Satellite Internet Service for Data

A Verizon 4510L hotspot works well for me... all the data I need.

Oh yes... it's 4G LTE fast internet too.

Bullet Bob wrote:
I am going be working after my wife and I start full timing and cell service or campground Wi-Fi doesn't have enough bandwidth.

Things may have changed, but sat internet was pretty poor. With good cell/data service today's hotspots and phones should work well for you.

http://www.wired.com/2015/06/elon-musk-space-x-satellite-internet/
is an article looking at the future of satellite internet.
Don't know anyone who is still using satellite for internet since Hughes Net pulled out of the market. Even if you could find a provider I think it would be cost prohibitive and not fast enough.
We also use Verizon Hotspot. They have many plans although no unlimited plans anymore. You can check the plans on www.verizonwireless.com

You can go with an iDirect solution. I have a XF3 ($20k for equipment) and gives me coverage over north america. You can go with a smaller idirect solution (U.S. only) for about 6k. As for providers, there are dozens of companies that support iDrect. Figure about $400/month for 512-1024kbps down and 128-256 up. The internet quality is excellent. The only issue (and this is true with all satellite internet) is the latency is very high. So expect response times to be about 1sec (600ms actual latency) but the throughput is very nice. It is much better than campground wifi.

You can pretty much get good cell service anywhere today, but good data service is still hard, especially in Canada (which is where the xf3 really helps me).

Obviously if I am at an RV park with great wifi then I turn the dish off. I use it about half of the time when travelin. It is easy to justify because the young kids burn up my data plan using the cell phone (they consume maybe 100gb in a month and so $500 cell phone data bills are now $400 satellite bills).

We travel about 6-8 weeks out of a year in the coach.

So, how much data do you think you will use each month?

Gulfcoast,

I am not sure what my data usage will be. I will need to login to my company's network every day, so reliability and download speeds will be most important to me.

Bullet Bob wrote:
Gulfcoast,

I am not sure what my data usage will be. I will need to login to my company's network every day, so reliability and download speeds will be most important to me.

If you are logging in to your work with any kind of VPN client, most of them do not tolerate high latency found with satellite providers, I work in IT for a large organization and I dread when people tell me they have satellite internet service, it's about a 90% guarantee we will never get the VPN working, and even if we do get VPN to connect their Citrix sessions are so slow they are unusable.

We have hundreds of users on Verizon data plans, and depending on signals, they are usually pretty reliable, with MUCH lower latency, though they are far from problem free too.

Sadly there is still no perfect solution for mobile internet.

I am one of those old HughesNet users. Had mine installed in 2006 when cell phone service was not as good as today. I am pleased with all it offers me. I am parked in the Madison CG inside Yellowstone NP. No phone service here at all. There is service at Canyon and Old Faithful.

It's nice to have internet where ever I go. From the middle of the big Cities to the middle of no where. Granted...it is slow but works great for email, rv.net, etc. I can browse the newspapers, Keep up on world events.

I am limited to 425 mbytes download during the day(24hrs). Unlimited from 2 till 6 am eastern time. There is a program you can use to download during this time.

I highly recommend ATT and Verizon hotspots.

Hi Bullet Bob, I'm another full-timer that is also employed full time (software engineer) and spend my time in the west. I did the research a couple years ago and could not find a satellite service that I found to be affordable (couple hundred $$/month) and workable (speed and VPN). I would be very interested in this changing so I keep my ears open.

In lieu of that, I've been using cellular data (mostly always 4G, occasionally 3G) for the last few years and it works well for me. An amplifier has been mandatory (for me) and I occasionally use an elevated outdoor antenna when signal is really bad (though I am still working thru that - doesn't happen very often). I am a Verizon subscriber and am very happy with performance and coverage. I generally use close to 12Gb/month and save the big transfers for McDonalds or other free wifi.