Community Forums

Touchdown2 · 05-26-2019, 09:16 AM

New class C coming this summer after being out of one for two years. Looking for the latest good ideas for TV or streaming tv and increased WiFi reception.
Recommendations??

creativepart · 05-26-2019, 09:27 AM

This is a HUGE subject. The best place to start is to read up on the topic at www.rvmobileinternet.com or the owners of that sites’ blog www.technomadia.com.

There are many “RV internet” videos on YouTube, and tons of threads on the subject here as well.

wjohnson913 · 05-26-2019, 09:50 AM

We use OTR Mobile. They use AT&T towers and the cost is 60 bucks a month. It's unlimited and unthrottled. The sell MiFi mobile hot spot modems for 2-3 hundred bucks and that includes your first 60 bucks for the monthly service. You can use your own device and buy a SIM card for 90 bucks and that also includes your first month service. I've found that where AT&T works their 4G LTE is very fast. I've gotten 30-100 Mbps all over the place. My Verizon hotspot is generally slower but has better coverage in more rural locations. That's why I have Verizon cell phones in case in in a bad AT&T area. So far I've been able to be connected pretty much everywhere.
For streaming tv I've used both Direct Now and YouTube TV. I like YouTube TV better, more channels better interface and seems a bit less "buggy" than Direct Now. The downside with YouTube TV is you have to sign in from "home" every 30 days, that's not necessary with Direct Now. We solved that by splitting the service with our son. He signs in from his home and we travel in ours. YouTube TV allows for five different users with everyone getting their own individual DVRs. Our coach has smart TVs so they all have the Direct Now and YouTube TV on them so one remote does them all.
I've tried other streaming services (PlayStation Vue and Philo) they have their pluses and minuses but they all offer a free 7-10 day trial so you can check them out at home and give them a shot on the road. Philo is cheapest of the group 25 bucks vs 50 bucks but I don't recall if they include local channels and being not in your billing zip code often was a problem.
Sorry for the long reponse but we've experimented with a lot of different options and thought I'd share what works for us.
Best of luck on your travel adventures.

Touchdown2 · 05-26-2019, 11:29 AM

So you have two hot spots OTR mifi and a verizon hot spot?

wjohnson913 · 05-26-2019, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Touchdown2

So you have two hot spots OTR mifi and a verizon hot spot?

We primarily use the AT&T Mifi from OTR and if necessary we use our iPhones as hotspots on the Verizon network. So far that hasn't been a problem. Each phone line gives us 15GB per month as a hotspot without throttling or additional costs. 90% of the time AT&T work great. We've never been anywhere where at least of of those two providers works and most of the time they both work.

Massparanoia · 05-26-2019, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Touchdown2

New class C coming this summer after being out of one for two years. Looking for the latest good ideas for TV or streaming tv and increased WiFi reception.
Recommendations??

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f103/best...es-442761.html

swsarmyknife · 05-27-2019, 11:13 AM

We also use an unlimited ATT plan for internet and in some spots it's decent enough for streaming. The sim is inside a RooTer based router with a MC7455 wireless card. This leaves the options open if we ever decide to go with another provider than ATT.

For streaming we use Netflix, Amazon Prime and Youtube.

OTA for when we are in areas where we can pick up local stations. A good rooftop antenna can usually pull in 10+ channels. It's HD in most cases and best of all free.

We also use dishnet tailgater which gets us all the same channels we watch at home. This option makes especially sense if you already have dishnet at home as you can add a $7 a month VIP 211 receiver that you use on the road with your subscription.

swsarmyknife · 05-27-2019, 11:32 AM

Oh, one other thing. If you decide to use 'free' WIFI at the campgrounds be aware of 1) the speeds will be unusable for streaming and 2) use a VPN service to encrypt all your data exchange to what ever sites you go to.

It's rather risky to use these WIFI hotspots on campgrounds because its just as easy for someone on the campground to spoof a hotspot with a similar name and hijack you data.

brandss · 05-27-2019, 02:38 PM

another suggestion for campground wifi is to go to outside our bubble and watch the video about setting up a private network. It will provide security at the campground, stronger antenna for getting the wifi and the ability to choose what access point you want based on users at each access point (assuming the campground has multiple access points). I installed ours last week and only used it, no sim cards, during the busy weekend with the campground full.

tundranurse1 · 06-11-2019, 06:25 AM

We have a smart tv in our rv with Netflix. We camped over Memorial Day with 2 bars & still streamed, froze up occasionally though. We couldn’t get any stations on our antenna, but could stream, go figure.
I have a hot spot from Verizon; but, using my IPhone as a personal hot spot works better, dropped the hot spot.
I just got Apple TV that works great to mirror the iPad to the tv. I use the DISH app to see exactly what we can watch at home.
Until we retire in a few years, I can’t see getting a satellite dish.

SkiSmuggs · 06-17-2019, 07:52 AM

I use the Verizon pre-paid unlimited plan (no longer offered). I bought the previous generation 7730L hotspot off eBay for $80, got the SIM free from Verizon and auto pay for $65. I bought the Netgear MIMO antenna off Amazon for $30 which has improved throughput a lot. I connect the hotspot to a travel router to create a private network that all our devices connect to and I use the same streaming apps that we use at home.
So far, so good.

Also, see this thread for a cheaper solution but limit to 5Mbps. http://www.irv2.com/forums/f53/40-mo...ed-442091.html