My new Samasung Note 3 and a Bubble Level App. It agrees 100% with my torpedo level! I did a good job of leveling the trailer!
Here are the two big events that happened to the Cell Data world this month:
- Both Verizon and ATT are running a special where they double your monthly data from 15 gigs to 30 gigs for no extra charge. Verizon’s ends at the end of the month.
- Verizon bought out all of Millenicom’s Verizon customers. Right now they are all in limbo! They have no idea what the future holds for them because Verizon has made no announcements about its plans. More about that later in this post.
Those two things have forced a lot of people to reevaluate their current data plans and to start making changes…including me. I’ve just made a big switch in my data plan that I want to tell you about because I think it offers many of you a chance to get a better plan. Of course it won’t apply to lots of vandwellers but I’m hoping you can learn something useful from this post anyway.
First a general word of introduction about how to get internet;
- If you live in the city, you can get some data off you Smartphone plan and some off of free WIFI hotspots from places like McDonalds and Starbucks. That’s cheap and probably all you need. Much of this won’t apply to you.
- If you travel a lot or boondock, then getting your data from free WIFI probably won’t work because the free Hotspots are too few, too far away and often too slow. At least that’s the way it’s been for me. I want my data in my camp from a fast, reliable cell signal. If that’s you and you aren’t locked into a plan, listen closely.
- To get data you have two main choices, 1) use your Smartphone and surf the net with it or use it as a WIFI Hotspot to connect to other devices by WIFI (like a laptop or tablet). 2) Buy a MIFI JetPack that receives the cell data signal and then creates a WIFI signal that other devices can connect to.
- Once you leave the cities, no one is as good as Verizon!! In fact, by comparison, everyone else sucks!!! I’ve been many, many places where I had a great Verizon 4g signal and people with ATT, T-Mobile or Sprint had nothing. The only place I’ve ever been where Verizon was bad and ATT was good was in Alaska. So it does happen, but it is very, very rare. If you mainly travel or boondock, you ONLY want Verizon—no one else will do!
This is a screenshot from my new Samsung Note 3 of why you only want to go with Verizon. This is an App that finds all the nearby cell towers. I was driving down the freeway in the middle of nowhere but I had 3 bars of 4g! As remote as I was, I was surrounded by cell towers! Verizon gives you more coverage away from the cities than anyone else!! Notice it tells me how many feet I am away from the tower. If I was looking for a campsite now I’d know where to go to get as close to a tower as I can.
Verizon More Everything Plan
For a long time I’ve tried to convince myself I needed a smartphone but I just couldn’t justify the cost. Many times I’ve read about some great App that I would love to have, but since I didn’t have a Smartphone I couldn’t have it! Then I bought my high-end Canon DSLR that had built-in WIFI and I could download an App from Canon that would let my Smartphone take nearly total control over the camera. I could see what it sees, focus and fire the camera from a distance using my Smartphones WIFI. Best of all I could review the pictures on its big screen and not on the cameras small screen. That made me really want one, but I just didn’t want to spend all that money.
Instead I had a 10 gig data plan with Verizon using a JetPack that cost $80 a month and a pay-as-you-go phone that cost $2 a day every time I used it. I was paying $8 a gig for that plan. That worked fine because I rarely use the phone so I just did without a Smartphone and its Apps. But two things happened that changed my mind:
- My JetPack broke twice in the last year while I was in the middle of nowhere (once it failed and a year later I broke its replacement). That left me with no internet access and forced me to drive into town every day and use a WIFI at Wendy’s as my only source of internet. Because of the blog and forum. I have to have daily, easy and constant data access! If the website goes down with a technical problem, I need to know now, not in a few days! I needed a second device that would always be a back-up if the JetPack broke again. (I got a free replacement for both devices from Best Buy because I had their service plan. More about that in the next post.)
- I use the internet so much, I was regularly pushing and going over my 10 gig limit. Then I heard that for this month only Verizon is taking their Share Everything plan and doubling the data for free and calling it the More Everything plan. So I could sign up for 15 gigs and they would double it and I’d get 30 gigs for nearly the same price.
Because I was starting to pay fees for going over my 10 gigs, that sealed the deal, it was time to upgrade! So I went down and signed right up. Here’s the way it works:
The More everything plan with 30 gigs and just a JetPack is $150 a month ($5.00 a gig). But I wanted a Smartphone also so I added an Apple 5C iPhone (it only cost $1 for the phone) with unlimited voice and text along with 30 gigs of data for an extra $40, bringing it to $190 a month. So for $190 a month I have the two devices sharing 30 gigs a month and unlimited talk and text. If either device fails, I have a back-up. Best of all, I could start using Apps! That met all my needs! (I later switched from the iPhone to a Samsung Note 3, more about that in the next post.)
So if you currently have a Verizon Plan or can switch from your old plan, and you need unlimited talk, text and LOTS of data, this is about as good a deal as is available right now! But, you can make it even better! Because it’s a Share Everything Plan, you can go in on it with a friend or family member and cut the price even more! For example, I have a friend who was with Millenicom so I told him he could go in with me and I would add him to my plan. Adding a second JetPack would cost him $20 a month (or a Smartphone would add $40). I would charge him $60 for half my 30 gigs. So he would be paying $80 a month for just 15 gigs of data on a MIFI JetPack or $100 a month for unlimited talk and text on a Smartphone plus 15 gigs of data. And my monthly cost goes down the $60 he would pay me; we both come out ahead!
This is a photographers app that shows me where the sun and moon rise and set laid over a Google satellite map of my current camp. The yellow and red lines are where the sun rises and sets. Now I know exactly where they sun will rise and set so I can camp where I get the most solar.
Verizon Acquires Millenicom’s Verizon Customers
Up till now the best deal on data was Millenicom which gave you 20 gigs on Verizon towers for $90 a month without a contract, it was month-to-month. It didn’t include any voice, just data, but that was the best price per gig that anybody offered. While there are some “unlimited” plans around, they throttle down your speed after a few gigs and it becomes so slow as to be worthless. When you buy a plan with a set amount of data, there won’t be any slowing down. By comparison, I was paying Verizon $80 a month for just 10 gigs. Millenicom was a much better deal!
But this month Millenicom announced that Verizon had bought out all their Verizon customers. A few people called their customer support line after that and they got a recording that said they no longer offered customer support, they had to call Verizon. As of right now, Verizon has made no announcement of what their intentions are. Everyone is in the dark! They could grandfather in the old plans and prices or they could force everybody to move into a current Verizon plan. It’s a confusing and frightening time for them!
Some people speculate that the More Everything plan is an enticement to Millenicoms customers to switch over, and while we don’t know for sure, that does make sense. It’s not as good a deal, but it’s the best deal going. It’s $60 more than they were paying Millenicom, but it gives you an extra 10 gigs. With the Millenicom plan they were paying $4.50 a gig with the new Verizon More Everything Plan they will be paying $5 a gig for 30 gigs on a JetPack. Here is a comparison of the different plans with just a Jetpack or a Smartphone:
- My old Verizon Plan: 10 gigs for $80 a month = $8 a gig no phone
- Price per gig when I went over my 10 gigs = $15 a gig
- Millenicom: 20 gigs for $90 = $4.50 a gig no phone
- Verizon More Everything with JetPack: 30 gigs for $150 = $5 a gig no phone
- Verizon More Everything with Smartphone for $170 = $5.66 per gig plus unlimited talk and text on Smartphone
- Add a line with a friend: 15 gigs for $80 = $5.33 a gig. no phone
- Smartalk: 3 gigs at full speed for $45 a month = $15 per gig plus unlimited talk and text
This is all very confusing and what I’ve written here is true to the best of knowledge, but you should talk to a Verizon dealer to be certain of what you are getting into. Don’t wait though, the Verizon deal is only good till the end of the month. If you have a current Verizon plan, you can upgrade to it! I would encourage you to seriously look into it.
To figure out what you are currently paying per gig divide the price per month by number of gigs and that equals the price per gig. Knowing that will help you decide what’s best for you.
Please comment and tell me your favorite travel, nature, adventure, RVer or vandweller apps.
Now I have the Canon EOS App to take total control over my DSLR with my Samsung Note 3!
Bob, I am suprised you ended getting the note. I would of figured you would of definitaley got the amazon fire. I feel like the fire is a better phone and can’t beat the price.
Tim
Tim, I don’t know anything about the Fire Phone but I know I love the Note! Too late now!
Bob
Timely post Bob!
I’m going to wait & see what happens with Millenicom…
Apps? Gasbuddy, Puregas, Flashlight, (all free) and US Public Lands (it was not real spendy but it is useful). The Aldis app was useful where they have an Aldis.
Thanks Rob, what’s Puregas do?
Bob
Puregas lists stations selling gasoline that does not have ethanol in it.
At 10 or 15 cents a gallon more it was worth it if it was close (I get better mileage with real gasoline), when they want half a dollar a gallon more it’s not worth it.
Be worth it with some chainsaws or other small hard working engines.
Thanks Rob, I may try it for my Honda Generator.
Bob
I did a post on apps I use all the time on the road. Haven’t found a good cell tower finder for iOS yet though.
For iOS I like to use three different cell tower app tools. — SENSORLY is my favorite for its history that you create of locations. SIGNAL is a jailbroken app that shows on a map where the tower is located. Have been trialing OPENSIGNAL which seems to be a less useful version of SENSORLY.
I use Gas Buddy a lot on the road – it’s amazing the difference in price sometimes by just going to the next exit. Also ConvertPad, Flashlight, WFMY Radar for weather, Shake Calc for calculator, and Cam Scanner is great if you have a need to document receipts and the like. All free
Thanks Doug! can you give me an idea of what they do so I will know if I’m interested in them.
Bob
Bob, Gas Buddy can locate the cheapest fuel near you, or by zip code. ConvertPad does an amazing amount of conversions, from Imperial to metric, to just knowing how many ounces in a gallon and a wide variety of others. The radar app is fairly accurate with weather predictions, but it really shines with the real time radar that you can customize the overlays on. The flashlight uses the built in flash as a light, great as a backup flashlight that you usually always have on you. Shake Calc I use mainly as a normal calculator, but it has lots of advanced functions as well. It’s great for calculating my KLR’s mileage as it can vary quite a bit depending upon how and where I’m riding. Cam Scanner uses the built in camera to scan and creat a PDF of any document or picture you want. It also allows you to manipulate it before saving, like changing the crop peramiters etc… Then you can save or share it right from you phone. I use it for work a lot, since I need to send documents to the owner of the properties who is overseas much of the time. But it’s also great for tracking receipts and the like – just take a picture of it and it’s already filed before you leave he store or gas station. No need to even hang onto the paper receipt. All of these are free apps and don’t take up much memory space by themselves. So you can always try them and if they don’t help you just delete them. I’ve done that with a few. In fact I think I went through 3 calculator apps before I found one that worked the way my brain thinks. Have fun, new tech stuff is almost as much fun as a new motorcycle, almost but not quite. 😉
Would also suggest WAZE as a crowd source traffic-hazard-cops map tool for your app collection. You can find everything before you get there. Once while stuck in a traffic jam found the road was shut down due to car fire two miles away. Turned around and rerouted.
Also suggest GEOCACHING app. Its $10 but it is kind of an insider local fun game guide book. If there is something weird and wonderful nearby there is usually a real or virtual geocache near it.
Thanks Doug.
Bob
While I find it usefull at times, and I understand why bob uses the cell internet. Sometimes I like not having a cell signal. I have been looking at building an internet can that has an antenna in a metal can. It’s directional, but it works in theory.
Hi Bob,
As you usual, great post, thanks! I checked out Verizon’s website and they are offering 40 GB of data for $150.00 in the Bay Area, California. You mentioned 30 GB for $150.00. Maybe you could work out some type of deal with them?
Omar
Omar – that’s my concern. There may be some really cheaper deals next month. The BUY NOW hype can be a signal for that. Funny you found even more gigs at some local store. Others are mentioning Verizon local stores having some enhancement deal. Verizon could gut (not happening yet) the competition just by saying they will port-transfer any number on bring-your-own device and beat anyone on monthly costs at any store. Will this happen next month? Wild speculation on my part.
Omar, that’s the standard price everywhere. The $150 is for the data plan only, then you have to add either a phone, tablet or Jetpack and that will be added to the $150. A phone will be another $40 so your cost will be $190
My 30 gigs is $130 and then another $40 for the phone and $20 for the Jetpack which totals $190
So it’s $20 more to get 10 more gigs and I didn’t need them so I just got the 30 gigs.
Bob
Although I don’t use hardly any of it, I’m grandfathered in Verizon with unlimited internet for $80.00 a month. As long as I don’t change plans, and pay up front for any new phone. BTW, hope to be using it more next year, God willing I’ll be on the road.
I,m cheap i just go where its free i do not like getting into plans also one app that i like is magic jack its a online phone free voice long distancecalls it works ok as long as the wifi is good i have used it for five yrs i,m one of those guys that think wifi should be free all over the county but thats me
Starbucks has 20 Mbps speed on WiFi at many stores. For free. At that speed you are done with all your needs in half hour. Instead of spending hours on cell tower 2 to 5 Mbps speed.
Starbucks has 20 Mbps speed on WiFi at many stores. For free. At that speed you are done with all your needs in half hour. Instead of spending hours on cell tower 2 to 5 Mbps speed. Starbucks is the exception though. Most WiFi available for free is horrible slow and congested with ancient routers that cheap business refuse to upgrade. 2.4 GHz WiFi is ancient history folks. Business free wifi should be providing 5ghz with multiple channels but that’s wishful thinking
Joe, that works really well for a lot of people, I’m glad it works for you!
I hate cities and so driving to a city to get free WIFI would be a fate worse than death to me. I’d close the forum and blog before I would do that.
Bob
Well said.
Thanks Crowfly.
Bob
Joe, I use MJ too, and yes it works great when the internet is good. I also believe internet should be free to everyone. I am also on a budget and $40.00 a month is Lot of money for me. I won’t buy a cellphone, never had one, never will, 5 watts of RF energy shooting through your brain is bad. Actually, I’m considering unplugging from the internet all together. Fact is they should pay me for stealing my time. Internet/cellphones/gadgets….all time thiefs.
Mike, lots of people feel the way you do, we all have different needs and desires all that counts is that you find a way that works for you and it sounds like you have.
Bob
Following, thoroughly confused. The last time I dealt with this, I had a thing called a “dongle” and Verizon gave me a little trouble about using 5 gigabytes. I will not do a contract plan again.
Calvin, there are lots of good pay-as-you plans if you don’t need much data.
Bob
I didn’t know there was a an app for cell towers – thanks Bob.
Favorite: Nothing more important to me then knowing where I am, Maps.Me, off line maps for both Android and iOS.
For off line routing, GPS CoPilot, again for both Android and iOS.
I like that these don’t use data once the maps are loaded.
http://maps.me/en/home
http://copilotlive.com/us/
We recently renewed our contract with Verizon, and I’m still confused. The folks at our local Verizon office were either very clever or very uninformed because we have ended up paying more than we thought we would. Verizon coverage is the best. Just be sure to check your bill and/or follow up with their main customer service number if you go to a local office.
~Naomi
SaferCar from the National Transportation Safety Board lets you search for any auto recalls by plugging in the year, make and model. With all the ignition switch issues and now airbag issues, it’s quite handy.
~Naomi
Thanks Naomi!
Bob
Bob,
Would you mind emailing or posting the app your using for cell tower location?
Thank you so very much.
Iris
Iris, I’ll tell you all the Apps I’ve found in my next post.
Bob
Yes, I’m a previous Millenicom customer and as of now, my MiFi device is still working and I’m able to type this. I’m really hoping that Verizon will contact me/us before this the More Everything deal closes. Us Millenicom users have no idea if they’ll shut off our data or what at the end of the month. If they do, they’ll certainly hear from me since I’ve not received even ONE email explaining what’s going on in the first place. I only found out that Verizon took over Millenicom customer accounts through Facebook! What the heck!
So, I’m pretty nervous wondering if I’ll hear anything before this month is up. And then what?? Do I just hang onto the service I have until the bitter end and hope that service will continue the next month and the next and hope to hear from Verizon? I’ve called Verizon myself and NONE of their support even knows what’s going on! So, I reckon I should wait until a few days before the end of the month, call and see if I can sign up for the More Everything plan but not pay until they explain what’s going on with my current “old” Millenicom plan and device. Hopefully, we’ll hear soon from Verizon and that they take very good care of us! My word, $150 would be pretty intense forking over after only paying $90 per month for me! What to do!! Well, may need to drop teaching a heavy load of classes, but, I’m in it deep this year. I’m stuck unless I go home to my parents until I can wean off of a teaching schedule and just sell curriculum.
Gloria, it’s put a lot of people in a tough situation. It’s the not knowing which is worst of all!
Hopefully it will all work out great in the end.
Bob
Hi Bob,
Great info, I really appreciate the way you broke the price down.
Delmont, until you see it laid out as a price per gig you confuse low monthly costs with the best deal. Of course if you only need a couple gigs a month Walmart Straightalk is by far the best. But it would never work for me.
Bob
Using PAGE PLUS account for $50 per month 3G of 4glte data on Verizon. With my iPhone 5. For a single user it seems to work well. Am very hesitant about these BUY NOW deals as they usually signal a pending drop in prices. If I combined phone plans with my girlfriend and shared all that data it might be a deal of the year. But I have home wifi (not mobile yet) so am fine with not getting the better price deals
That makes sense Offroad. If you have data at home you don’t need much on the cell, a cheap plan works great.
Bob
do any of the ever so helpful and knowledgeable commenters on this blog have suggestions for a visitor from Canada who would need phone and data for only a few months a year?
Wish I was coming to the RTR. Maybe the summer one…
Ming, I think most Canadians just buy a pay-as-you-go plan. Walmarts Smarttalk would probably work great for you. It’s $45 a month with unlimited talk and text and 3 gigs of data at full speed.
The next time you come back you can use the same phone and buy a new card for it. They even have some international areas you can buy a card for. You will have to check exactly where it works.
Bob
thanks, Bob!
Agree with Bob. Just make sure you get a CDMA cell tower (Verizon) cell phone for use with straight talk. Iphone 4s for Verizon is great and cheaper now and no chip needed. My girlfriend uses thus. If you want a phone that can switch between GSM towers and CDMA towers you can get an iPhone 5 from Verizon, use it with pageplus for Verizon monthly. Or pop in a GSM simm chip.
thanks Offroad, I’ll keep that in mind. Too bad my present Samsung Galaxy won’t work on Verizon network (I checked) and I’d have to buy a phone just for US travel.
BTW I have found an armor case very useful for the phone – I have dropped it so many times on many surfaces and it is just fine.
Smarttalk has a ‘bring your own phone’ plan where you buy a cheap simm card & then it’s $45 a month for their unlimited deal, I believe the Samsung Galaxy works for that. I’d ask them..
We needed to change a smarttalk phone from Verizon to ATT, I sent them an email and asked which phones I could use & bought an ATT one they said would work.
I know my Galaxy3 will work with the T-mobile bring your own phone deal.
Thanks Rob.
Bob
Ming asked my question so thanks for the answer, Bob!
I use Consumer Cellular, which is a no-contract company that uses AT&T towers. You have the same coverage as with AT&T, and can use an AT&T phone with the Consumer Cellular sim card. You can scale the plan to what you need at any time during the month, going up a level if you use more that month, changing it back down if you don’t need the extra minutes/data. It is $10/month, $15/month for the lowest minutes and I think $2.50/month for the lowest data. Mom and I share the plan so it is $10 for the extra line and $15 for the minutes and $5 for the data I use (not a lot of data so it is cheap). You can buy the sim cards at Sears stores. Customer service is good as well. https://www.consumercellular.com/ I get the AARP discount, so I’m not the best expert to price out other folk’s options.
shadowmoss, that sounds like a great plan for people who don’t need much data and if you are in a city. Once you leave the city ATT has very poor coverage so it is a NO-GO for me because I spend little time in cities and almost all my time in the middle of nowhere.
But it sounds perfect for you and anyone else in your situation!
Bob
I have an app called Montana Parcel app. There are several others that do virtually the same thing and I bet ALL the other states have something similar as well.
What it does is tell you who owns the land you are on. If it is private, BLM, National Forest, State Forest, Fish Wildlife and Parks, etc., etc. Then you click and it will tell you who owns it. Then you can Google to get the number to ask permission to enter. You can use it in the city as well and it has even more information for that.
I know of one example where this works well. I know of a place just east of the Bob Marshall Wilderness, south of Glacier National Park, on the Teton River. The entrance looks just like any other private entrance; it is behind a generic, gated, barbed wire fence with no signs. You can’t identify it except to maybe use a paper map, but that takes some time and is only as accurate as the person using the map.
But with this app, you click on the app, and with the GPS in the phone, the app tells you where you are and who owns the land immediately around you. The Teton River campground is basically a secret only few know about, but with Montana Parcel App, it is easy to find for anyone with a smart phone or a computer with GPS ability. I doubt you need to be online for this app to work, but maybe you do.
Some places are marked “No Trespassing”, but are actually public lands. That is rare, but it happens. This app would clear up any “mistakes” you may come across.
That sounds like a great APP, Canine. Too bad you have to find one for every state!
Bob
I got a Verizon JetPack a year ago and still have another year left on the contract. It’s only good for 10GB. I was running out before the end of each month, so I got a 20GB Millenicom JetPack. Yay, 30GB total. My iPhone is from my building dwelling days when I didn’t need much voice, text or data. (I did nearly all of that with my land line.) That contract was up in July.
As near as I can tell from searching on their site, Verizon won’t let me upgrade that WiFi until the contract expires, or until I add a phone. Maybe they’ll be more flexible with ex-Millenicom customers. I’ll be going to a Verizon store soon to see what they can tell me. I have a feeling the clerks will say, “Milleni-what?”
Al, remember I started with a Jetpack in the middle of it’s contract and added a phone and converted it all to the share everything plan, so I know you can do that. So your total price would be exactly the same as mine $190 for the Smartphone with unlimited talk and text and the Jetpack with 30 gigs. That’s a little more than you are paying now but it will give you unlimited talk and text and a new better Smartphone
Bob
I’d be happy with very limited talk. 😉
I just got of the chat line with Verizon. Nothing specific — that he knew of — for ex Millenicom customers, just signing up for whatever is available to anyone who wasn’t with Millenicom.
Apps:
“State Lines” tells you what things RVers want to know as they move from one state to another–like gas taxes so you can decide whether to fill before your cross into the new state or wait for the lesser price and whether or not it is legal to overnight in a rest area and more more things of that type.
“Intellicast” tells you when there are weather alerts in your current location.
Thanks for those Tips Linda. I’ll check them out.
Bob
$190 seems a hell of a price to pay for internet.
If Verizon is the only acceptable network, try a Verizon MNVO – StraightTalk or Flash Wireless. They have ‘unlimited’ data plans for $50 or so, though the speed is ‘throttled’ after a while.
Try Adblock Plus on Firefox to reduce the amount of adverts (=data) each page pulls.
I mean… if you want Netflix, you’re kinda scuppered. But for ‘normal’ web use…
Dave I don’t do normal net use. I have a blog and forum that require me to be on them a lot. I could close them, but until I do I have to have 15 gigs a month. Smarttalk throttles after 3 gigs, that makes it unusable for me. $45 for 3 gigs means it costs $15 per gig. My plan costs $5.66 per gig. It’s a much better deal for me.
Bob
It seems like just a blog and forum being mostly text wouldn’t consume too much of that 15 gigabytes per month. Perhaps it’s a lot of repeated downloads of the images and static content of your sites. You might be able to use a local proxy server (like squid) on your own computer to cache that content and minimize your data use.
Eric, I don’t host the website, that’s done by a server and it uses a giant amount of data. Even so I’m consistently using more than 10 gigs and being fairly careful at that. I had to upgrade and get more. Since Verizon was giving away 30 gigs for the price of 15 I went ahead and got that.
Bob
I got a message on my Hot Spot device to call Verizon to discuss moving my Millenicom account to them. I called and waited about an hour on hold and talked to a young lady that knew what was going on and could take care of my questions and set up my account. They offered me to continue my account at the same data quanity, 20g, for $90 with a 1 year contract or no contract for the same package of data for $100 on a month to month basis. I selected the 1 year contract as that would fit my needs. She set up my account while I was on the phone and assigned me a new number and I was done. It was effective immediately. The date for service cut off given on my Hot Spot message was 11-8-14.
I was pleased that Verizon came through with what I think was a fair offer.
Gary T
Hi Gary, I’m glad that went so well for you. It’s really good they handled it that well.
Bob
I just called verison after a long wait. they said it was 20G for 99.99 no contract. They said they couldnt offer me anything cheaper with a contract. They also offer 30G for $150. I also called Sprint. They offer 12G for 79.99 and 30G for 109.99 but I would have to buy either a card for 19.00 for the computer or a Zing Mobile hotspot by Net Gear for $100. with a 2 yr contract. Any body have a better deal?
If you need lots of data, it’s just going to be expensive, I don’t think you can beat what Verizon offered. Sprint has poor coverage away from the cities.
Bob
I got your book it just wondering how can people van dwell. I am a former camper. I am wondering how to get residency in Florida. I am learning my life needs a change in life and Florida might help.
sincerely Jesse
Hi Jesse, every state has different rules for residency but generally all you have to do is:
1) Go there and get a mail forwarder as a mailing address and resident address
2) Get your Florida Drivers license
3) Register your vehicle there.
That’s usually enough. It helps if you actually live there but many people don’t. You may have to lie and say you do though.
Bob
Hi Bob,
Thanks for all the great information. It’s really helpful. I’ve been toying with the idea of coming back to the States again. Not sure when but love all the great info and advice that you always have on your posts.
Question: Did you already do the 2nd post about internet and phones and I missed it?
Cheers,
Richard
http://www.mobileinternetsatellite.com/
I’d like to get your thoughts on this satellite internet option. No worries about coverage. About $200 in equipment costs and $60-$120 plans.
Geo, I’m sorry, I know nothing about it. I have a friend with Hughes Net and I do not recommend it.
Bob
Bob- Great post! I have Verizon,also,and it’s the only way to go for remote service. An App I use frequently is Backcountry Navigator. It’s the only app I’ve ever paid for($20).Worth every penny. It turns your phone into a full featured GPS,comparable to $400 Garmins. You can load topo maps for free and then use your GPS/phone anywhere-no signal required,as long as you have loaded the applicable maps into your phone. The developer is a great guy-worth supporting-he’s constantly adding new features to the app.Check it out. Moe
Thanks Moe. I’m familiar with that app and looked into it but the maps are such a small scale you have to download a LOT of them to get any amount of country. What I want is to be able to download a whole state even if I have to give up some of the scale. Do you know any like that?
Bob
Bob is there a way to contact Jim? The gentleman you did a video on the described the $5 dollar Verizon internet?