Very new to living in an RV/Trailer

[YeeYeeHaircut]

I am currently planning to move into an RV/Trailer and park it at a park that preferably has hookups like power and sewer, and I have some questions about the internet situation and power.

I am on the internet quite a bit, and I use a TV/my Laptop/computer, I'm wondering, do parks allow me to pay for my own modem etc, and hook it to my trailer?

and is the power enough to run say a console, or my devices?

TLDR - Can I do everything I'm doing now in an RV/Camper - Using my centurylink/maybe a spectrum modem I pay for and consoles, and powering devices?

(I dug around on the internet but this is what I'd feel to do is ask professionals or someone who knows more about it. I just wanna be prepared to stay in contact with my long distance friends and still do things with them while off of work over the net etc.)

[blaczero]

I agree with the above about the cost. It isn't necessarily a whole lot cheaper to live in an RV. We do it for the freedom and adventure.

Anyway, the internet situation: I would get something like this

https://www.amazon.com/MOFI4500-4GXeLTE-SIM7-COMBO-Upgraded-Antenna-T-Mobile-Verizon/dp/B089NYWJYK

or

https://www.mobilemusthave.com/Pepwave-MAX-BR1-MINI-wLTE-Advance-Modem-GEN-2-Hardware-100MB-Support_p_16.html

You can just take a sim from your phone and put it in the MoFi (Pepwave is an option too, that's what I got) and share the internet connection as if your phone was creating the data.

Basically if you use your "hotspot" on your phone you'll be throttled and it'll generally be very slow. With the above device, it's not a hotspot so the data won't be throttled.

Do some research on it, there are a lot of RV'rs on youtube that cover these devices, plans and connection options.

[bikendan]

Yep, many are fooled by media and tv shows about RV fulltime living being cheaper than more traditional living choices. The reality is that rarely is it much cheaper.

[Gdetrailer]

YeeYeeHaircut wrote:
I don't exactly plan to get far out into nature, just a temporary home until I can save enough to get something else but live there for a while. I will definitley ask about it and see if I can find out with hookups like that in regards to the net - thank you.

ronharmless wrote:
Just my opinion and you can take it or leave it; but, unless you are given or already own a late model, high quality, 4 season RV, you are not going to save money living in a RV in a RV Park. It would be cheaper and better to rent an apartment or small house. If it was a mobile home, possibly (they are built to different standards than a RV).

YeeYee, I have to agree with Ron..

Folks often get on this forum with the notion they will save a lot of money by living in a RV in a park setting, paying for a lot. Parks with electric/sewer/water are not cheap rent.. Would not be too surprised that you will get prices well above $800-$1200 per month as many RV parks tend to charge $50-$100 night in season, some reduce the price out of season but I suspect you may be hard pressed to find one below $30 per night or $900..

You are not going to "save" money living in a RV, especially if you have to buy one, then pay the monthly lot rent..

Your profile states Oregon.. Your gonna get cold and wet, living in a RV in the winter time is going to eat you out what remaining money that you didn't have leftover from paying the lot rent..

Very few RVs are designed for "four season" use, they have little to almost zero insulation from the floor to the roof, single pane windows.. Your going to have to adapt to a completely different lifestyle that includes not heating to any roasting temps above 60F..

Even that temp will use 30 lbs of propane in only a few days, I would not be surprised if you use two 30lb cylinders in less than a week.. Depending on the current cost of propane that could be as much as $60 per week or $240 a month and you are only heating a couple of hundred square feet and freezing at the same time.. You might save some money by leasing 100 lb propane tanks but often they will want money upfront or you to buy them..

Something else to consider, many "parks" are seasonal in cold weather states, they CLOSE during the winter and for good reason, it is difficult to keep the water systems from freezing, costs a lot to install and run heat tapes in the winter.. If they don't close, they may turn off the water to the park except for a bathhouse.

For example, I did a search for RV parks in Klamath Oregon area..

Rocky Port..

HERE is only open Open Mar 15 - Nov 30..

Last Year's Rate was $37 to $46 per day..

HERE is a search which found 10 RV parks in your area..

Then you will have the holding tanks to deal with, unless it has insulated and heating pads on the holding tanks, freeze ups of the tanks is a real issue to deal with and not to mention YOU will have to dump even the toilet tank known as "blackwater"..

Do yourself a favor, find a small apartment, in the end, it will be cheaper and much nicer than attempting living in a RV during the winter.

[rexlion]

Be prepared for high noise levels (RV furnaces and air conditioners) with drafty conditions in winter. RVs don't have many square feet, so opening the door lets out a huge percentage of the climate controlled air.

When you find out what RV parks charge, you may be shocked.

[DrewE]

A medium size flat screen TV is maybe 50 watts (unless it's a plasma screen--they're power hungry). A laptop is maybe 75 watts, though they vary a lot and the actual power consumption is quite dependent on how heavily loaded the CPU is and how bright the screen is. A PS4 is around 75-150 watts (modern consoles are pretty power hungry, relatively speaking). A phone charger is a few watts, and a cable modem not much more. All told, it sounds like your electronics are running maybe 200-250 watts, or a couple of amps. That's not at all likely to be the least bit problematic in any campground with hookups.

[Grit_dog]

ronharmless wrote:
Just my opinion and you can take it or leave it; but, unless you are given or already own a late model, high quality, 4 season RV, you are not going to save money living in a RV in a RV Park. It would be cheaper and better to rent an apartment or small house. If it was a mobile home, possibly (they are built to different standards than a RV).

What he said.
If you can’t afford an apartment in Kalamath Falls, you can’t afford a full time RV and campsite.
You also do not sound capable of what’s required to full time RV.
Sounds like your style of RVing will be more akin to downtown Portland.

I would suggest the best plan of action, find the most economical apartment or room for rent and concentrate your efforts on making more money and saving more money, not cluttering you the world with another junker RV that the taxpayers will ultimately pay to recycle on their dime and not yours.

[Lwiddis]

I agree with ron. Do the math carefully. You may be saving nothing with RV living in a campground vs. an apartment or single room. Heating the RV will be a challenge.

[ronharmless]

Just my opinion and you can take it or leave it; but, unless you are given or already own a late model, high quality, 4 season RV, you are not going to save money living in a RV in a RV Park. It would be cheaper and better to rent an apartment or small house. If it was a mobile home, possibly (they are built to different standards than a RV).

[valhalla360]

Check around to see what is available at your nearby parks. There isn't a specific group that manages these types of parks.

At our summer park, we did get a wired internet service but it's OK but if you have high demands it might not be enough. Not all parks will have or allow wired internet. The wifi they advertise is almost always marginal at best.

Power depends: Assuming you have a 30amp RV (50amp RVS tend to be bigger and more expensive). You will need to manage your power usage. Even though is says 30amp, in reality that's a peak capability. Continuous use is only good for 24amps. If you are running the air/con, that can eat up 12amps. Add another 2-3 for the fridge, 10amps for the water heater...and you are basically maxed out. If you want to run the microwave, you need to turn off the air/con or water heater. Many will simply run the water heater off propane to reduce demand. Now if you electronics array pulls 2-3 amps total, probably quite reasonable. If it's pulling 10-15amps, that's going to be a challenge.

If you have a 50amp, you should be golden. 30amp is 30amps @ 120v. 50amp is 50amp at 240v split into two legs effectively giving you 100amp @ 120v.

If you are doing this just for cost savings, have you done any price checking? At a nice park, it's not unusual to pay $600-800/month just for the site. Electric is extra. You still pay for your RV including any maintenance and repairs. Unless you are in a really high rent district, it's usually cheaper to just get an apartment (of course, if you are in a really high rent district, you might be paying $1000-1200 for an RV site).

Also check with RV parks if you are looking at older RVs. Some have a 10yr old limit. Usually, if the rig is in good shape, they may overlook it but what they are really trying to do is rule out scruffy beat up rigs.

[wowens79]

My daughter is living in our RV at college when they ran out of dorm rooms due to reduced capacity with COVID rules. The RV park she is in includes cable TV, so I called the cable provider, and they were able to set up an internet connection. So she had plenty of bandwidth for school, and netflix.

[YeeYeeHaircut]

MarkTwain wrote:

YeeYeeHaircut wrote:
I am currently planning to move into an RV/Trailer and park it at a park that preferably has hookups like power and sewer, and I have some questions about the internet situation and power.

I am on the internet quite a bit, and I use a TV/my Laptop/computer, I'm wondering, do parks allow me to pay for my own modem etc, and hook it to my trailer?

Do not count on using internet services at RV parks. Most are not reliable and their speed is slow and they will charge you. Select another source for your internet services.

and is the power enough to run say a console, or my devices?
NO!

TLDR - Can I do everything I'm doing now in an RV/Camper - Using my centurylink/maybe a spectrum modem I pay for and consoles, and powering devices? Ask your service provider! I was impressed with Spectrum but am not sure about where they provide services.

(I dug around on the internet but this is what I'd feel to do is ask professionals or someone who knows more about it. I just wanna be prepared to stay in contact with my long distance friends and still do things with them while off of work over the net etc.)

wait - no? Like, - It can't run most of it or is it akin to running one thing at a time kind of deal

[YeeYeeHaircut]

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
Depends upon the park.

Basically the farther out in 'nature' you are, the more difficult it is to get wired internet. And wired internet is always more reliable than anything WiFi over the air solution.

Most RV folks use an over the air situation, connected to a hotspot tied to a major carrier wireless plan. This can vary from barely functional to streaming quality - depending upon how close to cell towers and some other things.

Also, 'Unlimited Data Plans' mean the company will not charge you more money no matter how much data you use. It does not mean that your data rate will not be throttled if you exceed a certain amount of data - ATT, Verison, T-Mobile all do this, and they also impose limits on data transfer rates for companies that resell their service.

Some long term parks had wired cable systems which can provide internet. Not many though. Parks marketed to a mobile RV population seldom go to that expense.

I've seen a few places where long term residents had installed fixed dish satellite internet systems, mostly with good results.

It has to be something you ask about as you look for a 'home'.

I don't exactly plan to get far out into nature, just a temporary home until I can save enough to get something else but live there for a while. I will definitley ask about it and see if I can find out with hookups like that in regards to the net - thank you.

Is there like a group of parks specifically called permanent parks? - or are there just some permanent residents that stay in the parks

I'm sure fans will become a good friend for warm weather haha

[YeeYeeHaircut]

DrewE wrote:
Others have covered internet connectivity well.

If by "power to run your devices" you mean electrical power, then yes--that is more than sufficient for any reasonable "home" technology. Running something akin to a Google server rack is, of course, a slightly different matter.

A 30A RV power connection has a theoretical (nominal) power capacity of 3600 watts; a 50A connection, 12,000 watts. Devices would very likely be no more than a couple hundred watts total, and quite possibly a good bit less. One exception is a laser printer, which uses a fair bit of power for the fuser when it's running (but still well within the power available in a campground--but enough that you may need to pay attention to what other things are running, especially if you have a 30A connection).

`

I only plug into a strip in my room currently, my laptop with a charger, a smaller, well, wide stand television, its pretty small but mediuum sized wide Is the best I can describe it, a PS4 , and a phone charger really, and whatever modem I can hook up if the park allows it - I was asking if a trailer I buy would be able to run all of that with a hookup at a park/i'm not sure whether I should look for a certain amp amount in regards to that.

I'm a bit of a dummy, - thank you. I will definitley be asking around parks until I find one that has cable hookup, other cases I saved this info thank you lots.

[MarkTwain]

YeeYeeHaircut wrote:
I am currently planning to move into an RV/Trailer and park it at a park that preferably has hookups like power and sewer, and I have some questions about the internet situation and power.

I am on the internet quite a bit, and I use a TV/my Laptop/computer, I'm wondering, do parks allow me to pay for my own modem etc, and hook it to my trailer?

Do not count on using internet services at RV parks. Most are not reliable and their speed is slow and they will charge you. Select another source for your internet services.

and is the power enough to run say a console, or my devices?
NO!

TLDR - Can I do everything I'm doing now in an RV/Camper - Using my centurylink/maybe a spectrum modem I pay for and consoles, and powering devices? Ask your service provider! I was impressed with Spectrum but am not sure about where they provide services.

(I dug around on the internet but this is what I'd feel to do is ask professionals or someone who knows more about it. I just wanna be prepared to stay in contact with my long distance friends and still do things with them while off of work over the net etc.)