New driver nervous and full of questions! Please Help!

When you're on the road, what cell carrier is better?

 

I worked for Schneider 20 some years ago. I quit driving but kept my lisc up and drove for the last year for a company but starting for a different one next month part time.
I cant answer all your questions but I think ATn T is alright. But since 11 Western, Id just check out services strong in your area. I used T mobile 48 but it didnt always work but it did good enough for me for 60.00 month unlimited with web. I'd stick with the iphone, good driving apps. Honestly get your inverter equip at a truck stop.
dont know about the 12v stuff cause I am gonna be in slip seating so hitting the same issue but just goin to a Pilot or wherever.

Good luck out there. Just go slow if you get in a jam. I would strongly suggets rand mcnally truck gps in learning process if your not used to the roads but ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS cross reference your atlas, routing etc...
Its what got me by but logic also saved my butt several times. Hope that helps.
oh, itll take a couple months and the nervousness subsides. Being on 11 Western was way helpful for me. Texas has some easy roads in my opinion but rush hour traffic in Dallas SUCKS so be slow and prepared for people cutting in front of you and hitting their brakes.

 

3. Where is a good place to buy 12v appliances other than a truck stop? Ive scoured walmart and cant find the "lunch box cookers" or a 12v toaster oven.
Try an RV dealer or, better yet, there are places on the internet that specialize in 12volt appliances and lights for setting up a home run on solar power only.

I've never run a ps in a truck but I have run a tv on a plug in inverter. Just check the back of the unit to find the power draw and see if there is an inverter large enough to handle it.
Watts = Amps x Volts so if the unit only has amps on the back or watts or whatever the math is pretty simple to do.

 

About the mobile hotspot...I'm just asking but why don't you try using it at home first to see if it is adequate for what you want to do. I've got a mobile hotspot on my Android but have never used it so I can't answer how fast it is. I'm interested if anyone else out there uses the mobile hotspot feature and how it works.

 

There are several 1V inverter that should power a PS from the cig lighter. Just make sure that after a few minutes the plug is not getting hot. (A lot of trucks put the plugs on low amperage circuits.) I have one made by Cobra that is rated for 200 watts on a cig plug and 440 cabled to the battery.

If you are going to get one of the Coleman 12-V coolers, (the grey one) go to WalMart, They run in the $89.00 range there as opposed to $20.00 to 40.00 more at truck stops. PLUS at WalMart it comes with the adapter that lets you plug into the house.)

TA (Travel Centers of America) sells the Burton line of 12-V appliances. The Burton lunchbox cooker in my opinion is a bit better than the RoadPro in the other chains. You can also pay $3.99 for 3 of the little aluminum loaf pans at the truck stops, or get them at WalMart much cheaper! (I got my Burton stove off ebay.)

Hope that helps.
Jack

 

There are several books out there written by truckers about cooking in the truck and a few are specifically about the lunchbox. I read one that sweared by using aluminum foil instead of the loaf pans as it was much cheaper and worked just as well but I've never tried it so can not attest to this.
If you are thinking about hard wiring an inverter better make sure the company allows this as some are deadset against it and will fire you if they catch it. Some don't care, some allow it but only if their shop does it.

 

For your PS3 you'll need something that can run anywhere from 120 to 200+ watts, depending on which one you have. Generally, the older the model, the more power it'll use since the older models have a larger cpu die and are less efficient. Your power supply that came with the PS3 may be capable of delivering 250 watts or more, but you'll never use that much. You can spend about $60 on a decent 800w inverter, which should be more than capable of running your PS3, TV and a laptop all at once.

 

i think i read on here schneider doesn't allow anything but plug in inverters
dont get carried away buying stuff until your on the road and see exactly what you need
your first hometime after being out a while is soon enough to get some stuff
Transam has 2500 watt inverters runs all my stuff so i cant help you much with that
phone hotspots work the same as dedicated hotspots you just cant recieve calls while on the computer

 

I use the tethering option on my Android phone at home (only other option is dial-up). Works good so long as you have good reception. The only thing that sucks is that here in canada there is no such thing as an unlimited data plan anymore. Which means the 1 gig on my plan goes quick as the pages I pull up on my laptop are full size and not optimized to minimize data transfer. I go over my plan every month and am usually around the 2 to 2.5 GB range (I'm automatically bumped up to the next higher plan). After 5 GB it's pay per MB which I suspect would be massively expensive. It works awesome in regards to checking my e-mail and other basics but with the plans the way they're set up here forget about playing COD on it or streaming any movies etc.

The feature works awesome so long as you have good reception ... drawback is the plans suck. Don't get far on 5 GB if your doing much of anything. If you can get an unlimited plan go for it. I'm in Canuckistan and were getting raped violently (bearing grease not included) by telecom companies here so no unlimited.

EDIT: And as for the can't receive calls comment above here. Android still puts calls through. The tethering function uses the wi-fi component of the phone and has no effect on my incoming calls and texts. No different than being on any other app and havng a call come in. Don't know about IPhone though.