"What'll we watch tonight?"

I can imagine this is a common question around the country as things wind down after dinner and it's time to get in a couple hours with your favorite whatever before heading off to bed. We have Dish but frankly, other than The Admiral watching PBS News Hour before dinner or maybe a couple episodes of Fixer Upper on the Magnolia Channel earlier in the afternoon, we spend the time streaming something from Netflix, Amazon Prime/Brit Box/Acorn Ltd or YouTube. The park has a WiFi system for connecting to the internet and that's what we use. Well... *used* to use.

The park is pretty busy right now as the snow birds start drifting back east and north toward more comfortable summer climates than Arizona can offer at lower elevations. It's not uncommon for us to see every available site in our park's rental pool in use and dry camping (no power, water or sewer- just a numbered space on not-so-level ground) is pretty much full. The rush starts about the last 10 days of February and will continue thru March when peace and tranquility slowly descend upon the San Pedro Valley. That's when we peek out the window and ask "Are they gone yet?" The snow birds help keep this place afloat but it's a PITA cuz (I bet you guessed this was coming) the WiFi system in the park gets overwhelmed and I can't watch my favs!

Before they (sort of) upgraded our WiFi a few years back (this is a co-op so it was a committee) there was no real thought of streaming. Download speeds were terrible and the system failed frequently. Like many others here we signed up for Trans World Networks (TWN) internet access (dish plus receiver which is locally referred to as Sulfur Springs cuz of the name of the reseller). That dish-based system should have been rock solid... except it wasn't. I finally asked to have the equipment removed (it was taken out on 23 Dec 2020) and I'm still waiting for the refund.

In about 2012 we had subscribed to a wireless internet-only service from Millenicom.com which provided us with Verizon-based 3G access to the internet via big red's MiFi Hotspot. Worked fine and the $$ was affordable while we were on the road (less than what Verizon charged for the same service). At that time we were staying in KOA or similar parks which have cable TV to each site so streaming wasn't in our vocabulary. All we wanted was e-Mail and sufficient internet speed to access the web and make our next reservation. About the time we were faced with selling the house in Santa Fe, Verizon changed their agreement with Millenicom and suddenly we were Verizon customers paying a higher rate than we enjoyed from Millenicom. That subscription faded into the sunset somewhere along the way.

Internet access improved universally and with it came the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime. In fact Netflix, initially a stalwart of DVD rentals, abandoned that media as their principal service and switched to streaming. With our limited bandwidth I was offended by their change in marketing and missed the whole point: I was seeing the future and I didn't get it.

Those 'of a certain age' know that Time Marches On and even those with their head buried in a dark place finally get the message that yeah, Netflix had it right. That's when TWN came along. Then a year later the park improved our WiFi installation and streaming became the life blood of home entertainment. TWN was our supplier for internet and Dish provided all our scheduled network programming and we were slow to transition to the park's upgraded WiFi.

Who knew we would become disenchanted with regular TV programming? Mmm... probably anyone that was as annoyed with the constant barrage of advertising as we were. That and having to adjust your personal schedule to match scheduled programming (or remember to save the program for later viewing from our DVR).

We've watched YouTube videos for years but not as an evening entertainment. Eventually we realized 'hey- this one's not too bad' and YouTube came to stay. And when Dish added streaming software to our receiver we gradually succumbed to streaming. It turned out to be pretty good. Until the snowbirds arrived. Then we learned it wasn't so great to watch the spinning wheel as the software buffered the video feed or YouTube switched the download to something less than SD quality. Ugh!

I received a barrage of T-Mobile wireless 4G/5G home internet ads in the mail. I checked their web site and found they wanted me to sign up for a waiting list which I feared was a thinly disguised scam to create a flow of internet-based advertising. But the service has a great deal of appeal: $50/mo for the foreseeable future with autopay and speeds that are beyond what we have enjoyed with 4G-only. The drawback is it's for a fixed location only.

That's when I remembered Millenicom and that we had enjoyed affordable prices and good connections. I surfed endlessly for pricing with 4G or4G/5G service that was mobile so that we could use it on the road. There just doesn't appear to be any bargains out there and Millenicom was comparably priced. 

Then I read a little more closely about their Purple Plan which uses all three major networks - T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon - via a special router (Skyroam Solis Lite), The Skyroam router switches to the network with the best connection & download speed. $70/mo for 25GB but if you're streaming you'll need about 3GB/hr. With over 200GB of data the $$ will be about $120/mo. A bunch more than the $50/mo for T-Mobile 4G/5G home internet, but it will allow us to be on the road with the same service we use here in the park.

About the size of a hockey puck but a little lighter. Finding a home that gives us a good connection is... not easy!

I signed us up and waited for the router to arrive via USPS Priority Mail. Which didn't. It took 7 days for USPS to get Priority Mail to us. The pre-programmed router arrived ready to go with E-SIMS already activated. I turned it on and Presto! We had streaming.

I've had a couple instances where it stops working (about 3 times while I've been typing this). It appears that's because the router is switching networks to improve our d/l speed. And that download speed is nothing to write home about. But in the evening the speed has been adequate to stream in HD. 

During any pauses in what we're watching The Admiral has been looking at user reviews of Millenicom. And they aren't good! Instance after instance where the subscriber's router failed and Millenicom failed to get things working. And it appeared to be as elemental as an error in the SIM. I believe the unhappy users had a single-network service but we'll see. Fortunately there is no contract. So if the internet service is as bad as the disgruntled users claim we'll bail out.

So