Full-time RV living is quite adventurous. You get the freedom of traveling wherever you want, but that freedom often comes at a cost — a bad internet connection. If you’re planning to stay close to major cities and highways, you’ll likely have a decent connection 85-90% of the time, but if you decide to wander off the beaten path or go “Out West” to visit our nation’s amazing National Parks, you’ll find that a good internet connection is a lot harder to come by.
The goods news is that there are a few things you can do to improve your internet connections and speeds while living in an RV. Below is an overview of how we stay connected while living on the road which highlights the services and products we use to get the best internet connection possible. If you have questions about our setup or need help figuring out what you need to improve the internet connection in your RV, leave us a comment and we’ll help you as best we can.
Cellphone Plans
We’ve been T-Mobile customers for over a decade, but when we decided to RV full-time, we took a look at the other service providers to see which option would be best for us while traveling the country. After looking at Verizon, AT&T and Sprint’s coverage, we actually decided that sticking with T-Mobile was the best option for us. T-Mobile’s coverage has dramatically improved over the past few years and internet speeds are just as fast or faster than what AT&T and Verizon offer. THere have been a few times where we have not had the best data connection on T-Mobile, but we usually find that T-Mobile’s internet speeds are much better than Verizon’s and coverage is pretty comparable.
As for the specifics of our service plan, we have two T-Mobile One lines. The company is constantly changing all the features that the plan offers (mostly adding more options and features), so make sure you check out T-Mobile;’s website for an up-to-date list. Right now, our plan includes:
- Unlimited calling
- Unlimited texting
- Unlimited data (throttling on congested towers after 50GB)
- Unlimited music and videos streaming (does not count against 50GB data allotment)
- Unlimited 3G tethering
- Free Netflix
There are quite a few other perks included with T-Mobile One lines, but these are the main ones we use. Two lines should set up back $120 per month, but we only pay $80 total since we share the plan with a family member. In the 6 months that we’ve been on the road, we have hit 50GB on a single line several times, but we have not yet experienced any throttling. Usually, we stay well below that number since streaming video and music services don’t count against your total. This feature is extremely helpful if you enjoy watching Netflix, Hulu and YouTube on a regular basis.
Unlimited Hotspot
When we first hit the road, we relied on our two T-Mobile lines for all our internet needs. However, after three months, we added an unlimited Verizon Hotspot line to augment our T-Mobile coverage and give us better tethering speeds for our laptops. Verizon does not offer unlimited plans anymore, but you can still lease them on eBay or other third-party vendors for $100-$120 per month.
We use Verizon Jetpack MiFi 7730L as out main hotspot device,
With our unlimited Verizon Hotspot, we usually use 250-300 GB of data each month, but we have exceeded 500GB in billing cycle without any issues. Network coverage from Verizon is good, especially when we camp in the middle of nowhere.
WiFi Range Extender
Camping at a traditional campground typically means you will have access to the campground’s WiFi network. While you can sometimes connect to these networks directly from your smartphone, tablet or laptop, you’ll often find that the connection is very weak and incredibly slow. You can improve the reliability and speed of the connection by using a WiFi range extender. There are quite a few options out there, but the most popular options are the Alfa WiFi Camp Pro and the WiFi Ranger.
We use the Alfa WiFi Camp Pro which is the cheaper option. Like the WiFi Ranger, our range extender features an external antennal and amplifier which is connected to an internal router which rebroadcasts the campground’s WiFi connection. As long as the WiFi network you are connecting to isn’t congested with kids streaming Netflix or youtube on their tablets, the WiFi range extender can easily improve the network connection from 1-2 bard to 3-5 bars and boost upload and download speeds by 100-300%.
While WiFi Range Extenders like the Alfa WiFi Camp Pro work extremely well, you are limited by the WiFi network you are trying to connect to. Most campgrounds with good WiFi networks typically charge a daily, weekly or monthly fee, increasing your overall internet connection costs. In many cases, using your unlimited hotspot is faster and more affordable.
weBoost 3G/4G cellular booster
As good at T-Mobile and Verizon’s coverage maps are, we often have a 1-2 bar LTE connection when we camp in remote locations. That issue is easily remedied with the weBoost cellular Booster. The company offers a variety of different options and varying price point, but we chose to go with the weBoost 4G-X RV in our travel trailer, which is able to amplify cellular connections up to 32x. Products like the weBoost Drive Sleek are built specifically to be used in your car or truck, vastly improving your cellular reception while driving.
The weBoost 4G-X features an external antenna which is connected to the signal amplifier and an internal antennal which rebroadcasts the cellular connection on the inside of the RV. In the real world, the weBoost is able to provide dramatically faster connections for our T-Mobile smartphones and Verizon hotspot when camping in remote locations. Typically, the weBoost can add 2-3 bars of network reception and increase download speeds from 50-100% and upload speeds from 200-300%.
The only downside to the weBoost is that the internal antenna’s range has an effective radius of 12-18 inches. This limitation is by design since a larger radius would create a signal loop with the external antenna.
Wrap Up
While we’ve only been living the full-time RV lifestyle for a bit over six months, our internet setup in our travel trailer has served us quite well. We have stayed at campgrounds near major cities, state parks and remote spots in national forests and have managed to have a good internet connection most of the time.
Naturally, there will be times that a WiFi range extender and a weBoost simply won’t help at all. But tat that point, maybe it’s time to turn off our devices and just enjoy the great outdoors.
