Forum Discussion

pianotuna's avatar
pianotuna
Nomad III
Dec 22, 2020

free tv

Hi,

Has anyone used a cell phone and tv with any of the following?

Did it work well?


https://corp.xumo.com/#home-top-slider

https://www.bumblebee.tv/pages/discover/d/movies

https://videoelephant.tv/

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sbgtv.stirr&hl=en_CA&gl=US

https://www.youtube.com/user/snagfilms

https://www.popcornflix.com/pages/discover/d/tv-shows

https://www.pluto.tv/live-tv/
  • Perhaps I was not clear.

    Do these free services work well with a cell phone wobbly wide web connection?

    Do they still work when throttled?

    Which ones work best?

    Do you know of others that work well?

    I see this as a technical question, not the philosophy that it is low cost. For that matter--you do have to buy a tv and probably an antenna to do over the air--so it ain't free either. It is a one time cost.
  • K Charles wrote:
    If you pay for cell service to get Wi-Fi I would not call that free. Free TV is still free if you use an antenna. I think there is more advertising then anything else on all TV free of not.


    Correct.

    Lines have been blurred, folks think just because they can stream something for "free" that it IS free.

    It ISN'T free if you have to use phone/cable Internet provider which did not come free to you.

    I ma not a fan of streaming stuff, generally you get what you pay for, JUNK, poor quality streams, old, old reruns, old material, tired old shows or movies that absolutely no one ever wants to see again.

    Even the paid streaming services you are not getting much better, perhaps a bit more commercial free but in reality, old movies, old shows that if you are patient enough end up running over and over on sat and cable channels hundreds of times per month.

    Personally, you have to ask yourself, is that streaming service going to provide the MATERIAL that I am interested in?

    Over time, I do expect you will find most of the "free" streams will go away, they will either be bought up and put out of business or be squeezed out of business when all the material they can get dries up as libraries are bought out by the bigger streamers (sort of like what happened to the Charlie Brown Holiday specials which were bought up by Apple, folks were so mad at Apple after no Halloween special aired that Apple was forced to strike a deal with PBS to provide OTA Thanksgiving and Christmas specials).

    Then all that will be left is monopoly premium streaming services with exclusive content only available on certain streams.. Requiring one to subscribe to many different streamers costing you more in the end.

    All the OP can do, is try the ones they found and see if the "free" content works for them.
  • If you pay for cell service to get Wi-Fi I would not call that free. Free TV is still free if you use an antenna. I think there is more advertising then anything else on all TV free of not. I also think life might have been better when there was only a couple TVs in town and 1/2 hr show once a week was enough.
  • pianotuna wrote:
    Is there a provider you would recommend?
    My smart tv connects to my Verizon wifi phone where I watch youtube and amazon prime. Hulu is there too but I don't watch that. I don't know if that's what you're talking about.
  • 2oldman wrote:
    not with those providers


    Is there a provider you would recommend?
  • All depends where you live. Here out West, the majority of good places to RV will not have sufficient cell service (or ANY!) to stream TV from your phone. Same with over-the-air TV. We have used Dish for years for what I feel is the best solution. When dry camping, it's usually no problem orienting our RV to get a clear shot of the Southern sky. Having a mountain in the way is pretty hard to compensate for and those are also the places least likely to have cell service (or OTA). When utilizing RV parks, satellite has been around so long now they all understand "satellite friendly" spaces and if one is open will gladly direct you to one. We do not go camping to watch TV but when I get up in the morning, I enjoy catching up on the news while I drink my morning coffee. I like the solitude out there but I also prefer to have some idea what's going on in
    the rest of the world. I come across a lot of people who don't want the extra cost of satellite service. I decided long ago that RVing is not a "bargain" activity so have resigned myself to just paying the freight for those things that make it more enjoyable.
  • Yes I have used my Nokia smartphone to cast movies and live TV shows to TV using a good WiFi connection but did not use hotspot or data feature. I watch Amazon Prime and YouTube and Roku movies, etc. etc. Whenever I am in a public place with good WiFi such as casinos I use their free strong WiFi to watch everything on just smartphone and using no At&T data. I am only a 5 cent video poker player so the casinos are basically free to me.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    The problems with doing that.
    Not all locations have the same cellular coverage not all towers have the same speed.. So it may work very well with one provider in one campground and **** either with a different provider or a different campground.

    Most Cell Plans have data limits even if they claim to be UNLIMITED.. Example UNLIMITED but only the fist 50 Gig are wi-fi-able then we throttle or only the first 100 Gig are full speed then we may throttle you depending on tower load (Not the actual numbers but the actual plan I have)

    On the other hande FMCA has "Tech Connect" a deal with sprint which is FULL SPEED AHEAD whatever the tower supports

    Some places 20mBPS some 50, one spot 100+ and in some "NO signal".

    OVER THE AIR TV. (your good old batwing, I used a SENSAR IV with Sensar PRO inside the rv) Any TV station within about 50 miles is Free.

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