WI-FI INFO

Was initially but then figured I might as well add something, disconnected from my Hotspot and connected to the Wifi here at the J where I'm at.

 

milenicom ftmfw 69 bucks a month for verizon hotspot that u can use for anything that uses wifi up to 5 devices connected at once

 

use a mini HMDI to HMDI cable to hook your smart phone to your laptop/HD-TV turns them into a big screen phone. works great for net flix youtube even web surfing.

 

Alot of welcome centers/ Rest areas offer free wifi.
Also almost all Mcdonalds offer free wifi.

 

You can go with buying WiFi at truck stops, but then,

You have to be at that chain to use it.
You have to be close enough to use it, and the signal falls off after the first row. And it's usually not a good signal anyway.
You have to pay for multiple truck stop chains if you really want it - most of the time.
Sometimes you can't get to anyplace with WiFi, so you are net-dead for that time.

I did that for the first couple months OTR.
Not worth it.

So I got Verizon mobile broadband.
A signal nearly everywhere, for better or worse - but never worse than a truck stop setup.
I say nearly, but there have been less than a handful of times when I had zero access in over 2 years.

It can be costly, if you like to stream Netflix and such. My 20GB plan is $130 per month.
But then, I can stream movies almost anywhere - and you can't do that with truck stop WiFi very often.

 

Ditch Verizon and get millenicom (a verizon reseller). Get 20gb a month of Verizon bandwidth using a verizon jetpack for $70 bucks.

 

It depends on your usage.

Apparently I'm the only trucker happy with PFJ wifi. No, it doesn't always work, but I pay for a year's worth what ya'll are quoting for a month or two! My company fuels 90% of the time at PFJ, Loves the other 10%. I don't stream YouTube or NetFlix. I use it to web surf (largely here!). My phone will also do hotspot when necessary, but I don't do much online if not parked for > 10 hrs. I download all my library audiobooks to my phone when at a PFJ, my biggest phone data use, which allowed me to cut my plan in half.

 

I had a t-mobile hotspot for a while, but that proved to be spotty at best. Broad areas of the country had no signal at all. Now I'm using Verizon and the signal is great almost everywhere I go. While it is pricey I think it is well worth it to be able to use the internet in an emergency. Many's the time I get on Google Earth in order to find a customer, or find a Walmart and get down into Street View to see whether they are truck friendly or not and plan a route in and out of the best parking locations.

If you are buying internet services from the truck stops then you are stuck with only using the internet in those locations. As has been noted above the signal at the truck stops is very weak, you have to camp out inside the restaurant in order to get a decent signal and often it is still slow. I'd rather have the option to lay back in my bunk and have fast internet anywhere..... like right here in the middle of Nowheresville, Mississippi. I'm able to double check the route to my next stop while I'm being unloaded and find out I can cut a lot of miles and time off the "official" company navigation system by taking a more direct route.

 

Wifi costs these truck stops so little, they shouldn't be changing anything for it. Some are actually free. Usually the Mom and pop places which are getting to be quite few around.