Wifi connection for TV

[MKirkland]

Looking for something else that I might have missed for getting TV reception. I have a tailgater by Dish but may be dropping their service at home. Which means I will also lose the tailgater satellite. I'm told a hotspot wont support tv use. My cell phone service doesn't have the stand alone jetpack. Is there something else I can use, especially where a campground doesn't have wifi?

[tim90]

on market you get any other equipment in low budget that you use on tv and as well recive internet single also

[CharlesinGA]

Use a portable travel router for the cell phone's hotspot to talk to and then let the router distribute to the TV, laptop, tablet, etc. This way the phone provider only sees one item connected to the hotspot, as many services purposely degrade if they see more than one device on the hotspot.

I use Visible for cell phone service, it is unlimited everything but does throttle the hotspot if more than one device directly connected hence the need for a router.

If you are a serious traveler that needs to work from the road, this video will help you out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu63IduXi5M

Charles

[mobeewan]

Nomad Internet is a company that has plans using Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. They did have one for Sprint but I saw something that T-mobile may have purchased Sprint. Anyway, Nomad Internet uses their services and provides true unlimited throttle free service. They also provide hotspots for purchase, or you can buy or use your own hotspot you already have, provided that it works with one of the providers Nomad Internet uses.

Verizon did have a data only plan for a jet pack for about $69 per month that may have been unlimited without throttling. I was considering dropping my jet pack from my Verizon cell phone plan and using it to get the jet pack only plan just for data, but a better Verizon plan with data came out that suits my usage and I don't notice any throttling issues.

When I go full timing I will incorporate a cell phone signal booster and probably switch to Nomad Internet.

At home I got rid of Directv and haven't regretted it. About a year before the only premium service w/ Directv I had was Starz/Encore. I dropped it and was still paying around $125 a month. Then I picked up Netflix which i can use to down load programs to my phone or tablet to watch on the go or when traveling where wifi/cell phone signals may be weak or non existant. Later I completely dropped Directv. I started streaming Sling Tv for $69 a month including all Starz/Encore channels I dropped from Directv. Sling also carries HBO. I have all the channels I usually watched on Directv and more plus Cloud DVR for recording scheduled programming to view later. Watch one program live while recording 1 or more to view later. With Sling you purchase one of 2 base packages and can add ala carte channel clusters. They have 4 particular channel clusters that are $5 each per cluster or you can get all 4 for $10.

Sling Tv is owned by Dish Network. There are other streaming services similar to Sling that offer most satellite and cable channels.

I also have a Roku device I use for streaming at home. There are many free channels available through the Roku device for streaming free content. There are various local television news stations (2 of mine are available) from around the country available on Roku along with FOX News, SKY News, other news channels, the Weather Channel and other weather related channels are available. There are also channels like Pluto television that have channel lineups that are similar to cable/satellite. Pluto does offer a few of the cable/satellite channels, but have a lot of other not as well known channels. Some of those offer syndicayed television programming.

Another way to get your local home town news chanels is watching them on line through your lsp top, phone of tablet. Many stations have free android aps for local news.

Last but not least I have a rooftop television antenna for local television stations on the road and a Lava DVR HD Video Recorder Converter Box. It records OTA TV in up to 1080p and uses thumb drives instead of an internal hard drive to record programs and also has RCA connections and an HDMI connection. I can take with me in the trailer for my viewing pleasure.

[dieseltruckdriv]

valhalla360 wrote:

dieseltruckdriver wrote:

MKirkland wrote:
Looking for something else that I might have missed for getting TV reception. I have a tailgater by Dish but may be dropping their service at home. Which means I will also lose the tailgater satellite. I'm told a hotspot wont support tv use. My cell phone service doesn't have the stand alone jetpack. Is there something else I can use, especially where a campground doesn't have wifi?

We use an ATT mobile hotspot and a Google Chromecast very often, I wonder why someone told you it wouldn't work.

My wife and I still work and can get called to fix problems evenings and weekends. We either have dependable internet or we have to drive to work, so we also have a Visible phone that we can just use the phones built in hotspot. That also works fine for streaming to our tv.

Depends on your definition of works:
- If you are using a site like youtube which adapts to the available speed, you cell hot spot will generally work fine (presuming you have a good cell signal).
- If you are trying to run 4k video, at best, it will eat up a lot of time buffering and it may time out.

As long as you are reasonable in your expectations, a hot spot works well.

We usually watch Netflix and Vudu at 1080 with no buffering. We have each had Zoom or Teams meetings at the same time with no issues also. When we are fishing, we don't have a great signal, hopefully 3 bars, but we have had no issues.

[Sjm9911]

I have an att unlimited data plan. If I have decent cell service, I can use a dongle to connect the phone directly to the tv. From there the tv displays whats on my phone. So you can watch netflix, disney + , or whatever. You need cell service for it to work. It does take you phone battery down a bit, so best to have a fully charged phone for it to last.

[valhalla360]

dieseltruckdriver wrote:

MKirkland wrote:
Looking for something else that I might have missed for getting TV reception. I have a tailgater by Dish but may be dropping their service at home. Which means I will also lose the tailgater satellite. I'm told a hotspot wont support tv use. My cell phone service doesn't have the stand alone jetpack. Is there something else I can use, especially where a campground doesn't have wifi?

We use an ATT mobile hotspot and a Google Chromecast very often, I wonder why someone told you it wouldn't work.

My wife and I still work and can get called to fix problems evenings and weekends. We either have dependable internet or we have to drive to work, so we also have a Visible phone that we can just use the phones built in hotspot. That also works fine for streaming to our tv.

Depends on your definition of works:
- If you are using a site like youtube which adapts to the available speed, you cell hot spot will generally work fine (presuming you have a good cell signal).
- If you are trying to run 4k video, at best, it will eat up a lot of time buffering and it may time out.

As long as you are reasonable in your expectations, a hot spot works well.

[MKirkland]

Second Chance wrote:
Why not keep the Dish setup and open a Dish Outdoor account? That's what we've used for 6-1/2 years of full-timing and it has worked well for us. The beauty of a Dish Outdoor account is that you can change local stations as you move around (using the MyDish app on a smartphone).

Rob

Rob, is there a Dish Outdoor app or does that show up after you sign up? Thanks, Mark

[sch911]

We use a PrePaid AT&T Nighthawk Hotspot. It costs $50 for 100GB and that lasts a month. You can Re Up and get another 100GB for $50 any time. No Plan. We own the hotspot. That cost $35 on Ebay.

[ford_truck_guy]

I started using - Calyx Institute a few years ago... LOVE the service, once I get to where I am going, all 3 of my TV's hook up to the hotspot and I watch... The 4g version will support 10 devices... the 5g version will allow 30 devices to hook up to it....

Truly unlimited Wi-Fi.. BUT . . . . If you do not have a cell signal, you will probably NOYT have a Wi-Fi signal...

check here - coverage map

[theoldwizard1]

An interesting alternative mobile plan is Ting Mobile's Flex plan (Ting rides on top of T-Mobile cell towers). $10/month/line for unlimited talk and text. $5/Gb of data for all lines combined FULL 4G (or 5G where a available) speed, NO THROTTLING !!

This could get expensive. 2 phones and a HotSpot that used 20 a combined 20 Gb of data would be $130 +tax. If you don't use a lot of data, this could be a very inexpensive plan !

[theoldwizard1]

MKirkland wrote:
I'm told a hotspot wont support tv use. My cell phone service doesn't have the stand alone jetpack.

MiFi/JetPack/HotSpot different names for the same thing.

As stated, depending on the strength of your cell signal where you are camping, you cell phone may be all you need. If you purchase another device (Winegard, Netgear, etc) it will appear as an extra "phone" on your cell phone plan. Be aware that most plans will "throttle" (limit) the speed once you have hit some limit or during busy cell tower times.

At home, we stream DirecTV Stream to a couple of HD TVs using Amazon Fire Stick adapters. At least one is on most of the day. Our last month cable internet bill said we used about 800-1000 Gb of data !

[bgum]

We use our cell phones as Hotspot on Verizon towers. Works out well with a decent signal. Never use parks wifi due to slow connection. Too much data trying to go down a small pipe to multiple users.

[dedmiston]

We use a crank-up antenna to get HD OTA channels and a cellular hotspot for work and for streaming. It works great as long as there's decent cell coverage. We don't even bother with the park's wifi because it's slower than our own cellular.

[Second_Chance]

Why not keep the Dish setup and open a Dish Outdoor account? That's what we've used for 6-1/2 years of full-timing and it has worked well for us. The beauty of a Dish Outdoor account is that you can change local stations as you move around (using the MyDish app on a smartphone).

Rob