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Old 09-25-2022, 09:28 AM   #1
JBM3M
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Wifi and TV access

Ok, I used up my hotspot data on my cell phone in 2 days. We just got back from a trip thru Boise ID, and up to Kalispell MT and then home. We were at a huge RV park in ID and had issues with connection to wifi and tv stations on our HD antenna. Next stop in Hamilton MT, we had no connectable WiFi or even TV.


So we gotta come up with something. We may travel once a month, maybe more, maybe less depending. Our home internet (T-mobile 5G Gateway) and phones are T-mobile.


What I have researched on Winegard is spooky to say the least for the expense. Don't want to go to Verizon or AT&T. To take the T-mobile gateway with us isn't really reasonable as you have to call support and have them change stuff, so that would be a real hassel every time you move.


So I am looking for recommendations for a solution(s). Cost is also important, retired on fixed income.
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Old 09-25-2022, 11:02 AM   #2
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I'm done with worrying about what cell service or hot-spot or campground wifi is best...

I ordered Starlink this morning.
And a Flagpole Buddy Starlink Ladder mount kit....
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Old 09-25-2022, 01:09 PM   #3
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Javi let us know how that goes. I was looking at that yesterday as I've had nothing but trouble since I tried to upgrade with Visible. When I looked at the StarLink map it showed pretty much all of TX, and most of the South, as "low speed" or something like that so I sort of lost interest.
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Old 09-25-2022, 02:43 PM   #4
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Javi let us know how that goes. I was looking at that yesterday as I've had nothing but trouble since I tried to upgrade with Visible. When I looked at the StarLink map it showed pretty much all of TX, and most of the South, as "low speed" or something like that so I sort of lost interest.
I will be happy to report on my experiences with the Starlink.
In researching it both online and personal experience from friends who already have it around Waco and East Texas tells me that if you can avoid trees and buildings that you're good.
One fellow put it this way... some is better than none..😁
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Old 09-26-2022, 12:44 AM   #5
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So we gotta come up with something. We may travel once a month, maybe more, maybe less depending. Our home internet (T-mobile 5G Gateway) and phones are T-mobile.
To take the T-mobile gateway with us isn't really reasonable as you have to call support and have them change stuff, so that would be a real hassel every time you move.
According to this article [LINK], you can purchase an additional T-Mobile hotspot device for a flat fee, have no contract or mandatory monthly fee, and purchase additional time in real-time whenever you want. When I break down and buy a separate hotspot, this is the one on my list.
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Old 09-26-2022, 03:32 AM   #6
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According to this article [LINK], you can purchase an additional T-Mobile hotspot device for a flat fee, have no contract or mandatory monthly fee, and purchase additional time in real-time whenever you want. When I break down and buy a separate hotspot, this is the one on my list.
I did pretty much this with a Verizon Hotspot. I tried the Winegard Gateway and after a few days of having to reboot it every few hours it was sent back (now we have 4 holes in the bedroom ceiling where it was mounted ☹). I got a 100gb hotspot plan plus 100gb of Hotspot on our phones and with my $20 discount from Verizon it is only $40 a month for the hotspot and I can shut it down when we are not on the road. Have had it for over a week and have not had to reboot once. Where we are the cell signal is good so it hasn't been an issue yet. Since we left home Verizon activated a Tower less then a mile from the house vs 4 miles so my cell booster system there will be repurposed for use in the 5ver.
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Old 09-26-2022, 05:38 AM   #7
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Here is my reasoning on ordering the Starlink, the Winegard 1000 has performed flawlessly for us for about a year but we rarely stream to the TV and we've only stayed in one park that had wifi. The wifi was iffy at best and the Winegard made it a little better but nothing to really brag about. However the 4G of the Winegard has been great and when we're in a park with good AT&T service it shines..

Our problem with the Winegard isn't functionality, it is connectivity with AT&T in 90% of the out of the way little State Parks we love to visit. Almost every park we visit is over a hundred miles from any population center greater than 500 persons and AT&T or any other carrier's service is spotty or nonexistent.

I'm actually good with that but the DW is a social media addict and has withdrawal symptoms if she can't check on the grandkids at least once an hour...

So, no more cell phone internet...
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Old 09-26-2022, 05:49 AM   #8
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So what would be a reasonable amount of data use to pay up front for if we go with the Tmobile T10?
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Old 09-26-2022, 05:52 AM   #9
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We use Visible, $40 a month, truly unlimited. We have a ZTE phone (purchased for $70 from Visible) and a portable router that plugs into the phone so we can connect multiple devices all at the same time. It works great!

We've run into a few complete dead zones.... for example ... in the mountains on the top of Hanging Rock State Park in North Carolina, in he hallow where the campground is located. But .... there was no AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile signals in the spot either. And, it was so heavily forested, there was not a single spot for a satellite reception either. So, no matter what you have, there will be a dead-zone somewhere.

Visible works great for us. We take it with us everywhere, and when home, we use it 100% of the time too, even though our home has a different system completely. It's never throttled, and works great streaming television on our Roku televisions, laptops, and i-pad. We use it for our company supplied lap tops too. I used it when I was still employed (I retired this year) and my wife is still using it for her company work. We were both in Information Technology (IT) and had to be accessible 24x7 on many occasions. Visible never failed us.

We use our Visible (ZTE) phone ONLY for our internet, even though it does have it's own separate phone number. We NEVER use the phone or texting. We use it only for internet access. We have AT&T phones with unlimited data on them also. We use to use them, but found (on a few rare occasions) AT&T just crapped out. That's why we also went with Visible.

Visible does use the Verizon network .... BUT ... it IS NOT Verizon.

It something to look into. Good luck.
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Old 09-26-2022, 06:26 AM   #10
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Suggest you look on campgroundreviews.com at the speeds for Verizon, AT&T and T-mobile. Visible uses Verizon towers and Consumer Cellular uses AT&T towers and T-mobile uses their own towers. We have found that the areas where we camp have better signal and thus better speeds using AT&T and hence we have unlimited Consumer Cellular data. We use both a WiFi and Cellular booster via outside antennas and routers inside our camper for either (depends on which has better reception where we camp).
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Old 09-26-2022, 01:17 PM   #11
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Well there are so many options. Everywhere we were in last month we had T-mobile service at at least the 4G level. So we went back to T-mobile and simply upgraded our Magenta plan to Magenta Plus which gives us 40 GB of data hotspot data per phone per month for like $100 per month. This in turn gave a discount on the home internet knocking off $20, so we are almost a wash with all these changes of late. Between the two phones that gives us 80 GB a month and we don't travel that much, the last 10 day trip was the longest in years. We mostly go to the coast and hang out and boondock at Lincoln City OR. (Wife is a gambler and loves the casino, I just like the comfortable climate>)
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Old 10-02-2022, 08:00 AM   #12
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Love my Starlink for RV. I get over 100mbps wherever I am at. I can have like 8 people in my camp using wifi and I can still steam movies.
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Old 10-02-2022, 08:04 AM   #13
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We are definitely thinking on it (Starlink) because we could use it at home too along with sling, zulu, etc. We just did a weekend on new plan, used 12 gb.
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Old 10-02-2022, 08:28 AM   #14
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I just realized a "disadvantage" to parking our fifth wheel in the pole barn. If I did install a Starlink system on the roof, I couldn't use it at home because the "sky is obscured" by the pole barn. DARN !!!!!
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Old 10-02-2022, 12:42 PM   #15
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I just realized a "disadvantage" to parking our fifth wheel in the pole barn. If I did install a Starlink system on the roof, I couldn't use it at home because the "sky is obscured" by the pole barn. DARN !!!!!
Was playing with the new Starlink this afternoon and it wouldn't be a big deal to install a mount on the pole barn and use the Dishy there. Dang thing really is plug and play.

I went with a Flagpole Buddy 2.0 Starlink ladder mount for the ease of installation and the ability to use the ORM stand if needed. For now, I'm going to just put the router in the basement and run the cord out the hose/cable port to the antenna on the ladder. Later I'll probably put the router in the coffee bar and still run the cable out the hose port.. It's really so simple it's scary..
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Old 10-02-2022, 01:00 PM   #16
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I just realized a "disadvantage" to parking our fifth wheel in the pole barn. If I did install a Starlink system on the roof, I couldn't use it at home because the "sky is obscured" by the pole barn. DARN !!!!!
It looks like you are not restricted to a fixed mount on the RV (otherwise you would have “tune it” everytime you moved the Rv). Either way it looks interesting. Just the other night we saw new sats being deployed across the night sky, pretty freaky thing to see when you are not expecting it.
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Old 10-02-2022, 01:28 PM   #17
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So what would be a reasonable amount of data use to pay up front for if we go with the Tmobile T10?
It depends on your usage patterns. If you check your email once a day and read news on the web, or if you like to watch streaming videos every night.

I've found that my phone keeps track of the data that goes to tethered devices. If I really wanted to know the answer to this question, I'd go on a trip for a few days or a week, using only my phone for Internet, then check that meter at the end of the week to estimate my monthly usage.
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Old 10-02-2022, 01:37 PM   #18
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I just realized a "disadvantage" to parking our fifth wheel in the pole barn. If I did install a Starlink system on the roof, I couldn't use it at home because the "sky is obscured" by the pole barn. DARN !!!!!
It depends what the roof material is. Metal, yup. Tile, yup. Wood/Trex/asphalt shingle, not so much. Colored corrugated polycarbonate (corrugated barn "light panels") is pretty radio-transparent (clear is best for the radio, but you want the shade for the RV).

When I was working radio-based networking, the three horsemen that would stop us dead were metal (usually appliances), water (piping stacks), and masonry (block walls).
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Old 10-02-2022, 01:55 PM   #19
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I just realized a "disadvantage" to parking our fifth wheel in the pole barn. If I did install a Starlink system on the roof, I couldn't use it at home because the "sky is obscured" by the pole barn. DARN !!!!!

I split a pool noodle and zip tied it to our ladder. Have a flagpole with mount for dishy that will Velcro strap to the noodle. We just finished a 3 week trip Iowa to Maine to Maryland to North Carolina to Missouri and never once used it. Was able to get acceptable service setting on the truck or ground without the setup of the pole.

Could have used it one night but was raining so did not try getting 20’ up.
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Old 10-02-2022, 02:05 PM   #20
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I split a pool noodle and zip tied it to our ladder. Have a flagpole with mount for dishy that will Velcro strap to the noodle. We just finished a 3 week trip Iowa to Maine to Maryland to North Carolina to Missouri and never once used it. Was able to get acceptable service setting on the truck or ground without the setup of the pole.

Could have used it one night but was raining so did not try getting 20’ up.
This is what I purchased for the Starlink
https://youtube.com/shorts/u8cIc70EukI?feature=share
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