Confused and even more Confused

AustexGP

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2013
Messages
460
Location
Austin, Tx
Last year during our trip from Texas to Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee we stayed at many RV parks that did not have Cable/Satellite TV. This made the DW very unhappy. We could use the laptop to get a few networks but not anywhere near what she wanted. This year the DW has ask me to figure out how to get TV while we are traveling. I have read all the post and replies here and just got more and more confused.


Here is what we have currently:
A 32 inch TCL (not smart) TV in the living area
A 32 inch Samsung (not smart) TV in the bedroom

Our mobile service is T-mobile
Our home cable service is AT&T

We have an OTA antenna mounted on the roof of the 5TH Wheel (Wineguard)

Now without spending several hundred dollars a month, how do I get some sort of TV streaming service by adding equipment to our set up or how do I use our current set up to watch TV.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm not looking forward to another trip where I have no TV service. The DW and SIL have got to watch their Longhorns and Cowboys!
 
Last edited:
Last year during our trip from Texas to Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee we stayed at many RV parks that did not have Cable/Satellite TV. This made the DW very unhappy. We could use the laptop to get a few networks but not anywhere near what she wanted. This year the DW has ask me to figure out how to get TV while we are traveling. I have read all the post and replies here and just got more and more confused.


Here is what we have currently:
A 32 inch TCL (not smart) TV in the living area
A 32 inch Samsung (not smart) TV in the bedroom

Our mobile service is T-mobile
Our home cable service is AT&T

We have an OTA antenna mounted on the roof of the 5TH Wheel (Wineguard)

Now without spending several hundred dollars a month, how do I get some sort of TV streaming service by adding equipment to our set up or how do I use our current set up to watch TV.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm not looking forward to another trip where I have no TV service. The DW and SIL have got to watch their Longhorns and Cowboys!

We have DISH at home. We just added another receiver to our account that travels in the RV. I think it's only like $10 extra a month.

Can't help with specifics of what to add in your circumstances.

We also travel with lots of DVDs to watch in those parks where we don't have a"satellite friendly" site.
 
We have an OTA antenna mounted on the roof of the 5TH Wheel (Wineguard)

You should be able to get the local channels where ever you are parked. You'll have to rescan for channels each time on each TV.

Adding satellite would get you a lot more channels. For streaming, you're going to need a robust connection to the internet. The wifi at most campgrounds won't support that. You might get enough service on your phone to stream. If your TVs are not smart, you could add something like a Chromecast to stream material on your phone and "cast" it to the TV.
 
Now without spending several hundred dollars a month, how do I get some sort of TV streaming service by adding equipment to our set up or how do I use our current set up to watch TV.
Scanning channels wherever we are camped has always given us about 20 channels with the ota antenna? Maybe not the specific football game you want?
 
Did you pay much attention to your cell phone coverage at the places you stayed? We used T-Mobile while in FL for 3 months last winter. If you have the Magenta Max plan (1/2 price if one of you is over 55), you get 40Gb of unthrottled data per phone. That lasted us a couple of weeks using it for Netflix, surfing, and YouTube. Once the unthrottled data was used up, we could still surf and watch Netflix but YouTube buffered pretty consistently. That's probably your cheapest option given that you already have Tmobile. I'd at least start there. Also, it doesn't solve your problem if you don't have Netflix. Although there is a fair amount of free content available if you use Roku on your TCL TV.
 
Scanning channels wherever we are camped has always given us about 20 channels with the ota antenna? Maybe not the specific football game you want?

Agree with this, this is the faster easiest and cheapest.

Bill
 
Last year during our trip from Texas to Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee we stayed at many RV parks that did not have Cable/Satellite TV. This made the DW very unhappy. We could use the laptop to get a few networks but not anywhere near what she wanted. This year the DW has ask me to figure out how to get TV while we are traveling. I have read all the post and replies here and just got more and more confused.


Here is what we have currently:
A 32 inch TCL (not smart) TV in the living area
A 32 inch Samsung (not smart) TV in the bedroom

Our mobile service is T-mobile
Our home cable service is AT&T

We have an OTA antenna mounted on the roof of the 5TH Wheel (Wineguard)

Now without spending several hundred dollars a month, how do I get some sort of TV streaming service by adding equipment to our set up or how do I use our current set up to watch TV.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm not looking forward to another trip where I have no TV service. The DW and SIL have got to watch their Longhorns and Cowboys!

I download movies from Netflix and Prime video incase of no cell service or OTA tv. I use Verizon on phone and mirror to the tv for Directv streaming, Pluto tv, Prime, ans Netflix.
I have also starting using the mobile hotspot on my phone to use on my TCL tv, this works the best if you have enough mobile hotspot data.
I am a tv addict, but this winegard 360 antenna doesn't work that great in my opinion. I have kinda given up on OTA tv, mobile hotspot and phone streaming tv is the future. Good luck!
 
I download movies from Netflix and Prime video incase of no cell service or OTA tv. I use Verizon on phone and mirror to the tv for Directv streaming, Pluto tv, Prime, ans Netflix.
I have also starting using the mobile hotspot on my phone to use on my TCL tv, this works the best if you have enough mobile hotspot data.
I am a tv addict, but this winegard 360 antenna doesn't work that great in my opinion. I have kinda given up on OTA tv, mobile hotspot and phone streaming tv is the future. Good luck!

Excellent point on downloading movies too. Forgot to mention that. We downloaded lots of shows and movies to our iPhones, and played them on the TV with an HDMI adapter; worked great.
 
We bought a Nighthawk dedicated hot spot with our AT&T service. Prepay for GB when traveling. We have rarely not been able to stream (it's a welcomed event when it happens). The Nighthawk travels in the cab when we are moving and the wife is on it 50% of the time. For some reason, the Nighthawk is able to connect with towers easier that the phone. T-Moble may have a similar device and service. Incidently, we have at time made a phone the hotspot and streamed to the TV but the tower service has to be stronng and your data for the phone service has to be unlimited lol.
 
We added an Amazon Fire Stick to the TV. Connect it to our Cell phone (TMobile) internet (Hot Spot) then we can stream from any service we subscribe to such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu.
 
You cannot count on having adequate cell service everywhere. Though we just discontinued it (we weren't watching broadcast TV much at all), for the past eight years full-time we've had Dish Network. It started out at about $65/month for a mobile account with locals and was up to about $72/month (with taxes and fees) when we discontinued it last month. We used a Wally receiver with an external hard drive which turned it into a DVR (single tuner). We used the Winegard Pathway X2 antenna. This is the largest reflector available on a portable automatic antenna and is compatible with both the eastern and western Dish satellites. This means you can get HD locals anywhere in the country. The setup worked very well... we just weren't using it very much. We read a lot and stream limited series and movies on Amazon Prime and NetFlix when cell service permits (we have a grandfathered unlimited data plan on a Verizon MiFi hotspot).

Rob
 
We added an Amazon Fire Stick to the TV. Connect it to our Cell phone (TMobile) internet (Hot Spot) then we can stream from any service we subscribe to such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu.

I've got a couple of streaming service apps on my iPhone and use an HDMI to phone cable to mirror to the TV. Does using the Fire Stick offer any advantage over what I'm using?
 
Drove from NH to northern OH, up to Mt Pleasant, MI (beautiful town), Mackinac(k) (also beautiful but touristy), Iron Mountain, and Duluth. Must have passed a dozen Verizon stores along the way and couldn't help but check cell service given their letter to me to feel free to find another provider at home (after being with them their entire existence) - 2 bars max right outside their doors. Had to laugh. The campground in Iron Mountain was priceless - VZ talked them into installing VZ on their property and it overloaded the nearby towers. They gave us a list of 20+ wifis and passwords and told us to feel free to pick anyone that pops up (none did). T-Mobile has been spotty - initially arrive and get strong 5G signal but it then drops off the map. Starlink has been pretty stable, even with trees but a lot of users in the Mackinac(k) area and evening performance was much slower.
 
We have an OTA antenna mounted on the roof of the 5TH Wheel (Wineguard)

Now without spending several hundred dollars a month, how do I get some sort of TV streaming service by adding equipment to our set up or how do I use our current set up to watch TV.!

As some have already mentioned, select wineguard and scan for channels each time you change locations.

Although we try not to watch too much TV when camping, but for those rainy days/nights, the DW downloads from one of the streaming services to her phone at our home, connected to our fast WiFi. Then, as some have already mentioned, broadcast from your phone or tablet to the TV. We connect to the TV using an HDMI/I-phone adaptor. Inexpensive and reliable. Do note, that not all streaming services allow you to do this.
 
We have a Dish traveler. About $300. It is very easy to set up and that is the main reason we went to it. Down side is we cannot record any other channel other then what we are watching. We have a wally at home but Dish advised we not take it with us because the internal hard drive might be damaged in travel.
 
I have tried to use mobile hotspot on Verizon with 360+ and mobile router. Could never get it to work. Talked to Winged last week and they said I have to use their sim card to access internet to do the setup . Any help would be appreciated. On last trip no cable, very poor reception 90 miles south of st .Louis. Used adapter from phone to HDMI to stream Amazon prime via verizon
 
Cheapest options are likely a Roku or Fire Stick. Either should connect to either a cellular hotspot or WiFi if the signal is reasonable. If you pay for cable at home, you can stream networks and other cable channels for free. It will ask for which cable/satellite service you have and the login/password to verify.
 

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