Internet connectivity has become just as necessary as having a phone or electricity. If you're planning to take off on an extended vacation in an RV, you face a special problem: You can't simply have your phone company install internet in the RV. Instead, you need to have something that doesn't have to be wired to a router that's connected to your wall. The answer is a mobile internet hotspot, which acts as a wireless router that can connect anywhere you go. Best of all, if your cell phone has a Wi-Fi calling feature, that hotspot ensures you have phone service if something happens to your actual phone signal.
RV Life and the Web
If you're in a house, you have phone and internet service from a company and connect a modem to the phone or cable jack in the wall, depending on the type of service you have. You then have a router that lets you use wireless internet.
With a mobile hotspot, you connect the device to a mobile network and then connect your computer via Wi-Fi to the hotspot. Because the hotspot uses a cell phone network to deliver data, you can connect anywhere in the country where you can get your company's signal. While this doesn't sound that huge — you can connect anywhere in the country just by walking into a cafe and asking for the customer network password — the hotspot creates your own connection, one that isn't shared by anyone that you haven't given the password to. And, you can use the hotspot anywhere. You don't have to find a town in order to have an internet connection.
Data Limits and Media Streaming
Keep in mind that while many companies offer relatively large data plans for these devices, they do have limits. If you stream a lot of TV or movies, then you'll chew through your data limit quickly. You'll still be able to connect, just at very slow speeds. You may want to invest in a DVD binder, the type in which you place just the DVD in a sleeve (you can get binders that hold hundreds of DVDs in a compact space), instead of relying on streaming or see if your cell phone company has special plans for streaming media on your phone.
Travel and Wi-Fi Calling
But the best part of having that hotspot is that, should your regular phone connection be experiencing trouble, you can use the hotspot for Wi-Fi calling if your phone has that feature. In Wi-Fi calling, you connect your smartphone to the hotspot as if you were going to use Wi-Fi to look at an app, but the feature allows you to call out instead.
So many "regular" phone companies now have cellular divisions that you should be able to find hotspots through most companies. Add these to the services you get every month because you never know when the desire to travel will hit again — and with the hotspot, you know you'll have internet and phone service anywhere.
Whether you upgrade your phone every couple of years or you tend to use the same phone until it begins developing problems before you upgrade, you may find choosing a new phone and phone service provider a challenge. Even if you have an idea of what you want your new phone to offer, you may find it difficult to choose the right phone based on its specs if you are not well-versed in the technological lingo used in phone marketing materials.
We created this blog to help everyone from technology enthusiasts to the "average Joe" choose the right phone and phone service provider. In addition, we plan answer more phone-related questions, such as how to extend the battery life of your current phone, how to make minor phone repairs, and much more.