VEHICLE HOTSPOT - WiFi

[Jason B]

where'd you get those maps? curious how Verizon shows up in comparison for the same area, as that's what I use. Verizon is accepted as having the best coverage in the NC mountains, though I'm not sure I'd call it a large margin. At any rate, when I had the truck's hotspot enabled (because at the time, that was cheaper than upgrading to unlimited data), it definitely didn't gain me any extra coverage over what I already got. at best, it let me offload some of my data usage and kept me under my monthly limits (I would regularly overage on road trips because of maps usage and passenger internet use).

Assuming you have an android phone with a Google account and Google Maps loaded:

1: Open up Google Maps app.
2: Click on your avatar at the top right
3: Click 'offline maps'
4. Click 'Select your own map'

Alternately,
1: same as above
2: same as above
3: Click 'settings'
4: Click 'Offline maps settings'
5: Enable "auto-update offline maps" and Auto-download recommended maps"

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[ControlNode]

where'd you get those maps? curious how Verizon shows up in comparison for the same area, as that's what I use. Verizon is accepted as having the best coverage in the NC mountains, though I'm not sure I'd call it a large margin. At any rate, when I had the truck's hotspot enabled (because at the time, that was cheaper than upgrading to unlimited data), it definitely didn't gain me any extra coverage over what I already got. at best, it let me offload some of my data usage and kept me under my monthly limits (I would regularly overage on road trips because of maps usage and passenger internet use).

Mobile LTE Coverage Map | Federal Communications Commission (fcc.gov)

 

[mtbikernate]

Assuming you have an android phone with a Google account and Google Maps loaded:

1: Open up Google Maps app.
2: Click on your avatar at the top right
3: Click 'offline maps'
4. Click 'Select your own map'

Alternately,
1: same as above
2: same as above
3: Click 'settings'
4: Click 'Offline maps settings'
5: Enable "auto-update offline maps" and Auto-download recommended maps"

huh? I didn't ask any of those things

 

[mtbikernate]

Mobile LTE Coverage Map | Federal Communications Commission (fcc.gov)

Interesting. drilling down into the details in the portion of the mtns that I frequent (for Verizon), I'd say the coverage maps are maybe a bit optimistic. Even in town where it should be solid coverage, it's spottier than I prefer. Pretty sure all the carriers have similar problems and I think it's related to the heavy tourist traffic we get at times loading the system.

 

[ControlNode]

Interesting. drilling down into the details in the portion of the mtns that I frequent (for Verizon), I'd say the coverage maps are maybe a bit optimistic. Even in town where it should be solid coverage, it's spottier than I prefer. Pretty sure all the carriers have similar problems and I think it's related to the heavy tourist traffic we get at times loading the system.

Coverage maps are always overly optimistic. But remember, they likely drive around testing with an external antenna on the roof of the test vehicle, not an internal phone antenna inside a 40-50% faraday cage (car body).

 

[Jason B]

huh? I didn't ask any of those things

Sorry, thought you asked for offline Navi maps, but I guess you meant cell coveragemaps.

 

[brroberts]

My wife has ATT. I have Verizon. Truck has ATT. There are places the truck has service and our phones do not. We find it very helpful traveling around the country months at a time.

 

[ControlNode]

My wife has ATT. I have Verizon. Truck has ATT. There are places the truck has service and our phones do not. We find it very helpful traveling around the country months at a time.

Yeap, the truck's external antenna will normally have better range than that of the phone in the car.

 

[Scottlane1171]

So I want to connect the truck to the hotspot so it can update while I’m driving as well as family being able to use it. Is there a way to connect the hotspot to the Wi-Fi in the truck to be able to accomplish software updates?

 

[Tom_C]

Off topic a bit, but I have Verizon and the data through the hotspot is NOT unlimited. Found that out when I needed to support a network migration while I was out of town, and my hotspot hit the cap and dropped to a crawl.

Anyway, that is all.

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