Hulu, or something similar?

[DC_MC]

We are full time in motorhome. We use our Verizon phones ad hot spots. Is it possible to use Hulu when that is our only internet connection? We have Dish now but are very disappointed with the movies offered lately.

[1492]

MrWizard wrote:
"I’m wondering if I can plug it to iPhone?"

If you can find an iPhone connections conversion cable/connector to ethernet/LAN
Maybe, but i DON'T know if that's available

They do have these adapters for iPad as tablets are popular as kiosk. Should work with iPhone?

[1492]

Look at Verizon Visible for $40. month. Unlimited 4G data and hotspot. No set data throttling.

Caveat, it works with a limited number of smartphones.

[2oldman]

srt20 wrote:
2.Buy a lightening to hdmi adapter..

Lightning?

[srt20]

Ok here is what you can do without all that screwing around. You have an iPhone, correct?
1.Subscribe to your fav streaming service. We use Youtube TV.
2.Buy a lightening to hdmi adapter. Amazon or Walmart. Spend the $$ to get the actual Apple brand adapter. BTW it will have 2 female ports the HDMI port and a USB port, plus the lightening plug on other end. This is the one you want. You can charge phone while using it to watch TV.
3.Download streaming service app to your phone. Open app find what you want to watch.
4.Plug adapter into phone, you will also need a hdmi cable that goes from adapter to TV. Plug hdmi into TV, make sure the input on tv is the same as the HDMI port you plugged into.

Watch your stuff without using your personal hotspot on your phone. I dont full-time but we do travel alot and I always use this setup to watch my local sports channels for local teams. Buy a 6 ft HDMI cord so you can change the channel on your phone easily.

You used to be able to cast or mirror you phone onto smart tvs but the stream services have pretty much stopped that. But using the cords works better and much quicker anyway.

[valhalla360]

2oldman wrote:

coolmom42 wrote:
Verizon does not differentiate between phone data use and hotspot data use.

Unless I'm reading the plans wrong, they do. You can get 'unlimited' data but no hotspot. If you want hotspot they will allot you so many gigs, then throttle you.

This is true. After the hotspot allotment, it does throttle but as long as you are using standard def, it still works OK.

[austinjenna]

I have Verizon unlimited so get 15gb of hotspot. My wife has the same so total we can get 30gb of just hotspot alone.

Verizon does differentiate between hotspot and phone data.

You can always get a USBx to HDMI cable and plug that it into your tv and start whatever app on your phone and watch it on the tv so this uses no hotspot data just your phone data.

[MrWizard]

"I’m wondering if I can plug it to iPhone?"

If you can find an iPhone connections conversion cable/connector to ethernet/LAN
Maybe, but i DON'T know if that's available

[2oldman]

coolmom42 wrote:
Verizon does not differentiate between phone data use and hotspot data use.

Unless I'm reading the plans wrong, they do. You can get 'unlimited' data but no hotspot. If you want hotspot they will allot you so many gigs, then throttle you.

[2oldman]

valhalla360 wrote:
We don't bother with high def most of the time.

To each is own, but I can't watch SD.

[DC_MC]

Yes we have Verizon. We use the hotspot when we get out the old laptop. I just don’t understand why it won’t link up with the Dish hopper. Then I could try it and see how slow or fast it is. The hopper literature says you can use an ‘Ethernet’ cable to plug it into a router if you had one. I’m wondering if I can plug it to iPhone?

[valhalla360]

2oldman wrote:

Land Yachters wrote:
our coach has Direct TV satellite antenna, but we haven't tried it yet.

I'd stick with that. Data costs are not coming down to any reasonable level for my tastes, so I'm keeping my DTV as long as they are in business.

And you can get DTV in a lot more places than you can phone service, and Rv park wifi generally sucks.

We gave up on Direct TV. Given the price, it was cheaper to get a couple of unlimited cell phone plans (already need one anyway).

We don't bother with high def most of the time. Supplemented with a bit of wifi when a campground has decent coverage, it works well.

Some of it depends on what you are watching.
- Evening news, we just use over the air.
- Typical sitcom, we go with standard def. No need to see the blackheads on the character's noses.
- Really it's movies with a lot of special effects and imagery where we will bump to high def.

We do watch a lot of youtube and it's nice because the system will automatically adjust the definition if you are on a slow connection.

[coolmom42]

Rover_Bill wrote:

DC&MC wrote:
Ok. So I have icons on our dish menu for Netflix and amazon prime video. How do I connect the dish receiver to my iPhone hotspot? I went in settings and it found the iPhone, entered password but it keeps coming back saying not connected! What else do I need to do?

Does your cell phone data plan include tethering?

They are good if they are on Verizon. Verizon does not differentiate between phone data use and hotspot data use. It's all just data.

It's my understanding that other cell phone providers don't operate this way. Just another reason I won't be moving from Verizon.

[Rover_Bill]

DC&MC wrote:
Ok. So I have icons on our dish menu for Netflix and amazon prime video. How do I connect the dish receiver to my iPhone hotspot? I went in settings and it found the iPhone, entered password but it keeps coming back saying not connected! What else do I need to do?

Does your cell phone data plan include tethering?

[coolmom42]

DC&MC wrote:
Ok. So I have icons on our dish menu for Netflix and amazon prime video. How do I connect the dish receiver to my iPhone hotspot? I went in settings and it found the iPhone, entered password but it keeps coming back saying not connected! What else do I need to do?

Just pretend you don't have a dish. You can't connect it to a hotspot.

You need a TV with a HDMI connector. Set the TV input to the HDMI connector. You need a Roku streaming stick plugged into the HDMI connector. Turn on the phone hotspot. Set up the Roku to connect to it. Now you can watch anything on the Roku channels.

Another option is to get a "smart" TV, which will have its own wifi connection and apps built in. However, those apps will be continually updated and have few problem if you run them through a Roku device. Roku will also give you access to LOTS of channels.

I will say that Netflix does the best job (as best as I can tell) of any streaming content service so far as compressing content so it doesn't buffer at slower network speeds.

I know nothing of Iphone hotspots, but your phone service provider controls your data, regardless of the type of phone. I have a Pixel Android phone running off Verizon data. It's unlimited data up to 22 GB/month, and then if your area has heavy network usage, it will cut your speed way way back.

[2oldman]

DC&MC wrote:
Why can’t I use the Dish/iPhone together?

Beats me. Maybe youtube or dish can help.

Smart tvs are pretty inexpensive and have their own wifi and apps.