Streaming with contraints

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 :-)