If you want to bring your home internet connection with you wherever you go, 4G LTE internet is a great option for camping in an RV. It doesn’t require complicated installation of a satellite dish or data monitoring, and you can get a signal in the same places as you can get cellphone service. Some carriers have better coverage in rural areas. You can use your 4G LTE internet service for your home internet provider and for your RV internet service, which is a big perk.
Also known as wireless internet, 4G LTE internet service delivers data using cell phone towers—the same way you get data on your smartphone. Most 4G LTE providers offer download speeds of 10–25 Mbps, which might not be fast enough to play fast-paced games like Fortnite or Diablo online, but it’s ample speed for browsing, emailing, fetching directions, making reservations, making video calls, and even streaming movies or TV on Netflix or YouTube.
To take your 4G LTE internet with you on the road, you just need to carry your modem/router out to your RV and plug it into a power source and you’ll have internet access for your devices on the go. And you don’t have to be going far—you can use it in the barn, in a workshop, or anywhere you have access to power. When you plug your modem/router in, you’ll have the same network name and password that you set up at home.
Perfect for rural areas, vacation spots, and RV campgrounds, 4G LTE internet service offers portable internet service that’s also great for RVers. There are dozens of small 4G LTE internet providers around the country. Here are a few worth checking out.
Like cell phone service, 4G LTE internet depends on proximity to cell phone towers to get a signal. It won’t work well in extremely remote areas, canyons, or in heavily forested areas. Lakes and swamps can also interfere with cell signals. 4G LTE works best when you’re in an open area and you’re located close to cell phone towers.
For heavy data users or seasonal RVers who travel extensively, 4G LTE internet might be a better way to get internet than cell phone hotspot. With 4G LTE internet, you can use the same plan for home internet and Wi-Fi on the road—and it delivers a lot more data than mobile hotspotting. If you’re cruising around the country in an RV for months on end, you might need more than the 15 GB of data per month that you’ll get from hotspotting off your cell phone.
Do you like to escape the city during your travels? Plenty of campers and RVers like to stay close to popular beaches, resorts, and cities while they travel, but not everybody likes the crowds. You can venture a little farther off the beaten path if you use a signal booster, which will help the 4G LTE modem/router pick up a signal from a little farther away.
Both Verizon and T-Mobile offer 4G LTE home internet and 5G home internet solutions, but you won't be able to take these with you one the road or to the campground. They're what's called fixed wireless internet options, so even though they run off cell phone data networks, they're designed to receive it in a single, fixed spot. Stick with a hotspot if you want to keep your 4G or 5G portable.