Question on First Time user Winegard

[BulletproofPJ]

We are heading to a place that dose not have any internet, I was thinking of using our Winegard for the first time. I have a few questions

I have a 2020 Windsport 35M

Do I have to get a sim card from ATT, or does it have one already?

If I buy a plan from ATT, is it hard to set it up for use?

Any help as always is greatly appreciated.

John

[atreis]

You don't need to get a sim card, it should already have one. To use it, you'll need to get the IMEI and ICCID numbers off of it so that you can give those to AT&T for setup.

You can also buy a plan with a sim card from AT&T and replace the one in the unit.

I don't know if it's possible to get the numbers without opening up the unit on the roof. I've not tried.

[waynetaylor55]

Originally Posted by BulletproofPJ

We are heading to a place that dose not have any internet, I was thinking of using our Winegard for the first time. I have a few questions

I have a 2020 Windsport 35M

Do I have to get a sim card from ATT, or does it have one already?

If I buy a plan from ATT, is it hard to set it up for use?

Any help as always is greatly appreciated.

John

There are several options. Our Winegard ConnecT 2.0 has the sim card already installed for ATT. You should have the info on the owner's manual if you got it with your coach (did you buy it new or used?)
Second is the Winegard service. Nonrecurring 30 day packs of differing amounts of data. Go to their website to check them out.
Third is using your phone's hotspot, if you have that service.

[DavidEM]

We have four devices that are on our Verizon 10 GB/mo data plan, two iPads and two iPhones. The only reason to set up the Winegard would be to use its higher mounting location and presumably better cell antenna, kind of like a cell phone booster and then connect our devices through wifi.

Should be fairly easy to add it to our Verizon plan and get a Verizon sim card for $10 per month.

Do I have this right? Does the better reception justify setting up the Winegard and paying $10 per month. We usually camp at state parks and some have great cell service and some only one bar.

David

David

[waynetaylor55]

Originally Posted by DavidEM

We have four devices that are on our Verizon 10 GB/mo data plan, two iPads and two iPhones. The only reason to set up the Winegard would be to use its higher mounting location and presumably better cell antenna, kind of like a cell phone booster and then connect our devices through wifi.

Should be fairly easy to add it to our Verizon plan and get a Verizon sim card for $10 per month.

Do I have this right? Does the better reception justify setting up the Winegard and paying $10 per month. We usually camp at state parks and some have great cell service and some only one bar.

David

David

The only experience I have with the Winegard is what I have read. We are about to embark on our second trip in our 2021 FW 28A and will be in a campground with WIFI. I will be doing extensive testing to see which performs better: park WIFI or hotspot on my phone.
I agree about the Winegard's antenna being up on the roof getting superior cellphone reception (not to mention the phone being inside a metal cage!)

[Chateau_Nomad]

Our experience may vary considerably from someone else. We spend a lot of time in that Appalachian mountains, and cell service is spotty at best. We first tried the AT&T/Winegard plan with the existing AT&T sim card. At the time, we also had AT&T cell plans. Coverage, for us, was horrible! I did some research... found an affordable Visible (Verizon) plan with unlimited hotspot (which was $$$ with AT&T). Verizon signal is MUCH better in Appalachia than AT&T. So we just use one of our phones as a hotspot and pop a Fire stick into the TV.

The Winegard plans were originally very affordable, but have since risen dramatically in price. So now we have an expensive paperweight on the roof... Where we go, campground WiFi is a novel idea... but rarely works well enough to even open a simple web page.

Your experience is probably different from ours... depends on where you live/camp. But that's my experience.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by DavidEM

We have four devices that are on our Verizon 10 GB/mo data plan, two iPads and two iPhones. The only reason to set up the Winegard would be to use its higher mounting location and presumably better cell antenna, kind of like a cell phone booster and then connect our devices through wifi.

Should be fairly easy to add it to our Verizon plan and get a Verizon sim card for $10 per month.

Do I have this right? Does the better reception justify setting up the Winegard and paying $10 per month. We usually camp at state parks and some have great cell service and some only one bar.

David

David

You will not get a Verizon SIM card for 10.00 per month. Been there done that and told Verizon to get stuffed.