Wireless internet revisited

[John Young]

I think we talked about this 1 or 2 years ago.. and I am closer..

I can do the cell phone-as-a-modem thing with Verizon for about $2.00 a day..

But, if I hit an area without cell coverage (so far, 2 of the 4 sites I have visited would not have coverage at all).. I am sunk.

If we can find a decent way to connect, we can run our businesses from the road for a week or two at a time..

what is working for you??

[Lambchop]

John,

We are going to use Alltel for the same setup you are talking about. The coverage we have had with them is good. From WI to FL and other states, we always had coverage.
Anyway, their charge for this phone modem thing is only $25 a month...unlimted.

Check it out

Lambchop

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

Air card from cell company, NOT the phone from the cell company.

cost about $60 a month, limited now, to 5 gig a month. only a problem if you download a bucket load of video and stuff,

had for over a year now, minimal speeds in a few places, but, even with minimal, as right now, in Cookeville TN, in a hotel, with no external antenna, I AM on, and can do email and MOC. What more could a gal want??

Seriously, so far, only one campground, near Monticello in VA, were we unable to connect, it was back in a hollar, and there was no cell phone coverage of ANY kind.

twice on the way to TX last winter I lost coverage out in the ranch/rural areas, for about 5 minutes. I was using it in the truck.

All this said, not sure you could run a business from it, it would really depend on your business, and where you park your Montana.

You might have to consider satellite, equipment is expensive (not sure about these days, but it was when we put in on our stick built about 6 years ago -- do not miss any of that experience) and it is physically larger, etc etc etc.

I believe that most of the cell companies will let you try one of these puppies for 30 days. That is what we did. When we found we were happy with it, we finalized the deal. We took it during those 30 days to the lake (minimal cell coverage there, and the air card responded likewise) and gave it a good hard test.

Good luck in your research on this subject, your business and your travels.

[stiles watson]

I had a satellite service, but found setting it up to be a hassle along with the space it required. So we went to the air card, air card router, and amplifying internal/external antenna system to enhance signal strength. A few times, it has been frustratingly slow, but we seldom are blanked out in a no service area.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

The Verizon Air Card has been working very well for us. We have been using it for over 5 years and love it. It is a very rare day that we are not online.
Now, having said that I must admit that today I am using the CGs WiFi. We are in a hole and the Verizon signal is weak at best and I have been disconnected a few times but there is no signal at all from any other carrier.
If you intend to do business over the airwaves and need the utmost in reliability than I recommend a satellite. Hughes Net has such a satellite BUT it ain't cheap but you will be online 99% of the time. The other 1% is when you are sitting under trees and cannot see the southern sky.

[Exnavydiver]

We have been using Hughes Sat. system for the last 5 years. We have it for our home as we have virtually no cell service where we live. When we decided to go fulltime I scavenged an extra dish from a local business that does cable installs and they are usually asked to remove the existing satellite systems which go into their junk pile out back. I bought my first tripod from Home Depot for about 60 dollars and ordered an offset online. I have been setting up the dish at any CG we stay at for more than one day and never take more than 20 minutes to get online. You can purchase the entire system online for less than 1500 dollars or you can go with a Motosat system for as much as 5000.00. The service costs from 59.99 to over a hundred a month depending which plan you chose. Other than being tree locked in a campground we have never failed to get connected. A good source for info is Datastorm Users Group. That forum is similar to this one in the amount of information relating to satellite internet service. Here is the link http://www.datastormusers.com/cgi-bi....cgi/index.htm good luck in your search... Dave and Betsy

[SlickWillie]

quote:Originally posted by Exnavydiver

We have been using Hughes Sat. system for the last 5 years. We have it for our home as we have virtually no cell service where we live. When we decided to go fulltime I scavenged an extra dish from a local business that does cable installs and they are usually asked to remove the existing satellite systems which go into their junk pile out back. I bought my first tripod from Home Depot for about 60 dollars and ordered an offset online. I have been setting up the dish at any CG we stay at for more than one day and never take more than 20 minutes to get online. You can purchase the entire system online for less than 1500 dollars or you can go with a Motosat system for as much as 5000.00. The service costs from 59.99 to over a hundred a month depending which plan you chose. Other than being tree locked in a campground we have never failed to get connected. A good source for info is Datastorm Users Group. That forum is similar to this one in the amount of information relating to satellite internet service. Here is the link http://www.datastormusers.com/cgi-bi....cgi/index.htm good luck in your search... Dave and Betsy

Just curious Dave; do you have problems with rain fade with the dish? I had one of the old DirecPC two way systems years ago. Uplink by dialup; downlink by satellite. It sure beat the heck out of anything else until we got DSL. We did have some fade out though. East Texas gets lots of thunderstorms, especially in the spring.

[Exnavydiver]

SlickWillie, actually we do get rain fade only when there is a very heavy storm between the dish and sat. It is much less then our old round directv dish which would fade if a large bird flew past. We now have the 5 LNB HD Directv dish and it is almost the same size as out Hughes dish. Bigger dish more signal from the sat, less fade. Up here in northern Wisconsin we have some huge storms lately and still had enough signal to track the storm online. The only time we lost signal was when the main body of the storm was south of us and between the dish and sat. I am on AMC9, 83W and have never had a problem getting online when I got the tripod plumb and level.. Dave and Betsy

[ols1932]

We use Starband. Excellent service. Signal fade only when local storms between the uplink in NC or where we are located. No big thing. We've always got signal.

Orv

[Dave e Victoria]

We've been using the AT&T 3G aircard for a year. We use it at the stick house (actually it is cinder block) and on the road. I have it plugged into on USB port and use the "internet sharing" feature on our Mac to connect two other computers over the internal firewire. Works great. At home it is faster than the DSL service we had before. At some locations on the road it seems slightly slower. If I have cell phone service I always have internet.
Dave

[richfaa]

We use the verizon air card KPC-650 along with the KR-1 Router. The 650 is a older card and we are going to upgrade shortly.. We are on it now at 560 kbps. We get about the same at home. It is adequate for how we use a PC but I would like faster. we have signal about 90% of the time but not always at that speed..at times it can be very slow. Near large cities the signal will be ok..I can look out the camper window and see the tower about 4 or 5 miles from here on top of a PA moutain. We travel the country and are able to pay our bills and communicate with what we have.

[sailer]

I use the verizon air card but i also got a external antena to put on the monty but here in northern wis i just got my big antenna as its on top of the roof by 10' but next week i am raising it by 10' more so hope to get better speed i get my antenns from Wireless One Source llc 888-571-7867 www.wirelessonesource.com they are a division of battery one source

[Exnavydiver]

Good Luck sailer, over here in Land O Lakes we have an external antenna at 18 feet and a 3 watt booster and we got bubcuss, nada, ziltch, nothing. You are in the great northern Wisconsin Triangle, similar to the Bermuda Triangle. All cell phone signals are eaten by the local aliens. The nearest tower is 12 miles west of town and we can't hit it. If you look at any provider's coverage map you will see a tiny dot in central northern Wisconsin, that is Land O Lakes. I think there are several others up here perhaps even Crivitz area. I hope the extra height works... Dave and Betsy

[sailer]

Well dave i hope so but rite now its great but more is better ,, sailer

[DonandJudy_12]

We finally had to get the Verizon air card, no problem getting online, even when the phone is in extended network. Right now we have it on vacation for $5.00 a month. Where Don works we get wifi for $20.00. We can put the air card on vacation for 90 days, twice, and consecutively! So that takes care of us for the whole summer. Nice. Judy Big Bend National Park is the only place we didn't have cell, tv or anything. We could watch DVD's. Judy

[turley]

i use alltel wireless utstarcom um150 with a booster and get two bars at most remote areas and do fine. in fact I am at Beach Fork state park in west virginia with the alltel booste i have internet and cell phone service...expensive but gets the job done

[cdaniels]

Donanld/Judy... is that Verizon air card for $5.00 month with 2 90 day vacations a special through your hubby's work or can anyone get that plan. That sounds like what I am looking for. We have no cell service at home so the air card would not work for us except on vacation.

[sailer]

Att johnyoung call or go on line to Wireless One Source LLC 888-571-7867 or www.wirelessonesource.com i added a aerial to the roof of the cottage here in northern wis and had so slow it was useless but today i got a booster from them and its faster than dsl ,and here in the north woods when verizon says , no coverage.. chad will fix you up call him and give your problem as he will fix you in 3 days ,,, sailer

[John Young]

Gottcha! Thanks!