Options for WiFi

[GC53]

Good evening. My wife and I are both teachers. We spent a vast majority of the last year and a half teaching remotely. We did not have our travel trailer then. With the start of the school year fast approaching and the threat of Covid D emerging, I am concerned we may be remote again at some point. In fact the football program I am with just canceled practice for tomorrow for covid mitigation and we are awaiting guidance from the ISD.

If we do end up locked down again we have discussed possibly leaving out in the trailer for awhile and teaching remotely from parks. However we would need quite a reliable internet connection so we could both be online teaching and our own children engaged in their classes. What does everyone recommend for reliable service. Let’s assume the park will not have free internet.

We use ATT for our cellular provider if that makes any difference.

 

[MapNerd]

I would suggest you go ahead and look into getting a pepwave unit and antenna. For service, your normal AT&T plan likely won’t provide enough gigs/month, so you’ll need multiple plans or to buy from a third party reseller like OTRMobile, GypsyMobile or NomadInternet.

 

[DKRITTER]

Agreed;

I recently bought a Pepwave Max Transit 5g and a Parsec antenna. To say it has been a game changer would be an understatement. Very, very impressed with it. We went from a Verizon MiFi, a Camp Pro2 and constant juggling to get a signal, and WiFi the old way was a constant PIA.

 

["EZ"]

Agreed;

I recently bought a Pepwave Max Transit 5g and a Parsec antenna. To say it has been a game changer would be an understatement. Very, very impressed with it. We went from a Verizon MiFi, a Camp Pro2 and constant juggling to get a signal, and WiFi the old way was a constant PIA.

I just bought the same Pepwave unit. Who did you use for SIM cards? How much data do you get and how much per month? I bought T-Mobile 100G for $50/mo and AT&T 100G for $55/mo. I haven't gotten them up and running yet so I'm not sure if that's enough data or not. I wish I could find an unlimited plan for a decent price............(sigh)

 

[DKRITTER]

We went with Verizon, for now I just took the sim card out of the MiFi and an adapter and put it in the Pepwave. I'm in the process of redoing my Verizon account so I didn't want to mess with it. We go thru about 150gb in the MH and the house a month.

 

[lemondrop9344]

Would encourage you to go to Mobile Internet Resource Center & review their information since it appears you are a 'newbie' to being a nomad & depending on internet. The information there should provide a basis on what is available based on your needs.
You mention working from parks..... there are all sorts of RV parks, private, city, county, state, national & what have you. The general consensus is the WIFI service they supply is not the best.
There are exceptions.
I have worked from my home since 2007. My wife & I became full timers in December 2019. Reliable internet was essential for us. I decided to go with a commercial grade cellular modem with the flexibility to use multiple carriers (not necessarily concurrently) as well as the ability to capture free WIFI (when available). At the time, it appeared products from Cradlepoint & Peplink were the most widely used (in this category) by us nomads. Of the two, I chose a Peplink product & have no regrets.
I suspect you biggest issue will be acquiring data plan(s) to allow you to effectively use you equipment. At the time of my research, the consensus opinion seemed to indicate Verizon had better coverage nationwide, but, AT&T was considered faster. I was already a Verizon cellular phone customer & was not interested in changing providers. I looked at what was available from them. I also acquired a grandfathered AT&T data plan (now limited to 500GB/mos) from a reseller (proceed with caution here) that has worked out very well, and, I use it as my primary connection. Redundancy of internet sources is essential, as no carrier will meet all your coverage requirements.
As a general rule, I do not stream media (TV, Prime, Netflix, etc., etc.) over my cellular connection. We are fortunate to have decent park WIFI where we are sheltering in place.
As our RV shell is not metal, I have yet to install an outside antennae. To date, the paddle antennas which came with the Peplink product have worked very well.
As I do consulting work, my workload varies. I consume between 100GB - 200GB of data per billing cycle. I would encourage you to determine, as best you can, what your data requirements will be. How many PC's on line concurrently, what apps are running that require bandwidth, is it constant use, intermittent use, can it be scheduled to run at night & so on.
What ever you get...... make sure your cellular provider supports the product prior to making a purchase.. I think the term they use is 'CERTIFIED'. I'm sure many of the suppliers will tell you the equipment will work wit so & so provider. There is a difference between 'it will work' & being certified by the carrier. The Peplink forum is a good place to browse to get an idea some of the issues users encounter & solve when the product has not yet been certified.
What you are considering can be done satisfactorily if you have reasonable expectations & plan your trips to ensure you have adequate cellular coverage.
Good luck & safe travels.

 

[lemondrop9344]

Link below show 4G LTE coverage from the FCC. You can select either voice or data from the major carriers.

FCC Releases Sweet Mobile Data Coverage Map for All Carriers

For the first time ever, the FCC today released a mobile 4G LTE coverage map for all the major carriers, including Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, and US Cellular. The map is super handy if you need to compare the coverage you might see from a particular carrier at your house, work, or if you are...

www.droid-life.com

I am not convinced 'REAL 5G' is available anywhere except major metropolitan areas & it's limited there. I'm not convinced in its present form, and price point, if offers a reliable & widely available cellular signal suitable for the RV nomad. I'm sure there are many on this forum who will disagree with me. Of course that is your perogative.

 

[CaptainGizmo]

Ha. I just posted that on Neal’s thread about T-Mobile coverage.

The FCC map is 4G only.

You are correct about 5G; it’s way too early. This is no different than every single carrier/band update for the last 20 years; 3G, 4G, LTE, and now 5G. Heck, I remember scrambling around just in hopes to find EDGE! ?

 

[DKRITTER]

Sorry guys, but I'm going to kinda disagree with y'all about 5G.

Remember I said Kinda, because you're mostly right today but quickly you're getting more and more wrong.

I had no intentions of going to 5G yet either, but I accidently destroyed my phone early this year. I picked up a new Note 20 to replace my Note 10. When I got it I pretty much never saw 5G. Now I see it kinda frequently. Today at a gas station in Valley View TX 200+ down. In Dallas and Fort Worth I see this more and more. I realize I'm not speaking to MMWave 5G.

All that said, if I hadn't destroyed my phone I wouldn't have upgraded. I'm impressed enough with it now if I buy a new device it will be 5G, which is what I did with the Pepwave Max Transit 5g I just bought.

I would imagine a lot of it has to do with the carrier.

 

[lemondrop9344]

As posted, I expected there would be some dissenters.
If I were to purchase another phone, I too would go with the Samsung Note 20 also, not because of its 5G capability though. I live & travel outside of Verizon's 5G coverage area.
I applaud you for going with a 5G capable device (the Peplink device, not the phone). You are paving the way for those of us who will follow in your foot steps.