The Challenges of Finding Good Internet
Finding any type of internet while living on the road is indeed a challenge!! OMG!!! I always wondered why people would spend incredible amounts of money for internet while we still lived in our sticks and bricks. I just assumed that good internet can be found anywhere. Well, think again!
We endured 2 routers, much YouTube videos and some recommendations on what type of internet we can get that would not cost an arm and a leg. When we visit Arizona in the winter, there is always great internet, especially if you live near the city. For some reason, I was having a horrible time with internet near the city. No matter how many times I took out the plug for the router, changed the bandwidth, the service was horrible and we had 2 sim cards for our router: Verizon AT&T. We stream movies or like to look at the internet on a computer or phones. We do not play games and did not need super duper awesome fastest speed in the west type of service! So change was needed for my sanity!
I will share with you what we are using now and other recommendations to get internet for you!
Home internet: This is somewhat new and an alternate if you do not like to pay high prices for cable. No need to drill a hole in the wall for cable or watch your satellite bill go up every year. Although it is not for everybody as you will need to see if it covers you wherever you go, or at least most of the time. There is no throttle (thank goodness) nor any speed caps. They are easy to get started and have support if you need it. All you do is plug it in and follow the instructions on the device or your phone. Plus, and I think this is the best: the pricing is very reasonable.
Starlink: I have heard both pros and cons about Starlink. The pros are that it is really good when you are out in the middle of nowhere and need service, Starlink will come up to the plate, it is powerful and could be dependable, as long as you are not near trees, and if you remote work, then Starlink will be good for you. The cons are it is expensive to get started, around $600 for the setup, the monthly fee is a little pricy, around $135 per month and if you are near trees, your signal might not be good. Plus I have heard there is throttling and a monthly cap. But I have also heard this is the best service if you do not mind the expense and need it for work.
Routers: We had 2 different routers with slightly different outputs. A router has sim card slot(s) that will coordinate with your cellular service. A router will draw in cellular service, depending where the cell tower is and bring it to the sim cards for you to use the internet. The downside of this is, again, that out in the middle of nowhere, if there is no cell tower, than you probably will not have service, or very faintly. We were once camped near the devils tower in Wyoming and we had ZERO cell service. We had to go to the library if I needed to access the internet. On one of our routers we had up to 4 slots for sim cards. We only had Verizon and AT&T at the time, but you could have other service providers, for a fee, that might help bring in the power of cellular.
Hot spots: A lot of people use these. The good about it is you can have instant and possibly fast access to the internet through your hot spot. The bad is it eventually runs out, depending on your cellular plan. It might just take watching a Netflix movie and you are out of your hotspot! But if you just need it as a backup, then great, go for it!
Campground internet: Can I say “eewww!” This is the worst, even if the campground advertises that they have internet. Imagine lots of people on the campground vying for a link on the internet, something to access even something simple as an email. It is too much for the little internet a campground offers, and many people go to places that offer internet, such as a local library, a coffee shop or something else.
No internet: You can always skip out on the internet, save the monthly costs and go with the flow, peace and quiet surrounding you on all sides. Just sit back and relax like in the olden days without internet and enjoy life. But if you need it, take a look at #5 again.
Internet can be a challenge for those us that drive fulltime on the road. It can be frustrating and sometimes hopeless when you cannot get that signal. I have felt that way many times and sometimes wanted to pull my hair out.
I wrote another blog about internet service with some different details from what I listed here. Click this link to access it. Good luck acquiring internet and share with us how you did acquire it!