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    Big Traveler dryfly's Avatar
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    cell phone & streaming

    While using Directv primarily, I'm interested in doing some streaming in the trailer. I am on a Verizon unlimited data plan. I know Verizon offers wireless internet. What would be the advantage of paying extra for this plan vs. just streaming off a cell signal? I will not be using the iPhone as a hotspot, but connecting directly to the TV with an iPhone to HDMI adapter cable.
    Last edited by dryfly; 10-04-2022 at 02:11 PM.
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  2. #2
    Rolling Along
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    We have had good success streaming to our WiFi enabled telli using cell phone as hot spot. Pic quality suffers a bit but it works ok most of the time. For us. It’s good enough that I e not invested in anything better. Just yet. Perhaps StarLink
    2021 Reflection 312 BHTS, Silverado 2500 Duramax

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    Our Verizon plan is "unlimited" but they throttle the speed after using 15 Gig.
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    Site Team WhittleBurner's Avatar
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    Verizon offers wireless (home) internet but not in all markets so for traveling it is a no go and hotspot would still be the better choice. We're on an old plan and just barely squeak by with 2 hotspots and 2 phones before we get throttled back, we don't stream much. I looked into the home internet hoping we could travel with it big disappointment there. To change to another plan would add big $ increase in our bill so we keep squeaking by.



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    Site Team Second Chance's Avatar
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    You might do some reading here (they have good information even in the free areas):

    https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/

    There are more high-GB hotspot plans coming on the market these days with prices much lower than they used to be. A 100 - 150 GB plan would do a lot of streaming for you (though much less at 4K). As full-timers, we use Dish Network for broadcast TV (about $60/month for ten times more channels than we need/want). It's HD with locals that we can reset with the phone app when we move - eastern and western Dish satellites since we use a Pathway X2 antenna. Our hotspot is a 4G LTE with VZW that is grandfathered into a truly unlimited data plan (no throttling). Unfortunately, that particular plan is not available any more - but there are other suitable substitutes out there. The hotspot is a MiFi 8800L and can have 15 different devices connected to it simultaneously. We routinely have 2 laptops, 2 Echo devices, a YoLink hub, two Galaxy phones, and the TV connected to it. We stream mostly from NetFlix and Amazon Prime Video.

    Rob
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  6. #6
    Site Team xrated's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dryfly View Post
    While using Directv primarily, I'm interested in doing some streaming in the trailer. I am on a Verizon unlimited data plan. I know Verizon offers wireless internet. What would be the advantage of paying extra for this plan vs. just streaming off a cell signal? I will not be using the iPhone as a hotspot, but connecting directly to the TV with an iPhone to HDMI adapter cable.
    The trouble with many "unlimited" plans is that after a certain number of gigs used, you will get throttled....usually in the 600Kb range of throughput. That's not even enough to load a webpage with any degree of speed, much less trying to stream video. The little circle that goes round and round will drive you crazy within a matter of minutes. I am grandfathered in with a pre-paid Verizon unlimited Hot spot on my Jetpack 8800L and even though it is truly unlimited......think hundreds and hundreds of gigs, there are still occasional times (not very often) that they will de-prioritize the line. This normally happens if there are somewhat limited cell towers in the area and the cell phone traffic will take precedence over my hot spot. We experienced it most recently while in Bryce Canyon city at Ruby's Inn campground. I had a full 5 bars, but the streaming just wasn't happening unless you wanted to wait out the buffering...and then get another 45 seconds or minute of the show you were watching.

    So my point in all of this, be very thorough in researching what you end up getting and realize that "unlimited" may or not be truly unlimited. From what I understand, Starlink is truly unlimited.....as is my Comcast Business line into the house.
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  7. #7
    Site Team xrated's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Second Chance View Post
    You might do some reading here (they have good information even in the free areas):

    https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/

    There are more high-GB hotspot plans coming on the market these days with prices much lower than they used to be. A 100 - 150 GB plan would do a lot of streaming for you (though much less at 4K). As full-timers, we use Dish Network for broadcast TV (about $60/month for ten times more channels than we need/want). It's HD with locals that we can reset with the phone app when we move - eastern and western Dish satellites since we use a Pathway X2 antenna. Our hotspot is a 4G LTE with VZW that is grandfathered into a truly unlimited data plan (no throttling). Unfortunately, that particular plan is not available any more - but there are other suitable substitutes out there. The hotspot is a MiFi 8800L and can have 15 different devices connected to it simultaneously. We routinely have 2 laptops, 2 Echo devices, a YoLink hub, two Galaxy phones, and the TV connected to it. We stream mostly from NetFlix and Amazon Prime Video.

    Rob
    Rob.....I just posted about that same plan and Jetpack.....we have had it since late 2018 and keep it current. While using it, have you ever been in an area that it went into the "de-prioritized" mode. My above post tells about that happening to us when we were in Bryce Canyon city last Sept 2021. It seldom happens, but every once in a while it has bitten me.
    2016 F350 CrewCab Dually
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  8. #8
    Site Team Second Chance's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xrated View Post
    Rob.....I just posted about that same plan and Jetpack.....we have had it since late 2018 and keep it current. While using it, have you ever been in an area that it went into the "de-prioritized" mode. My above post tells about that happening to us when we were in Bryce Canyon city last Sept 2021. It seldom happens, but every once in a while it has bitten me.
    Sorry for the duplication. If deprioritization ("traffic management") has happened to us, we haven't noticed it. In really rural areas what we have had issues with is under-resourced cell towers (affected phones and everything). Of course, there are also those places in the boonies where there's no signal no matter what device you're using. Fortunately, the vast majority of our time - when we're not in transit - is spent in more populated areas where the infrastructure is more robust. We're typically getting 20 - 30 Mbps download speeds here at APG in Maryland (similar to what we were getting in Las Cruces last winter).

    Rob
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  9. #9
    Site Team xrated's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Second Chance View Post
    Sorry for the duplication. If deprioritization ("traffic management") has happened to us, we haven't noticed it. In really rural areas what we have had issues with is under-resourced cell towers (affected phones and everything). Of course, there are also those places in the boonies where there's no signal no matter what device you're using. Fortunately, the vast majority of our time - when we're not in transit - is spent in more populated areas where the infrastructure is more robust. We're typically getting 20 - 30 Mbps download speeds here at APG in Maryland (similar to what we were getting in Las Cruces last winter).

    Rob
    Rob....No problem with the "duplication" thing, my post was more a "Hey, we've got the same thing". I've seen download speeds in the upper 40s, all the way down to maybe 15-18 megs, but like you said, it just depends on the location. We keep ours on while we are traveling also, then just do a WiFi hook up to it for the phones. If I remember correctly, that deal on the pre-paid unlimited for the hotspot didn't last very long....like maybe Nov 2018 to May of 2019. I guess they figured that they were not going to not be profitable on it. I'm sure that a lot of RVers jumped on it when it came out.....just like we did.
    2016 F350 CrewCab Dually
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    Excessive Payload is a Wonderful Thing

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  10. #10
    Long Hauler D2Reid's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dryfly View Post
    What would be the advantage of paying extra for this plan vs. just streaming off a cell signal?
    A lot of Texas is ATT country, Verizon doesn't work as well. My daughter has ATT, I have Verizon.

    I tried the Iphone to HDMI thingy. There is a security protocol that has to be overridden. It seems they are attempting to keep someone from playing a subscription movie to a recording device, anti-piracy thing. Of course that was two years ago for me, so things may have changed.

    Unlimited plans, what a crock. It's like saying you can have all the water from the faucet you want, so long as it is one drop at a time. After your GB monthly limit you're throttled to 640K or .65 MBS it takes about 2 MBS to stream, slowly, with buffering.

    Finding Verizon plans. The plans change frequently. The discounts are hidden. The VZ stores get different information than the VZ telephone staff. Neither know what is on the VZ web site. I've used VZ for over 15 years. Up until about 5 years ago streaming wasn't very viable, just not enough fast throughput, so I rarely got close to using my GB Monthly Hot Spot allotment. When we did start streaming I very quickly exceeded the allotment and had to put up with very slow web page loading. But things are better now. In most places I get at least 2 mbs throughput, and near cities I can get 50 mbs throughput. So we started streaming, which meant that I had to upgrade my plan.

    That's when I started finding out about the hidden discounts. I am a vet, discount. I am a senior, discount. I have 2 Iphones, 2 Apple watches, Ipad, 2 laptops, and an Xbox. The watches share with the Iphones, $8.50 each per month. I Ipad has an Unlimited Plan, $8.50 per month. My wife watches a TV show on it that I don't like and reads her book on it. It has a 15gb per month cap. Both the Iphones are on the 5 Get More plans, $80 a month each. They have 50 gb Hot Spot Limit, unlimited on device data. I exceeded the phone hot spot limit one time and got throttled, don't know if that was a mistake or what, it was weird. I have a discount for automatic payment. Inlcluded in this plan is Hulu, Disney +, Apple Arcade, Apple Music. Lesser plans they charge around $10 per month. I expect this will change, it looked like a promotional thing, but we are enjoying Hulu and Disney +. This plan also gives me a 50% discount on watches/tablets/mifi devices. Which brings me to the last device, our Mifi wireless router. A little dohicky that acts like an computer wireless router but gets it's internet connection through cell towers. I have the Pro plan that gives me 100 gb per month of hot spot. But with the high end cell phone plan it's 1/2 off, or $17 per month.

    Total bill runs me around $250 a month. Getting all this together was very painful and time consuming. I talked with at least a dozen VZ persons and none of them had all the correct information, or maybe they were throttled also and only allowed to give out a little bit of information at a time.

    Coverage. In 2011 when we started full timing you could usually make a cell phone call near most cities, not in the rural areas, not much data. Now, we can stream most places we go. When T-Mobile and Sprint merged there coverage improved quite a bit. Since I don't use them I can't really speak to their coverage. ATT has come a long way also, at one time I had my wife on ATT because there was a big location difference in the services. Some places we went ATT was the only thing working. But then we were going places ATT didn't work, so back to VZ. VZ works everywhere we go, where there is any kind of cell service. And we still go places where there is no cell service at all. A lot of the coverage thing is location, some stuff works really great in the east, not at all in the west. Some works around cities, never in the rural areas. The coverage maps are a general guideline. There are web services that show cell tower strength, they are hard to find. I used them when I was spending a whole summer in an area with poor service to optimize my cell service. I haven't had to do that in a couple of years.

    Claims about the best. Myself included. I have read many stories about how great this or that service program coverage plan is. You have to be careful, becuase these claims work for the person telling it. What's not included is location. Where do these people travel and stay. Is it just one area? One route? or do they (like me) rove all over the country. Just this last year I have been spent weeks in Washington, Utah, and South Dakota. In the near future Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, then Florida. Next summer Vermont and NH. My VZ is poor in north TX.

    There is a lot to this connectivity thing. And more coming out every day. Good luck in your hunt.
    Dallas
    2017 Momentum 376TH, 2019 Ford F450, Dual Rear Wheel, 4x4, diesel.
    2015 Harley-Davidson Street, XG750

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