data plan

I've just received my unlimited data wifi device from Omni-Lynx http://www.hsvwifi.com/BuildOrder strangely managed by / ordered through a school district in Alabama I believe. It is supposed to be nation wide on 4G. I'll experiment with it over the winter as we travel. We have used a mifi device for the past three years from Verizon and as long as you don't stream video you can manage your data.

Verizon. I use it to pay bills and pretty much surf as much as I like. I will connect to wifi when able but they are usually poor.
Restrict automatic downloads and updating until you are on wifi. If you search the topic or talk to some youngsters they may have more tricks to save your data. I'm snowbirding and can probably get by with 4 to 6 gig a month. Any video type stuff or loading pics to websites will suck the data up.

I have almost given up on park WiFi services. As was mentioned they are most often hit and miss and can get very slow when the park is full in the afternoon/evening. For the past 3 year I've been simply tethering my 4G Verizon phone without any problems.

We travel for 4-5 month through the western stated and have yet to find a hole in coverage. I even leave it on while traveling so DW can use her tablet. Like others I'm still grandfathered in to the old unlimited plan and use about 20 GB of data per month.

I tried the WIFI at the camp grounds and it was hit and miss and in the evenings when everyone starts to get settled down it was totally useless for us...

We finally hooked up with VERIZON MIFI plan... I have the older plan grandfathered in now but the VERIZON MIFI JETPACK seems to be a popular plan...

I considered using a modified cellphone back in the day but those always tied up one cell phone and was not approved by the carriers. I think this is different now with the various cellphones. You would want your cellphone to always be able to send and receive calls while also doing the WIFI mode... My older DROID will not do any of this...

Being VERIZON you can expect it work almost everywhere you go and this will give you a secure internet connection for up to 5 or 10 of your WIFI enabled devices... This of course does provide us enough data to do any downstreaming of TV or Movies etc. You can increase your dataplan but then it starts getting expensive. We get by just fine with our older 3GB per month dataplan. This allows us to check our emails - check-in with the kids, pay some bills, and do some surfing on the internet. I think most plans now start out as 5GB dataplans probably in the $50 a month type service.

I coupled my older 2G-3G with th WILSON SLEEK CRADLE that has an outside antenna and this really improves the footprint around my camping setup great.

Sitting around the campsite with the tables is great now... Other campers see us sitting outside running our tablets and I guess can see my secure WIFI on their devices which is password protected and then we get bothered by them wanting to hookup through us.

Like others say it is kinda up to you how much internet you need. This has been our savings grace since the early 2000's...

No more always looking for open WIFI signals for us... Ours also works pretty good driving down the roadways using our tablets etc...

Roy Ken

An unlimited data plan is great, but having a reliable, usable connection when you want it is priceless. No single carrier covers the whole area you might want to travel to, and if you're thinking about going to Canada or Mexico it gets even worse. And you can't really rely on the carrier's coverage maps to make a decision on who to go with.

There are many places throughout the US and Canada (and probably Mexico) that offer free or really inexpensive WiFi. I found in my travels last year the the best solution was to set up a schedule where I logged in to check and pay bills once a week and then look for a WiFi spot for that activity. Where I spent most of the summer there was no cell coverage with my phone but the local Laundromat had free WiFi, so bill paying day was laundry day. :-)

Open wifi is notoriously fangerous and horrible at the same time. They might be OK for general emails, but there is no way I would allow a hacker access to my personal information over an open system. Verizon has by far the best overall coverage. With their new data plans they made it easier to choose and use.
A mifi card will cost you extra whereas any decent smart phone will eo the same thing for less money. Unless your a huge power user, all you need is around 12Gb a month for general bill paying, light web surfing, and family emailing.

STEVEP220 wrote:
I will be departing on an extened trip (8mo.) shortly. I use my computer to pay bills etc.

The "etc" is important here......as is NOT using a public hot spot for financial transactions.

You might be surprised at how little data is actually exchanged in a little light normal daily browsing.

I activate the "mobil hotspot" on my phone and it looks like 3Gig is going to be plenty for my "required" useage while on the road.

So, my advice is to try it out with the plan you have now.....IF your carrier has an easy way to monitor your data useage on a continuous basis. Verizon does. And sends a warning if you are about to go over.

Unless you are planning to boondock most of the time, pretty much every place we've stayed has Wi-Fi .. most of the time free, but sometimes with a minimal surcharge

That said, if I know I'm going to be in places without Wi-Fi, I picked up a Verizon USB modem for a few bucks on Craigslist. They have several plans, I do a pay as you go.

STEVEP220 wrote:
I will be departing on an extened trip (8mo.) shortly. I use my computer to pay bills etc.I would like advice on which unlimited data plan you think is best. I don't need a new phone so that is not important. Thanks for any help you can give. All the plans out there are so confusing for me.

They reason they are confusing is because they are Confusing - Clearer now? :-)

Program your phone (computer) to use all the local Wi-Fi possible hook up often and you will not use up your gigs' - might look at a mobile hot spot? - we used that for a couple years a while back with much success - last you need to look at the providers maps and see if you will be covered in the areas you spend the most time.

Last if you own your phone you can switch carriers to the better ones as you travel - Verizon has always worked well for us but they are the most expensive, provided you are not in the areas of the country they are poor in (WV - IN - reservations - etc)

Sorry now I think I'm more confused that you:h

Might want to take this over to the tech Group,

BOL,

Really depends on how much data you actually need and where you are going. If you only need data sporadically you could make your phone a hotspot for temporary use. If you are going to be primarily in and around majopr cities then you could choose from any of the major and even some minor carriers. If you're going to be in the sticks then Verizon 1st, ATT 2nd, as far as most amount of coverage. There are "unlimited" data plans out there but not the type you can use to watch Netflix all the time.