Secure wi-fi / cable options for full timers

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TK10963

TK10963

Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2017
Posts
6
Location
Davenport, FL.
We will be going full time next early in 2019, and I have a few questions if I may concerning wi-fi and TV options. We plan on doing a "work camper" program (long term, one location) and I am hoping someone in a similar situation can help.  Thanks in advance for any and all information!

1.  Although all (or most) campgrounds have wi-fi, I am concerned about security, (i.e. online banking).  Currently I only do this at home, but is there a way to have a secure network for our camper?  If so, what equipment is reccomended?

2.  I know cable is normally provided, but we are considering getting high speed internet and using Roku(?) receivers.  Is this possible, and if so do parks/cable companies normally allow this for full timers?
 
I have never had a problem with security for Wi-Fi at parks far as I know.. HOwever that said I do "Low impact" stuff (IE: THIS) via park wi-fi and high impact stuff (Paid my credit card yestertday) via Wirelessd (Cellular) not Wi-Fi (In fact used phone ap)

My current phone data plan is UNLIMITED 4Glte... for phone  and for the hot spot 10High and unlimited throttled.

SO I'm looking at much better Data on the phone... Works great.
 
Going full time is a great, but trying to skimp on everything may be a challenge. One of the things I won't skimp on is trying to depend on campground Wifi for important things like financial issues.  For normal things like web surfing is no problem, but financial issues are different all together. 

We full time and thus all of our finances are handled on line from banking and bill paying to handling investments and medical issues.  I would never think of handling those issues on public wifi.  Do like John above, or get a "pay as you go" plan from one of the cell providers just to handle sensitive issues.  Just because someone else never had a problem, all it takes is once to turn your life upside down for years. 

TV options are all over the map and can be as expensive or cheap as you need them to be. I use Direct TV via satellite, but that is our taste. Just make good decisions with your finances.
 
John and Marty have posted good info and advice, so I'll just add for your #2 question, that the availability of high speed cable Internet for extended stays is very much a "some do, some don't" situation that varies from park to park and cable company to cable company. A call to the park in question would hopefully get the definitive answer on that one.
 
I know cable is normally provided, but we are considering getting high speed internet and using Roku(?) receivers.  Is this possible, and if so do parks/cable companies normally allow this for full timers?
Click to expand...

While many parks have "cable tv", it is often an internal park cable system, e.g. shared access to a community antenna. There often is no connection to an outside cable supplier and therefore no cable internet available. And when there is park cable via an outside service, it may not have the ability to pass internet service or premium-tv channels through to an individual site (every site gets the same service). It depends on the equipment the park has and the service contract. Ask your prospective park about how theirs is set up, but many have no way to deliver extra tv or internet services direct to one site alone.
 
1.  Although all (or most) campgrounds have wi-fi, I am concerned about security, (i.e. online banking).  Currently I only do this at home, but is there a way to have a secure network for our camper?  If so, what equipment is reccomended?
Click to expand...

While any wifi system has the possibility that someone could monitor it and try to capture info, the chances of that occurring in a campground seems slim to me. Not exactly fertile ground for financial info thieves, who would have to sift hours of trivia to maybe find one lucrative account holder.  Besides, your banking transactions will be using secure http, designated by the https: at the front of the site URL (as opposed to just http:). When you see https:, you know that everything transmitted and received is encrypted, so not visible to others even if they are eaves-dropping on the wifi.

Note that a thief could monitor cellular wireless traffic too. The question is whether the cost & substantial effort to monitor either wifi or cellular data and then break the encryption is likely to be rewarding enough to be worthwhile. Rarely will it be so for routine public internet traffic.  Maybe the wifi at a Trump Golf Course or Hotel is at risk, but few campgrounds have that much potential.
 
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