Internet on the Road

[Dthomas9572]

Hello,

I would like to start a discussion on how folks on the POG are handling their internet and most important streaming. First of all let me start with the fact that I have canceled all my Cable / Dish at my house an have gone to streaming and over the air. This is due to the 150 dollars plus per month cost and that with a combination of HD over the air antenna and ROKU sticks I get everything I want and need.

1) over the air antenna HD from Best Buy was 80 bucks and I get all the networks and local channels plus 20 or so other channels. Down side to this is I can't DVR the nightly news. Solved this by putting an alarm on my phone at 5:30

2) ROKU sticks 39 dollars each TV and I get: HBO, Netflixs, Sling Blue HULU and Amazon Prime. Total $45 per month and I get every channel I used on cable on demand.

Saving 100 plus per month.

I have a direct TV tracking satellite dish, but want to cut the tie as well and go streaming.

Currently I have a two HD window antennas and they work well in areas for over the air HD channels, but they are clumsy to put in windows. I am looking at replacing the Satellite dish with a Weingard Razer over the air antenna. Gil said they are good, anyone else have luck with it?

Regarding streaming, I have joined the Mobile Internet Research Center . This group is great as it focus on getting on line with boats, RV. Anyone who needs to be mobile and online. They say there is no perfect system.

Please send your thoughts?

Thanks

[Gil_J]

As prolific as wireless Internet access is, it just isn't everywhere. Where it does exist, it tends to be pretty good. That too is changing, for the worse, as more and more people tax the network. It's a chicken and egg question. Do the network access systems get overloaded before the infrastructure is improved?

Even Wi-Fi services at campgrounds are limiting or or outright restricting streaming services. They have little choice until the public access to the campground is better and their own distribution improves.

Your access choices are Wi-Fi, Mi-Fi (Wi-Fi over cellular), cellular, wired (rare anymore), or satellite. Regardless of your access choice it's hard to predict it's availability and reliability before you get to a park.

Of the access choices, Wi-Fi and cellular tend to be the best options today.

I haven't looked in years, but expect video storage devices to be available that can store video for later viewing over lower speed or less reliable connections.

[TheGadgetGuru]

I added a Tivo OTA (Over the Air) tuner to my bus and recommend it. It connects to an antenna and allows for the recording of up to six local shows simultaneously. Even better, it allows for the skipping of commercials during playback. It takes about ten minutes and just a few button presses to set it up for a new city when arriving at a destination. It does require an internet connection to populate the on-screen grid guide when changing markets and once per week or so to keep it current. With the exception of doing a firmware download, it uses very little bandwidth.