What web equipment to buy? - Montana Owners Club

**DQDick** · 10-18-2011, 08:45 AM

I realize there are probably a dozen old threads about this, but things are changing daily and so I really need the most recent thoughts and information.
Basically we are starting from scratch and need to know what we need to buy for good access to the internet from our Monty. The things I already know are:
1. internet is more important to us than TV

2. we have a big screen Mac, two Iphones and an all in one printer
3. I watch the replays of the games on NFL.com and we also watch videos on CNN and Yahoo.
4. I don't know diddily about WAN, LAN or whatever

5. we plan to spend most of our time in New Mexico/Arizona and Kansas.
6. Verizon is our current carrier and really the only one that works well where we are in KS.
7. it has been suggested that we get a cradle-point 1400 with a Verizon card
What would you/are you doing?

Thanks for all the help!!!

brenkco · 10-18-2011, 09:00 AM

DQDICK,
I have the cradlepoint router and an aircard. We also have Macs, pc's, iphones and ipad.

The aircard and cradlepoint router will allow you to access the internet wirelessly with all your devices (one access point to many devices)
The problem you are going to run into is bandwith caps. I currently have a 5 gig cap on my Verizon air card. It is plenty to surf the web, check email and download my audio podcasts. If you download much video, you're going to chew through the cap quickly. The cost over 5 gigs is outrageous.

Depending on the iphone you have, they also can act as a wifi hotspot, much the same as the cradlepoint router and aircard. The bandwith cap is even more severe...I think 2 gigs. I believe the charge to add to your 3g plan is about $20.00 more per month.

I looked into changing to the wifi hot spot on my iphone but I'd have to give up the unlimited data plan that I currently have (grandfathered and no longer available).

Campgrounds tend to restict downloads so you're in the same boat if you try to stream video with their wifi. Biggest problem you'll have is the cap if you want to watch video.
Hope that helps.

Ken

**Carl n Susan** · 10-18-2011, 10:29 AM

I second everything Brenkco (Ken) wrote particularly the part about busting through the 5GB cap if you start watching a lot of video. You can investigate the Datastorm Internet Satellite service as an alternative to Verizon's aircard but everyone I know who had a Datastorm has moved to aircards. The speed of an aircard is not enough to avoid having starts/stops while viewing. Very irritating!!!

For significant TV viewing, you really are better off with DirecTV or Dish satellite TV service.

brenkco · 10-18-2011, 02:37 PM

I neglected to mention that some of the larger cities are upgrading from 3g to 4g. It's much faster so it will be able to handle the video with a few caveats: You are still faced with the bandwidth cap problem. The speed is still limited to the number of people hitting the cell tower, the more users the slower the speed. As the new technology rolls out and becomes more prevalent, the speeds will probably slow down.

BTW, in a two week period, DW & I will normally use about 2gigs of data with no video. IMHO video in any quantity just isn't very affordable given the current state of affairs with the wireless companies.

Ken

HamRad · 10-18-2011, 07:30 PM

Dick,
We have had just about every one of the different devices out there including the Hughes Net stuff! We moved from the big dish to the aircard. Then from the aircard to the Mifi. We were going to get the CradlePoint router thing but decided to go with the MiFi. There was some concern that there might be reception problems (it has no place for an external antenna). But we've found that it is actually better reception than the aircard! The MiFi allows up to 5 devices to be connected at the same time. This is plenty for us. We've even had neighbors connect when in some CGs. These would all be folks that we know and not a random stranger. We use Verizon and have been very happy with their coverage. We have not moved to the 4G yet since we'd lose our unlimited account. Not ready to do that just yet even though we never even come close to the 5G limit they talk about. Good luck. Dennis

ols1932 · 10-19-2011, 01:09 PM

Because of bandwidth problems, we went with Starband High Speed Satellite internet system in January 2008. It has worked wonders for us. Marge does several websites so she needed to have the access without worrying about bandwidth. We have 5 GB per 7-day period for download. That's not 7 days in a week but a 7-day sliding period. For example, suppose we have used it for Sunday through Saturday; when the next Sunday rolls along, the previous Sunday's usage drops off. We have 1 GB upload per 7-day period also. We've never run out of bandwidth and we get free time from 12:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. Eastern time. We have helped several Verizon owners who have run out of bandwidth and needed access to the internet.

Orv

nowinter · 10-20-2011, 04:49 AM

I recently purchased the Verizon MiFi 4G LTE. Has been working very well for about two months. On the newer MiFi's there is an antenna port on the back. Once in a while I would loose the signal or have a weak signal. I had a Wilson antenna left over from my previous attempt to connect to the internet with USB device so I tried to connect it to the MiFi. I got lucky and the antenna connection fit the MiFi perfectly and now I have a strong signal all the time. I will soon be installing the Wilson antenna on my Monty's back ladder when we hit the road for Florida. We have the 5 GB plan and as long as we don't download movies or videos, we stay well below the plan's limit of 5 GB. Hope this helps.

awaywego · 10-20-2011, 06:27 AM

We have been using the Cradlepoint 1000 and Verizon 760 usb for about 3 years and were very satisfied with everything except the 5 gig limit.
The wife uses the internet to run 9 farms on farmtown and when we first got it we ran over for 3 months. When in Florida for the winter we had to purchase time on Tengo at the campgrounds so we would stay within 5 gig.
Last month we dropped Verizon and signed with Millenicom Wireless. We are still on the Verizon Towers and still use the usb 760 but now we have 20 gig/month for the exact same price. The only thing that changed was the phone number used to dial in to Verizon. No contracts to sign. They have several plans but most are with Sprint and we wanted to stay with Verizon.
We tried the unlimited 4g with Clear and that was fast and was unlimited but the 3g when not in 4g had a 5 gig limit so we did not keep it.
Good luck with what ever you decide.

HamRad · 10-20-2011, 06:37 AM

Steve and Cindy,
Thanks for info on 4g MiFi. We are debating whether to stay with our unlimited 3g or go with the limited 4g plan. It is nice to know that the newer MiFi devices have the antenna port. Thanks for info. Dennis

CasaDelSol · 10-20-2011, 01:29 PM

We purchased our MiFi 18 months ago and have mixed feelings about it. Convenient as all get out cuz we both have a laptop. It can be very fast when the signal is good, but if you don't have a good cellphone signal than you won't have good wifi. We were in Arley, AL for 9 days without cellphone or internet. The campground didn't offer wifi either. Lastly, I don't like the 5g cap. I like to do whatever I want on the internet and I am used to high speed cable at the stick house. Our MiFi does not have the option for an external antennae and I would think that it would help. All in all it is a good back up if the campground does not have free wifi.

Champ_49 · 10-21-2011, 03:09 AM

We use the USb760 air card and craddlepoint 900 along with the Wilson Antenna. The system works well and everything I got was out of the 3G store at http://3gstore.com. The service we use is Millenicom as we was with Verizon with the 5G cap and it didn't work out for us at all. We then went to the mifi which gave us 10G and that was marginal. And before everyone says your downloading way to much video, we weren't. But if your wife does farmville, and all the other gadgets on facebook, and you look at 2 to 3 forums a day 10G is not enough. At the time there was also no external antenna on the mifi.

With Millenicom everything is just fine!! Oh and btw, Verizon was $79.95 per mo. for the 10G and mifi, Millenicom is $59.95 for 20G Cap.

Dave

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