data Usage for full timers using wireless internet service.

[carl2591]

So i was tying to get a handle on how much data the average fulltimer is using. I know on my regular cell phone I can go through close to 1 gig a month with just little usage when not on wifi or laptop.

i know it not possible to stream movies but I wanted to see how much is used for like email, checking or making RV sites to stay etc. i was looking at cost on verizon and see like 16 gig runs close to 100 bucks a month.

thanks

[carl2591]

Chicat wrote:
We have a Verizon 15 gig plan with 3 smartphones a laptop and a tablet and use all of it every month with out streaming any movies or music. All devices have update only on wifi and no matter how bad the campground wifi is it will usually update the devices late at night. Other wifi sources are Target, most McDonalds, Staples and Office Depo-Max. I did find that after switching to Verizon that they charge usage at a much higher rate than Sprint. What I used to do with Sprint I used less than 6 gigs, to do the same on Verizon is at least 9 assuming the phones all use 2 each.

That interesting to know.

you suspect "datamandering"?.. or is verizon actually doling out a gig when they say they are, or is the amount less say 700K-800K vs 1 gig.. the difference you stated is quite a lot.

unless your usage unknowingly went up due to better quality of data signal.. questions with that for sure.

[Naio]

carl2591 wrote:
2nd that..good to know. hope that will stay true in 4-5 yrs when we can go out full time. One issue with being out west is the lack of lowes HD or just any thing in some places.. 🙂 thanks again to all..

Pretty much every medium-sized town out west has one of more of the stores that have been listed here: Home Depot, Target, Safeway, etc.

I've never tried store wifi. Do you have to go inside and ask the password?

I use about 1-2gb for normal surfing and email, and the rest of my data for movies. When I am somewhere with decent high speed wifi that nobody is using (e.g. a friend's house during the day) I download a bunch of movies and stick them on my hard drive.

I don't down,load movies on campground wifi because it just seems mean to hog the bandwidth! Maybe if the place was empty and management said it was ok...

[DallasSteve]

TechWriter wrote:

I guess if you have modest Internet needs, then schlepping over to a Lowes, Target, or whatever is fine (if these places are even around where you camp).

I think they were suggesting that if you are on a limited plan and you want to download some large files like a system update or maybe a movie, you could go to somewhere like a Lowes or Home Depot and use their WiFi to not bust your bandwidth monthly limit. I don't think it's a good everyday solution, but it might be a good solution for occasional large files. In fact it would be interesting to know what businesses or government agencies provides some of the best free WiFi.

[TechWriter]

carl2591 wrote:
2nd that..good to know. hope that will stay true in 4-5 yrs when we can go out full time. One issue with being out west is the lack of lowes HD or just any thing in some places.. 🙂

I guess if you have modest Internet needs, then schlepping over to a Lowes, Target, or whatever is fine (if these places are even around where you camp).

However, I've found a dedicated Verizon USB modem more dependable and convenient than hunting down a decent WiFi signal.

[Chicat]

We have a Verizon 15 gig plan with 3 smartphones a laptop and a tablet and use all of it every month with out streaming any movies or music. All devices have update only on wifi and no matter how bad the campground wifi is it will usually update the devices late at night. Other wifi sources are Target, most McDonalds, Staples and Office Depo-Max. I did find that after switching to Verizon that they charge usage at a much higher rate than Sprint. What I used to do with Sprint I used less than 6 gigs, to do the same on Verizon is at least 9 assuming the phones all use 2 each.

[DallasSteve]

stickdog wrote:
We have 10 gig. Have not gone over but I have auto start video turned off and rarely view Utube. I grew up reading the news and prefer to still. Auto updates off other than antiviral and try to use free wifi for any big MS updates. I have received notices of approaching 90% of my limit but usually a day or two before my reset day.

StickDog

How do you turn off auto video start? That should be the default setting on all browsers, but it's not. I'm tired of opening web pages and have one or more videos start blaring noise and I'm still in stick and brick. That would be a huge waste of bandwidth on a limited cellphone plan.

[carl2591]

2nd that..good to know. hope that will stay true in 4-5 yrs when we can go out full time. One issue with being out west is the lack of lowes HD or just any thing in some places.. 🙂 thanks again to all..

GMandJM wrote:

tonyandkaren wrote:
Will your wife be doing this same work when you are on the road? We usually go to a Home Depot or Lowes. Both have fast internet which can be used from the parking lot. Since you'll be using a lot it might be best to go when the store is closed. They do not turn the internet off at night. Other options are Starbucks, Panera Bread, Staples and Safeway grocery stores.

Thanks for the heads-up on Lowe's and HD wi-fi. Good alternatives to libraries.

[horizon36]

We have two laptops, one tablet, a smart TV and two smart phones and use about 15-16 gigs per month. We are still on an unlimited plan.

[GMandJM]

tonyandkaren wrote:
Will your wife be doing this same work when you are on the road? We usually go to a Home Depot or Lowes. Both have fast internet which can be used from the parking lot. Since you'll be using a lot it might be best to go when the store is closed. They do not turn the internet off at night. Other options are Starbucks, Panera Bread, Staples and Safeway grocery stores.

Thanks for the heads-up on Lowe's and HD wi-fi. Good alternatives to libraries.

[stickdog]

We have 10 gig. Have not gone over but I have auto start video turned off and rarely view Utube. I grew up reading the news and prefer to still. Auto updates off other than antiviral and try to use free wifi for any big MS updates. I have received notices of approaching 90% of my limit but usually a day or two before my reset day.

[BarbaraOK]

We use right about 15 G per month. We have 1 laptop, one smartphone & 1 tablet. We've been fulltiming for over 9 years. Use seems to increase to use up all that our plans allows.

Barb

[tonyandkaren]

Will your wife be doing this same work when you are on the road? We usually go to a Home Depot or Lowes. Both have fast internet which can be used from the parking lot. Since you'll be using a lot it might be best to go when the store is closed. They do not turn the internet off at night. Other options are Starbucks, Panera Bread, Staples and Safeway grocery stores.

[carl2591]

nice,, thanks for all the post. I seem like 10-15 gig is a good place to start. We will not be going full time for 4-5 years or so and hope prices will be less by then.

I do understand most campsites internet is worthless so that the need to find out better options..

Where would you go to get high speed service to do updates or other data intensive activities. My wife does contract work for a company which is dealing with books. she downloads files from a server, does the needed updates/changes etc and then reuploads them to the FTP server. files can be 5-10 gig and there can be 4-10 files for the book.

not sure how to address that type of usage need issue??

[tonyandkaren]

We have 5 gigs. It's very easy to go over but I do a lot of browsing around for interesting stuff along the way and post to a blog almost every day. I use an extra gig every other month or so. Disable all automatic updates and do your updates when you can get fast WiFi.