In cabin wi-fi?

[hippyman]

I'm new to the whole concept of wifi on the road(I always used to travel to disconnect, afterall.)  But I digress.....I've been wondering something, is it possible to set up a wifi hotspot thru my vans built in antannae, or some other means that would provide a constant connection?  If possible I would like to avoid having to pull into a campsite everytime I need to send an email.

 

[TMG51]

All you need is a mobile hotspot. Verizon jetpack or similar. Works off cell signal. You'll have Internet anywhere a cell phone would work.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I highly recommend that you get this book from Technomadia:

http://www.rvmobileinternet.com/book

They're in the process of revising the 2015 edition, and will be releasing the new, 2016 edition by the end of February.

Regards
John

 

[LeeRevell]

Some smartphones act as WiFi hotspots, allowing you to run your laptop/tablet off it.  I have done this.

 

[jimindenver]

Check my threads about the unlimited verizon hotspot, the 4gas hotspot, the Freedompop hotspot or the Ringplus phone with hotspot. They are all inexpensive or free ways to get on the internet.

With Freedompop and RingPlus on Sprint I bought the phone or hotspot and the monthly service is free. Only a Gig of data on each so small time user. Hotspot $44, phone $70

The 4gas T-Mobile hotspot has 5 gig and then unlimited throttled data for $20 a month. Hotspot $79

The Verizon 3G hotspot is unlimited and cost $5 a month. Hotspot $84

I don't have a thread on my Cricket phone. It's $65 a month for unlimited TnT and 10 gigs of data on it's hotspot then unlimited throttled. Phone $140

Many other options available. A verizon device will get you the best coverage. Then AT&T and after that it's iffy with Sprint and T-Mobile.

 

[Fivealive]

Don't be afraid to use a Sprint or Tmobile based service these days. Both of those networks have seriously stepped up their game the past couple of years. I carry a pre-paid verizon jetpack with the assumption that my Sprint based boost mobile service is going to not work somewhere that the Verizon one will. When we first hit the road this was a real thing, but now it's been over a year since I needed to activate the jetpack. The coverage upgrades are real! I actually found the opposite to be true recently when driving the coast from SF to Santa Cruz. Verizon barely worked at any of the pullouts and was 3g when it did. Meanwhile my boost service was still getting LTE.

My boost mobile plan is 55/month and gives me unlimited, no throttle, LTE data. It also allows me to use the hotspot feature on my phone but that is capped at 8GB. I get around the 8GB cap by using the following app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.koushikdutta.tether&hl=en - This allows me to use my laptop with the unlimited high speed date from the phone, bypassing the need to use the 8GB hotspot.

I use a moto E phone that I picked up for $50 at best buy, I think it might be even less on Boosts website. No complaints at all, best phone/service experience I have ever had to be honest, and I used to be a big Verizon only guy paying over 100 bucks a month for the service and several hundred bucks for new phones. Never again.

 

[jimindenver]

It's good to hear Sprint is getting better. Denver is a very upgraded market and still improving so Sprint devices here are wonderful.

For a few days I think you can still get on the Momentum plan at RingPlus. You'll need a clean phone too sign up with, as little as $20 at Best Buy. You will have to put $25 on a top up to cover overages but after that it's free for 3000 minutes talk, 3000 text and 3000 Mb's of data a month. It does cost $5.99 a month to enable the hotspot but you don't need it for most things. I bought Honey a Phablet with a 4 1/2 screen for this plan, who needs a hotspot.

 

[TMG51]

Don't be afraid to use a Sprint or Tmobile based service these days.  Both of those networks have seriously stepped up their game the past couple of years.  I carry a pre-paid verizon jetpack with the assumption that my Sprint based boost mobile service is going to not work somewhere that the Verizon one will.  When we first hit the road this was a real thing, but now it's been over a year since I needed to activate the jetpack.  The coverage upgrades are real!  I actually found the opposite to be true recently when driving the coast from SF to Santa Cruz.  Verizon barely worked at any of the pullouts and was 3g when it did.  Meanwhile my boost service was still getting LTE.  

My boost mobile plan is 55/month and gives me unlimited, no throttle, LTE data.  It also allows me to use the hotspot feature on my phone but that is capped at 8GB.  I get around the 8GB cap by using the following app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.koushikdutta.tether&hl=en - This allows me to use my laptop with the unlimited high speed date from the phone, bypassing the need to use the 8GB hotspot.  

I use a moto E phone that I picked up for $50 at best buy, I think it might be even less on Boosts website.  No complaints at all, best phone/service experience I have ever had to be honest, and I used to be a big Verizon only guy paying over 100 bucks a month for the service and several hundred bucks for new phones.  Never again.

That sounds like the best option I've heard for mobile data... Do you know if this plan is still being offered as you have it? (Unlimited but purportedly capped for tethering). I'll have to look at coverage maps but I might switch.

Do you stream Netflix etc with your laptop tethered?

 

[Fivealive]

That sounds like the best option I've heard for mobile data... Do you know if this plan is still being offered as you have it? (Unlimited but purportedly capped for tethering). I'll have to look at coverage maps but I might switch.

Do you stream Netflix etc with your laptop tethered?

Yes it is still available.  It is listed at 60/month but it drops to 55/month when you sign up for auto-pay.   


https://www.boostmobile.com/#!/shop/plans/monthly-phone-plans/


You can stream all you want from any service.  My records indicate that I burn through 30-50gb of data per month and there is never any throttling!

I am currently using my laptop and tethered to my phone as I type this.  Here is my speedtest result.  Currently I'm on fiesta island in San Diego and I have 2 bars of service.  I have seen it go over 20Mb/s when I have full bars.  As a streaming test I just started a youtube video at 720p.  I am about one min into the video, no skips and the buffer appears to be well ahead of the live playback.  

 

[Fivealive]

I just checked the coverage maps and the Verizon one is still much, much, better. Personally I tend to either be in a city where they both work or surrounded by elevation where neither work. It looks like the rural in-between is where the biggest difference is. I don't think I will be ditching that jetpack anytime soon, its nice that I only have to activate it when I need it.

 

[Fivealive]

Looking at those coverage maps its hard to believe Sprint would be better anywhere, but my experience was real so I had to zoom in to the maps and do a comparison.  The maps are in line with my experience on this particular stretch of hwy1. It is one of my favorite stretches of coastline, very beautiful and very friendly to boondocking.   But after looking at the maps zoomed out for the entire country I feel like I need to add a very big YMMV (your mileage may very) to my comments!  

 

[TMG51]

Yes it is still available.  It is listed at 60/month but it drops to 55/month when you sign up for auto-pay.   


https://www.boostmobile.com/#!/shop/plans/monthly-phone-plans/


You can stream all you want from any service.  My records indicate that I burn through 30-50gb of data per month and there is never any throttling!

I am currently using my laptop and tethered to my phone as I type this.  Here is my speedtest result.  Currently I'm on fiesta island in San Diego and I have 2 bars of service.  I have seen it go over 20Mb/s when I have full bars.  As a streaming test I just started a youtube video at 720p.  I am about one min into the video, no skips and the buffer appears to be well ahead of the live playback.  

I'm becoming very interested in this as an option. I do spend time on the east coast so I would have to check coverage there, but I would be replacing my phone plan and not my Verizon Jetpack plan (12gb). P.S. Right this minute I'm in San Diego also.

 

[NeedAnEscape]

I use an unlimited AT&T iPad plan, and have jailbroken the iPad to allow tethering/hotspot usage. I typically use 20-80gb a month without any noticeable throttling. Video streaming, online games and remote desktop, SSH, etc work just as good as they did on cable/DSL. The only difference I noticed is downloads take longer.

 

[hippyman]

Some smartphones act as WiFi hotspots, allowing you to run your laptop/tablet off it.  I have done this.

Smartphone isn't an option for me, but I do have a KindleFire.  Is there a way to make that work?

 

[LeeRevell]

I know nothing about tablets. I use just smart phone or real computer.
Still a newbie myself to on-the-road data comms.

 

[BradKW]

A tablet would only work if it also had 3G/4G/LTE connectivity...otherwise it's just wifi and needs a network or hotspot to connect. afaik, Amazon doesn't make a Fire flavor that supports cell network connections...

 

[muddy]

Smartphone isn't an option for me, but I do have a KindleFire.  Is there a way to make that work?

Unless you purchased one with a cell modem (more expensive), no.

I'm not familiar with Kindle Fires, but it looks like only a few generations of them had this option.

 

[muddy]

I use an unlimited AT&T iPad plan, and have jailbroken the iPad to allow tethering/hotspot usage. I typically use 20-80gb a month without any noticeable throttling. Video streaming, online games and remote desktop, SSH, etc work just as good as they did on cable/DSL. The only difference I noticed is downloads take longer.

Woah thanks for the heads up. I didn't realize anyone still offered unlimited plans.

 

[mpruet]

I'm new to the whole concept of wifi on the road(I always used to travel to disconnect, afterall.)  But I digress.....I've been wondering something, is it possible to set up a wifi hotspot thru my vans built in antannae, or some other means that would provide a constant connection?  If possible I would like to avoid having to pull into a campsite everytime I need to send an email.

I have an unlimited data plan through Sprint/android.  Since Sprint isn't everywhere, I also have a Verizon jetPack as a back up.  The Sprint plan that I'm on is a true non-degrading data plan that I've had for years and provides great bandwidth when I'm in locations where Sprint data works.  I can get 2GB through roaming per month in my plan.  Since the Sprint plan is much cheaper than the Verizon, I use it as much as I can.  And also since I'm a fairly heavy bandwidth user, I frequently use 100+GB per month when on the road.  I use pda.net (www.pdanet.co) to tether my cell phone to my laptop.  Then I turn my laptop into a hotspot.  I use windows 10 and unfortunately the 'turn your pc into a hotspot' doesn't work unless you are directly connect to an internet connection and an USB tethered connection doesn't count.  But by running the following from an administrator's command line you can still turn your cell connection into a port for a pc hosted hotspot.

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=<<my_ssid>> key=<<my_key>>

netsh wlan start hostednetwork

By using this approach, I have been able to get roughly 10 times the performance when using speedtest than I was able to get when using a t-mobile cell as a hotspot.  

Finally by going into the network connections and sharing the PdaNet ethernet connection with the hosted network connection, you should be able to connect other devices through your laptop -> through your cell -> onto the internet.