Travlfi Experience Not Very Impressive

RandyC

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Minnesota
Picked up a new 310GK this past spring that came equipped with the Travlfi setup. I activated the system and purchsed a months worth of data to test the system. To say the least I was not impressed. In my trial experience I rarely saw download speeds in excess of 3 MBPS and upload speeds of less than 1 MBPS. The physical sim card option did not perform any better with a sim card that has provided us with excellent service while on the road. Three attempts contacting customer support wasn't very helpful. First response was we had not purchsed a large enough data plan to expect better speeds The second attempt we were told we hadn't activated the 5G device. (We have the 4G device) The response on our third contact was unless we puchased more data they would not talk to us. We were hopping the Travlfi setup would provide some measure of convenience and redundancy but at this point it looks like a no go.
 
Picked up a new 310GK this past spring that came equipped with the Travlfi setup. I activated the system and purchsed a months worth of data to test the system. To say the least I was not impressed. In my trial experience I rarely saw download speeds in excess of 3 MBPS and upload speeds of less than 1 MBPS. The physical sim card option did not perform any better with a sim card that has provided us with excellent service while on the road. Three attempts contacting customer support wasn't very helpful. First response was we had not purchsed a large enough data plan to expect better speeds The second attempt we were told we hadn't activated the 5G device. (We have the 4G device) The response on our third contact was unless we puchased more data they would not talk to us. We were hopping the Travlfi setup would provide some measure of convenience and redundancy but at this point it looks like a no go.

You should have had a free month to do whatever testing you were doing...all you have to do is activate it.

Data plans vary by usage, so no comment on that.

The TravelFi system is 100% dependent on the cell coverage in the area you are trying to use it. It doesn't work any better or worse than a cell phone (cell phone hot spot)
 
thx for the heads up.

Never understood manufactures installing tech into their products that will soon be obsolete.
 
thx for the heads up.

Never understood manufactures installing tech into their products that will soon be obsolete.

Well, 5G was supposed to make things like cable and satellite obsolete years ago, and here we are...still plodding along like we were.
 
While I can't comment on the "Travlfi setup" in your Solitude, I can say that our Travlfi Journey router works great. We got it because our cellphone supplier Xfinity uses Verizon towers and there was no service in some places where we camp frequently. We just returned from an outing where we got 30 Mbps downloads. The router worked great for all of our usual tasks including streaming content. It was much better than most campground wifi we've used.
 
the problem with cellular data, other than range, is it is shared. Locally t mobile was advertising 5g home internet, daughter got it for her apartment and it was great at first, then it dropped off as more and more people started using it. And forget about it if there is a big event in the area, she lives downtown in a large metro area. Concerts, parades, marathons, political events, ect. render it unusable.

I imagine starlink suffers the same issues, I wonder how it worked at quartizite?
 
While I can't comment on the "Travlfi setup" in your Solitude, I can say that our Travlfi Journey router works great. We got it because our cellphone supplier Xfinity uses Verizon towers and there was no service in some places where we camp frequently. We just returned from an outing where we got 30 Mbps downloads. The router worked great for all of our usual tasks including streaming content. It was much better than most campground wifi we've used.

We carry multiple celluar providers with us when traveling.....We have verizon, and tmobile currently
 
We carry multiple celluar providers with us when traveling.....We have verizon, and tmobile currently

Yeah, not every carrier serves every location. That's the attraction of Travlfi, they use most of the carriers, whichever has the strongest signal. On our recent trip, the location we were in was best served by AT&T, our Xfinity (Verizon) phones had no signal.
 
That looks expensive. Why would you pay 129 or 159 when you could just get Starlink?
 
did you see the starlink mini with 50g data and the ability to pause the service...........it has me interested


kind hard to justify 500 bucks for something that would get used 6 weeks a year. of course the same thing could be said for the trailer
 
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That looks expensive. Why would you pay 129 or 159 when you could just get Starlink?
If you don't need year-round coverage, and don't want to spend a large upfront cost, why would you pick Starlink? Personally I just need something to fill in between RV park wifi.
 
That looks expensive. Why would you pay 129 or 159 when you could just get Starlink?

Starlink mini = $499 for the receiver, $50 per month for the limited data plan
Travlfi = $129 for the router, $19 per month for their basic plan, easily upgradeable when you need more

Which looks expensive to you? I chose Travlfi: there is no setup, I can hold it in my hand, and take it anywhere.
 
Starlink mini = $499 for the receiver, $50 per month for the limited data plan
Travlfi = $129 for the router, $19 per month for their basic plan, easily upgradeable when you need more

Which looks expensive to you? I chose Travlfi: there is no setup, I can hold it in my hand, and take it anywhere.

the problem it's all cellular data is network congestion. we have been fundamental excluded from the network because of congestion more than a few times. everyone is tuned in on instant data it is frustrating.

with starlink I imagine saturation of the network could happen......thinking about quartzite or wintering spots in the south. then the tree problem.

our current travel combo is visible phones and calyx instute router on T-Mobile it is cheap enough for unlimited. was considering the mini for another tool in the bag, but the $500 entry point is pretty steep
 
we have been using travelfi for about 4 months now and it has been a very positive experience. we have only tested it in oklahoma and kansas so far but most places we are seeing 40 - 60mbps down and 4-6 up. there are times usually first thing in the morning i have to reboot the router. i have reached out to tech support on a couple of occasions and they were able to assist in getting me working within 5-10 minutes. i was frustrated with dragging around all the sattalite gear and then it not working at most locations. i hope my luck holds out and this works long term because it has been the easiest setup so far. i did opt for the unlimited data plan but i can pause it for the months we are not using it. My daugher was able to use it to work remotly on our last camping trip so we have had good luck so far.
 
We also use the Travelfi service now and then and it has worked fine for us. As mentioned earlier the unit has to be power cycled on occasion. I recently turned the service back on for a month with a low data plan to test at a campground we frequent that has little to no cell service. I wanted to see if travelfi could do any better than any of the phone providers our family uses. As expected, it did not. So, we will continue to drive down the road a few miles when camping at this location if we ever feel the need to connect...
 
I had to use Travlfi at a recent camping trip and it worked great after I found out there was not TMobile service at all. It also helped me greatly due to a huge problem I had with my trailer. Without it I would have not been able to use the internet or the phone via wifi calling to get help with it. I am thinking about getting rid of my TMO home internet gateway and use Travlfi only.
 
We had the same experience

The carriers throttle the speed because they recognize TravlFi isn't "one of their own". Besides slow speeds (1-3Mbs versus 13Mbs with Verizon hotspot), TravlFi kept dropping the connection. Totally unusable. We went with Starlink because we often work from the road. About $20 more per month than TravlFi and download speeds just under 230Mbs and unlimited data.

Picked up a new 310GK this past spring that came equipped with the Travlfi setup. I activated the system and purchsed a months worth of data to test the system. To say the least I was not impressed. In my trial experience I rarely saw download speeds in excess of 3 MBPS and upload speeds of less than 1 MBPS. The physical sim card option did not perform any better with a sim card that has provided us with excellent service while on the road. Three attempts contacting customer support wasn't very helpful. First response was we had not purchsed a large enough data plan to expect better speeds The second attempt we were told we hadn't activated the 5G device. (We have the 4G device) The response on our third contact was unless we puchased more data they would not talk to us. We were hopping the Travlfi setup would provide some measure of convenience and redundancy but at this point it looks like a no go.
 
I have a new Influence with Travlfi. Seems to work well so far. I am at the Outer Banks, NC and I get 40down and 20 up. The cost of data is a concern. Right now Starlink has their roam hardware reduced through October, but you still have the $150/mth. If you camp or travel a lot Starlink is probably a better option because you don't need cell towers and the cost is for unlimited.
 
I'm interested in learning how people run the Starlink cable into their RV. Everything I have seen online seems to be jury rigged with the cable being run through a slide seal and across the floor to a TV or with someone drilling a hole in their rig. It would be nice if Grand Design included a port to connect.
 

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