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Wired to Go

The internet seems to be quickly taking over communications and entertainment for family members regardless of age. Keeping in touch gets easier every year, if not every month. More of the RVs that pulled into the local RV park last summer seemed to be sporting satellite dishes than ever before.  Satellite television is nothing new for those who are fond of the road.  Satellite internet however is relatively new.

Consider the benefits of having high-speed internet access on the road.  You have all the maps you would ever want at your fingertips. You can check the weather for days in advance, read your hometown news, read the news from the area you are visiting, email your family, post photos of your trip for friends and family to see.  Some people have even turned their RV into a mobile office. 

The absolute beauty of this is that you are not limited to where you put your computer. You can go wireless so that when you stop, you can take the laptop outside and set yourself up at the picnic table and send in your reports and check sales figures (or whatever it is that you need to check for your work-on-the-road).

One of my friends is a duplicate bridge player with quite a few master points. She goes on bridge cruises and three nights a week, when she is at home, she’s up at the duplicate bridge club.  When they go RVing, she logs on to the online bridge tournaments, meets her bridge partner in the “lobby” of the online duplicate bridge club, and they play just as they did at home.

A satellite system for your RV involves a transmitting unit that sends data from your computer to the satellite which then connects with the Internet. Information is returned to the satellite which transmits the data to the receiving unit that is part of the system you have installed.  Basically you have the dish that you can attach to the outside of your RV that is attached to the indoor transmitting and receiving unit that are in turn attached to your computer. (Or to the wireless unit so that you can move around with your laptop.) When you park the RV, all you need to do is push a button and the dish begins looking for a signal. By the time you have the rest of your connections hooked up, the internet is ready for you to use.

Like all new technology, internet satellite dishes are still a little on the expensive side when compared with the traditional at home set-up.  Monthly fees can run near the $100 mark and there is the cost of the dish and installation – at the beginning of 2005, the price I was quoted was around $800 for the equipment and installation.  But when you consider that you do not need a cell phone to keep in touch with the rest of the world, the price starts to seem more reasonable.  Also, consider that you can use your internet satellite at home as well. And the freedom of being at your favorite swimming hole while being connected to the rest of the world is priceless......

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