Mi-Fi or Sat Dome/Disk?
I was just about to organise install of SAT-Fi Dome for watching TV while out and about @ £1700, and someone has floated the idea of Mi-Fi @ £400 plus network provider Sim charges
I presume TV streaming is going to gobble up Gigabytes on Mi-Fi - So I'm sure that Sim subscription would mount up quickly...(with one rugby game eating up about £6GB's, I'm told).
Also the location of some of the places we like to visit may not have the greatest 3G or 4G available - so that may be restrictive in itself, I suppose!
Maybe I've answered my own question here! But does anyone have any experiences to add!
Greatly appreciated
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If you want to stream TV, you really need a subscription which offers unlimited data and hope the service provider can give you a good signal in the places you visit. My own view is it is not worth it because there are so many places where the signal is poor..
peedee
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We have a 3 mobile Mifi on a "All you can eat" (unlimited data) contract for about £20 per month, with which we watch the BBC news, Netfix & Sky films, as well as the usual internet links, at most places we stay all around UK.
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Mi-Fi. If you put a decent antenna on the roof (as Coachman now offer on their new top end van) you will get 4G 5G in virtually all of the UK.
Use a data plan in the Mi-Fi and it is reasonably priced. Data is getting cheaper. Also some offer TV packages as Zero data so it costs no more than your plan. They generally allow you to roam in Europe.
Streaming will be the norm within 2 to 3 years for leisure vehicles, and cars.
Then there is Elon musk satellite network that will be running a few years. Starlink will offer 5G everywhere on the face of the earth and drive data costs down further.
PS. Mi-fi can be done for a lot less than £400.
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Hi, I can only speak for myself but I would not be spending that amount to watch TV, not even to get TV abroad and definitely not in the UK.
However, so far as experiences go I have a Motorhome WI-FI I-Boost system which is useful as it allows us to connect several devices and it can sometimes be good enough to stream TV.
Our friends have a built in mi-fi type device and they have similar issues with as regards the efficiency being intermittent.My closest friend had a sat dome fitted to his van explicitly for use in France-and was then, on a rally, given a pitch in a wooded area where he was unable to get a signal.
My set up cost £175 + cost of paying for site Wi-fi on occasions, the built in mi-fi needs data cards to be purchased and the friends sat-dome cost nearly £2000.
Having seen my nephews set up, which cost £12.95-for a Labgear aerial from Screwfix-I don’t think any of the other systems are, overall, much better.
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Hi, I can only speak for myself but I would not be spending that amount to watch TV, not even to get TV abroad and definitely not in the UK.
However, so far as experiences go I have a Motorhome WI-FI I-Boost system which is useful as it allows us to connect several devices and it can sometimes be good enough to stream TV.
Our friends have a built in mi-fi type device and they have similar issues with as regards the efficiency being intermittent.My closest friend had a sat dome fitted to his van explicitly for use in France-and was then, on a rally, given a pitch in a wooded area where he was unable to get a signal.
My set up cost £175 + cost of paying for site Wi-fi on occasions, the built in mi-fi needs data cards to be purchased and the friends sat-dome cost nearly £2000.
Having seen my nephews set up, which cost £12.95-for a Labgear aerial from Screwfix-I don’t think any of the other systems are, overall, much better.
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Thank you, one and all!
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I have an EE mini WiFi - £18 per month for 30Gb of data - no upfront costs plus I can transfer a further 12Gb from my phone if need be. Has worked in all the areas we have been to - even in North Yorkshire which is notorious for its 'variable' 4g signal. We can watch all the catch-up channels plus the usual Netflix, Prime etc. That amount of data is more than enough for our needs and I'm pleased with it.
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I can't really comment on Internet TV because I have only rarely used it on my iPad. However, we had a sat dome on our caravan. It was a very expensive way of often not watching TV. In retrospect I wish we had not spent £1200 on it.
It went wrong several times in the 6 years we owned it and of course it's on the roof, so not easily accessible.
Didnt work far south in France, when they changed the Astra 2 footprint.
Pitching to the peg on club sites occasionally put trees in the way.
Not a problem on our caravan, but if I put one on the MH it would take it over 3 metres in height.
We thought long and hard when we bought the MH and finally decided that terrestrial feeveiw was now generally good enough in most areas. Where it isn't, on most CAMC sites there is a loop system. For France we decided just not to bother. We are outside more there in any event and can keep up with what news we want through the BBC App.
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