It’s no secret Bidenflation has forced millions to seek out ways to reduce food, travel and living expenses.
In 2020, we moved to a rural area in the Texas Hill Country away from congestion, traffic and rising crime. We have no regrets about living a far less expensive and peaceful life. It allows us to work and write from home or on occasional road trips.
Due to the high cost of just about everything, including rentals and housing, more Americans are:
🔹Living in RVs and Campers.
🔹Using tents instead of hotel rooms.
🔹Taking “staycations” and limiting travel closer to home.
🔹Working remotely on the internet from home instead of commuting to and from a work location.
🔹Becoming Digital Nomads, wandering the country taking miscellaneous work and temporary employment.
In 2022, the United States should break records with over 305 million internet users within its borders, which accounts for this rise in numbers of digital nomads and remote workers all over the country.
Unfortunately, as practical as this may sound, these remote workers and digital nomads, along with over 25 million Americans, continue to struggle with slow internet speeds and lack access to high-speed internet facilities due to the rural locations they may find themselves in.
Slow internet speeds can affect work deliverables, hamper productivity, and even jeopardize employability, especially if the job requires high internet speeds for effectiveness.
These tips may improve your internet connection if you are living in a rural area, are on the road, or just camping out.
Tips for Rural Residents
Turn off your router for some time. Giving your router a break can help refresh your internet connection and improve your speed issues. Doing this daily stimulates your internet connection, especially when experiencing a lag. This fix won’t take your speeds to NASA levels, but it should help.
What’s your Data Capacity? A data cap may be responsible for slowing your home speeds. Your ISP allocates the amount of data you can use every month. Once exceeded, your internet speed drops drastically. The cap limit is outlined in your bill.
Move your Router. Where is your router positioned? That may be why your internet speed sucks. Moving the position of your router to a higher point or more central location in your home will ensure the Wifi signal from your router reaches every corner of your building. With most wireless modems, the closer you are, the higher your internet speed.
Get Wired. Ditch wireless connections and get wired to eliminate any lags in speed you may be experiencing. Many people don’t know this, but cabled connections like Ethernet are safer, more reliable, and faster than most wireless connections.
Ads are a Drag. Literally. Every time you are online, you see ads. It’s everywhere, on every website; you can’t escape it. Or can you? Ads slow down your internet speeds, especially those heavy, annoying auto-play videos. You can fix this by installing an ad blocker in your browsers.
Scan regularly for Viruses and Malware. Viruses and malware may also be responsible for your crawling internet speeds. Install software that scan your device and connections for viruses and malware, set it up to scan regularly, and you should be fine.
Tips for Campers
Stay centered. Or as close to the center of the camp as you possibly can. The range for RV parks and Campground Wifi signals, thanks to FCC regulations, is limited to just under 300 feet. The closer you are to the camp router, which is often set up in the center of the camp, the better your internet connection.
The less green, the better. Dense trees, foliage, and even high walls can reduce your internet connection quality. For the signal to get to you uninterrupted, you must ensure you are not being obstructed by greenery or other natural or artificial fixtures. Set up your camp in an open space to improve your connection quality.
Upgrade your receiver. A Wi-Fi reception booster or antenna can improve your internet connection and reduce lags. Both instruments can receive and upgrade your internet signals on all your devices. They are easy to install and set up, and you should get sorted out quickly.
Look before you Camp. Different RV parks and Camps use different ISPs for internet access. Do some research before you camp in that park or hotspot. Check reviews for internet speeds and plan accordingly.
Tips for RVers
Choose your equipment carefully. The right equipment can mean the difference between consistent high internet speeds and slower speeds. Pick the right cellular equipment for your needs, the more powerful your router, the more powerful your internet connection will be.
X marks the Spot. Using a coverage map will help you navigate areas with spotty coverage and keep you informed about signal strength so you are never caught in the lurch. These maps are not always accurate but are still great tools for planning your travels.
Avoid Congestions. Areas with many internet users can experience low internet speeds due to heavy data traffic. Congested areas like festivals, concerts, and even football games have tended to experience an overload on the internet infrastructure, resulting in slow connection speeds.
Less is good: The fewer devices connected to your network, the better. Make sure your devices are connected to the devices you are using at the moment. It is easy to lose track of background devices, leading to an increased lag in your internet speed as they update regularly.
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[…] Tips and Secrets for Better Internet in Rural Areas: RVers, Campers and Country Living — Clever Jo… […]
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I’d tend to think that a Router near a Window, or Windshields, depending on the location of the Wireless or WiFi Services, would work better. My wife and I watch YouTube Shows of Narrow Boats, they are in England, on Canal Sections that are controlled by the Canal and River Trust, and they are limited to how long they can Moor on a Specific “Pound” (section between Locks spanning Miles or more). But Narrow Boats are Steel, Sides and all, top and all, and the Signal cannot get out well. So Antennas are used or Devices Situated Near Windows. Depending on the Set-Up, you could use a Portable Outdoor Antenna.
My home is a Wood Frame with Vinyl Siding. Inside the home, I should do better at receiving a signal than my neighbor, that has the same home (with an extension variation from the extension on mine) and Aluminum Siding. Vehicles with Metal Sides, or Metal Coverings, may be more difficult to receive signals.
Signals are sent in a way that the integrity of the signal is known. If you’ve ever had a One Way Pager, you may have seen the same things I have, crazy letters in the Text Message that corresponded to a bit of data that was not properly received. One-way pagers send the message once. If it’s not properly received, you’re stuck with what you have, whether or not you can read it. So how do Two Way Pagers Work? They send the Message from the Cell Tower and it contains a code that corresponds to the data. It’s called a Check-Sum. If the Check-Sum is incorrect, it means the Data is incorrect, so your phone disregards the data set that the check-sum was for and the Cell Tower sends the data again. (I’m generalizing here, the terms may not be what is currently used).
So, the better the device receives the data, the less re-transmission of the data occurs, and the faster the exchange of data should be.
To see how this individual handled the Narrow Boat Problem, here is one of his videos. He was a presenter for the media over there, a talking head. These people are British, but the pronunciations are sometimes difficult for us to understand. English was wasted on the British. LOL.
Great Blog Entry.
How I get the Internet on my narrowboat
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Always interesting with your detailed knowledge!
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