The Best Internet for RV Nomads in 2021

Finding the best Internet for RV Nomads is a daunting task but we have advice for you from two experts who know more about this than anyone else you can find. With the help of Chris and Cherie of Technomadia, the RV Lifestyle’s top Internet experts, we’re going to tell you what companies and what plans are the best for today’s demanding RVer. They candidly warn us what companies to stay away from and what service providers are offering the best plans. Plus we learn why 5G may not be very handy for the RV community just yet and what – and when – that new Starlink Satellite constellation will be ready for RV Nomads. If you prefer, you can listen to the podcast in the player below. The interview is about 25:00 in. The Best Internet for RV Nomads Our guests o are Chris and Cherie of the website Technomadia, which chronicles all things technology-related to RVers, and the Mobile Internet Resource Center, which is a member-supported site that is the most respected and reliable resource for the absolute latest information about Mobile Internet. Chris and Cherie are true Nomads themselves, traveling the country in a bus converted into an RV, a Class B van and a boat. They truly are the leading experts on anything related to RVing and the Internet. We interviewed them in a recent episode for our RV Podcast and tapped into their expertise to help our readers and listeners fund the best Internet for RV Nomads in 2021. Cherie and Chris of Technomadia and experts on finding on the best internet for RV Nomads Here's a full transcript of the interview on how to find the Best Internet for RV Nomads: Mike Wendland: Joining us now are Chris and Cherie. You guys are on, let's see, you have a whole fleet of mobile, you're in a boat right now, right? Chris: Yes. We have a boat, a bus, and a van. So we kind of dive into many different ways of being a nomad. Mike Wendland: That is awesome. That is awesome. Well, it's been a while since we've had you on. And so much has changed, particularly in the lockdown that we're all going through. So many people now working from home and now people saying, "Well, why should we work at home? Let's go work from the road." So let's start off with a couple of questions about those who are out there on the road and need internet. What's the best advice for September of 2020 from the tech nomadic experts here that really know more about it than anybody else I know? Cherie: It's a tough challenge right now because the needs for a lot that are hitting the road right now, they're trying to work remotely. They may be doing a lot of video work, like what we're trying to do right here. They're schooling their kids on the road. And they want to be able to stream Netflix and YouTube. So they want all the high-bandwidth things. Chris: Just like they're at home. Cherie: Just like at home. But these are some of the most difficult things to do over mobile internet. And at the same time, there's a lot of us wanting to do it right now because, well, not just wanting to, we need to with the pandemic and work from home. So the carriers, especially the cellular carriers, are all having supply and demand issue. So they're having to- Chris: Their networks are overwhelmed. They're trying to price their plans and stuff. Their target market isn't people who live and work full time on the roads. They're trying to design their plans around people who are just, you know, need to be connected in between home and work or just when they're away from the house. Best Internet for RV Nomads Advice: Be Flexible, plans change So we're kind of special. The whole mobile community is kind of special. You have to find the right combination of how to use the devices, what devices to use, and what plans to use that will assemble an arsenal that can actually meet our needs. Cherie: And that stuff changes all the time. Chris: And it changes all the time. Cherie: It's more like what's best at this hour. Bevcause as soon as we record this, yu can bet something has changed. Probably as we speak... Chris: Or tomorrow or something. Because, yeah, tthere's been several major plan changes recently. And we're always kind of that's what we do is we guide people. Like, this is the best bet today, come back tomorrow, it might be changing. Mike Wendland: Well, it does change. And I've been a victim. That's probably a little too harsh of a word. But I've been a firsthand witness to some of those changes just in the last year or so with AT&T and Togo and with the program with Nomad, which suddenly upped their rates by $50 a month. Internet Resellers: What to know One of the things I wanted to talk about is resellers. There's so many places that RVers are seeing that are basically resellers. Explain what a reseller is and whether that is a reliable place where RVers should go looking for unlimited, unthrottled internet. Cherie: Right. That's obviously the appeal is those are about the only places you're going to find cellular data plans that are advertised as unlimited, unthrottled. And that's what we all want. That's not what the carriers want to provide. And what the resellers are is they tend to have access somehow to a data plan that they're able to make work as an unlimited hotspot device, to use on hotspot devices or routers. Best Internet for RV Nomads Advice: Be aware of how Resellers Work Chris: But a lot of times these resellers are basically the equivalent of flea market salespeople. They have stuff that sometimes literally fell off the back of a truck someplace. They're selling plans that were intended for this, and they're finding a way to use them for that. And when the carriers, they're like, "Well, no, you're using the plans wrong." They'll just cut all of those off. Cherie: Right. We've been tracking this industry for a very long time. We see it's almost every three months- Chris: Resellers come and go. Cherie: Every three months there's a new reseller that comes on the scene. They get a lot of publicity, a lot of people get them, get them in their setup, and then suddenly they go away. And the reason is, is because the plans behind the scenes were not intended for this sort of usage. And those plans become then visible to the carrier because they see a whole bunch of loads. So maybe these are corporate plans that were not meant to be sold. Maybe they were tablet plans that are being repurposed on hotspot devices. Chris: We've seen resellers in the past were secretly selling government plans or school plans and stuff that was intended for students. And they're like, "Oh yeah, they're students," but they're actually selling them out the backdoor for all sorts of things. Cherie: All sorts of things. There are also master agents in the background that do have access to legit wholesale plans. And they come and go all the time. But when they see a huge increase in demand and plans being out there and people start using terabytes of data, well, the carriers go, "Whoa, this is not what we intended." And they find ways to shut those plans down. And we've seen this cycle. I could almost time it. It's like, oh, Nomad internet. Okay. Yeah, I give that six weeks. We can almost time it. Chris: And then the next one comes along. And then there are the other things like the prepaid brands that are owned by the carriers that, they're not resellers. Like Cricket is owned by AT&T. They're not reselling AT&T plans. Cherie: Visible is owned by Verizon. So these are plans that have a little more chance of sticking around. Best Internet for RV Nomads Advice: Do Your Homework Chris: Yes. So you got to kind of do your homework. Mike Wendland: And people will ask you this all the time, so they always say, "Well, what's the best plan for me?" And you mean as of now or in 10 minutes? But give us a couple of things that RVers who need reliable, fast, unthrottled internet, is there any such an animal that is affordable these days? Cherie: If you're willing to go with Sprint's network, which has traditionally been the worst network, and of course they're being taken over by T-Mobile and that process is ongoing, there are legit unlimited plans that you can get on Sprint's network. Either through the FMCA's rental plan or there's some nonprofit organizations that if you become a member of them, you have access to their unlimited plan. Chris: And these are really unlimited, go to town, use crazy amounts of data plans. Cherie: Yup. And those have been around for a very long time. We feel really good about recommending those if Sprint works for your travels. And we don't know what's going to happen to them in the future with T-Mobile taking over. Cricket Wireless, which is AT&T's prepaid subsidiary, they currently have a mobile hotspot plan that you can put like on that Netgear Nighthawk, like what you had. And you can get 100 gigabytes of high-speed LTE data for $90 per month. That's a legit plan. Chris: And then there are some other plans like- Mike Wendland: How much data do you get then for that end of the Cricket plan? Best Internet for RV Nomads Advice: How much use does 100 GB Provide? Cherie: That's 100 gigabytes.