Mobile hotspot/wifi/bluetooth

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

I am pretty sure nothing is stored on a router. A router is simply a gateway for a wired connection to be distributed to multiple devices either wired or wirelessly in your network.

If you have a “smart tv” at home, the Hulu app (and any others) are on that tv and that’s it, so unless you take your tv you are out of luck.

This is why we have a good ol’ fashioned dumb tv and use the FireStick at home and on the road (just unplug the stick from the home tv and plug it into the camper tv). On the FireStick, we have apps for Hulu, Disney+, Prime Video, Netflix, Showtime, HBO Max, Tubi, Peacock, IMDB, ESPN+, Discovery+, and a bunch more that I forget at the moment.

The home router supplies wifi via DHCP addresses to the devices it connects to and has a MAC address that doesn't change and is the fingerprint that Hulu knows regardless of the DHCP address it obtains from the router as they are generally dynamic. The MAC address is unique to my router aka gateway.

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by wiredgeorge

The home router supplies wifi via DHCP addresses to the devices it connects to and has a MAC address that doesn't change and is the fingerprint that Hulu knows regardless of the DHCP address it obtains from the router as they are generally dynamic. The MAC address is unique to my router aka gateway.

We don't have Hulu but do have several other apps for streaming services. All the apps we have will ask for a log in when using an address it hasn't stored or doesn't recognize. Many use a text or email code to verify it's you. IIRC Netflix is about to change this.

Anyway, this one of the several reasons that I use a tablet with a sim card to initially register on streaming services. Our old Sprint/T-mobile plan cost us $10/month with unlimited data if not used as a hot-spot. I use the tablet to cast to the smart tv and if it's not a smart tv then I can go the usb to hdmi route.

[dutchmensport]

We have Hulu and only 1 account. It works on 4 different Roku televisions. (2 in the house from our home internet), and 2 in the camper where we use through Visible and a portable router. Just open hulu.com, or down load the app on your Roku television and log in with your existing account on the new device and it works. We've never tried running 2 Hulu's at the same time though. I imagine it would block the second device once the first is is connected, same as having no account at all. The same user ID and password works on our computers too. It doesn't care what device you are streaming to, it only cares about your user ID and password log in.

Now, Prime TV can connect up to 3 devices at the same time. We watch Prime anywhere we go and our son can watch Prime at home (same account).

Streaming television and video is all internet based. Anywhere, anyhow you can get an internet connecton, if that be hard wired or wifi or hot spot, the internet is just that ... the internet. And all streaming video is nothing more than a web based internet site.

[peanut]

Originally Posted by JBM3M

I thought phone could be a hotspot and if you have password you could long on to the internet.

That is how it works for me - and I don't even need a password (not to access the internet - yes for individual websites).

When I travel I connect my laptop to the phone (Moto g(8) power) with a USB cable. (with the cable I don't worry about any wireless signal between laptop and phone being open to hacking. don't know if that is really a concern but it makes me feel better)
I go into the phone's settings menu and go to 'network & internet'
I turn on 'hotspot & tethering'
Then I go into that submenu and turn on 'USB tethering'
Now I have internet access thru the phones connection. I just use the laptop like I was sitting at home connected to my wifi.

I am a Consumer Cellular user and so far have had zero problems with connectivity. But I am not a heavy data user - maybe that makes a difference. I rarely stream anything (and when I do it is usually for just enough time to check news and weather). I check email and 3-4 different RV forums. I do not game or play on social media. Works for me. Good luck.

Addendum: I also installed a VPN on the phone to use when I am on the web.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by flybouy

We don't have Hulu but do have several other apps for streaming services. All the apps we have will ask for a log in when using an address it hasn't stored or doesn't recognize. Many use a text or email code to verify it's you. IIRC Netflix is about to change this.

Anyway, this one of the several reasons that I use a tablet with a sim card to initially register on streaming services. Our old Sprint/T-mobile plan cost us $10/month with unlimited data if not used as a hot-spot. I use the tablet to cast to the smart tv and if it's not a smart tv then I can go the usb to hdmi route.

We have quite a few streaming apps that we use. If you sign up to one such as IMDB (all five seasons of the Rifleman on this app), if you create and account you can then keep track of which seasons and episodes you have watched in a favorite list. Roku itself has a bit more secure login feature as they are the brokers for payment for some apps. For instance, you mentioned Netflix. You can have an account with Netflix (we dropped ours when we started streaming) and the account was direct. I you sign up via the Roku for the Netflix app, they will collect the money from your account and pay Netflix. About the only reason to have Netflix is that if you are a fan of certain TV series that drop from the air, Netflix may pick them up plus has a host of their own developed series.

That is the reason we have Paramount +. We are fans of Seal Team and the concluded series 1883. Many times, CBS (part of Paramount) will delay the start of Blue Bloods (another favorite) as there will be some sports event running long. The Blue Bloods episode records on Hulu by specific time and you will miss some of it if it was delayed. You can watch the whole thing on Paramount +.

[JBM3M]

Well I connected phone to laptop after logging laptop off the home wifi.

That made me have to download an app called Dex from Samsung (phone mfg) and I do have internet, not sure about email yet, need wife to get off work to get sign-on for Sling and we can see if I can stream it via HDMI.


I do have to go to Gmail to access my email instead of email program on computer. I did sync the firefox data between all 3 of my online devices also which is a biiiiigggggg help.



No passwords were needed, just to use the scan function on the phone one time. Only took me 15 minutes how to figure that out...lol

[jxnbbl]

Originally Posted by flybouy

"I tried the other day, I can not connect the winegard to the hotspot phone, although my laptop is fine."

Does your "old phone" have the option to connect via Wi-Fi? On our phones I go to the settings menu then connections and set up the Wi-Fi the same as connecting any other device.

Yes, I understand this...phones can connect to the Wingard wifi. What I was trying to do is connect the Wingard to the "new phone" that allows hot spotting...with the Visible service. I tried a 1/2 dozen times and it can not connect.


So where I can connect phone A to phone B (with hotspot) I can not connect Wingard to phone B through wireless although it connects fine to any other internets/wireless modem signal.

[jxnbbl]

Originally Posted by markcee

I had Hulu for a year and it works fine with a Firestick connected to my Visible account via cell phone hotspot. For the last year I've used FuboTV in the same manner. The only restriction is that you will not receive your 'home' local channels. Everything else, including any programming set to cloud DVR is available.

This is my next attempt today...connecting my smart TV to the Visible phone hotspot. If this works then those apps should have access. The only weirdness is that normally if I'm on the router/internet, I have more channels available to be and can stream recorded programming from the Xfinity account. So although they have a TV app for Xfinity, I can't remember that capability and if they will subset it between an internet connection vs a cellular connection.

[jxnbbl]

Originally Posted by dutchmensport

Watch this video. It's probably one of the best on this subject I've seen.

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Watch the video. He explains everything you need to do:

thanks this looks very useful. I just ordered a nano router as visible might recognize other cellular device/routers and somehow not allow hotspotting. This looks like it will do what I intended to accomplish.

Jay

[rlh1957]

Originally Posted by JBM3M

Heck not even sure how to intelligently ask this question. When we have phone access, I would like to also be able to have computer access to internet via the phone for places without wifi.


What are my options. We have phone with Tmobile and they want us to rent a modem monthly, plus monthly data fee (not sure how much we need). That is contrary to some of my reading (or misunderstanding) stuff on the internet. I thought phone could be a hotspot and if you have password you could long on to the internet.


I surf the web watching Utube videos and play a couple games that require internet access to play even if one player.


So not tech savey about this stuff. Advise, suggest and don't bash, thanks.

It will depend phone type, cell carrier or plan you're on whether your phone supports being a hot-spot or not.
1st is to see if your phone will pickup cell service where you are. Then try to access YouTube, etc. on your phone. Might have to turn internet access on.
(I turned it off on my mom's phone.)
Then in-settings see if it has a feature for Hot-Spot, that way you could connect your laptop just like at Starbucks.
The key to a mobile hotspot working is having a cell signal.
If the cell signal is there for text or phone calls on your phone, there might not he enough bandwidth to support a streaming signal to Netflix, You-Tube, etc.

It is hit and miss depending on where you go, just as with all cell service.

Many YouTube RV’ers even have two or more carriers or HotSpots they can jump on if another carrier is stronger. They work on the road so they must be able to find good signals. Sparse desert, mountains, heavy forest will all degrade signal.

Best bet is search YouTube for Internet in an RV.
Many videos on what they use, cost, drawbacks, etc.

[Farside]

I bought two Galaxy's a few years ago, one for my wife and one for myself to use. We used mine as a hotspot whenever we were travelling, and hers we never turned on as a hotspot. My phone would get a lot of activity and a lot of battery usage, and thus the phone would get hot when using it as a hotspot. Thus, this shortened the life of the battery in my phone. Currently my phone charge will only last a few hours now, and her's will still hold a couple days worth of charge.

Verizon has new plans that started the end of last year. So, we have now purchased a MiFi, with a 100 Gb plan. With a multiple phone plan, the price is lower than originally quoted. It also works fine for us, leaves our phones free, but when you only have 1 bar at times, it's time to start looking at a booster for them.

[JBM3M]

Well sitting in RV park with wifi that won't connect well to internet. Swapped over to using phone as hot spot.....plugged in. and I have a fair connection. I have to use a browser from Samsung to do this, Had to actually download it from the phone. I am getting 5G at this location. I am sure there are many other ways, some that will cost money

[Crystal17]

We like having access to WIFI with our own secure network in our camping trailer. The KUMA trailer and motorhome wireless kit comes with a high powered long range WIFI speed booster antenna that will connect to the internet signal up to .9 of a mile away, so if you are out in the wilderness, it will not help your problem. It has it's own address which allows up to 5 different connections on at one time. We each have a phone, we add the TV for streaming via an Amazon Firestick, we bring a laptop to connect, and have our tablets too for reading. We listen to Sirus XM on the trailer stereo connected via bluetooth from our phone.
We got the KUMA ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kuma-WIFIKI.../dp/B00J5EGQ64 ) when we purchased our 2015 Keystone 22RBPR in 2018. We love that we have a secured network for ourselves. There are lots of different kinds available, and this one was a reasonable price when we purchased it on Amazon. Do you have something like this? We keep it all mounted inside our Stereo cabinet above the TV. Hope this has been helpful....

Crystal17

[Tom 1957]

I use the 4500 from them to connect to my AT&T cellular network. It's just another line on my unlimited plan. Works great and is full featured with ethernet and WiFi. I have a Ring camera that keeps me connected to our weekend getaway in the North GA moutains.

[jxnbbl]

We are finishing up a nice long journey and wanted to report back on this. As previously stated we use the Wineguard gateway and everything is configured through it. However when you have crappy wifi it really can't do much so we would switch and use their cellplan. This trip I converted one of my lines to Visible since it has unlimited data. I'm on a 3 month $20/month special at the moment.

I additionally bought a portable router as Visible only allows one connection at a time. Here are my findings:

1. (known) there is no way to connect the Winegard without the portable router...and the connection was "degraded" (makes sense since the antenna it on the roof).

2. Winegard with good wifi is certainly better and currently using it at this campground for both work and streaming TV.

3. Winegard with their sim/service is certainly better than the cellphone/Visible service inside the trailer.

Having said that....other than testing #3, we used the cell Visible extensively for our trip. We found that it worked best without the portable router. Even if only one device was connected to the router. There were times when the two of us had to have computers attached so we did use the portable router.

The best was a single device connected to the phone hotspot and it worked fine except every once in a while the streaming audio would continue but picture freeze on our Fire Tv (amazon) when streaming. We would just "hit rewind" and go back 30 sec...and it would sync. Probably 2-5 times at most for a hour of streaming not bad when a 'tv show' frustrating watching hockey.

In the end I'm probably going to convert all our lines to Visible and their 'family/share plan' the service is fine and equivalent to Verizon (the underlying infrastructure/owner) and we will use the phone service for our non-wifi streaming at the current time and not use the Winegard sim.

But will still continue for a more affordable wireless sim support for the winegard.

Jay