We're thinking of extending our winter stay next Jan/Feb by working from the camper but that means I'd need reliable internet (office type work not video streaming). To complicate matters we haven't even picked a state yet let alone campground (AZ or FL most likely). ;)Our experience with campground WIFI so far has been it's fine as long as you don't want to depend on it which won't work this time. As we're Canadians roaming & cell hotspots from our carrier isn't an economical option so I was looking at prepaid MIFI from Verizon (they seem to be the network people talk up). I'd rather not have to drive to the public library every day, I might as well stay home if that's the case.Is MIFI the way to go and forget about depending on campground WIFI? Is it viable for office work and skype phone calls or will I chew up my data plan by lunch time on the first day?Thanks,Art.

Hi,Prepaid may eat your lunch and supper too!Your best bet is Mellincom. They have a 20 gig plan that piggy backs on Verizon, and an unlimited plan that does the same on Sprint.It is a bit hard for a Canuck to get the device as they want a USA credit card. But you might find a willing American friend to "do the deed".

pianotuna wrote:Hi,Prepaid may eat your lunch and supper too!Your best bet is Mellincom. They have a 20 gig plan that piggy backs on Verizon, and an unlimited plan that does the same on Sprint.It is a bit hard for a Canuck to get the device as they want a USA credit card. But you might find a willing American friend to "do the deed".Thanks!Yeah I looked into them as it uses Verizon's network but Mellincom's $50 set up fee and $15 shipping fee makes it pretty much the same price as Verizon's at the end of the day (although you get more data). I understand unlimited isn't really unlimited and I failed high school calculus so I'm not sure I'd be able to calculate the real cost of that ;)I've fallen into the US credit card trap before, some carriers will take a pre-paid walmart/wallgreens cc, others won't without a valid SSN (I guess they're affraid I'm a terrorist).

Setting up office computers in the RV TRAILERS has come up alot of late.. If you gots the room and want a good setup for business and pleasure you might want to consider what I have done.I use the Dell Precision M90 workstation LAPTOP with a docking station that has external Monitors, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc connected. I actually have one 24-inch and one 22-inch "dual" monitors connected to the docking station. These monitors are also secured to the desktop and survive the RV Trailer environment very well. My 120VAC power source is run from my Inverter when camping off the power grid. I just snap my M90 laptop into the docking station and everything jumps to life. never open up my Dell M90. I also can use my el cheapo HP Deskjet printer from WALMART/Best Buy less than $100... I use the VERIZON MIFI 2200 device to connect to the Internet which works all over the country anywhere you pick up VERIZON CELL PHONE service. This is a WIFI hot Spot device which will also allow you to use up to five devices at the same time. My 2200 unit normally resides in a Wilson Sleek holder that has external antenna but can be removed and carried around in my shirt pocket if we are hiking around with our tablets etc... This Verizon is only a 3GB DATAPLAN and is used primarily for paying bills, keeping in touch with the kids, and some web search. I am mainly off line with this setup working on my projects and working with my photos etc... This is nice comfortable setup and supports all of this type use just fine. Everything associated with the docking is VELCROED inplace and survives being transported in the trailer when in tow. I have been doing this idea of being portable for several years and my M90 is still running Windows XP-PRO hehe... Never had a need to upgrade to anything else. It runs all the software you might have with ease and I was running AUTOCAD LT until I had to give my program back to work when I retired. Never could afford to get my own subscription. I now use a free version of LibreOffice 3.4 along wit Adobe Acrobat Pro ver 9.0 which does a bang-up job of drawings etc... I work and save everything in PDF format so that I can exchange with almost everyone...The DELL M90 is outdated of course and its replacement now is the M6000 series precision computers. I purchased my M90 from Internet ebay sales which were re-certified off-lease computers and cost around $500-$600 back then. Mine even had Dell Warranty left on it. has never give me any problems whatsoever. These were the same office work-station computers we used at work. Very heavy duty... Do a look on eBay for the M6400-M6500 series precision laptop computers and you will the price for these are around the same $600 for off-lease re-certified computers. I'm not sure what the latest version M6000 series is now. I'm thinking M6700 maybe...Although the work stations laptops are loaded with features i also carry several USB type Portable multi GB Hard drives. I usually have one for my photo taking excursions and additional portable hard drive for my work projects... These cost around $150 bucks for the Western Digital version I like to use. I also use my computers for my RADIO Operations with Ham radio, Races, SkyWarn and NAVY MARS radio ops... Everything is computer/internet based these days... I do all of this in my OFF-ROAD POPUP but had plans at one time to upgrade to some hard walls with a JAYCO 213X and was going to mod out the bunk room area for a OFFICE/COMPUTER/RADIO ROOM arrangement that would look like this floor plane.All of my computer items is mounted to the top of cabinet close to the wrap around seating in the POPUP...My off-road POPUP floorplan is configured as shown here...If I was really into this for a business setup I would most definitely go with the MILLENICOM 20GB 4G setup using the VERIZON NETWORK which runs around $60 a month I think it is (NO CONTRACT).. If this was in located near the large cities are located then it would be easy to increase your DATAPLAN up into the 50GB a month area using MILLENICOM with their SPRINT SETUP. Please check with MILLENICOM as all I am passingly along is pure hear-say...My current 3GB DATAPLAN with VERIZON MIFI works great just about anywhere we go here on the EAST SIDE of the US and fits my low usage of data just fine with my general office setup and working with my drawing and photo programs and radio communications projects. VERIZON is great keeping tabs on your daily data usage... I love my idea of using the COMPUTER DOCKING setup as I just snap the LAPTOP in place and have a very nice COMFORTABLE OFFICE COMPUTER setup. This is the same general computer setup I do in my house when at home. When we leave the RV Trailer just take the laptop with us... Just passing on for-info-only on what we do with our on-the-road Computer requirements.. Might not work for your requirements at all...Roy Ken

A lot depends on location. Campground wifi can be hit and miss, especially when the campground is full. I've had better luck with the hotspot on my phone for streaming, especially on our last trip. Since it could stream from our home satellite system almost perfectly, it would have no problem with the type of use you're looking at.You might want to look at data coverage once you've selected a destination.

Here is what I use. I'm very happy with it. Cheap, works on the sprint network. http://www.datajack.com/dealnews

Campground WIFI or prepaid MIFI | Good Sam Community

mlts22
Explorer
Sep 19, 2013
docj wrote:
wintersun wrote:
Public WiFi is public. I use it where we cannot get a strong enough signal for the mifi. Even then we do not use it for email or any type of private transaction.

This is a common misconception that is often repeated on this and other forums. If you are connected to a website using HTPS encryption, which is all bank and credit card companies as well as Gmail and lots of others, then the security of your connection is handled by the 128-bit encryption that is embedded in HTTPS protocol and NOT in your connection to the campground's wifi.

The stories that circulate of people who have had their communications intercepted are almost all about people who have connected to "scam wifi" systems setup to lure unsuspecting users. When you connect to a wifi make sure it belongs to the CG or to McDonald's or wherever.

The trick I use to bypass the scammers who use the same SSID (wireless name) as a McDonald's wireless antenna is to use a VPN service. If I see the "VPN" tag in the task bar, I know that it doesn't matter how insecure the link is on my side -- all traffic is encrypted and going to a provider. It does add a bit of slowness, but it ensures that nobody from my devices to the VPN provider can read my stuff.
mcewena
Explorer
Sep 19, 2013
docj wrote:
Yes, Big Brother is watching you, and you, and you!:B

Big brother already knows my bank balance and who I'm emailing so I guess I don't need to worry about wifi security ;)
docj
Explorer
Sep 12, 2013
joebedford wrote:
docj wrote:
wintersun wrote:
Public WiFi is public. I use it where we cannot get a strong enough signal for the mifi. Even then we do not use it for email or any type of private transaction.

This is a common misconception that is often repeated on this and other forums. If you are connected to a website using HTPS encryption, which is all bank and credit card companies as well as Gmail and lots of others, then the security of your connection is handled by the 128-bit encryption that is embedded in HTTPS protocol and NOT in your connection to the campground's wifi.
Yeah. We've been doing online banking for years on whatever wifi is available confident that our session encryption is adequate against all but very heavily funded organizations.

Yes, Big Brother is watching you, and you, and you!:B
Dtaylor
Explorer
Sep 12, 2013
My service is with AT&T. I recently purchased a MIFI from them, which operates off of 4G/3G network. The other option would have been to jailbrake my Iphone (which is perfectly legal to do) so that I could use a third party app that would allow use of the phone as a hotspot.

Since you have Verizon, you do not have to do this. simply activate the hotspot option on your phone. You will be charged for the data you use based on your plan.
joebedford
Nomad II
Sep 12, 2013
docj wrote:
wintersun wrote:
Public WiFi is public. I use it where we cannot get a strong enough signal for the mifi. Even then we do not use it for email or any type of private transaction.

This is a common misconception that is often repeated on this and other forums. If you are connected to a website using HTPS encryption, which is all bank and credit card companies as well as Gmail and lots of others, then the security of your connection is handled by the 128-bit encryption that is embedded in HTTPS protocol and NOT in your connection to the campground's wifi.
Yeah. We've been doing online banking for years on whatever wifi is available confident that our session encryption is adequate against all but very heavily funded organizations.
docj
Explorer
Sep 12, 2013
wintersun wrote:
Public WiFi is public. I use it where we cannot get a strong enough signal for the mifi. Even then we do not use it for email or any type of private transaction.

This is a common misconception that is often repeated on this and other forums. If you are connected to a website using HTPS encryption, which is all bank and credit card companies as well as Gmail and lots of others, then the security of your connection is handled by the 128-bit encryption that is embedded in HTTPS protocol and NOT in your connection to the campground's wifi.

The stories that circulate of people who have had their communications intercepted are almost all about people who have connected to "scam wifi" systems setup to lure unsuspecting users. When you connect to a wifi make sure it belongs to the CG or to McDonald's or wherever.
wintersun
Explorer II
Sep 12, 2013
Public WiFi is public. I use it where we cannot get a strong enough signal for the mifi. Even then we do not use it for email or any type of private transaction.

All of the campgrounds we have stayed at that have this service keep the same password throughout the year and some never change it at all. Two places we stayed at this past summer had the password on a sign on the window at the manager's office. It is not a secure environment and for us the risk does not outweigh the benefit of using this free access point.
mcewena
Explorer
Sep 06, 2013
joebedford wrote:
Hi,

Still it's a CDN card - do you know if they will accept a CDN card with a USA address? I had hoped to order a Millenicom and have it waiting for us at our winter destination.

They said yes when I emailed them but you never really know until you order I find.

Btw there's a trick for zip codes at gas pumps with Canadian cards, use the numeric portion of your postal code and add 2 zeroes. So if your postal code is M4W 2E6 enter a zip code of 42600 at the pump, works 85% of the time.
joebedford
Nomad II
Sep 06, 2013
pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Prepaid may eat your lunch and supper too!

Your best bet is Mellincom. They have a 20 gig plan that piggy backs on Verizon, and an unlimited plan that does the same on Sprint.

It is a bit hard for a Canuck to get the device as they want a USA credit card. But you might find a willing American friend to "do the deed".
We temporarily change the billing address on our Canadian credit cards to our temporary USA address. That gets us a ZIP code we can use at gas pumps, etc. I've used it for a lot of online shopping on Amazon, etc. Still it's a CDN card - do you know if they will accept a CDN card with a USA address? I had hoped to order a Millenicom and have it waiting for us at our winter destination.
GoPackGo
Explorer
Sep 06, 2013
I use Millenicom and got the 20 gig plan which runs on the Verizon system, which, in my 2 cent opinion, has the best coverage by far. I also have a Wilson Sleek for the 4620 MiFi, which I use both in my truck while traveling, and in my fiver with their 'home and office' kit. The MiFi also functions as a router for up to 5 devices.

The monthly fee is $69.99 for 20 gig. I don't think Verizon can match that.

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