Internet for RVers is Finally Here!
We’ve been full-timing for just over two years now, and have struggled to get reliable internet almost everywhere we’ve gone. Now more than ever we are relying on internet, because we’ve started working from home and traveling more.
For the past few years, we’ve been using the hotspots on our phones. At first, they worked great. AT&T didn’t know how to track data use when tethering, so for about a year we had truly unlimited hotspots. Of course they caught on eventually, and suddenly our speeds dropped into the unusable dial-up range.
Since that day, we’ve been looking out for the next thing to come along. We’ve researched satellite internet, but there’s no way we can afford $10k for the setup and still have mediocre speeds. We’ve thought about purchasing more hotspots, and were close to doing this when it finally happened.
Okay, it looks like it actually started about six months ago, but we weren’t paying close enough attention at the time. Companies have started popping up all over the internet boasting high speed (4G LTE) unlimited data + no caps + no throttling (which means no more kbps bullshit) + seriously it’s freakin’ unlimited!
Too good to be true?
We thought so too, but desperate times (and I’m talking hit our data limits and now we can’t work desperate) call for desperate measures.
Though we’ve been extremely dissatisfied with AT&T as a company, we’ve had consistent coverage with them since day one. This was a crucial factor in our decision to choose a hotspot that, at a minimum used AT&T towers. Just like phone companies, you are able to choose from hotspots that run off of towers for either AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, or Sprint.
As you can see in the photo, we hit 35 GB the first day! We wanted to really test out this internet, so we downloaded a game, streamed countless Star Trek episodes, and worked all day. We are now over 75 GB in with no throttling or interruptions! This goes far beyond our touchy phone hotpots that were throttled to an unusable speed after we hit 10 GB.
Carriers
Gypsy Wireless was clearly the best option for us (and no we aren’t getting paid to say that). They use AT&T towers and only charge $60/month for unlimited data. You’re able bring your own hardware (see below). They also have an RV on the cover page of their website, so bonus points for that!
Wireless Buy is another great looking option that will let you choose between T-mobile and Sprint towers, however the startup fees were a bit higher (they do include hardware).
Unlimitedville is a pricier option, but they offer the ability to choose between any one of major towers - AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, or Sprint.
***UPDATE Aug. 2020*** We are no longer using Gypsy Wireless. Their service kept cutting out on us, and it was nearly impossible to get a hold of anyone to fix it. We are now using OTR Mobile and have been very happy with them. When we switched they were using AT&T towers, but new customers are signing up with their T-Mobile plan. We’re still on their older AT&T Blast Plan, and hope that it doesn’t go away. If it does, we’ll have to reevaluate and potentially switch to Unlimitedville or Nomad Internet. These companies allow you to choose the towers you’ll be connected to. There are more and more companies like this, so we aren’t too worried about finding a new provider.
Hardware
We didn’t own a hotspot, and couldn’t find any in stores that were AT&T specific. We ended up purchasing this ZTE Mobile Hotspot from Amazon for around $50 and a Sim Card for $5. Once it arrived, all we had to do was pay the initial $89 activation/first month service and give Gypsy our sim number. It took about 30 minutes and we were up and running. We’ve had no issues yet- we’ve been streaming on Netflix, working online, downloading games, and writing this very blog post with zero interruptions!
***UPDATE Aug. 2020*** We are now using the Netgear Nighthawk M1. This allows us to use an ethernet cable for a wired connection.
FINALLY, reasonably priced internet we can take anywhere. This is a total game changer!