Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 

Go Back   Thor Forums > Thor Community Forums > Thor Owners Community Discussions
Click Here to Login
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 07-24-2020, 06:27 PM   #1
MSK
Member
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Palazzo 37.4 Former ACE30
State: Pennsylvania
Posts: 45
THOR #1590
Question Best Hotspot Data Plans

I am looking for information on the best unlimited data plan/provider that allows for the use of unlimited hotspot use. I currently have Verizon Wireless but as with all of the major carriers their "unlimited data" is really limited to 15GB and then throttled back to a 600k data rate. We usually spend 2-3 months on the road doing Habitat for Humanity work with the Care A Vanners program and find that we use about 1 GB of data per day. Our rig has the WineGard 2.0 installed so if we are somewhere where we can pick up an Xfinity hotspot we log on to that and it works very well as it boost the signal and acts as a central hotspot. However that is not always a viable option and I am trying to find a low cost alternative. I am willing to purchase an additional device/phone if necessary but would like to be able to turn the service on and off when needed. I have done a lot of research but have not come up with a firm answer or even a set of narrow choices. (The article at the below url has a lot of information, but I wasn't able to glean any specific answers:
https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/gui...lan-directory/

Thanks for any help you might provide.

__________________
MSK is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-24-2020, 11:34 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
Judge's Avatar
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: 2020 Magnitude SV34
State: Florida
Posts: 4,147
THOR #12751
Best Hotspot Data Plans

Most of the really low cost unlimited data plans have ended now.

I’m not sure if you have Xfinity (Comcast) for cable service but they rolled out cell plans in the last year or so. They use the Verizon network but the service is only available to Xfinity cable customers.

They have an unlimited plan for $45/month. The downside is it is standard quality video. You have to pay more for HD quality speed ($20/month) or purchase by the Gig plans that are shareable.

My wife and I have AT&T and I have the Winegard ConnecT2 with the unlimited AT&T plan until the end of the year.

I’m thinking about moving one phone to Xfinity and see how it works out and then decide if I would use our phones as hotspots and the Winegard ConnecT as the WiFi router / booster.

That way we would have both AT&T and Verizon coverage so we have a better chance of almost always having service. That approach would have been handy last weekend. We had almost zero AT&T signal but my buddy had about 3 bars in Verizon.
__________________
Judge is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-24-2020, 11:37 PM   #3
Senior Member
 
The_Breeze's Avatar
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Chateau 31L
State: Florida
Posts: 2,063
THOR #12189
Verizon usually gets high marks for coverage. T-Mobile is quickly catching up and still have unlimited TT&D (Magenta Plan). Value on the dollar? T-Mobile, hands down. I've only been knocked out twice and suffered twice in almost 3 years on the road. And I avoid cities like the plague.
__________________
The_Breeze is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-25-2020, 02:04 PM   #4
Senior Member
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Hurricane 27K
State: California
Posts: 623
THOR #2544
Check out the following link on IRV2. The first few posts is all you need to read. I did it and so far it works really good for getting wifi through the RV and vicinity for around $100 upfront and $40 a month flat.
__________________
This post is opinion based on experience.
2015 Hurricane 27K
2013 Sea Ray 220SD
brucev is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-25-2020, 02:04 PM   #5
Senior Member
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Hurricane 27K
State: California
Posts: 623
THOR #2544
For got the link. Sorry

https://www.irv2.com/forums/f53/40-m...ed-442091.html
__________________
This post is opinion based on experience.
2015 Hurricane 27K
2013 Sea Ray 220SD
brucev is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-25-2020, 09:28 PM   #6
MSK
Member
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Palazzo 37.4 Former ACE30
State: Pennsylvania
Posts: 45
THOR #1590
I have Xfinity internet service and I checked out their cell service. They have "unlimited" data (actually 20GB) for $40 a month, but they throttle the hotspot capability to 6oo Kbs, so that won't work for me. Thanks.
__________________
MSK is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-25-2020, 09:44 PM   #7
Senior Member
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Hurricane 27K
State: California
Posts: 623
THOR #2544
VISABLE says they have 5mbps but I just checked and I am getting 21.46 mbps down and 18 mbps upload. They are owned by Verizon and use the Verizon network. This last November we were miles from nowhere in the Lucerne Valley California and with my weboost and Visable I had no problem streaming Amazon Prime.
__________________
This post is opinion based on experience.
2015 Hurricane 27K
2013 Sea Ray 220SD
brucev is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-25-2020, 09:45 PM   #8
Senior Member
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Hurricane 27K
State: California
Posts: 623
THOR #2544
BTW, that speed was using it as a hot spot. I have never used it as a phone.
__________________
This post is opinion based on experience.
2015 Hurricane 27K
2013 Sea Ray 220SD
brucev is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-25-2020, 09:52 PM   #9
Senior Member
 
Soldier Girl's Avatar
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: A.C.E. 30.2
State: Arkansas
Posts: 333
THOR #13770
I agree! I have both Tmobile & Verizon in order to maintain redundancy. Once in a blue moon, I get better coverage w/the verizon, but invariably when I do - they've throttled my "unlimited" data within two days of using them for my hotspot. Tmobile generally gives me great coverage & great hotspot ability. I've thought about dropping the Verizon entirely for another brand, but I probably would regret it the 1st time I ended up somewhere that was pure Verizon territory, like up in the Catoctin Mountains, where non Verizon folks always complain of no cell service at all. Good luck finding what works for your family.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Breeze View Post
Verizon usually gets high marks for coverage. T-Mobile is quickly catching up and still have unlimited TT&D (Magenta Plan). Value on the dollar? T-Mobile, hands down. I've only been knocked out twice and suffered twice in almost 3 years on the road. And I avoid cities like the plague.
__________________
[COLOR="DarkOliveGreen"] Soldier Girl
Soldier Girl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-25-2020, 10:05 PM   #10
Senior Member
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
State: Georgia
Posts: 2,585
THOR #4735
tomorrow I will change my 'plan' with AT&T from the 3GB 'limited' plan to the 'Unlimited ELITE' plan, as we travel from our home base, where we have cable internet with Windstream(nice, too - 300MB down, 28MB up)... which tends to 'spoil' you when you then hit the road and have a similar expectation.

The Unlimited ELITE has worked fine for us, with 5g speeds and 15GB of hotspot usage for our laptops for work. This nice option of being able to 'change' plans mid-stream, at any time, and for any reason, makes good sense for us, although I certainly DO like the idea of the others who actually allow each device on it's own 'separate' plan, like Vz. There's a give and take with both. TM's Magenta looks nice, too, and we may give that a try on two of our phones within the next several months, as it's only $140, INCLUDING taxes and fees and nonsense - Unlimited on the DEVICE, with the only limitation for Hotspot usage.

We've traveled the country. Any 'major' player in the cell market will give you decent options, but for some, with truly 'unlimited' needs, the top three seem to still rule the roost. A great option is to have your phones on one carrier, and a mifi/wifi DEVICE for hotspot usage on another. There are many 'third-party' companies that provide these 'Unlimited' plans for specific devices and carriers, and are generally $70 or more per month, though that market seems to be in a squeeze now - our 'netbuddy.co' Netgear device on the AT&T network is no longer available for 'new' customers, even those who have had there service and device, but have not had it active recently, since these are all 'no-contract' month-to-month services.
__________________
the Turners...
two Campers, two Electric cars
former diesel pusher traveler
TurnerFam is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-25-2020, 10:54 PM   #11
Senior Member
 
The_Breeze's Avatar
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Chateau 31L
State: Florida
Posts: 2,063
THOR #12189
Quote:
Originally Posted by TurnerFam View Post
tomorrow I will change my 'plan' with AT&T from the 3GB 'limited' plan to the 'Unlimited ELITE' plan, as we travel from our home base, where we have cable internet with Windstream(nice, too - 300MB down, 28MB up)... which tends to 'spoil' you when you then hit the road and have a similar expectation.

The Unlimited ELITE has worked fine for us, with 5g speeds and 15GB of hotspot usage for our laptops for work. This nice option of being able to 'change' plans mid-stream, at any time, and for any reason, makes good sense for us, although I certainly DO like the idea of the others who actually allow each device on it's own 'separate' plan, like Vz. There's a give and take with both. TM's Magenta looks nice, too, and we may give that a try on two of our phones within the next several months, as it's only $140, INCLUDING taxes and fees and nonsense - Unlimited on the DEVICE, with the only limitation for Hotspot usage.

We've traveled the country. Any 'major' player in the cell market will give you decent options, but for some, with truly 'unlimited' needs, the top three seem to still rule the roost. A great option is to have your phones on one carrier, and a mifi/wifi DEVICE for hotspot usage on another. There are many 'third-party' companies that provide these 'Unlimited' plans for specific devices and carriers, and are generally $70 or more per month, though that market seems to be in a squeeze now - our 'netbuddy.co' Netgear device on the AT&T network is no longer available for 'new' customers, even those who have had there service and device, but have not had it active recently, since these are all 'no-contract' month-to-month services.
I don't follow the Magenta Plan. As someone else, I'm grandfathered into the 55+ plan as an early adopter.

I helped T-Mobile troubleshoot a tower problem and they turned me on to 10G of high speed data per month for free. The speed is off the charts.

I don't get anything in return for writing that. I just wanted you to know.

Stay safe.
__________________
The_Breeze is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-26-2020, 09:15 PM   #12
MSK
Member
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Palazzo 37.4 Former ACE30
State: Pennsylvania
Posts: 45
THOR #1590
I've gone over the system he laid out in the article and I am probably going to go with it. Since I have the WineGard 2.0 I think that will work as my central router and signal booster as it did with the Exxfinity hotspot when I could access it. Thanks again.
__________________
MSK is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-27-2020, 12:39 AM   #13
Senior Member
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Tuscany 38SQ
State: North Carolina
Posts: 104
THOR #799
If you are a member of FMCA you can get a Sprint MiFi hotspot for $49.99/month with unlimited data. I have it and have not been throttled back. They also have a Verizon hotspot but they do throttle you back after a certain amount of data usage.
__________________
2018 Thor Tuscany 38SQ
gmadams is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-28-2020, 11:02 AM   #14
Senior Member
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: 2019 Vegas 24.1
State: Florida
Posts: 163
THOR #17456
H2O Wireless

Quote:
Originally Posted by MSK View Post
I am looking for information on the best unlimited data plan/provider that allows for the use of unlimited hotspot use. I currently have Verizon Wireless but as with all of the major carriers their "unlimited data" is really limited to 15GB and then throttled back to a 600k data rate. We usually spend 2-3 months on the road doing Habitat for Humanity work with the Care A Vanners program and find that we use about 1 GB of data per day. Our rig has the WineGard 2.0 installed so if we are somewhere where we can pick up an Xfinity hotspot we log on to that and it works very well as it boost the signal and acts as a central hotspot. However that is not always a viable option and I am trying to find a low cost alternative. I am willing to purchase an additional device/phone if necessary but would like to be able to turn the service on and off when needed. I have done a lot of research but have not come up with a firm answer or even a set of narrow choices. (The article at the below url has a lot of information, but I wasn't able to glean any specific answers:
https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/gui...lan-directory/

Thanks for any help you might provide.
We use H2O Wireless-runs on AT&T. Their "unlimited plan" provides 30GB of hot spot data before throttling to 2G. It is $59.95, but is reduced by 10% if using auto-recharge. We have had it for 4 or 5 years and it works just as well as At&T.

I use my Samsung phone as a mobile hot spot connected to a ROKU.
__________________
twovillagers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-28-2020, 02:20 PM   #15
Senior Member
 
Model: 25.2 Axis
State: Arizona
Posts: 839
THOR #3471
Check CALYX
__________________
Hugh.vines@att.net is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-28-2020, 04:27 PM   #16
Senior Member
 
Judge's Avatar
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: 2020 Magnitude SV34
State: Florida
Posts: 4,147
THOR #12751
I have been doing more research and I am starting to like the T-Mobile 55+ Unlimited Magenta Plus.

Two lines for $90/mo (including taxes and fees) with the following:

- unlimited talk and text
- unlimited data w/ HD streaming speed
- 20GB Hotspot Data
- Netflix
- Unlimited WiFi in planes.
__________________
Judge is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-29-2020, 12:21 AM   #17
Senior Member
 
The_Breeze's Avatar
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Chateau 31L
State: Florida
Posts: 2,063
THOR #12189
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judge View Post
I have been doing more research and I am starting to like the T-Mobile 55+ Unlimited Magenta Plus.

Two lines for $90/mo (including taxes and fees) with the following:

- unlimited talk and text
- unlimited data w/ HD streaming speed
- 20GB Hotspot Data
- Netflix
- Unlimited WiFi in planes.
I'm Grandfathered into the straight 55+. They have a promo for 10g high speed, though no details on how long it will last or if you have to physically opt out.

That was the long way of saying there are times when it doesn't always work. Knocked out twice, suffered twice in close to 3yrs. so that's not zero, then again what is?

Try before you buy. I think you can jump on their network and give it a once over for 30 days and you can call it quits. Double check me on that but that's how I remember it. Too late for me anyway. Customer for 12 yrs.

Might be interesting to know which way you went and why. We both know it'll come up again.

Safe Travels
__________________
The_Breeze is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-29-2020, 02:29 AM   #18
Senior Member
 
BandG's Avatar
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Windsport 29M
State: Pennsylvania
Posts: 223
THOR #10254
MSK- is the majority of your daily 1Gb of hotspot for streaming shows?

If so, then you may want to consider a different cell plan.

Like Judge mentioned, with TMobile Magenta, you get unlimited streaming.

We have that plan & stream shows/movies/sports to our phone & use an HDMI cord to view on the larger TV screen.

We still use some hotspot data for surfing the net, etc. but with today's mobile apps, we don't need to do that as much as before either.

p.s.- we did buy a Weboost cell booster - that really helps to increase the signal if we're in a spotty coverage area, with at least a little bit of signal.
__________________
Bryce, Gracia & Shadow (4 yr old mini-Daschund mix)
US Army vet- 82nd Airborne Div
BandG is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-29-2020, 02:46 AM   #19
Senior Member
 
The_Breeze's Avatar
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Chateau 31L
State: Florida
Posts: 2,063
THOR #12189
Not to contradict nor send that person down the wrong road. Read the fine print.

If I blow more than 50g in a month, I'm downgraded. The 10g may have been a thank you for helping them troubleshoot a tower.
__________________
The_Breeze is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-29-2020, 10:54 AM   #20
Member
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Hurricane 34E
State: Florida
Posts: 48
THOR #11425
None of the carriers offer unlimited data esp on hotspots. It's just not in their economic best interests to do otherwise. The FMCA Verizon hotspot is a pretty good deal. For $49.95 you get 25 gig that throttles after that. My wife and I both work from our RV when we travel. Also, as others have found, in some places Verizon works better and in other places AT&T works better. We're super fortunate that we have an older AT&T plan that gets us 40 GB is data with rollover. Last month for example we had 70 GB of data available to us.

But our solution is to travel with a hotspot for Verizon and for AT&T. We're long weekend travelers. So we also keep a log of internet availability at the places we've been so we know what to expect when we get there
__________________
fairfieldwizard is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
hotspot, unlimited data, wireless service

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Thor Industries or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.




All times are GMT. The time now is 12:08 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2