RV Communications : Internet for Puma

If you full time or even part time in an RV you'll probably realize very quickly that relying on the WiFi at the parks (RV or state) won't work for you. Works great when you don't need it and not at all when you do.


I would have purchased 4G Wimax from Clear but it is not available at La Hacienda RV park. Furthermore, it seems they are always out of the Sprint/Clear dual mode dongles which would be a pretty good solution, but they are out.

Satellite seems too expensive.

We tried getting ATT DSL to the RV Park pedestal but that did not work.

Maybe I could have tried cable, but the ATT experience made me want to avoid 'wired' (think non-mobile RV) solutions.

So we purchased service from T-Mobile. Here is why...
1) T-mobile has been my cell phone company for years and their network seems reliable and they are always very service oriented.
2) Their $39.99/month data plan HAS NO OVERAGE charges if you go over 5 Gig of data in a month.So in exchange for perhaps slower service than Sprint/Verizon you have a KNOWN bill. No Overage.
3) For Sprint/Verizon you could have bills in excess of $100-200/month very easily if you were not paying attention.
4) If you go over 5 Gig, T-Mobile MIGHT slow you down, operative word being MIGHT.

Notes :
1) We purchased the Huwei UMG181 (or basic webconnect stick - not the jet, not the rocket).
2) It is NOT compatible with the Cradlepoint CTR500 router. No matter what cradlepoint website says, I would not even bother with this combination.
3) It IS compatible (as of May 2010) with the cradepoint MBR900 router. In fact it started working WHILE I was reading the manual!!!!

So basically, the webconnect stick PLUS the cradlepoint MBR900 router and you can replicate the MiFi and other boxes.