Hi we just bought our first travel trailer and are about to hit the road for a few months! What are the best options for reliable WiFi? I want to be able to run a video and temperature monitor in the trailer if we ever leave our dogs (for short periods of time) (I could use equipment suggestions here too). I also need to be able to reliably work via zoom meetings. We plan to stay at campgrounds with WiFi service but you never know how reliable that is. Any tips appreciated!!

Park WIFI can be OK but often is not, the more people that try to use it the worse it gets. Most folks these days are going with call phone hotspots. Either Verizon (the best) or ATT are favored. We use Visible which is on the Verizon cell phone system. A good plan is to put one person on Verizon and the other on ATT to provide a backup. I have rarely not had service even when boondocking. You will want a cell phone booster system. Visible costs $40/month and has 'unlimited' data. We generally use 30+ GB/mo and have had no trouble so far. If you plan to watch movies all the time or otherwise burn thru a bunch of GB then I'm not sure how it would work. There are other services, the major companies have killed most of their cheap offerings. Lots of these small companies fail in a few months leaving up up the river, de-paddled.

Hi,Hot spot is what you are looking for. Use and "add a line" and get a dedicated device for data.

Smart phone hot spot. Even my most basic Galaxy phone that's many years old can act as a wifi hot spot. You just need to have cell phone service wherever you are.. But, relying on a campground wifi setup is good for email at best.. No streaming and especially no Zoom... That service takes a TON of band width and will suck data pretty fast, so make sure you get a plan that has a lot of data per month!My office has Verizon MiFi hot spot units with "unlimited" data... But, after 15 GB it gets throttled down to a crawl.. I had a user use up all 15 GB in less than a week with just doing Zoom and Teams meeting video meetings...Anyway, good luck!Mitch

Read and research here - they are the gurus:RVMobileInternet.comRob

"We plan to stay at campgrounds with WiFi service but you never know how reliable that is." It won't be reliable for work purposes. Don't count on any RV park's WiFi."I want to be able to run a video and temperature monitor in the trailer if we ever leave our dogs." You'll need plug in power but spotty RV park WiFi may sink this plan.

Newbie needs help with WiFi! | Good Sam Community

JJnLilly
Explorer
Dec 07, 2020
We have the AT&T unlimited in our Truck/Car/RV. Move it from location to location. Have only been slowed down once. Get a warning when data use hits 16G but that is it.
Jas1317
Explorer
Dec 06, 2020
GDS-3950BH wrote:
Jas1317 wrote:
Gulfcoast wrote:
If you go to an AT&T store they can set you up with an unlimited plan for your GMC truck that will provide unlimited hotspot for your truck plus your RV. It's a car connect plan.

It's $20 a month and mine works fine even in my RV.

Done! Thank you. This seems like a no-brainer. And inexpensive!

That only works if you don't mind leaving your trucks ignition in the Acc position the entire time, as the GM wifi shuts down 10 minutes after closing the door with the key off. I question the $20 per month for unlimited as I have had it since GM offered it in their trucks, and its $10 / month per GB. I have also been to many campgrounds in the NE or mid Atlantic where AT&T service is iffy, overloaded with users, or non existent, and in that case the truck wifi is dead in the water.

Thank you for this insight! What do you do for WiFi?
Towers are in urban and other highly populated areas or generally are installed along major or heavily traveled routes. Truly nice campgrounds are usually in rural areas where towers may not exist or are so far away to make them almost useless unless your idea of nice is a paved parking lot KOA next to an Interstate. The maps they issue for coverage are far from accurate and are skewed by the marketing department. No free lunch.
GDS-3950BH
Explorer
Dec 06, 2020
Jas1317 wrote:
Gulfcoast wrote:
If you go to an AT&T store they can set you up with an unlimited plan for your GMC truck that will provide unlimited hotspot for your truck plus your RV. It's a car connect plan.

It's $20 a month and mine works fine even in my RV.

Done! Thank you. This seems like a no-brainer. And inexpensive!

That only works if you don't mind leaving your trucks ignition in the Acc position the entire time, as the GM wifi shuts down 10 minutes after closing the door with the key off. I question the $20 per month for unlimited as I have had it since GM offered it in their trucks, and its $10 / month per GB. I have also been to many campgrounds in the NE or mid Atlantic where AT&T service is iffy, overloaded with users, or non existent, and in that case the truck wifi is dead in the water.

Towers are in urban and other highly populated areas or generally are installed along major or heavily traveled routes. Truly nice campgrounds are usually in rural areas where towers may not exist or are so far away to make them almost useless unless your idea of nice is a paved parking lot KOA next to an Interstate. The maps they issue for coverage are far from accurate and are skewed by the marketing department. No free lunch.
Jas1317
Explorer
Dec 06, 2020
Gulfcoast wrote:
If you go to an AT&T store they can set you up with an unlimited plan for your GMC truck that will provide unlimited hotspot for your truck plus your RV. It's a car connect plan.

It's $20 a month and mine works fine even in my RV.

Done! Thank you. This seems like a no-brainer. And inexpensive!
Bill_Satellite
Explorer II
Nov 16, 2020
The SPARK is actually quite different in operation from the Mobley but you are right, it looks about the same.
Gulfcoast
Explorer
Nov 15, 2020
Yes, the plan is available for $20 that will connect to a newer car or truck, or they sell a device called a SPARK which looks like a Mobley to me.
Bill_Satellite
Explorer II
Nov 15, 2020
Gulfcoast wrote:
If you go to an AT&T store they can set you up with an unlimited plan for your GMC truck that will provide unlimited hotspot for your truck plus your RV. It's a car connect plan.

It's $20 a month and mine works fine even in my RV.

Is the car connect plan still available? If so, it certainly would be available for the occupants of the truck but how would that get to the RV? Last I heard, when you turn off the truck the internet only stayed connected for about 20 minutes.
Gulfcoast
Explorer
Nov 15, 2020
I have two older Mobley's that I use every day, but they are getting hard to find these days.

The new AT&T device is the Harmon Spark, but it's not needed in many new vehicles.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Nov 15, 2020
Add up your data requirements.

Decide what can be done with a throttle connection--and what can not.

In my own situation, my only wobbly wide web access is via cell phone(s).

I have two phones--both with "unlimited" data. I use the one with the least amount of "data" on it first. Then I use it throttled. When I find something that won't work on the "throttled" connection, then I switch to the other phone.

I can do netflix or zoom when throttled (0.57 megs, latency 54 ms unloaded, 1.5 seconds loaded, upload .93 megs, just measured with fast.com).

For netflix it may take a few seconds to start the stream (~30 seconds, just now)

There are devices that can be plugged into the obd port to provide internet access, such as the Mobley. They work if the ignition is turned on, and there are ways to power them without the ignition being on. Of course, there is a monthly charge to use them. For a time--they were sold with "unlimited" data. I do not know if that is the case any more.

This link is just to show you the device.

https://www.amazon.ca/ZTE-VM6200-Mobley-Mobile-Hotspot/dp/B0728FLZHD

This link is to AT&T

https://www.att.com/plans/connected-car.html
Gulfcoast
Explorer
Nov 15, 2020
If you go to an AT&T store they can set you up with an unlimited plan for your GMC truck that will provide unlimited hotspot for your truck plus your RV. It's a car connect plan.

It's $20 a month and mine works fine even in my RV.

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