 2X2 or 4X4 antennas, feeding a Hotspot with Antenna Ports - would give you much higher odd's of obtaining useable signals

- Verizon and either ATT or T-Mobile (Especially as T-Mobile has merged with Sprint, would give you two paths to Internet Data. (10 + years ago, we went with Verizon and ATT, as at that time they had the best coverage, and seemed that most of the times when one could not get a good signal, the other could. Today? Very seldom do we not have some signal from both carriers, and we use the one with the best Download Speeds (Upload is not too important to us..)

- IF you think you will be off in the boondocks enough to warrant it. You might add a Cellular Booster, again with Rooftop Antenna. (An inexpensive option, that does help some in weak signal areas, is the WeBoost Sleek. We sold a coach with a much higher power booster left in place, and have found the Sleek has been 'enough' the few times we were not supported obtaining a signal from our Rooftop MobileMark MIMO antennas.)

=====

It's really a cool way of mixing work and travel... Take your time to come up with a solution(s) that work for you - it's worth it!

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Old 01-21-2023, 11:39 AM   #14
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Okay, thanks for explaining. That makes more sense. Sorry, you did say phone plan earlier that I missed. I thought you had found a real router plan for that price.

But ... just to be clear, putting a phone plan in a router is not a legitimate, approved solution and anyone doing it should be aware of the risks. Of course plenty of people do it. I'll admit to doing it myself. You'll get away with it for some indeterminate amount of time before you get shut down for terms of service violation or get a note from the carrier saying "please return the SIM to an approved device" (i.e. a phone).

Rightly or wrongly lots of people go one step further and do some so called "magic" configuration on the router / modem so that the network sees it as a phone or tablet or whatever the plan is really for. I'm familiar with that too.
Really? Can you share proof of your statement?

I walked into the corporate owned store and they set it up for me since I purchased my units from a 3rd party vendor. It is an AT&T product and I am using it 100% within their TOS. I have been using them for over 4 years now. Each router is clearly listed on my bill as to what kind of device it is.

The MF-279 and IFWA-40 are both phone services and can work as a phone if you plug in a traditional landline phone.
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