Internet for 4 months

[dtappy3353]

What do you do to obtain internet while visiting relatives for 4 months. Relatives only have limited service. We want to have our own for streaming tv at night.

Also have 2 laptops, 2 smartphones and 2 tables.

Any help and direction is most appreciated.

Thank you

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Streaming with no buffering from Netflix can be done at 0.52 M/s. It does take a minute or so for the buffer to fill.

[Freep]

I use an LTE modem and put a cell phone sim card in it. The cell phone has an unlimited plan which is cheaper than hotspot plans.

The following site has some good information on those devices.

https://ltefix.com/

I also have two external antennas mounted on the roof of my camper which increases the signal.

If you know you're going to be stationary for months it might make sense to sign up with Starlink


One other tip. It's a good idea to use an ad scrubber like Pi-hole and/or a custom hosts file(https://someonewhocares.org/hosts/) to keep from downloading ads, many of which are video these days.

[mgirardo]

dtappy3353 wrote:
Thank you everyone for the feedback. My DIL says she contacted Xfinity and was told that since they already had the Xfinity service at their home, another Xfinity stand alone service to that address is not possible.

Are you a Xfinity customer? If so, you can use the free Xfinity WiFi Hotspots anywhere in the country. I usually get 20 - 30 mbps download with the Xfinity Hotspots, which is good enough for streaming.

Do you know what the current speed your daughter-in-law gets with Xfinity? I would offer to increase their speed for the year and pay the difference. We currently have Gigabit speed with Xfinity. We also have the unlimited package which includes the modem and pay $95/month. Wired directly to the router, I see speeds of 930 - 940 mbps on my laptop and about 550 mbps on my smartphone. With 4 of us in the house, we used a Terabyte a month or more each month. We don't have TV service and stream everything we watch between Hulu, Amazon Prime, Pluto TV, Roku, YouTube, NBC website and CBS web site.

-Michael

[2oldman]

Tom_M wrote:
Data usage is unlimited even for hotspot use. I travel extensively and have had no problems.

I had considered visible, but then I read stuff like this:

" If you're willing to sacrifice internet speed in exchange for unlimited hotspot data, you should consider Visible's $40 Unlimited Plan."

My old XXL 28G plan is very fast, but expensive. And I get carryover data... FAST carryover data.

[Tom_M1]

2oldman wrote:
I have not yet found an "unlimited" plan that doesn't throttle you to an almost unusable speed once your allotment is used. Also, the better data plans seem to be in cities, not out on the road.

Visible does not throttle down your service. They do de-prioritize you if a tower is congested. This happens only during the period of congestion. Data usage is unlimited even for hotspot use. I travel extensively and have had no problems.

[2oldman]

dtappy3353 wrote:
Xfinity and was told that since they already had the Xfinity service at their home, another Xfinity stand alone service to that address is not possible.

I have xfinity and all the internet you can eat is just not that expensive. I'm not sure what your relatives have, but you shouldn't need another service, just the ability to connect to their wifi.

Data over the phone will eat up gigs really fast. I have 28G of 4g service on a Verizon phone and I can surf and barely watch any youtube before I go through that in about 25 days. I have not yet found an "unlimited" plan that doesn't throttle you to an almost unusable speed once your allotment is used. Also, the better data plans seem to be in cities, not out on the road. 4 months is a long stretch on phone data. I know nothing about SIMs.

I also discovered a couple RV parks that have really decent wifi - one free and one not free - about $2/day. Perhaps wifi is actually improving in some areas. Check that out.

LouLawrence wrote:
Can the existing Xfinity service be improved and later downgraded?

x2

[LouLawrence]

Can the existing Xfinity service be improved and later downgraded? If so, just get the service turned up, add a wireless router and use that connection. A ground based (likely fiber) connection would always be your best option if that option works for your relatives. Just give the the additional amount to cover the higher level of service. If you are staying with in-laws for 4 months you must REALLY get along already so this should not appear to be a burden since there will be no cost to them.

[dtappy3353]

Thank you everyone for the feedback. My DIL says she contacted Xfinity and was told that since they already had the Xfinity service at their home, another Xfinity stand alone service to that address is not possible. Hmmmmm. Will give them a call cause they have specials going on. On the other hand, we already have a Verizon MiFi 5510L from years ago. We seemed to burn through lots of mbps just surfing the internet and were calling in to up the mbps without video streaming. If we went with Visible and purchased their cheapest phone, could we take the SIM from it and put it in our 5510L? Would that even make a difference in cost or would Visible just shut down the service. I guess the service with the least cost and functionality with many problems streaming to our FireStick would get the nod!

[LouLawrence]

Do you know if good cellular service is available at that location? If so, which provider? Know before you go!

[Tom_M1]

Check out Visible which is a Verizon owned company. You can buy an Android phone for $49 and service is $45/month. That's the total price for unlimited everything including hotspot use. This price can be reduced to $25/month if you join a Party Pay plan.

One drawback is you can only connect one device at a time to the hotspot. You can purchase a wireless router to circumvent this.

Check them out here:
https://www.visible.com/

[doxiemom11]

Verizon offers a mobile internet device with various data plans. Not tied to your phones, independent. We receive internet in places that cell phone don't work. Different signal for data devices. If you are going to be in a rural/remote area, I'd consider a stand alone device. If in a city, there's lots of choices with a cell phone.

[ORbiker]

We use a T Mobile prepaid hotspot. We pay for 6G of 4g for $25.00. After the 6G is used; you get unlimited 3g. If there is 4g available you get that as long as it doesn't slow down others.
We've been using this for 2 years. Stream Netflix with no problems.

We live in Springfield. We camp at the coast in the winter and Central Oregon in the summer. No problems. KEN

[theoldwizard1]

Nomad internet is month by month, unlimited data. Not cheap

[CA_Traveler]

We cut the cord many years ago and use cell service at home and on the road.