THE Social Network for the RV Lifestyle
computer lap top's and Rving,
We will be going on a trip through the southern states and I was wondering if anyone has used their lap top while traveling, and have any good suggestions. We have Verizon cell phone service and were told they could help us. Anyone out there used them, or somethingt else?
Views: 0
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Mark & Sue on -
We use the Verizon USB port plug in. It's a little item that just plugs in to the laptop and we get the internet almost anywhere we go. It's about $60.00/month. Way better than trying to find Wi-Fi hot spots. You can Google up maps, directions, mileage, etc. This alone is worth it. Especially when driving a 36' Class A towing a car. We can't back up when towing, so the maps and directions have saved me tons of grief!
Give em a try, you won't be disappointed.
Mark
-
Permalink Reply by sue mcanally on -
Thanks, we just signed up for that today. We wanted to try it out before we leave so if we have any trouble we can get it worked out first.
Thanks Sue
Mark & Sue said:We use the Verizon USB port plug in. It's a little item that just plugs in to the laptop and we get the internet almost anywhere we go. It's about $60.00/month. Way better than trying to find Wi-Fi hot spots. You can Google up maps, directions, mileage, etc. This alone is worth it. Especially when driving a 36' Class A towing a car. We can't back up when towing, so the maps and directions have saved me tons of grief!
Give em a try, you won't be disappointed.
Mark
-
Permalink Reply by Ron Buckner on -
We use ours all the time. In fact it's turned out to be a HUGE blessing. We just finished a 6000+ trip from Texas through CA to WA and back this summer,and it became a "find-as-you-go" tour guide for us, In that we could access the lowest price for gasoline when we needed it (we did this when gas was $4.50+/gal) and I have to figure this practice alone saved us about $500.00. We used Mapquests-gas $ finder and I now swear by it. The other major feature was baing able to look ahead to area's where we knew we wanted to stop for the night to check out what campsights (and $'s) would be. We we're destination toring at the time so we didn't have a lot of time for side tripping, but i can tell you this ids the PERFECT tool for doing this because everything you need for doing it successfully is there when you are. I have the Verizon card in my lap top and a Garmin GPS (which is redundant, I could use the lap top for this also). The only time we ever had failure was on the Hwy. 40 in N.M. where I happenened to drive out of coverage, it was just a little "hole" in Verizons coverage, and the road was flat and straight, so I knew I couldn't screw up too bad.but it did make me realize just how valuable this had become to me in our first trip. The same can be said for my wife, she's the tour guide our pre-trip planning changed overnight. It isn't anywhere near the "stresser" it used to be.
-
Permalink Reply by Kat on -
Our MacBook Pro (and all recent Macs) has a built-in WiFi card, but of course that doesn't help on the road, and frequently not when we're stopped, either, with unpredictable WiFi at RV parks. However, our iPhones almost always have connectivity. I'm told that Verizon network cards are great for "tethering" your laptop and sharing the internet connection via USB, but so far AT&T & Apple don't have a device to do that with the iPhone. Neither one of us will give up our iPhone to get a Verizon phone, though!
-
Permalink Reply by Chenista Rae Straubel on -
You can also subscribe to satellite Internet. Check out DataStorm the next time you get online. They have the dishes that the professionally install or manual ones (you need to know the zip code of where you are at to find the coordinates to set up your satellite and connection). The model that is professionally mounted will automatically find the satellite no matter where you are. I don't know how much power they use but I do know that boondockers in Quartzite, AZ are using them because you can find DataStorm users through a free web site. I'd love to go this route because I really want to boondock and I'm not sure how reliable the USB cards would be when you are in the middle of nowhere. Also with the wireless cards, connection speeds vary from 14.4 bps (really slow) to mid-really slow depending where you are. Pretty sure you must be within cell tower range to get a signal and if you travel back roads as I do, that's not always possible.
-
Permalink Reply by Kat on
-
We had a satellite dish for internet, but found it very frustrating, in spite of both of us being techies. You need far more than zip code locations --- you really need detailed Latitude/Longitude, and even that might not help if the satellites have been reassigned without warning. Also, the providers will cut you off or "throttle" your usage if you exceed their very parsimonious bandwidth allowances. Latency (the time it takes the signal to go to the satellite and back to earth) can also be a problem. I do not recommend it. At this point, getting a Verizon card is a much better choice -- cheaper, easier and a lot more reliable. C'mon, AT&T, give us a teathering card for the iPhones already!!
Kat
Chenista Rae Straubel said:You can also subscribe to satellite Internet. Check out DataStorm the next time you get online. They have the dishes that the professionally install or manual ones (you need to know the zip code of where you are at to find the coordinates to set up your satellite and connection). The model that is professionally mounted will automatically find the satellite no matter where you are. I don't know how much power they use but I do know that boondockers in Quartzite, AZ are using them because you can find DataStorm users through a free web site. I'd love to go this route because I really want to boondock and I'm not sure how reliable the USB cards would be when you are in the middle of nowhere. Also with the wireless cards, connection speeds vary from 14.4 bps (really slow) to mid-really slow depending where you are. Pretty sure you must be within cell tower range to get a signal and if you travel back roads as I do, that's not always possible.
-
Permalink Reply by Marcie and Mark on -
Sue, we purchased an alltel usb (verizon and alltel are talking about a merger). It has worked great. It has worked great. We have been going from Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma,texas, New Mexico, Arizona to California to visit relatives. It worked everywhere. We had tried the AT&T card, don't even try it. We couldn't even get reception at our house.
We tried that first and Mark said sure it works in the jungle but not western minnesota.... Anyway like Ron said it is nice to have when you are going down the road to find places to stay or cheap gas.
Marcia
-
Permalink Reply by Ron Story on -
Marcie&mark: My name is Ron Story and i have some imput about your lap top and RVing.I take mine with me all the tme and also in my semi.I also have the at&t serria card and have had know problems at all with it.The price of$60 a month for unlimited use is well worth it.As long as i got a signal even a one bar it works,I bought an adopter the other day that plugs onto my air card and then i plug a 4-5inch cell ant onto it,reason is that i can set it in a spot by a widow or some where else that has a good signal.I use it in the house cuz i only have my lap top and i would have to sit on top of the window to use.I would be lost without use it all the time.Another good item to invest in is the willson cell phone amp it gives you a stronger signal and one that wont drop out. Happy RVing and stay save
-
Permalink Reply by Kat on
-
We just invested in a new mobile internet connectivity setup, based on information in a blog by Tony Cornett at RV.NET. I've posted information about it at http://newmediaonthego.com whiche I will update as our experience accrues. Essentially, it's a Verizon EVDO AirCard connected to a mobile router, with a Wilson booster antenna. So far we're really happy with it, but worried that 5GB/month won't be enough for 2 computers and 2 iPhones. One thing I didn't mention in my main posting is that the internet connection is FAST!
© 2012 Created by MyRVer Creator.
