How To Get Internet While Camping
Getting Internet while camping is primarily done one of two ways either through your existing cell phone provider, or through a satellite Internet service. Most boondockers use a hotspot through their existing cell phone provider because its cheaper. But if you want Internet even in the most remote locations, youll need a more expensive satellite Internet service.
Tips For Reducing Data Usage And Making Your High
How To Improve An Existing Campground Wifi Signal
The best and most efficient way to improve your signal is to use either a WiFi reception booster or antenna. There really isnt much of a difference between these two types of devices other than where you install them both basically provide the same function to improve your RV WiFi coverage.
Through using multiple antennas along with an amplifier, these instruments receive and improve internet signals for your electronic devices.
A secondary plus is that they are incredibly easy to install and use. All you need to do is plug the booster into the USB port of your computer and digitally install it onto your device. Then place the booster to face the direction of where the transmitter is. The closer you can get it, the better feel free to get creative with extension cords. This will ensure the best signal.
Also Check: Best Winter Camping In California
Here Are Your Options For Setting Up Rv Wifi
If youre wondering what your options are for RV WiFi, youre not alone. Our community created a thread to identify the best type of mobile WiFi73 comments later it turns out some options work better than others, depending on your lifestyle and needs. While its not surprising, it doesnt get you closer to a solution, either.
In order to figure out the best RV WiFi for you, determine your biggest WiFi use. Do you work remotely? Do you download documents? Stream Netflix? FaceTime your daughter in the Peace Corps?
Streaming Netflix movies in regular definition will pull about 1GB of data per hour . By contrast, uploading a photo to Instagram will use about 2-4MB of data. Over time, however, Instagram can pull loads of data from your plan .
There are three main options for RV WiFi while youre living on the road: using your phone as a hotspot, adding a hotspot router to your existing mobile plan, or satellite internet.
How Do You Get A Signal When Camping
How to improve cell signal while camping or backpacking If you have access to AC or DC power, use a cell signal booster for your car/truck or RV. Find the highest ground in the local area to minimize terrain obstructions. Position yourself clear of trees and any other potentially obstructing vegetation.
Also Check: State Park Camping Near Albuquerque
What Youll Need To Get Cellular Internet In Your Rv
We recommend getting internet for RV with a mobile hotspot device or a mobile-friendly 4G LTE home internet plan that isnt tied to a fixed location.
To get cellular internet for an RV, you will need to have a router/modem and a data plan. The router could be a mobile hotspot device or it could be the modem/router that comes with your 4G LTE internet plan.
If youre not going to use much data, you could also hotspot for free using your mobile phone plan . For more information on how to hotspot off your phone, check out our article on mobile hotspotting, which includes a review of the best mobile phone plans for hotspotting.
What Else Do I Need Besides The Adapter And An Idevice To Make This Work
Please see the entire list belowTHE MOST FAQfor all of the items you may need.
You will need an HDMI cable !
One more option is if you want to keep your iDevice charged while using this adapter, you will need alightning cable and wall charger. Another awesome feature with this product is that it has a second Lightning connector that is built into the HDMI adapter that allows you to charge and sync your iDevice while its connected to your HDMI-Compatible display!
Recommended Reading: Camping Near Painted Hills Oregon
How To Provide Your Own Rv Wifi When There Is None
Some of the best RV trips often include long drives through the mountains, along the ocean, or across remote plains and as beautiful and relaxing as these stretches can be, it also means theres no complimentary WiFi signal coming from anywhere. On top of that, there are still quite a few RV campgrounds, especially the more remote ones that dont offer WiFi as an amenity. If youre an avid RVer, youve likely run into this situation before.
In these cases, it can be helpful to have your own RV WiFi hotspot via your smartphone. This allows you to use your phone as an internet source for all your needs. As a quick disclaimer, if you arent familiar with hotspot, it will very quickly drain your battery as well as your data, unless you have an unlimited plan.
Of course, there will still be areas in this wild world that are too rural or have a high tree density for a hotspot to work well. If youre concerned about this or know that you will be in these kinds of areas on your trip, we suggest you pick up a signal booster specifically built for your phone.
Best Rv Internet For Remote Workers
- $40.00$100.00/mo. for data plan
- 5150 GB data/mo.
Data as of 10/27/21. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
If getting online is critical because you work remotely, get a hotspot with Verizon, which has the widest cellular network.Verizon just launched four new data-only plans for hotspots or tablets. These prepaid plans can be purchased on a month-to-month basis or with a 6-month contract . The smallest plan is the 5 GB plan, which is $40 per month. Going up from there, theres a 25 GB data plan for $60 per month, a 100 GB plan for $80 per month, and a 150 GB plan for $150 per month.
Even with Verizons wide coverage area, you wont have guaranteed service everywhere since some national parks and forests dont have cellular service, but youll get good service in most towns, cities, highways, and semi-rural areas. For a stronger signal in rural areas, get a cell phone signal booster like the weBoost Drive X RV for the best range, unless you want to spend a lot of time parked at coffee shops or in parking lots.
As a precaution, we strongly recommend that remote workers have redundancy options. Do this by adding another additional internet option, like a T-Mobile hotspot, a satellite plan, or a 4G LTE plan that runs on the AT& T network. With a few internet connectivity options, youll be more likely to find service wherever you travel and keep working on the move.
Read Also: Camping Near Baker City Oregon
Prepare To Work Without Wifi
Dont forget that you can also work offline nowadays without WiFi. If you need a connection to work on an assignment instead of jumping on a video call, you can use offline features without worrying about a connection. Microsoft Word offers an offline version, as does Google Docs or Google Sheets. These effectively backup the work to your laptop and only upload it when you connect to WiFi.
You can also save pages from the internet on your laptop and navigate on that single page. You wont be able to click onto another part of the website, though, until you get back to connection.
Which Option Is Best For You
If you’re even reading this article, you’ve likely decided that staying connected is essential while RVing. The question then becomes: which option should you use? We believe there are two critical factors: how much connection you need, and what your budget is.
As discussed above, satellite internet can be a hefty investment, so it’s usually best for full-timers that need reliable connections and has the money to spare on hardware, installation, and service costs. Otherwise, you’re burning money instead, and installing a satellite isn’t an option if you’re renting an RV.
However, relying entirely on hotspots can become expensive, mainly if you use a lot of data regularly. If you’re the type of RVer that only takes the occasional trip, we recommend trying out working with your cellphone’s available hotspot options and seeing if that’s enough. Usually, you won’t break your cap with occasional use, and you don’t need to worry about adding any extra cost.
Additionally, you can choose to trust the public wi-fi available at campgrounds when it’s reliable, then use hotspots when prospects don’t look good. This approach can give you some leeway in budgeting that doesn’t leave you completely stranded if you need to make a connection.
While RV manufacturers haven’t gotten around to figuring out how to make wi-fi an included amenity, there’s still plenty of options for staying connected on the roadyou just need to know how to find them.
Don’t Miss: Rv Camping In Salem Ma
How To Get Internet Service / Wifi In An Rv Do I Need A Service Provider
If you are residing in a typical dwelling, such as a house or apartment, people will usually have an internet service provider. Often times it might be the same company that they get their cable TV or satellite TV through. Companies like Comcast, Xfinity, or other cable providers usually have internet packages.
But these are not mobile internet options, so you cannot take them with you in your RV.
However, there are other types of technology where you dont need to have an internet provider and you can actually get mobile internet through devices that you bring with you in your RV.
Essentially, its Mobile Internet.
A post shared by Peanuts or Pretzels Travel on May 30, 2020 at 7:22am PDT
Is It Possible To Get Portable Camping Wifi
Have you checked with your chosen campsite and their wifi offering is either too slow to use or nonexistent? Dont worry, you have other options!
Its worth noting here that the other options were going to explore are likely to cost money.Is it possible to get free portable wifi? you ask, sure it is, but this involves some setup and nothing is truly free, youll just pay in another way.
So what are your options for portable Wifi?
There are really two when it comes down to it: tethering your current mobile phone to create a Wifi hotspot, or buying a second contract and Sim card to use in a portable Wifi hotspot device.
Tethering is usually the easiest and, most of the time, the cheapest option, but both have their pros and cons.
You May Like: Good Camping Spots In Florida
How To Listen To Music Without Internet While Camping
Theres a hundred ways to do this, but here are just a few ideas:
- Throwback! Use a CD playing boombox! Its getting harder to find these, but you can probably find them at a thrift store easily enough.
- Use Spotifys offline songs feature. To do this, make your playlist of all the tunes you want while youre on the go, long press on your playlist and then press Download.
- Buy the songs outright. iTunes is one of the more popular ways to buy songs. You can then download them to your iPhone so they will be available at any time without internet.
Smartphone Plans With Free Hotspot Plan
Some cell phone providers actually dont charge you extra for using the hotspot feature. Notably, T-Mobile, and Google Fi.
I cant speak personally for T-Mobile, but we actually use Google Fi, and if you arent a high data user, it is an incredibly good option that can be significantly cheaper than other cell phone plans.
Choosing a smartphone data plan with free hotspot capabilities might be a boon to you if you are in need of WiFi while youre out and about.
Don’t Miss: Wireless Dog Fence For Camping
Weboost Products Wed Recommend:
-
reach cell towers at distances up to 74% farther than the weBoost Drive X RV
-
Ideal for RV-ers or Campervaners
-
Can be used in motion or stationary
-
Indoor antenna has a reach of 10 feet
-
5G Ready
Things to keep in mind
-
A signal booster cant create a signal. So if youre out of cell service, it cant amplify nothing. You must have some sort of signal to start with.
What Apps Does It Work With
It mirrors exactly what you see on your iDevice. However, we have heard that some CABLE PROVIDERS Apps have a block on the output and dont allow their customers to use this device to mirror their App. We do not have experience with ourselves because we use Dishnetwork, but our suggestion would be to call your Cable Provider to make sure but unfortunately it sounds like most Cable Providers dont allow it.
As far as other Apps are concerned, check out our article TV While RV Camping for all the Apps we have tried.
You May Like: Camping Near Shawnee National Forest
Wifi Boosters And Antennas
There is a way to boost your signal to get access to Wifi hotspots that are further away, and that is to use a signal booster.
Signal boosters usually require fixing to something solid and a continuous power source, although there are a few options on the market that are smaller and battery-powered, and for this reason, they may only be suitable for caravans and motorhomes.
Having a signal booster means you are able to tap into Wifi out of your normal reach, be that public wifi, such as a local cafe or BT Fon/BT Wifi hotspot, or even boost your campsites wifi if you are particularly far away from the router and there are no boosters.
Wifi boosters can be a great option if you know the onsite wifi will be too far away, or you can be sure that there is a public hotspot within reach of the booster, but they are reliant on the original speed of the internet package the owner has.
If the original internet connection is really poor, you wont see any improvement by using a booster.
A huge bonus to using a booster, regardless of speed, is that it can be an extra layer of security.
Your devices will be logging into your hotspot, meaning no others will be able to log into your hotspot, and you may be able to install firewalls and filters that suit you or your familys usage.
Camping should be your chance to reconnect with nature, with or without electronics, find out how to be a more environmentally friendly camper in this post.
Cons Of Using Your Phone As A Hotspot:
While using your cell phone as a hotspot is super easy, there are a few drawbacks to doing it this way:
-
It can drain your phones battery quickly.
-
If you dont have dedicated hotspot data , you could use up your monthly cell data very fast.
-
Even if you have unlimited data, you could hit the throttle threshold faster, which will then limit your network speeds.
There is another option for creating a WiFi signal in your campervan
Also Check: Tom Johnson Camping Center Concord
How To Find Somewhere Nearby For Wi
This one may require a bit of brainstorming and will only help if youre near civilization. Many places offer free Wi-Fi to their customers, such as coffee shops, fast food restaurants, or libraries. But there are even more places you may find free Wi-Fi.
- Malls often offer free Wi-Fi to shoppers
- Many superstores
- Some grocery stores
- If you have a gym membership with multiple locations, they also commonly offer Wi-Fi, as well as showers if youve been camping.
Numerous other places are offering Wi-Fi as well that you may not expect. One idea is to venture around and look for anything you may recognize. Chain stores or restaurants tend to be more likely to offer free Wi-Fi than small, local stores.
Buying A Sim Card For A Mobile Wifi Dongle
You need to buy a SIM card to use with a mobile wifi dongle. Prepaid ones are great, but read the small print- often once they’re activated, you only have so long to use the data before you lose it. We pay for ours monthly because we use it so often. Do whatever works best for you.
Make sure you buy the correct size SIM card for the dongle. Many take nano-SIMs or micro-SIMs. If in doubt, go into a mobile shop and ask for advice once you have the dongle.
If you don’t use the dongle for a long period of time you might have to reactivate before you can use it again- this should be mentioned in your instructions.
You May Like: Free Camping Sites In California