How many GB's?

[bassin39]

Hi all. We were down in Florida researching RV resorts to full time in. We finally found one and the wifi seemed great. We picked a site by the office so we can even connect to the office wifi. But we were told that during the winter when all the snowbirds are back the wifi slows down considerably. My question is (finally) I do a lot of work out of the "home". Ebay and Amazon. If I were to get a Verizon mifi how many GB's do you think I need to do this maybe 3 or 4 full days a week? I don't know how to judge how many GB's I need. And also stream a few Netflix movies and youtube from Apple TV. Hope this is clear enough. Thanks.

[1775]

How many Gbs you may need is dependent on how graphic intensive the work that you will do on the computer is. When you said streaming video for movies you increased the need considerably. Average 1Gb for each hour of streaming video. 10 Gb a month - just for five movies during that month. Anyone can guess but you need to take an average night of work and see how much data you have used. There are several software applications for a PC that will do this and some are free. Take several night samples and you will know much better how much data to get for your hotspot plan. Also a tablet uses less data than a laptop to do the same online tasks if using a mobile browser not set to desktop mode.

[Dutch_12078]

My wife and I both do some online work that takes a pretty good data hit. We typically use the full 20GB/mo our plan allows, running a GB or two under or over most months. We pay $100/mo for our Verizon no-contract hotspot plan, and $8/GB for overages.

[jcpainter]

bassin39 wrote:
Thanks everyone. A lot of good info. Unfortunately we are in a part of the park that does not have cable TV so that's not an option. Since we are getting satellite, how is the satellite internet?

Are there phone lines installed in your park? In many parks that have permanent residents, the phone company will install phone service to the sites. If this is the case, you can get DSL through the phone company without having phone service.

[bassin39]

Thanks everyone. A lot of good info. Unfortunately we are in a part of the park that does not have cable TV so that's not an option. Since we are getting satellite, how is the satellite internet?

[austinjenna]

I know this isn't what you asked, but it might be a good solution for you. If your park is serviced by a phone company, or cable, or U-verse, etc. you could get your own private UNLIMITED internet at a decent speed for about $50 per month.

When we winter in FL for 4 months, that is my top requirement . . .

For the past 6 years we've used DSL from Century Link (big in FL) and next year we will be using U-verse

Good info to know.I didnt know they could do this for you in an RV park.

[Dmbaker07]

There are many websites that list what a GB will get you. Without steaming video you will not se as much as you might think. Over 30 hours of steaming music is only 1GB...one HD movie is over 1gb though (1-2GB) Websites, Email and anything that isnt steaming does not take to much. Get 10 for the first month, the hotpot displays usage so you can monitor as you use it. Try to use it as you normally would and use that first month to fine tune your plan. Most smart phones have hotspot built in. If you use Verizon the feature is free (just uses the data)

[jcpainter]

I know this isn't what you asked, but it might be a good solution for you. If your park is serviced by a phone company, or cable, or U-verse, etc. you could get your own private UNLIMITED internet at a decent speed for about $50 per month.

When we winter in FL for 4 months, that is my top requirement . . .

For the past 6 years we've used DSL from Century Link (big in FL) and next year we will be using U-verse.

[wa8yxm]

It might be possible to install an app. IN fact you may already have it (but it;'s a lot of work on the default one) that will tell you how much Data you burn.. You would need such an app on all phones.

NOTE: If you are into text (this forum) you can get by with some flakey bandwith.. IF you are heavy into graphics and video..... Please do not use park Wi-FI.

[2oldman]

dan-nickie wrote:
I watched a Netflix movie in HD last night and when I checked my usage I was up around 15GB.

I guess that's helpful.

[BobKrogstie]

bassin39 wrote:
Right now we are in a house using cable wifi. So 30 or 40 Gb should easily handle my work plus video streaming plus another occasional laptop or two? My 20 year old daughter may be moving in with us for awhile. So she will be doing her school work from there also.

I am averaging about 1 GB/day doing email, reading the news, weather, a few YouTube videos, Facebook and related videos, Google Earth, and Google Maps. I stream nothing, trying to be mindful of others and the limited bandwidth of most RV parks; especially when filled with snowbirds. 30 - 40 GB sounds good given your work, video streaming, 1-3 laptops, and a 20 YO.

[dan-nickie]

I watched a Netflix movie in HD last night and when I checked my usage I was up around 15GB.

[vermilye]

I don't think anyone can say how much data anyone else is likely to use. There are too many variables even between streaming sources. In my case I have 20GB per month at $100.00 per month after being moved from Millenicom to Verizon. I don't stream, but do keep up a busy web site & as a photographer, view image heavy sites. I typically use 15GB - 17GB per month, usually waiting to the end of the cycle to do updates...

[RoyB]

We have the grandfathered in 3GB VERIZON MIFI PLAN for a very low cost of $27 a month... For us it is just fine.

This is a secured WIFI point for five of our devices including two laptop computers, tablets, etc... Never have to worry about the poor service most of us get at the various camp grounds...

We just keep tabs on the emails and kids, pay a few bills on-line, and do very little surfing on the internet... haven't gone over yet in the past three or years we have been using...

Have no idea what is going to happen later on when VERIZON drops all contracts... Hopefully it will be for the NEW CONTRACTS and they will still honor the existing contracts.

Probably not a good time to do anything new at this point...

Roy Ken

[joe_b_]

I have found the time of day to have a lot to do with WIFI speeds at many campgrounds. Between 6 PM and midnight, mostly non-usable, but after midnight till mid morning or noon, they are much faster. Until a few years back, I still had a few clients that I worked with as a consultant. When traveling and I needed WIFI connections, first I tried the campground one, then I also had a Verizon prepaid MIFI device and account. Plus we have our cell phones with AT&T with a 30 gig, with roll over family plan. Currently we have 7 devices on that family plan.

As the billing month would progress, I might find I needed to add to my prepaid Verizon plan which was easy to do by credit card.

My wife likes to stream movies and I tell her to figure about 2 gigs of data to do so. During my consulting days, when traveling, I found we needed somewhere between 30 and 50 gigs of data a month available. When not traveling, I don't activate my Verizon MIFI device