Streaming with contraints

You're not missing anything. All that bandwidth has to be paid for somehow since it's not free for the connection providers. Like anything else in life, we all decide what's worth paying for and what's not.

Since I own stock in a couple of companies that provide network equipment, I hope the streaming craze continues :-)

The currently available hot-spot based options do not work for streaming any volume of data. The main reason being that the cellular infrastructure does not have the bandwidth to accommodate it. For example, if you go to a large sporting event, wireless data almost always comes to a grinding halt.

Cellular bandwidth is very expensive to provide. Carriers have dealt with the limitations by imposing data caps that cost dearly to exceed. It works for them, no doubt.

There have been several threads in here with "vigorous" debate with regards to campgrounds' ability/willingness to provide real high-speed broadband access. Obviously, if the service is not available to the campground at all, the issue is moot. If it is available to the CG, the issue becomes cost to implement, as well as whether or not to charge for it (and how much).

With some planning, I am able to bring my iPad to the office, download some shows and movies, then play them through my APPLE TV back at the campground. Not the most ideal options, but it avoids the huge data charges that streaming a few movies a week would cause.

paulcardoza wrote:
The currently available hot-spot based options do not work for streaming options. The main reason being that the cellular infrastructure does not have the bandwidth to accommodate it. For example, if you go to a large sporting event, wireless data almost always comes to a grinding halt.

Cellular bandwidth is very expensive to provide. Carriers have dealt with the limitations by imposing data caps that cost dearly to exceed. It works for them, no doubt.

There have been several threads in here with "vigorous" debate with regards to campgrounds' ability/willingness to provide real high-speed broadband access. Obviously, if the service is not available to the campground at all, the issue is moot. If it is available to the CG, the issue becomes cost to implement, as well as whether or not to charge for it (and how much).

With some planning, I am able to bring my iPad to the office, download some shows and movies, then play them through my APPLE TV back at the campground. Not the most ideal options, but it avoids the huge data charges that streaming a few movies a week would cause.

So how do you solution portable streaming media? It's coming like it or not. But it won't stick to the wall with contraints like bandwith and cost. BTW my 4g streams just fine. It's just expensive.

I doubt seriously RVers are going to abandon satellite TV any time soon in favor of streaming services. With satellite TV, you can pretty much get a signal anywhere in the US and parts of Canada and Mexico, even if you're in the middle of nowhere. Try doing that with your wireless broadband connection.

We stream many programs at home, but recognize the technology is not suitable for RV use due to various limitations.

At one campground we were given access with only one wifi device. While it wasn't ideal, it seemed to work and everyone was able to do what they had to do.

At another totally high end premium resort they issued a disclaimer telling about their poor internet and how difficult it was to provide a better system in their area. It was totally frustrating and we vowed we would not go back there again.

They I started to wonder... while it's nice to just sit on the internet, is it possible to have a rotating system that could take one small section of a campground at a time and give them reliable access for a time period, then move on to another section? If a camper knew in advance of his access period everyone might be a lot happier.

Maybe that is not possible, it's certainly not anything I know much about?

thanks

Let me be clear about what I know about my personal situation. I have a 4g jetpack it works pretty flawlessly anywhere we have been on the east coast. ( I would consider Canada and Mex pretty much outside the range of the "norm") I can stream whatever I want and all day if I wanted to. I can run a dual encrypted VPN as well as 4 other connections without seeing too much degredation in bandwith. The technology is there. It's there for portable devices even as far as using some phones as a hub. It's there. The companies streaming media have the media. The obstacle is cost. There is no solution to leverage existing technology that's not cost inhibitive. I am struggling with how this model will grow and evolve unless cost and constraints are addressed. That's my point.

The MILLENICOM unit will give you 20GB using the VERIZON NETWORK but that additional 5GB probably not much help for you haha...

I have the VERIZON MIFI 3GB Dataplan original offered way back then and it is great for checking in with the kids, paying bills on-line and occasional surfing the internet. The killer for us a couple of time was the auto download of UPDATES until I figured out how to turn off the auto download part. Down streaming one TV show eats us up real quick with only a 3GB dataplan.

I will find a good WIFI hotspot when on the road and do my UPDATEs downloading...

Roy Ken

At the risk of starting another flame-war......

I'm a believer that in today's broadband world, IF THE CG HAS ACCESS TO HIGH SPEED SERVICES IN THEIR AREA, offering that service (for an additional charge) is completely realistic. Of course, there also has to be effective wireless access points in the CG, too.

Yes, all of this costs money to setup and maintain. BUT, I do believe that campers are willing to pay for real broadband service, if the option is made available to them. In my case, we are in our coach for 7 - 8 months of the year, so broadband access is almost a necessity. for the weekend family camper, the needs or desires may differ.

The RV lifestyle we have chosen requires that we adapt to it. Being in the minority, it's doubtful that the rest of society will bend to us. Streaming is the way of life - but for most of the country, it depends on a solid internet connection, cable or fiber. And in most densely-populated areas, there's plenty of available wifi connected to those cable or fiber lines, so the tablets and phones don't have to use their cellular limits. Until somebody comes up with a more efficient data compression system allowing more data to pass over the same limited cellular networks, those of us who depend on the cellular spectrum will just have to learn to live within our 5gb, 10gb or 20gb limits.

All this talk abut a mobile society connected at all times is built on the assumption that we won't all actually be wirelessly connected all the time. Fact is most everybody is on a wired connection most of the time. We RVers aren't. And nobody's going to come up with an affordable solution to give us unlimited wireless bandwidth - there just ain't enough of us.

just MHO, FWIW.

al

paulcardoza wrote:
At the risk of starting another flame-war......

I'm a believer that in today's broadband world, IF THE CG HAS ACCESS TO HIGH SPEED SERVICES IN THEIR AREA, offering that service (for an additional charge) is completely realistic. Of course, there also has to be effective wireless access points in the CG, too.

Yes, all of this costs money to setup and maintain. BUT, I do believe that campers are willing to pay for real broadband service, if the option is made available to them. In my case, we are in our coach for 7 - 8 months of the year, so broadband access is almost a necessity. for the weekend family camper, the needs or desires may differ.

I too rely on ours heavily. Even at home we live on a mountain, so no cable, no Fios, no dsl. VZ 4g is the only game in town. It's my sole source of internet. I have tried Sat internet and the 4g is cheaper and more reliable. We have Direct TV but I found the dome we have is far less reliable than a 4g has been. 4g does not have line if sight constraints which covers about 80% of east coast I95 as well as most CG's as far as tree cover. We had Sat in a previous MH and I thought it was a waste of $1200.