Working while traveling, but need internet.

ugh wrote:
It also looks like we need to be careful on where we camp to ensure we have good signals.

The online coverage maps are pretty accurate.

You're probably just going to have to call ahead to verify phone reception. Then use your phone for hot spot. Otherwise, satalite

paulcardoza wrote:
You need to have realistic expectations with regard to connectivity on the road.

That is what I am trying to figure out what is realistic in terms of access to internet.

I will check with my cell phone provider as I have unlimited data plan.

It also looks like we need to be careful on where we camp to ensure we have good signals.

You need to have realistic expectations with regard to connectivity on the road. It is better than ever, but still a far cry from what you may be used to with a home based broadband connection.

First off, the mobile hotspot (cellular) is definitely the simplest way to go. The downside is you need cell service for it to work and there are caps on monthly data usage. If your job is very data intensive, you could run into performance problems, cost over-runs, or both.

If you want to take it a step further, look at getting a router that offers wifi-as-wan. Wifi Ranger Elite Pack comes to mind. It will connect to any free wifi when available, it will connect to multiple mobile hotspots, it will load balance between multiple connections and help you manage data usage. Again though, you need to be within rage of connections and services, so if you plan to spend much time in the middle of nowhere, these may not work for you.

Last resort would be satellite internet. This can get expensive, especially for the hardware. Service is OK, but throughput speeds are not wonderful. There are new offerings with better performance supposedly on the horizon. If you cannot live without service, this may be your best option. Just be careful to get a campsite with line of site to the satellite locations.

ugh wrote:
If I get this job, I will work from home for good. That means I could travel during the weekend and work during the week while I am on the road. My family and I would love to travel next summer to see few different place and be gone for few months.

I need to be able to use internet for my work and it has to be very reliable. What options do I have? I rather have something that I can work from campground, not at places like Starbucks or some hot spot.

Thank you for any feedbacks.

ugh wrote:

2oldman wrote:
Mobile phone hotspot, McDs, Starbucks.. the usual.

Working from a campground. No way I want to spend 8 hours a day at Starbucks or McDonalds. Mobile phone hotspots will not work at campground.

Looks like you're pretty much SOL if a mobile hotspot won't work. As mentioned satellite is your only option.

Hot Spot with a signal booster is your best bet. I've worked from home for 10 years and when I traveled cross country from Huntington Beach, CA up to Vancouver, BC to Yellowstone, Utah, Denver, South Dakota, Chicago and back to MD and used my express card in my laptop (this was 2007) and I always had some sort of signal. Sometimes I had to drive to a spot to get a better signal to get something done, but overall it worked well. The Mi-Fi Jetpacks don't get a better signal than your cell will as far as hot spots go, but if you get a cell signal booster it should help guarantee coverage. Also, try sitting your phone/hotspot outside the RV to get a better signal. Being in a tin can doesn't help with connection reliability.

I always tell people I was 80 miles north of Yellowstone and I was able to do my work....for that, I should've gotten a commercial on Verizon because I'll always promote their service reliability.

When camping, we use our I-phone WIFI hot spot. As long as we can get cell phone reception, we can get the internet. We've been to very, very few campgrounds where we could not get a cell phone signal.

If I had to use the internet for a living ... well, actually I do, I'd never depend on someone elses internet service or someone elses WIFI. At least with my I-phone I can set up passwords and limit access to my band width. I'm required to work over a secured network. So, I'm not using my company laptop at McDonalds or Starbucks!

I work from home about 50/50 time now. (I'm a software tester). I tested my I-phone wifi with my company supplied lap-top and it works pretty good. But I've never quite taken it fishing with me yet ... not yet!

Much of the NE is "stuffed" with internet towers and free WiFi spots. I use various freebees sans extra hardware to get my work done successfully. Will be watching this thread avidly to learn from Western responses.

RV daytrader wrote:

Us out West wrote:

ford truck guy wrote:
I use a Verizon MIFI Jet pack.. get the largest data plan

X2

Works great for us.

X3...I day trade for 7 hours a day...I use on average 60 meg a day usage. I have my computer set to not open any ads or pop-ups. I dont open pictures or view videos either.

x4, and we also use a Wilson Cell Phone Signal Booster.

Us out West wrote:

ford truck guy wrote:
I use a Verizon MIFI Jet pack.. get the largest data plan

X2

Works great for us.

X3...I day trade for 7 hours a day...I use on average 60 meg a day usage. I have my computer set to not open any ads or pop-ups. I dont open pictures or view videos either.