Resources

Living in an RV full-time presents a set of challenges that one typically does not encounter while living in an unmovable home. Here you’ll find a list of the products and services that help make our lives run a little smoother as we travel around the country. This list does not necessarily include everything we use, but does include many of the RV specific products and services that we have found to be useful while living in an RV.

Groceries & Household
  • Walmart - While there are other local grocery store that may have a better selection and even lower prices, we can always count on the fact that Walmarts are fairly consistent across the county. We generally know where everything is, which is huge when you're in a hurry; most Super Walmarts have everything we need for our grocery and household needs; and there's a Walmart in just about every town in the country.
  • Amazon - We pretty much keep Amazon in business by ourselves.
  • Aldi
  • Trader Joes
  • Jet.com
  • Vitacost
RV Related
Cellular & Mobile Internet
  • Verizon - Regardless of how you feel about Verizon, they still have THE BEST nationwide coverage of any carrier out there. Period! Other carriers are good in urban areas, but when it comes to rural coverage, Verizon is the king. And let's face it, when you're traveling around the country in an RV, the last place you want to be is in a big city. We started off with AT&T and had trouble in many rural areas, but since we switched to Verizon we usually have some kind of coverage, no matter where we go. We have a 30 gig family plan which is a bit pricey, but it has been a worthwhile trade-off in order to have a reliable signal throughout the country.
  • Sprint - We also have an unlimited Sprint hotspot that we got through a company called Unlimitedville which they refer to as the Yellow Plan. Since it is an unlimited data plan it has become our go-to internet connection if we are within Sprint's coverage area. Unfortunately Sprint's coverage is mainly in urban areas and along interstates, so the opportunity to use our unlimited plan is ironically...limited.
  • Republic Wireless - This is the service we use for our older kid's cell phone serivce. Rather than pay $40 per line to add them to our Verizon account, we have them on Republic. This is a great company if you want bare bones nationwide cellular service. For $10 per month, they get unlimited voice and texting. This is a bring-or-buy-your-own-phone service with no contracts. And it does not include any data, but since we always have some kind of WiFi available, they are always able to get online if they want.
  • RV WIFI Extender - We use the Jefa Tech System XR which is basically a rebranded Ubiquity Pico Station. This system allows us to capture an outside WiFi signal (or our one of our cellular hotspots) via an exterior antenna and repeat it on a private network router within our trailer. Once the extender has been logged on to a Wifi signal, any device logged in to our private network has access to the internet.
  • Xfinity - My brother has Comcast cable and allows us to login to his Xfinity account. There are tens of thousands of Xfinity hotspots throughout the country. If available, we use our Wifi Extender to capture an Xfinity hotspot resulting in free, unlimited internet access for everyone in the trailer.
  • Free WiFI - There are free, open WiFi hotspots throughout the country. Some of the most notable are Starbucks, McDonalds, Barnes & Noble, and public libraries. Truthfully, however, we don't use these very often as these establishments typically do not have trailer-friendly parking lots. But when we are trailer-less, these free hotspots are good places to get free internet access.
  • Technomadia's RV Mobile Internet Resource Center - There are many online resources for learning about your options regarding mobile internet, but none as thorough and comprehensive as Technomadia. Chris from Technomadia appears to be the ultimate mobile connectivity geek and has researched and tried just about everything available for staying connected while living full-time on the road. While much of the information on this site is free, access to some information requires a premium membership.
  • The Mobile Internet Handbook - This book was written by Chris Dunphy from Technomadia and basically contains all the general information you'll need for staying connected as a full-time RVer.