Forum Discussion

Cptnvideo's avatar
Cptnvideo
Nomad
Feb 19, 2022

Internet & satellite tv for full time 5er

We're still thinking it over, but we might sell our house & trade in our Class C on a 5er and full time.
We would add at least 1000 watts of solar to the roof and plan on boondocking at least 50% of the time (we like elbow room).
Looking for suggestions for internet, we have Verizon mifi which slows WAY down after 15 GBs of data usage. Anything else out there?
For satellite tv, we assume we would need to purchase a Wineguard (or equivalent) motorized dish and have it mounted on the roof. Pros and cons on Dish or DirecTV. Receiving the Big 3 networks and/or local channels?
  • Land_Yachters's avatar
    Land_Yachters
    Explorer
    Feb 20, 2022
    We use Dish since it goes month to month and it works well, including local stations. Good point about roof mount or portable. We use dish on roof and have had it blocked more than once in campground. We also use YouTube TV for streaming at home and on the road. Cheapest, best streaming service we could find. Even with the OTA, streaming and satellite, we have been without a TV signal in many places. And that's ok too.
  • Michelle_S's avatar
    Michelle_S
    Explorer III
    Feb 20, 2022
    We had the 15 Gig Verizon and upped it to 30 Gig for a few more dollars.
    We've had a Trav'ler Dish on the roof for DirecTV on three 5ers over the past 12 years and generally can get signal.
  • Community Alumni's avatar
    Community Alumni
    Feb 20, 2022
    Cptnvideo wrote:
    The Playmaker looks like a good idea if you sometimes encounter tree issues with where the RV is parked since it is portable.
    We currently have the Hopper 3 and 2 "Joey" receivers. The trav'ler looks like a better option for us as it will pick up 3 satellites simultaneously and would be compatible with our current house system.


    The Playmaker can also be installed on the roof.. The cost of having an activated Wally receiver is only $5/mo if you have a Dish residential account. As you probably already know, the Playmaker can only tune to one satellite at a time. For us this isn't a hindrance since we only watch satellite TV on one TV.
  • bgum's avatar
    bgum
    Explorer
    Feb 20, 2022
    Visible for internet and use phones as Hotspot. Verizon towers 5g unlimited but they say throttled during congestion but have never seen it. $25 per month with party pay.
  • LouLawrence's avatar
    LouLawrence
    Explorer
    Feb 20, 2022
    I like DirecTV and the Trav'ler for my service (full time for over 20 years). However, I can only get locals via the OTA TV antenna. With DISH you can sign up for some kind of mobile account and they will move your locals as you move around. I believe you can still use the DISH app to do this as well. We have a grandfathered AT&T plan and get unlimited 4G for $23/month so we haven't tried any of the others. We can use our phones as hotspots as well when in good T-Mobile service areas. Each phone has 15GB of service but that could be bumped up for cheap if necessary.
  • Cptnvideo's avatar
    Cptnvideo
    Nomad
    Feb 20, 2022
    RickLight wrote:
    I've found the best advice comes from those who do the real world testing and in depth research to become experts.

    rvmobileinternet.com has both free and paid help.


    Thanks for the link, Rick.
  • Cptnvideo's avatar
    Cptnvideo
    Nomad
    Feb 20, 2022
    The Playmaker looks like a good idea if you sometimes encounter tree issues with where the RV is parked since it is portable.
    We currently have the Hopper 3 and 2 "Joey" receivers. The trav'ler looks like a better option for us as it will pick up 3 satellites simultaneously and would be compatible with our current house system.
  • RickLight's avatar
    RickLight
    Explorer III
    Feb 20, 2022
    I've found the best advice comes from those who do the real world testing and in depth research to become experts.

    rvmobileinternet.com has both free and paid help.
  • Community Alumni's avatar
    Community Alumni
    Feb 20, 2022
    You can get a Winegard Dish Playmaker antenna with a Dish Wally receiver for as little as $329. That's what we use.

    Dish Combo
  • ford_truck_guy's avatar
    ford_truck_guy
    Nomad
    Feb 19, 2022
    I have the Dish Rv Travl'er and love it...

    As far as wifi, I use Calyx Institute. No throttling, truly unlimited... Been using it a few years now and its been awesome...

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