But the good news is, between DISH, DIRECTV, satellite internet, and mobile hotspots, you’ve got a few different options for getting internet and TV service on your RV. Let’s take a quick look at your options, then dive into the details. As for internet, you can also get mounted or portable antennas, but you’ll have a couple extra options as well, like cellular hotspots and Wi-Fi extenders. The prices and capabilities differ between all these options, but here’s what we generally recommend:
If your RV is your permanent home: Choose a mounted antenna and get a backup cellular hotspot for your internet service. If you use your RV for trips, but you mainly live in a stationary home: Grab a portable antenna and, if you mostly travel in populated areas, add on a Wi-Fi extender to connect to public Wi-Fi with.
But a portable satellite dish mounted to your motor home needs to scan the sky constantly, and to do that it needs your location coordinates. If you’re in an RV, those coordinates are constantly changing! However, some satellite service providers offer add-ons to your residential service plan so you can bring your satellite internet and TV with you. You’ll still need to purchase a satellite dish for your RV though. “Mobility options—including moving your Starlink to different service addresses (or places that don’t even have addresses!—[are] coming once we are able to increase our coverage by launching more satellites and rolling out new software.” As far as satellite TV goes, you’ve got two choices for your RV: DISH or DIRECTV. DISH is cheaper, but it doesn’t compare to DIRECTV if you want sports coverage. The good news is, whichever satellite TV service you choose, you’ve got options for how you get it. The satellite TV provider offers DISH Outdoors, which gives you a choice between four different DISH satellite antennas and Wally HD receiver bundles. Then you pick your DISH TV package—or you can add DISH Outdoors to your existing account—and call to activate. The DISH satellite antenna and Wally receiver bundles start at $385 for all your equipment, but DISH requires you to call to get an exact price. Here’s a look at some of the differences between each bundle. We’ll be totally up front with you, though. Your DISH Outdoors package will cost more per month compared to if you just bought a residential DISH package. (You can also add it on to your existing residential service for $5 more per month.) But keep in mind, that extra cost covers your connection to satellites in multiple locations as you take a months-long road trip through the American Southwest. DIRECTV satellite TV packages for RVs
KING KVH Industries Signal Connect Winegard
Pricing and satellite dish features will vary depending on which supplier you contact. But to give you an idea of the cost and available DIRECTV packages, we grabbed some details off the Winegard site. Here’s what Winegard offers for DIRECTV packages—order a CHOICE package or above and you’ll get a free season pass for NFL SUNDAY TICKET. Score! Here are some of the ways other RVers hop online while working or surfing the net from the middle of nowhere. (Of course, if you’re traveling anywhere near the Earth’s poles, like Alaska, you may find it’s harder to latch onto that satellite signal.) But satellite dishes that connect you to broadband global area networks (BGANs) work great in most remote places. We will say, though, that some satellite dish-plus-BGAN combos tend to be a lot pricier, so we only recommend throwing down that much cash if you’re a full-time RVer. That said, here are some of the most popular satellite internet options seasoned RVers use. The cost of a SIM card will vary based on which BGAN you use and how much data you need. To give you an idea of what you can expect, here are some options from Inmarsat, including information on how much data you get with each type of SIM card and how long that data is good for. (Yes, it expires! Womp womp.) Some more cost effective ways to double up on your internet connection options are cellular hotspots and Wi-Fi extenders. Both work great for both part-time and full-time motor home enthusiasts, so don’t overlook them. You’ll also need a SIM card that’s compatible with your hotspot device, plus a data plan to get your devices online. You might be able to add this onto an existing plan, or you can check out some of the best prepaid cell phone plans and shop around. And don’t forget that if you use your Wi-Fi extender to lock onto a free public Wi-Fi network, you’ll want to make sure you keep your connection secure. Along with a pretty hefty cost, satellite terminology can be confusing. We broke each term down to help you figure out which features are must-haves—and which ones you can tell your wallet to forget about. But if you call your RV home, the up-front cost of a mounted satellite dish can be a good investment. Many mounted satellite dishes also automatically acquire a satellite signal, which makes it much easier to connect to a satellite every time you move to a new location. Portable satellite dishes aren’t permanently attached to your RV, so you can move them around to try to get the best satellite signal. They sit on a tripod similar to the one professional photographers use to support their camera. These tend to be a bit cheaper—the Winegard PL-7000 costs $309. That lower price makes portable satellite dishes a friendlier option to your wallet, especially if you don’t use your motor home that often. Sounds awesome, right? Well, compared to stationary viewing, which lets you watch satellite TV while your RV is parked, in-motion viewing can be expensive. We saw price differences up to $500 just to get the in-motion viewing feature. Yowza. That does not sound like a relaxing getaway to us. This means your antenna can track multiple satellites, allowing you to watch programming available to more than one satellite at a time. This means your teenage daughter can DVR her favorite show in her room while mom and dad watch the news in the living area. Most dishes work with multiple providers, like the Winegard Roadtrip T4, which works with both DISH and DIRECTV. But we’ve seen some in the past that work with only one provider, so it’s worth checking. Similarly, cellular hotspot devices will likely be limited to certain providers. The ZTE Velocity, for example, works with only GSM providers like AT&T or T-Mobile. So no, you can’t get internet access on your Velocity if you have a CDMA provider like Sprint or Verizon.
