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We are looking for mobile internet options and came across rvdatasat. Does anyone have experience with them? What are some alternatives that we could get? We are both looking to work remote in the next month or so. Reliable cellular will be a must.
Thanks.
We are looking for mobile internet options and came across rvdatasat. Does anyone have experience with them? What are some alternatives that we could get? We are both looking to work remote in the next month or so. Reliable cellular will be a must.
Thanks.
I think Neil is our resident guru on mobile internet...he should be along shortly... ncitro ....
Forum moderators are not GD employees--we are volunteers and owners presumably just like yourself. Unless specifically mentioned otherwise, we have nothing to gain should you choose to purchase a product or engage a service we discuss on this forum.
Howard & Francine
2017 Ford F-350 DRW, '19 315RLTSPlus
We are looking for mobile internet options and came across rvdatasat. Does anyone have experience with them? What are some alternatives that we could get? We are both looking to work remote in the next month or so. Reliable cellular will be a must.
Thanks.
Thanks Howard! I've never heard of that one, I've used a few different things over the years, my current system I've had for a couple years now has been great and I can confidently say if there's been service to have, we've had it. I use a Peplink mobile router with dual modems. I use a version SIM and a AT&T SIM and switch to whichever is stronger when we setup. It also has the ability to bond those connections together to improve the signal as well. My wife and I both work full time, and we are in the rig 4-6 months out of the year so connectivity is unfortunately a must for us.
I did a presentation during the national rally last year on the topic, I'll link the slides below. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Forum moderators are not GD employees--we are volunteers and owners presumably just like yourself. Unless specifically mentioned otherwise, we have nothing to gain should you choose to purchase a product or engage a service we discuss on this forum.
Neil Citro
2018 Reflection 28BH Pepwave
2019 F350 6.7L Long Bed Crew Cab
ncitro Neil, I think you also said you "rent" one of the sim cards? Is there a site for that? Have you looked into Starlink?
I used to, I switched to a new plan Verizon offers business users, 300GB for about half the price of what I paid to rent my grandfathered unlimited plan. I arranged that rental through Mobile Must Haves.
I've looked at it, and I'm on the waiting list, but it's not there yet for mobile for my needs. You cant carry it between counties (my wife is from Canada so we travel both sides of the border) and there has to be slots open to where you move to.
Forum moderators are not GD employees--we are volunteers and owners presumably just like yourself. Unless specifically mentioned otherwise, we have nothing to gain should you choose to purchase a product or engage a service we discuss on this forum.
Neil Citro
2018 Reflection 28BH Pepwave
2019 F350 6.7L Long Bed Crew Cab
ncitro We did catch your presentation @ the rally. You did a good job with the amount of time available. We are looking at the Peplink for our hardware. Do you know if any of their cell routers will hook to the Lippert external antenna. My idea is to mount it in place of the MyRV router above the kitchen cabinet. As for the cell data plans, we did not know if it is worthwhile to go thru 3rd party vendors or just work with what you can purchase direct. We do plan to use Verizon and AT&T.
ncitro We did catch your presentation @ the rally. You did a good job with the amount of time available. We are looking at the Peplink for our hardware. Do you know if any of their cell routers will hook to the Lippert external antenna. My idea is to mount it in place of the MyRV router above the kitchen cabinet. As for the cell data plans, we did not know if it is worthwhile to go thru 3rd party vendors or just work with what you can purchase direct. We do plan to use Verizon and AT&T.
Unfortunately I don't know anything about the Lippert antenna, my rig did not have one. I'd suggest a call to mobile must have and ask them, I found them great to work with. Most of the Peplink gear uses SMA adapters (either two or four depending if you get a 2x2 or 4x4 MIMO setup) so if you've got those you might be good.
I always recommend getting the plan direct from the carrier. Sometimes there can be a small savings, but usually the data is deprioritized over direct customers, and support can be an issue because you don't have a direct path to the carrier to deal with issues like SIM card problems etc.
Forum moderators are not GD employees--we are volunteers and owners presumably just like yourself. Unless specifically mentioned otherwise, we have nothing to gain should you choose to purchase a product or engage a service we discuss on this forum.
Neil Citro
2018 Reflection 28BH Pepwave
2019 F350 6.7L Long Bed Crew Cab
ncitro, You say you are using a Peplink from MobileMustHave. Is this the same as the Pepwave router they have in their Ultimate Road Warrior Bundle? I am needing a very reliable setup quick and I noticed that MMH offers the 300GB plan for $150. But you mentioned that you rented the plan through MMH...Is this the same plan? I apologize but tech is not really my thing, I just need it to work. My plan would be to get the Ultimate Road Warrior Bundle, and the 300GB plan and then supplement with something from Verizon where I have my current cell phone. Any advise? Thanks!
Allen and Cyndi
Ford-a Venture!!!
Ford F-350 and GD Solitude 382WB
ncitro Thanks for the advice. I’m sure I will have more questions.
Absolutely, there are a million different solutions, I am on at least my third evolution of my system, but I am pretty happy with it. I am to the point now where I never even try park WiFi, and even when I moochdock at friends and family I get better service on my cellular system than off some of their WiFi systems.
Forum moderators are not GD employees--we are volunteers and owners presumably just like yourself. Unless specifically mentioned otherwise, we have nothing to gain should you choose to purchase a product or engage a service we discuss on this forum.
Neil Citro
2018 Reflection 28BH Pepwave
2019 F350 6.7L Long Bed Crew Cab
Thanks Brian, they sent me a PM as well and I answered there, but my response might be useful for others so I'll paste it in here too.
I did not buy their bundle because it was not a fit for what I wanted. I have the Balance 20x with the cat 18 add on modem and the puma antenna. I think if I bought today I would go with the max transit duo though, I thought the cat 18 and 4x4 MIMO performance boost would be worth it over the dual cat 12 modem but in practice I think the duo would be fine.
For plans that sounds high, I stopped renting my unlimited plan and now have an AT&T plan that's 22GB and then deprioritized but unlimited (I haven't noticed a slow down yet) for $20, and 150GB of Verizon data for $80.
I recommend the mobile internet resource center, particularly for info about plans. They keep an up to date list of what's out there and the best picks.
Forum moderators are not GD employees--we are volunteers and owners presumably just like yourself. Unless specifically mentioned otherwise, we have nothing to gain should you choose to purchase a product or engage a service we discuss on this forum.
Neil Citro
2018 Reflection 28BH Pepwave
2019 F350 6.7L Long Bed Crew Cab
ncitro , is it practical in this forum setting to describe the difference in effectiveness between the Puma antenna/Pepwave router set up versus using cell boosters? I can tell the cell booster products have heavy marketing and are the more "consumer friendly" product, but that doesn't mean it's the "best" choice. I'm beginning to gather that if a person needs to cover "all" contingencies, then you need both. We're not full time yet but do need effective internet and phone connection because we work on the road. Don't need gaming/video streaming/Zoom calling capabilities, just cloud-based software via VPN and email is critical. If both systems are necessary, then so be it.
Mike and Rebecca
2022 Reflection 150 260RD, October 2021 build date.
2001 Chev 2500 HD 8.1 liter 4x4
ncitro , is it practical in this forum setting to describe the difference in effectiveness between the Puma antenna/Pepwave router set up versus using cell boosters? I can tell the cell booster products have heavy marketing and are the more "consumer friendly" product, but that doesn't mean it's the "best" choice. I'm beginning to gather that if a person needs to cover "all" contingencies, then you need both. We're not full time yet but do need effective internet and phone connection because we work on the road. Don't need gaming/video streaming/Zoom calling capabilities, just cloud-based software via VPN and email is critical. If both systems are necessary, then so be it.
I will defer to the mods if its appropriate, but I think its okay.
I can only answer based on my experience, but here goes. I started with a booster as well as a MiFi with a dedicated data plan. I did not notice much improvement and then grew my system, first to a external antenna for the MiFi, then to a variety of consumer grade routers, and most recently to the PepWave. I still have the booster as it is paid for and worth carrying, but if I did not have it already I would probably not get one. It does help in a very narrow set of circumstances. It takes away your devices (be it phone, MiFi, or router) MIMO ability (that is its ability to connect to multiple towers, or multiple bands on a single tower to get better speeds) and replaces them with one very strong signal to a single band or tower. This is a gross simplification of MIMO, but should suffice for what most here are asking. Due to that, most of the time I get better signal and service just with my antenna on the roof pulling in MIMO signals than I do with the booster. In rare cases where the tower is out of reach of my roof antenna, but in range of the booster (there needs to be "something" there to boost) then it helps. Usually I can tell this will be the case when my download speed is something decent, but my upload is extremely slow or not present at all. I equate this to the little bitty phone able to hear the message from the really big cell tower, but the really big tower not able to hear the squeaky voice from the little bitty phone (again a simplification, but its a decent analogy). The booster makes the little phone "louder" for the tower to hear.
We "part-time", probably close to six months out of the year, and internet access is crucial for our work. We also do not do Zoom calls, but I need remote access to customers sites as well as email and calling, and my wife needs VPN and voice access. We have had situations where the booster helped probably three times since getting the PepWave two years ago. The other trick is my wife researches cell coverage very carefully when we plan our route, and times in dead zones (think National Parks here) are reserved for weekends, or "time off" and we arrange to be out of contact for those times. When Yellowstone takes a couple hours to drive across you know there will not be service in most of it. Campendium is a great resource for this, for whatever the reviewers there love to put what carrier they have and how their service was.
Forum moderators are not GD employees--we are volunteers and owners presumably just like yourself. Unless specifically mentioned otherwise, we have nothing to gain should you choose to purchase a product or engage a service we discuss on this forum.
Neil Citro
2018 Reflection 28BH Pepwave
2019 F350 6.7L Long Bed Crew Cab
That was perfect!! And I liked your oversimplifications. Those make sense.
About the only difference in our situations/use is that our camping locations are fairly fixed for the next 3-5 years. We are Thousand Trails members and utilize a handful of OR coastal facilities - most of which just happen to have a large hill in between the campground and the nearest Verizon cell tower. So cell service, even a phone call, is difficult to impossible. I'm not asking for an opinion of a fix, just expanding on our current need. I'd have to test both systems at those locations to know which was going to work.
I'm going to go with the external antenna to pepwave modem first and see how that works. I had an early generation Wilson cell booster (2015?) and that was zero help. Although I have a strong suspicion there might have been a ton of user error in that application. 😁
Last question for now - is there an external antenna that would work for both systems or would I need a different antenna for the cell booster system?
Appreciate your time and help. I do understand each person's needs are different and the solutions vary.
Thanks!
Mike and Rebecca
2022 Reflection 150 260RD, October 2021 build date.
2001 Chev 2500 HD 8.1 liter 4x4
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