Nomad's Internet

[wanaberetiree]

I wonder what people use to connect to the Internet when they travel a lot of have more then one residents ?

Thx

 

[Athermos4u]

I wonder what people use to connect to the Internet when they travel a lot of have more then one residents ?

Thx

Data plan hotspots and coffee shops.

 

[Sojourner]

Two different kinds of situations, typically.

1) For vacation travel to various places, we always look for lodging (Airbnb, hotel, etc.) that has free WiFi. While out and about, being tourists, we just use our phones for Internet access.

2) For travel to a vacation home, we would have the home setup for HSI from the local telco or cable company. For months when we don't plan to be there, we put the HSI account on "vacation hold".

 

[Sunset]

I tried out this interesting hotspot device from T-mobile. If a person's phone does not have data it seemed useful.

However since many folks have unlimited data on the phone, why not just hotspot it when you need to use the computer. If one didn't stream movies, then even low data limits of 20GB might be enough.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

We have used a Teppy to good effect: https://travelwifi.com/en/products/buy-teppy

We only used it on one trip (Brazil), so I don't have extensive experience, but it worked well for that trip.

 

[LakeRat1]

We have unlimited data plans. We use our personal hotspot on our cell phones to connect tablets, laptops, etc...... Works a bit slower but still works

 

[OldShooter]

These days almost every AirBnB and hotel has WiFi, even in third world countries. We were on photo safari one time in the Masai Mara, Kenya at a camp that had only solar power and they had an "internet lounge" tent.

Where cell phone coverage is within range, Google FI covers about 200 countries and the data is the same as we pay in the US $10/gig for only what we use. Never any screwing around with local SIM cards.

Our lake home has fiber to the house. We are on the lowest cost plan which is 50meg up and down.

Connectivity worries are pretty much a thing of the past.

 

[Car-Guy]

Cell phone hotspot works for me just about anywhere there's cell service.

 

[RetireeRobert]

Speaking of "Nomad Internet": https://nomadinternet.com/

 

[brucethebroker]

Many times you can sit in the parking lot of Mcdonalds, Starbucks, etc., plus public libraries, and connect while sitting in your car.

 

[Koolau]

How secure is WiFi at a B&B or McD's, etc? Back in the day, I occasionally used unlocked "neighbor's" WiFi, but I read that it was not secure. At the time, I didn't keep much on my computer that could be stolen. Not so sure about that now.

When we travel to our mainland "home" we sign up for TV and Internet for 3 months or how ever long we plan to be there. It's kind of expensive as there are few discounts for such short use.

 

[Dash man]

How secure is WiFi at a B&B or McD's, etc? Back in the day, I occasionally used unlocked "neighbor's" WiFi, but I read that it was not secure. At the time, I didn't keep much on my computer that could be stolen. Not so sure about that now.

They aren’t very secure, but you can use a quality VPN to protect yourself. Don’t use a free one. You get what you pay for.

 

[Athermos4u]

They aren’t very secure, but you can use a quality VPN to protect yourself. Don’t use a free one. You get what you pay for.

Also keep in mind that whatsapp is end to end encrypted, even over Public WiFi. Using cell phone data plan connected sessions are also more secure. Browse this website at a cafe, buy stocks on the cell carrier data connection with a vpn tunnel.

 

[Ronstar]

additional residences = additional cable internet accounts

We had xfinity cable/internet plan in Illinois and Cox cable/internet plan in Arizona. Cox' plan allowed us turn the plan on when we got to Az and turn it off when we left with a reduced monthly cost when we weren't there.

 

[Dash man]

We have Verizon FIOS at our primary home, Xfinity for our Jersey Shore home, and our Florida condo building has a dedicated fiber optic setup for the 240 or so condos. The condo owners paid for the fiber optic lines for a few years, but now is a minimal cost.

 

[pjigar]

Connectivity worries are pretty much a thing of the past.

Not so fast! We moved to country home on the fringes of a metroplex and there are very few options for true unlimited AND fast Internet.

For true the nomad, check out Visible mobile. We are using T-Mobile home broadband which has been the best so far.

 

[OldShooter]

Not so fast! We moved to country home on the fringes of a metroplex and there are very few options for true unlimited AND fast Internet. ...

Well, "unlimited and fast" are pretty tough criteria for judging "connectivity." You will have trouble finding "connectivity" many places in the US and the world if that is your definition. Kind of a first world problem, actually. For me, "connectivity" means I can send and receive normal email, maybe browse reuters.com and news.google.com and (joy of joys!) download this week's Economist magazine to my tablet.

@Koolau, Re security I don't worry too much about it when using public networks. I travel with my phone and a Google tablet, neither of which have ever been used to connect to banks, brokerage, or other critical accounts and neither ever will be. The computer I use for those tasks is moved to my gun safe when we're headed out on a trip.

Both the phone and the tablet are at risk of loss or theft, possibly with higher probability than wifi compromise. That is the most important reason why they are "sterile" of any critical account information.

I also continue to scratch my head, wondering why anyone would want to contact their bank or broker when sitting in a public place, coffee shop, or restaurant. But I'm not a day trader either.

 

[kgtest]

I watched a youtube on this once. The full time RV/boat nomads that ran internet marketing biz used 1.)HotSpots when reliable/available 2.) multiple paid hotspots through AT/T, Verizon for redundancy 3.) 3 Cell phones with different providers then they had some fancy devices to connect them all. Then they tweak settings for like thin-client mode in super remote spotty slow or latent areas of the US where they basically disable voice/video and just browse minimally etc. ONe thing I was always worried about sailing and riding motorcycle was weather...so I built my own page on the internet optimized for very small page loads and radar, with even a daily vid forecast that strams low quality when needed. That thing has saved me from getting wet MANY times. Gotta adapt to everything.

 

[ivinsfan]

For more then one residence I'm hearing lots of buzz for Starlink, they are launching satellites constantly and expanding the service area...

 

[OldShooter]

For more then one residence I'm hearing lots of buzz for Starlink, they are launching satellites constantly and expanding the service area...

Yeah. I'm watching that for a different reason; the availability (albeit with difficulty) of uncensored and maybe unjammable internet in walled-off dictatorships could be a world-changer.

 

[ncbill]

For more then one residence I'm hearing lots of buzz for Starlink, they are launching satellites constantly and expanding the service area...

Just keep in mind right now at least Starlink is geo-locked to your location...so not useful yet for RVers

 

[youbet]

We have unlimited data plans. We use our personal hotspot on our cell phones to connect tablets, laptops, etc...... Works a bit slower but still works

Does you plan actually offer unlimited data for hotspotting? Every plan I check out boasting of "unlimited data" means unlimited data for your phone but some limit on data for use as a hotspot.

Just yesterday I checked out the ATT deluxe unlimited data plan. They used the term "unlimited" over and over in the literature. But, in the fine print, hotspot data was limited to 30 gig before they but the brakes on you.

It's something to watch out for.

 

[wanaberetiree]

We have Verizon FIOS at our primary home, Xfinity for our Jersey Shore home, and our Florida condo building has a dedicated fiber optic setup for the 240 or so condos. The condo owners paid for the fiber optic lines for a few years, but now is a minimal cost.

Nice !

 

[wanaberetiree]

For more then one residence I'm hearing lots of buzz for Starlink, they are launching satellites constantly and expanding the service area...

That feels pricey

 

[38Chevy454]

On my RV trips I just use the cell phone as hotspot. Very few locations are so far off the path where no signal; although maybe that is the point sometimes