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Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

248 points by jrwoodruff ↗ HN
I'm a UX designer, and my wife is a health coach. We recently decided to dip our toes in the digital nomad lifestyle, and took off in our small motor home a few weeks ago. We are loving it so far.

The one huge thorn in my side is data caps.

Turns out, we're both on zoom calls, a lot. Back home, we've got a fiber connection and it's no big deal. But remote, I burned through my 'unlimited' 15gb hotspot plan with verizon on Tuesday of my first week and got cut to 600mbps (really more like 400) which is pretty rough.

I also have a Skyroam Solis, which just might be the most disappointing thing I've purchased in recent memory. The device itself is meh, their app and website are full of typos and other issues, and the actual service has, so far, been slower than my throttled verizon plan - and that's in an area with a ton of cell coverage. And, of course, their 'unlimited' plan is 10gb, which at actual broadband speeds, is damn easy to blow through in a day or two of zoom meetings.

Luckily, we have a wifi connection where we are now that pretty consistently pulls down 4-10mbps, so we're ok for now.

So - what's your experience been? What equipment are you using? How are you managing your data consumption? If my work consists of video calls and connected tools like G Suite and Figma, is this possible without wifi?

208 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 226 ms ] thread
asidiali
I think Verizon throttles you down to 600kbps, not mbps [1].

It’s 2021, so ridiculous.

[1] https://www.verizon.com/support/verizon-plan-unlimited-faqs/ (FAQ #6)

jrwoodruff
Oops! You're correct. 600k is ridiculous. Honestly, If they just had a steady 5-10mbs -actually- unlimited option, I'd prefer that. Or, if they dropped it down to 2-4mbps instead, that'd be workable I think.
asidiali
Agreed, just give me like 2-5mbps and I actually have a chance to get work done. 600kbps is nearly unusable on the modern web.
ghaff
My dad's house had about 1mbps. Yes, it was barely usable. I couldn't really have seriously worked from there. (Very end of a DSL run in rural Maine.)

Some people do make do with conventional satellite. I worked with one person who bought a rural home with no broadband or hope of getting it. They had DirectTV and just mostly did without streaming video or other high bandwidth activities. Probably increasingly hard to do though.

dividuum
In Germany, most plans throttle you to 64kbps down/16kbps up once you run out. It hard not to feel ashamed about the state of mobile internet around here.
radicalriddler
Thank god! I couldn't believe that they were sooking over a 600mbps connection. 600 kbps is a lot lot worse, and worth complaining about.
fouc
What about Google Fi?
sbuccini
Still throttles bandwidth after 22GB/mo
dudus
Indeed, they throttle down to 256kbps when you reach the cap but they'll let you unthrottle for $10/GB. Kinda expensive if you ask me, but might be a possibility.

Mint Mobile is similar to Google Fi, and their cap is higher (35GB). But I don't think they'll allow more data to be purchased.

Maybe the real solution here would be to purchase several plans and simpl change them SIM when cap is reached.

dustinmoris
My understanding is that most digital nomads live and work from co-working spaces in beautiful tropically warm places which offer a nice balance between luxury for cheap, tourism and paradise like many places in South East Asia. I think many base themselves in cities like Singapore but the hop around Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc., so they don’t really have the issue of mobile broadband.
jrwoodruff
I think we're doing the American redneck version lol - driving a motorhome to warmer weather. Eventually I'd love to do the international version though, and take advantage of exchange rates and all that. Seems amazing.
zests
How hard is it to work internationally like that? I'd imagine its especially challenging to hop between countries unless you work for yourself.
rektide
ergonomics are a key point for me. using a gooseneck tablet holder to hold an x86 tablet (i talked about the Dell Venue 11 Pro i used for many years recently[1]). a bluetooth keyboard (the Lenovo), small bluetooth speaker, bluetooth headphones, and usb-c battery pack make up the rest. in the future, i'd like to go dual-screen. Linux should let me use a second tablet as an extended desktop in my environment, Sway, and GNOME folks are joining the party now too[2].

i'm on a grandfathered unlimited plan, that supposedly is good to ~75GB before they start thinking of cancelling your contract, that i pay way too much for, because its been years since i've been very nomadic.

i've long been keen to compare post-cap throttle speed across plans. Comcast has some of the best in the business. their unlimited plan is $45/mo, and after the 20GB cap, it does 1.5Mbps down/768k up. whereas those cheap pieces of shit at Google Fi throttle you to 256kbps. put a chain around my ankle and drop me over the side, you terrible monsters. Verizon isn't even honest enough to give you a straight answer: they say you may not experience any drop after their 22GB cap, that traffic is simply de-prioritized, but users report being capped to 600kbps, which i would very much like confirmation or denial on. TMobile's generous 50GB cap has a similar "we won't throttle we'll just de-prioritize you" promise, & i haven't found much info from customers on how it has impacted them.

of course, everything gets way worse when you start hotspotting. i'm afraid to even mention it, but if you buy yourself a non-branded phone, or miraculously can install a ROM (rarer and rarer a possibility!) they often don't come with the tracking/surveillance systems to detect & monitor hotspotting.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26526683

[2] https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=GNOME-40...

asidiali
Verizon drops you to 600kbps after the first 15GB, and then further deprioritizes your traffic from there after you hit 22GB.

See https://www.verizon.com/support/verizon-plan-unlimited-faqs/ FAQs 6+7

rektide
The 600kbps mentioned in FAQ 6 is for the hotspot plan. FAQ 7 specifically states you will not be throttled, but will be de-prioritized, but user reports that they are seeing 600 kbps speeds are all over the place. Perhaps they're incorrectly reporting the situation, but it feels to me like Verizon is being dishonest.

I really wish there were some good consumer reviews of these services, that include this critical behavior mode many of us will have to suffer.

asidiali
You’re totally right, I misread that. Thanks for the correction.

Unfortunately too late to edit my previous comment, apologies.

no-dr-onboard
> i'm afraid to even mention it, but if you buy yourself a non-branded phone, or miraculously can install a ROM (rarer and rarer a possibility!)

I've considered switching over to a Light Phone but wondered if they included software that would allow for hotspot monitoring. Lots of really neat off-brand phones out there atm.

moxplod
If you are in USA, the best thing I found was T-Mobile has at 100GB hotspot plan for $50 a month which each of you can get one.

I have faced this a lot, since I have been a digital nomad for 8+ months now. Other things I did: like downloading songs and movies on my ipad when I have wifi has saved me a lot of GBs. On windows there is a setting called "metered connection", which will make sure it does not download major updates etc over your hotspot.

a3n
I drive a truck everywhere. When i was on tmobile i was often out of range.

I am out of range much less on verizon.

I wonder if it's worth it for the OP to have accounts with more than one company.

jrwoodruff
I've considered this, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. The Skyroam is on T-Mobile I think, but like I said - so far that device hasn't impressed me.

I think the LTE iPad that another commenter suggested is the best option I've seen so far - that would be great to take calls on, and should leave enough hotspot data for other work on my laptop.

OldHand2018
> downloading songs and movies on my ipad when I have wifi has saved me a lot of GBs.

This is an underrated advantage that the Apple ecosystem provides. I have a 2011 Mac mini and swapped out the hard drive for a 2TB SSD. I just keep everything downloaded on it and buy/download new stuff when wifi is around. At all other times, networking is turned off.

It connects to hotel TVs etc via standard HDMI. It has an IR port, so it can be controlled via remote.

The DRM'ed stuff has to reauthorize every month or two. It's a very low-bandwidth operation that takes about 20-30 seconds (and reauthorizes all your content). I share internet from my phone and a two-bar, no LTE connection is more than enough.

I even have the original box it came in, so I don't worry about damaging it when moving around.

a3n
Semi truck driver. I have a laptop, and a phone. I use the phone's hotspot.

"Being on the internet" is not part of my job, and many nights I don't bother to take the laptop out of its bag.

I never use wifi because I'm paranoid.

While driving I listen to podcasts or streaming. I never predownload anything.

I don't know if I ever get throttled. Sometimes, even in this day and age, I'm out of cell range, and my podcasts pause.

I might watch a movie on the phone once a week or so.

Which is not at all helpful to you, except possibly to observe: the less you need, the better it is.

Your lifestyle and work may just be five or ten years ahead of it being worthwhile for businesses to provide what you need.

no-dr-onboard
> Which is not at all helpful to you, except possibly to observe: the less you need, the better it is.

Thanks for this.

jrwoodruff
Truth. I thought I'd be able to cut out more than I've been able to - we downloaded movies before leaving, I have over-the-air TV, etc.

But, it turns out my habits rely on a lot of data - streaming spotify, streaming security cameras to check back home, streaming tools at work... it's kind of eye opening honestly.

qorrect
I had a similar experience these last 3 months, I bought an RV thought I would toot around the country in, use a cell modem.

But I also want to work on my AI projects , which require bunches of nasdaq data. Or I want to work on a side project, but conda wants to download every dependency for every new environment I make.

I thought downloading TBs worth of media would be enough to make it work but I'm hitting my monthly cap about 10 days in every month.

Starlink might solve my problems, fingers crossed for that. But I almost need a local pip server that caches requests or something :S. And I guess an npm server also.

caffeine
For AI projects you should really consider a remote machine, like hosting Jupyter on an AWS box or something, rather than downloading everything to your RV.
a3n
I've had vague thoughts of doing a project that might have similar data needs. A linode running my work would be how I'd do it. You only need something local for initial dev, and then observe and control.
qorrect
You know you're right, I was trying to RDP in to my local desktop machine but it was too slow.

I found https://github.com/cdr/code-server yesterday after you said that and it works perfectly, good thought thanks!

mod
Just a heads up, some reports I read about starlink says it only works in one zone. So you potentially can't travel and maintain service. Someone did say they thought that was just during the trial phase, though.
fearoffish
Just a note about Starlink: they use what they call “cells”, so you can’t move around with your Starlink, which is a shame. Maybe they’ll create a plan for that at some point.
meheleventyone
> Your lifestyle and work may just be five or ten years ahead of it being worthwhile for businesses to provide what you need.

I think it’s also the whole telecoms situation in the US puts it ten years behind everywhere else. The data caps and bandwidth issues are mostly not a technical or business cost issue. Ubiquitous fast and cheap 4G is quite normal elsewhere.

packetlost
Both wireless and wired infrastructure is so much more expensive in the US than basically everywhere else because of just how freaking HUGE the US is.
zikzak
Come to Canada if you think it is bad in the US!
frombody
Yes, which also means more customers.

You need to include an argument about why you think telecom systems can't scale.

packetlost
That is the argument. The US is huge and very sparsely populated for most of it. The cost and quality/reliability of a network connection scale with physical distance.
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samatman
A proper VPN should mitigate that paranoia, if you choose.

Yes, you have to trust the VPN provider. But it goes from "anyone could be monitoring my metadata" to "Protonmail or Mozilla could be monitoring my metadata" and, at least for Protonmail, one credible leak of that would completely end the company.

And this is the relationship you have with your phone provider already... although if you're paranoid, let's skip talking about what can be sniffed between your cell and the tower!

No idea if that's worth it to you, I never, ever use public WiFi without a VPN. Just tossing that out there.

As an aside to the aside, I just read your story of how you went from programming to trucking, and I can relate to a lot of it. It sounds like undiagnosed ADHD, but lifestyle changes are a valid way to accommodate that, and come with fewer side effects than medication. I'm lucky to have the job that I have; I expect I'm more temperamentally suited to driving a truck than to the median software engineering position.

ic0n0cl4st
For The last 7 years of working and traveling 50% of the time my setup has been two iPhones and a Macbook Air. I have about 30 sim cards now. In Europe I mostly use tmobile. Hotel lobbies usually have free wifi, as do cafes, hostels and bars.

The main difference is I kind of hate talking to people about work so I avoid video chat and try to keep all work communications on Slack/Signal.

America was actually the worst place to work and travel. Data there is too expensive and coverage sucks everywhere.

jamal-kumar
I'm strongly with you on video chat and avoiding that if and when possible. It's a strong marker of spending too much time on that garbage anyways of things going in the wrong direction in regards to productivity
AYBABTME
When I did it for a few years, I'd use coffeeshop or public wifi. LTE doesn't work well as a day to day. That is, for international stuff. Even if US centric, data caps are no good.

But quite frankly: I wouldn't do this lifestyle in a pandemic.

jrwoodruff
We're RVing it. Took the house with us, so we're able to socially distance -almost- as well as if we were at home. Still getting amazon deliveries, plus blue apron for meals. It's a bit more exposure, but it's manageable so far.
localhost
Why not use a phone for zoom calls? This way that doesn’t impact your hotspot data cap? Another thing to consider is an iPad LTE and an unlimited plan for that.
jrwoodruff
I have actually been doing this when I need to. It works well, except those rare occasions where I need to screen share. And even then it's usually easy enough to have someone else share for me. The iPad LTE is a great idea.
client4
I traveled across Asia for 3 years. I had a Mission Workshop Radian and attached Spar which I loved. As for data you should expect to do most of your work in co-working or coffee shop spaces as cellular data still doesn't cut it if you're on video calls all day. As for the rest of my tech set-up (loosely):.

* Bose in ear noise cancelling headphones with microphone

* 2xPhones (A pixel 2 main and Huawei P30 Light backup) this is because I'd be screwed if I didn't have a phone.

* Lenovo X1

* RAV 90w charger with two USBC ports

* iPad pro (downloaded Netflix content, games, books)

* Earpod Pros

* A 1000mah charger I got as conference swag

* Misc cables/micro SD cards

Largely I considered a drink or food every two hours as rent for coffee shop space where I would do bandwidth heavy work (and charging). Another 2-4 hours of work I would hotspot my phone and largely use ssh.

jsjohnst
> As for data you should expect to do most of your work in co-working or coffee shop spaces as cellular data still doesn't cut it if you're on video calls all day.

Maybe in remote areas of SE Asia, but even in rural areas of middle America I can easily stream work meetings and 4K movies in my RV. My data speeds average 30Mbps down / 20Mbps up for the past 4 months. My worst so far is 5Mbps/3Mbps, but I’ve also had locations where I got 250Mbps/190Mbps. I’m also not using consumer grade hardware, so that might make a difference.

ssijak
Just flyover to Thailand or Bali and enjoy fast 4g networks (or fiber at homes), nice weather, good food, nature and people.
jamal-kumar
I've been pretty happy with spending most of my time in Costa Rica for nearly a decade or so. The pandemic numbers here have been really low, partly because people are fairly health-conscious here. Anti maskers are basically just gringos nobody likes or want anything to do with here instead of crazy people yelling vitriol in grocery stores. I don't live at the beach, because frankly it's kind of distracting having people come up to you wearing headphones asking why you're working and not vacationing, but if I want I can just go and hang out in a hammock in a less than 6-10 hour bus ride to whichever spot. There's also a LARGE amount of fibre optic internet rollout here, MUCH more than my 1st world home country that seems to be falling apart by the day, so I only have to rely on 3g/4g when the power goes out once in a while. If it stays out longer than my battery lasts I let people know I'm on a bus to find somewhere that isn't out after checking the power company website. Another thing about avoiding the beach is avoiding the hours long blackouts.

As for my setup it's literally just my laptop and some notebooks in my bag. I have two bags, one carry-on and one backpack, and minimalize as much as I can so that if I have to get on a plane for whatever reason in short order I'm pretty much already good to go. The heaviest things I own are probably books, but they're pretty sweet books so I take the weight.

Shared404
> The heaviest things I own are probably books, but they're pretty sweet books so I take the weight.

What are they, if you don't mind me asking of course.

jamal-kumar
I found this really old book from 1938 for learning German which is quite the artifact, one from 1944 on how to survive an atomic bomb which is also super old and has some funny advice/a picture on wearing a fedora to protect yourself from the heat flash... some book from 1924 on mathematics which takes a historical analysis approach to teaching called mathematics for the million which is pretty cool. It has a lot of 'field trip' kind of exercises which makes me feel like learning math was probably a hell of a lot more of a fun thing to people back in the day. a more modern book which is probably a lot better to be learning german from is in there, another one from 1950s with andy warhol illustrations for spanish learning called "madrigal's magic key to spanish" which i lend to friends when they come here to pick up some spanish fast I can highly recommend. I got a second copy after some absolute walnut took off on a plane with it and didn't even bother learning spanish, it's that good.

I also got a couple of computer books. Concurrency in Go (oreilly) and this one thicc as heck tome which is the textbook for the SEED security labs which is also super good, because it comes with a bunch of virtual machines. Really nice source for levelling up your understanding of application vulnerabilities in C (and by extension other languages, but I was really glad to find something with these fundamental examples) https://www.handsonsecurity.net/

cyberpunk
Oh, thanks for the seed recommendation, I was looking for something like this!
codewritinfool
Mathematics for the Million is a really good book.
jamal-kumar
Right? I am sure some of the info in it is probably like archaic or apocryphal/historically inacurate in light of recent discoveries like a lot of this old stuff can be but as long as you take it with that grain of salt in mind it's pretty cool
qorrect
That's weird, I was in Puerto Viejo when I found an original hard copy of "Where Wizards stay up late", something I couldn't find for sell in the US right before I left.
jamal-kumar
I think people take their favorite books and just forget them in places. I found a copy of robert anton wilson's 'prometheus rising' which was a fun read but old copies are pretty hard to find stolen from libraries and stuff
jsjohnst
I bet you could get it at Powell’s Books in Portland OR.
tayo42
Which part of Costa Rica? Funny I was just looking at spending a month or two on a work-cation after getting vaccinated. Looking at Santa Teresa or nosara, keep reading the internet is unreliable. That was my experience after spending a few days in Santa Teresa a few years ago
jamal-kumar
Yeah man I just hang out in San José for the most part. Pre-pandemic, fun party scene for sure which is probably one of the big things that kept me here. Now it's just nice to be able to spend like 5 bucks on an uber ride and go climbing nearby mountains and volcanoes when I get time off. Great climate in the city and surrounding area. I suggest here or some of the outlying cities and towns around Alajuela. Monteverde, atenas, that kind of place out in the jungle is super nice too and the internet just tends to be a bit better.

I find Santa Teresa's internet to be somewhat worse than Montezuma area just to the south on the other end of the peninsula. Really though what kills things is power outages more than internet.

There's co-working spaces with fibre optic, but you'd be surprised how many cheap hostels and stuff like that are buying into these plans becuase there's tons of competition all of the sudden. It's either Kölbi or American Data Networks serving it up for the most part, but the cable companies Tigo and CableTica are activating dark fibre purchases around too.

res0nat0r
I have some coworkers in Costa Rica, it is close timezone wise to where I live in the USA now, and I saw this absolutely insane house at an unbelievable price a while back: https://www.coldwellbankercostarica.com/property/11337/

It looks like a fantastic place to live.

jamal-kumar
My recommendation is to look at Banco Nacional's foreclosed properties. There's a website, it's all in Spanish but if you're coming out here not knowing the language like some kind of nincompoop you're going to be overcharged for everything anyways

https://www.bnventadebienes.com

klinskyc
I spent a month in Jaco in Jan/Feb this year. I found it to be a nice middle ground where it's on the beach, but is also a (small) city with reliable internet. It's easy to get to Santa Teresa/San Jose/Manuel Antononio, etc as well.

It has a (not-entirely-undeserved) rep as being seedy/a party town, but I found the overall pros to outweigh cons related to that.

jamal-kumar
I find that whole garabito zone to be WAY TOO HOT. Like it's really dry there. The guanacaste region too gets really hot and dry. Somehow I think my health prefers hot and humid. My nose is all dusted up and clogged in those regions. That said this country has a TON of microclimate stuff going on, so there's something for everyone, because plenty of people don't seem to mind that at all!
tiltrus
How's the process of getting permanent residence there?
edorrington
It's not too difficult. There is a fair bit of bureaucracy, so I would recommend going through a lawyer here. The essential requirements are a fair bit of documentation (birth certificate, marriage certificate if appropriate, and your FBI report) each of which have to be apostilled and submitted within six months of the first documents date. Then once you've submitted all your paperwork you'll go in process, after which you won't need to leave the country every 90 days to renew your visa.

Once you've been approved, if you're going to be in the so-called "rentista" category (i.e. not retired, but not working in Costa Rica) you need to show proof of bringing in at least $2,500/month to the country for 24 months. That can be done by transferring $60,000 into a bank here, which will dole out the $2,500 to you every month, or, in some cases, you can provide a different proof of guaranteed income.

After three years you can apply for permanent residency, which at that point is more a formality, and is pretty automatic unless you end up with a police record or some other issue.

olladecarne
Quick disclaimer as someone who lived in Costa Rica for many years: Costa Rica's prices for many things are comparable to the US. If it's imported stuff like cars or tech, then expect to pay 2-3x as much. The internet can be fast, but it's also expensive. Basically, expect costs to be closer to vacationing in the US than SE Asia. Other than that, it is a very nice country although driving there can be like an extreme sport. Also, make sure you have a remote job before going there because you can't work without a permit and even if you could the salaries are very low compared to the US.
randomopining
Hah yeah I just got back from 3 weeks there. Driving was quite the experience. Pedestrians literally care 0%, some biker didn’t even look crossing the street and hit us while we were going 15mph. Other drivers go for super risky single lane passes on the reg, etc. Ridiculous.
jamal-kumar
yeah i just cross the street by standing on the yellow line as cars go zooming past me like it's nothing now, it's fun! try it sometime people do it every day to purify the vida
jamal-kumar
I think the really low prices for food and rent have been offsetting my costs related to electronics by a long shot (Avoiding overpriced supermarkets goes a long way to that end), but that's definitely true otherwise. Bringing in stuff from cheaper places for that is highly recommended. And yeah the roads are nuts haha
randomopining
Just got back from 3 weeks there, which was awesome. I found my spot so far that I would definitely chill at for at least a month or two.

I find Tamarindo to have all the amenities, but also crowded and basic. Santa Theresa super overrated imo. Pretty sure they keep the roads dusty and rocky there to cultivate a certain vibe. Manuel Antonio mad touristy. Want to hit more Osa and Pavones next time.

My favorite spot was between there and Jaco.

How’s the pacific side? I heard the most party hardy crew is there.

San Jose was great, went to brunch in the Escalares or whatever. Good vibes, low key, girls looked nice and friendly, fairly safe, and fairly reasonable prices.

jamal-kumar
It's all pretty sweet everywhere I've been so far, I just don't really prefer the beach for work/heat/distraction reasons, but I do visit whenever I can take a day or two off. There isn't really anywhere I wouldn't recommend outside of the Limon/Moin port area (I don't know any good port towns in the caribe, to be honest, too much drug traffic drama)... just keep in mind the further from the city you stray the further from good internet you're getting with the exception of certain places... Puerto Viejo, it's pretty far off for example but they're well connected enough
taurath
Tamarindo was sooo tourist oriented, you feel a bit like you’re a walking wallet - the vibe outside of town couldn’t be more different and it felt very manufactured and didn’t have much culture. Good place for people who like cruises. Very pretty though.
geverett
My partner is Costa Rican and thus we’ve discussed living there for some chunk of our future. The thing I haven’t been able to get over is the lack of emissions standards: if you’re stuck in traffic (common around San Jose, or en route to any of the well known beaches), expect to inhale a ton of exhaust. For an otherwise eco-friendly country, this really stood out to me, and led to a lot of headaches (literally - air quality so poor I ended up with migraines).

Beyond that: San Jose is great to work from, but I didn’t find reliable fast internet anywhere else.

geocrasher
I don't have direct experience except that from 2013-2015 I was stuck on a DSL line that offered about the same speed as your throttled connection. This is well before Zoom of course, but there were some basic things that I did that may help you adjust to using less bandwidth.

There's also a lot of good stuff in the comments. It's dated, but the principals will still be valid.

https://www.tidbitsfortechs.com/2013/12/surviving-internet-o...

I hope it helps.

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reureu
I make an annual donation to the Calyx Institute, which has worked out really well for me: https://calyxinstitute.org
chaostheory
For details, you help a non-profit and the unlimited Sprint data plan costs about $33.33 per month though you have to prepay for a year in advance which comes out to $400. If you don't have a compatible hotspot, it's a one time extra fee of $100.
dan353hehe
I lived out of an RV for about a year an a half, I found that Internet was the most challenging part of being on the road. We ended up planning where we were staying based on if there was coverage there or not, which surprisingly still allowed us to go where we wanted to go.

What I did for internet was pick up a sprint hotspot from FMCA: https://www.fmca.com/index.php?option=com_fmcatechconnectv2&... they have special deals for members. $50 a month, and it does not have data caps. You do have to hold a membership though, which does have an additional cost.

The hot spot worked well enough,The speeds I got were in the 1.2-3.4 mbps range, which works. If you are lucky enough to be on a cell tower without a lot of load, you can take advantage of around 34 mbps speed. I only managed to get that speed twice on our trip, first in Tucson when we stayed near the west part of Saguaro National Park, and again in Washington Just outside of Mount Rainier. There should be more spots like that, but we didn't stumble on them.

Also, don't expect that you can get the same quality connection as you would get over fiber, scale back the resolution on your video streams :)

pradn
Do you know if StarLink would help? Is it possible to set up a StarLink antenna on an RV?
iancmceachern
Starlink does not allow you to be mobile. You have to give them a service address and that address cant change (often enough for RV travel)

Edited - spelling

pradn
Thank you. Is this for billing reasons or something technical?
Sebb767
I'd guess its about satellite load. On large assemblies (think burning man), it would probably break down their link all together and it's hard to quickly provision a satellite.
gamegoblin
They are currently doing a contract with the military to run Starlink on their airplanes flying around [1], so I assume it is not a fundamental technical limitation.

In the early days, before the constellation is fully fleshed out, it may have something to do with capacity management. I could imagine that there is a relatively low density limitation right now, so if everyone drove their Starlink connected vans to e.g. Yosemite National Park on a holiday, that would be too much density to handle.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spacex-starlink-airforce/...

disabled
You have to give them a permanent address, but what you do with it is another story. People on boats are successfully using it: https://provscons.com/starlink-is-the-best-internet-for-boat...

However, it cannot be used extremely far off the coast, like on cruise ships. Starlink still requires base stations on land for use. They hope to solve this issue in 2-5 years, supposedly.

iso1210
Moved our dish about 20 miles today (from west london to the chilterns), get an "out of area" message and it doesn't lock on, which is a shame
mikeiz404
Starlink is effectively geo- locked (at least) right now.

“Starlink satellites are scheduled to send internet down to all users within a designated area on the ground. This designated area is referred to as a cell. Your Starlink is assigned to a single cell. If you move your Starlink outside of its assigned cell, a satellite will not be scheduled to serve your Starlink and you will not receive internet. This is constrained by geometry and is not arbitrary geofencing.” [1]

It looks like the service address can be updated.

“If you have already ordered Starlink and your service address is changing please contact our Support team by logging into your account.” [1]

1. https://www.starlink.com/faq

giobox
While you can move the dish today within a limited area around your registered address and it works, the design of the network doesn't allow you to travel greater distances and have your own dish reconnect yet. In a recent Reddit AMA the Starlink team have said the ability to travel and reconnect to the service for RV scenarios etc will be supported once network expanded out enough. If/when this happens, Starlink would likely become a fantastic option for RV use.

> https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/jybmgn/we_are_the...

jcboon
I've been doing van life for about a year and a half now. Zoom is the real killer and I try and steer my calls to audio as often as I can. I'm also a sysadmin/compliance consultant so I don't need as much screen time. My setup: Internet: Xfinity Wifi in city / TMobile Max for the road unlimited phone and 40GB tether. I've not yet tried to do all my zoom on the phone but in theory that would mean your Zoom wouldn't count against you. As some folks point out coverage gets crappy in the sticks and you'll need either ATT or Verizon to cover those holes. Laptop: HP 13 with a homemade lap desk and chairback Van: Ford handi that I converted Comfort: Meh, I've plans to improve the bed design but probably less of an issue for you folks.
jcboon
Also as a random aside make sure your AAA membership or equivalent covers your RV. Those suckers can be expensive to to tow and that membership pays for itself.
alert0
Can you get xfinity wifi without a home plan?
jcboon
Yup you can pay for it as a plan by itself or you can snag a login from a friend or your work as an additional user. Also worth a shot though I've not tried would be getting an xfinity mobile plan and trying the login through that. Could also ask the chat rep too.
turtlebits
I have an off grid space that I work from. For connectivity, I use a 5G phone on T-mobile with the EasyTether app (which tethers over USB and doesn't count as hotspot data). I have an RPi connected to the phone and a travel wifi router connected to the RPi over ethernet.

That said, 5G service is pretty good in my location, speeds are fine, but isn't the cheapest solution ($70/mo.

nomadiccoder
I second easytether! I use this from my at&t Samsung s9 and it works incredibly well in USA. I have it usb to a pi which runs dnsmasq to operate as a router with both an Ethernet switch and WiFi access point. Toss on a UPS and plug it into my truck. When I’m driving it charges and they make 12000mAh batteries so it lasts a full workday. I’ve used over 100Gb from this setup per month for over a year. I also tried out a cellular hat for the pi and found that it was a pain to setup but in the end can replace the cell phone.
coding123
How can I email you with info?
jrwoodruff
I don't think there's a way to dm on here - send me a message at this temporary address: difah50626@astarmax.com
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juusto
Maybe not the perfect instagram digital nomad life but I do have some experience on working from the road.

I travel a lot between EU/Asia/LatAm (yes its still happening) and for that my company provides unlimited plans. I spend most of my year on the road, from 6-8 months, but the longest stretch was only 4 months. We have 2 subs that cover pretty much the whole world.

I use a MacBook 13 fully specced out and a Samsung 21 Ultra where, when outside of the office, I hotspot from when WiFi in public is unavailable (LA/Asia has lots of free fast WiFi places).

Electronics with me, I take: laptop, phone, camera (RX100 6 or my A7R 3) and WF1000XM3. That's it. Sometimes it's already too much.

Can't live without: VPN (personal/office), streaming services (spotify/netflix/hbo) and I load some books on my phones kindle app.

I never think about data limits but I am also never too far from main cities.

If I could change something would be to get the MacBook 16. But then I think of the weight and hassle.

ghaff
Much above 13" is definitely sub-optimal for travel. If the rumored Apple Silicon MacBook is similar to the rumors though I may upgrade to that--mostly though because I'd use it to replace both an iMac and a 13" MacBook Pro that are both 5+ years old. (And I often travel with just a 13" Chromebook anyway.)
kinnth
In the UK at least you should buy the Gigacube from Vodafone, it's unlimited wifi over 5g and it costs around £45 a month. You can power it off a battery and then it gives you local wifi connected to the 5g network.
jameslk
I've heard of https://unlimitedville.com/ recommended before, although I have not used them. They at least have deals with different carriers in case one is problematic so you can switch to another.
gargalatas
Let's wait SpaceX. We will probably solve our problems in some time :P
lukevp
I’m not living this lifestyle, but I feel that Starlink will drastically alter this market and open up so much more remote working environments. You should consider to at least sign up for the beta so you can get access sooner, theoretically you would get 100+ mbps anywhere in the US with no caps within the next year or so, and I’m guessing they’ll make a remote-friendly plan. Right now you officially can’t travel with the dish, but they’ve unofficially said there’s no limit imposed on the dish location.
jrwoodruff
I really hope so. I'm actually eligible for the beta where I live, but like you said, the plan doesn't travel. fingers crossed
soheil
Do you really wanna be lugging a rather awkwardly big dish around every time you check into your next airbnb or hotel room?
jrwoodruff
We're in an RV, so the dish wouldn't be a huge burden. Wouldn't want to do that at a hotel, but I also assume wifi is easier to manage at hotels or airbnbs.
al_chemist
> I feel that Starlink will drastically alter this market and open up so much more remote working environments

You're not allowed to use Starlink in other location than you ordered. It's not for nomads.

https://www.starlink.com/legal/terms-of-service-preorder

6.3 You acknowledge that you are only authorized to access Services at the location identified on your Order, and you will not divert the Starlink Kit or Services to any other locations

trevor-e
Yes, currently, but I don't think anyone expects this to be their policy in the future.
simias
What makes you say that? I haven't followed StarLink very closely but it seems to me that in order to be competitive and maximize profits it would be extremely beneficial for them to have regional pricing policies.
iso1210
They've said they want to allow moving dishes

What the price options looks like in 12-24 months time is anyones guess. Personally I'd love to buy 250 dishes (at full price, $2k each or whatever), but skip the monthly charge (or have some sort of pool agreement)

samatman
Assigning a price to a given (large) region is the easy part.

The hard part is cache invalidation! For a stationary Starlink dish, every satellite knows which cell a given dish is in, and they cooperate to route packets to that cell when they can.

For a mobile Starlink dish, they have to be able to invalidate that cache every time it moves, instead of having a cushion of a few hours for the occasional move.

It can be done, but I don't blame them for punting on that problem for awhile.

synthecypher
Although at the moment Starlink does not allow for roaming.

I assume its to prevent beta users from selling their kits to musketeers.

"Your Starlink is assigned to a single cell. If you move your Starlink outside of its assigned cell, a satellite will not be scheduled to serve your Starlink and you will not receive internet. This is constrained by geometry and is not arbitrary geofencing."

https://www.starlink.com/faq

jzellis
So it turns out that it's pretty easy to get around tethering data caps on phones in a couple of different ways, especially if you're on Android and have more control over your network settings.

I'm in the UK now and use prepaid GiffGaff cell service, which includes 80GB of LTE hotspot data. I don't do Zoom, but i use it for tethering upstairs sometimes because wifi and stone 19th century walls do not mix.

But honestly, if Zoom is your biggest bandwidth hog, just get a cell with unlimited data and use it instead of your laptop. If you're going nomadic, you can't reasonably expect your workflow to be unchanged from what you'd do at home or an office, right? A phone tripod stand is a lot cheaper than a big bandwidth plan for tethering.

Aside from that advice, I always carry a Raspberry Pi with me, with a couple of different setups on different SD cards, so I can use it as a local Node dev server with my iPad Pro as my workstation, or as a media server or a RetroPi game device or even a travel router if need be. Get a USB 3 external SSD and rubber band it to the Pi and, especially now with 64 bit Raspberry PiOS and Ubuntu, you've got a fairly decent little system that fits in your pocket.

I keep a lot of my gear in old fashioned tool rolls, like cables and adapters and such. They're great on space and it looks cool as hell when you roll one out on a table.

Anker makes a couple of USB battery packs that are also built in chargers for both USB 2 and USB C, and I can't recommend them highly enough. I've used them in Mexico and here in the UK and a million times on road trips, and they not only save on space but simultaneously allow you to charge themselves and your devices, rather than charging separately, and they're especially great for Pis because you can pull them off the socket and they won't lose power.

I can keep 90% of my gear in one shoulder bag and be able to work happily anywhere on earth. I also keep a MIDI keyboard in my checked luggage for writing music and a Leatherman and precision screwdriver set in there with my Dopp kit (I shave with a straight razor, which is also handy if you find yourself in a shifty motel somewhere.)

Hope that helps!

ghaff
>But honestly, if Zoom is your biggest bandwidth hog, just get a cell with unlimited data and use it instead of your laptop.

Or mostly just use a dial-in number and do without video. Doesn't help if a presentation is being given and hasn't been shared in advance of course.

xur17
I've tried using a dial-in number a few times, and the latency was horrible - made it really hard to jump in and say things without interrupting others.

Not sure if it was just the crappy connection, or if that is a product of using the cell network.

ghaff
Not clear why that would be the case. I used to dial in to BlueJeans from a landline all the time and it was fine.

Don't have a lot of cell experience though. The one time I did it for an extended period was because my power/Internet had an extended outage. It didn't work well but it was actually better than using an app on my phone; my cell reception absent WiFi assist is pretty bad at home.

Godel_unicode
Agreed, between latency and terrible quality I always hate when people dial in to Zoom/Teams. It always sounds like the person is talking through a sweater from the moon.

What makes it worse for me is they never seem to notice, and if you tell them they immediately go "oh, is that better?" and then they stop talking. How are we supposed to know if it's better...?