You can work from anywhere! What to do for internet?” It is complicated, because what works for one situation may not work or be cost effective for another. You will need a balance of accessibility, reliability, and cost can be challenging. Understanding your needs, what’s available in the market, and some experimentation will help you find the right solution. If you can work from home, you can work where you want.
Data Usage
Review your existing usage to determine how much you will need because this is where you can get into spending a lot of money unnecessarily or come up short on your data plans.
Are you a full-time RVer working, video conferencing, lots of data up and down? Or do you need internet access only when vacationing?
How many devices will be accessing the internet at any point in time?
Are you running any apps or services that need continual access, such as security cameras, temperature monitoring (nest thermostat), ring doorbell, etc.?
Television options
You can choose from streaming live TV, satellite TV, over the air antenna or RV antenna. For movies and music options you can choose from satellite TV, streaming services, or a combination of the two. Dish TV has a month-to-month program for RVers with different package options. When you relocate, you enter your zip code, and it resets the satellite so you can pick up the local channels for that area in addition to the all the other channels. ATT TV may offer the same set up, but we do not have experience with their RV service. Our RV antenna is a standard antenna, we find the over the air antenna to be a better solution. There are very inexpensive over the air antennas with a range of about 30 miles and you pay more for those that are longer range, but not a lot. Some RVs come equipped with better antennas or you can upgrade your antenna. We recommend you try out your RV antenna in different areas and then decide as to whether you want to upgrade or buy an over the air antenna.
Location
You can work from anywhere, almost.! We have found areas with NO CELL and NO WIFI. Will you be RVing in your local, across country or out of country? Carrier coverage maps are your friend when choosing the carriers to meet your needs.
Knowing the answer to these questions will help you estimate your usage and determine what your backup options need to be. If you are only using your RV for vacationing, and you have a good data plan on your phone, it may suffice for your entertainment needs. If you are vacationing and working, then you’ll probably need to add a hot spot. If you are full-time and working, then you will need a more robust solution. You will most likely need a phone with data plan, different carrier with hotspot or a modem and carrier plan with an upgraded internet antenna.
Essential Backups
Using a combination of your phone’s hotspot and free-standing hotspot is a great way to maximize your coverage and keep some of your expenses down. DO NOT rely on RV park Wi-Fi, it is seldom efficient. You are working, don’t risk it. There are a lot of people using the internet and most RV park Wi-Fi setups just can’t handle the volume. In addition, you are sacrificing the security of your data anytime you use public Wi-Fi.
Top 3 Hotspot Providers
VERIZON AND T-MOBILE are great for the SOUTH & EAST. In the WEST, ATT is your best option and Verizon is second to ATT. T-Mobile has the best pricing and is consumer friendly, Verizon comes in second, with ATT coming in third. In general ATT is more expensive and not quite as user friendly. Maximize your internet capabilities by securing a standalone hotspot with a carrier other than the one you are using for your phone. It will enable you to use your data plan with your phone carrier and use the hotspot with the other carrier. Balancing those two data plans should meet most of your needs for redundancy. If you are working, use the standalone hotspot for your work and only use the phone data if you start running low on data or your hotspot carrier doesn’t have service in the area. Keep in mind that if you are using the data from your phone to work, you cannot talk on the phone and use the data at the same time.
Starlink
There are six services to choose from: business, residential, roam (previously known as Starlink RV), mobility, maritime, and aviation. Initially, people were purchasing residential and using it while RVing. Starlink caught onto this and has now restricted these plans. If you go with Starlink, you will need to make sure you purchase the ROAM OPTION. It will require an upfront fee to purchase the satellite and equipment and you will have to pay a monthly fee for the service (service can be paused, only pay monthly, like Dish TV for RVers.) Starlink works well in rural areas. You’ll likely experience a decrease in speed when camping in or near large cities. That decrease in speed doesn’t mean it’s not a feasible option, just be aware that you will experience differences in speed. The roam option offers standard Starlink and In-Motion. Standard means you can’t use the satellite while traveling down the road, but you can use it once you settle down to camp or an overnight stop over. The In-Motion means you can use it while your RV is in-motion. Note: the speed at which you can use in-motion is still in question and Starlink cautions you to use it AT YOUR OWN RISK.
We live it everyday so most of the time, we can work where we want!
Working While Mobile
Oftentimes, one of us works while the other drives so this is a concern. However, our traditional carriers (Verizon and T-Mobile) have worked fine while traveling at highway speeds. If you really want the in-motion service, you may have to go on a WAIT LIST for the equipment. The standard equipment is a satellite that you can set up outside your RV and move it around for the best signal. The in-motion is a flat panel satellite that must be installed on your roof. The following articles provide more information on Starlink and some of the pros and cons. Mobile Must Have is a favorite resource of ours. They have multiple You Tube videos and a great library of materials. They offer both free resources and membership only resources. We have found the materials to be worth the membership fee.
https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/guides/starlink-rv-boat/
https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/internet/starlink-internet-review/
Starlink Internet: Coverage & Availability Map | BroadbandNow\.
3rd Party Resellers
We recommend you stay away from 3rd party resellers in the beginning unless you have multiple hotspots. You will hear about a lot of great deals through resellers, and it will be very tempting to sign up for them. Be sure to READ THE REVIEWS on them before signing up for them. There have been a lot of issues with carriers changing terms or pulling out of reseller contracts, especially ATT. We were using a reseller that had a great deal, but they kept running into problems with ATT and changing our plan. After going through three changes, we stopped using them and moved over to Mobile Must Have. However, ATT also made a change with them shortly after launching a plan which resulted in Mobile Must Have changing our plan to T-Mobile. The plan has been working great for us as of this post and we plan to keep it. BE FLEXIBLE! We had a hotspot directly with T-Mobile and dropped it once we determined that the plan with Mobile Must Have is stable and provides good speeds and more data at a better price. Keep in mind that regardless of whether you use a reseller or go into a direct contract with a carrier, you will have to purchase a hotspot or other equipment from the supplier. Make sure you understand the equipment needs and associated costs. The great thing about resellers is that you can typically use them on a month-to-month basis and pause or cancel your service at any time. This works great for people that are RVing for vacations and still need the ability to work. This group has great information about this topic on You Tube and their website https://mobilemusthave.com/
We use an older version and it still works fine after 5 Years
WeBoost
Is a booster antenna that will help boost your internet signal in areas where the signal is a little weaker. We’ve had a WeBoost antenna since we first started RVing. We do not have to use it all the time, but it has really helped at times when we were in remote areas and could not get a strong signal on our hot spots or phones. It WILL NOT help when you are in areas that do not have any internet access. We have the external antenna mounted on the back of our RV on a 25’ pole that can be easily extended to add height. Height is critical to making the most of your WeBoost. The internal antenna is installed at our kitchen table. The con to using a WeBoost is that you must set your hotspot or phone right next to the internal antenna for it to work efficiently. Again, it only boosts an existing internet signal, it does not work if an internet signal doesn’t exist. This is an expensive option, so we don’t recommend you jump in immediately.
Speed Test
Both https://openspeedtest.com/ and https://www.speedtest.net/ are good tools to test different internet providers in an area to determine which one works the best. Speed always varies based on time of day and area. Evening hours are the busiest due to so many people streaming.
Opensignal
Is an app that allows you to run data speed tests, video speed tests, and compare multiple carriers in the area for download and upload speeds. This app is not as user friendly as we would like, but it does help determine which carriers are going to work best in your area.
Now that you have a primer on internet options, let us know if you would like a deeper dive in a specific area. Questions and suggestions are always welcome and help us keep our content relevant. See all of our RV Travel content on FB at Let Our Souls Travel.
See you out there, or on the information highway!
Richard & Mary
