When I wrote my first Winegard ConnecT review, I promised a follow-up once we returned to civilization and hit the road south for the season. So, here goes…
tl;dr The Winegard ConnecT +4g LTE is an excellent internet solution for RVers who rely on local WiFi and want a mobile wireless data connection with no service contract.
For complete details about the WiFi extension capabilities of the Winegard ConnecT, read that first review, visit the Winegard website, or check out more reviews on Amazon.
Winegard ConnecT Feature Summary
Enhance the performance of any RV park WiFi network by extending its reach inside and around your rig. The Winegard ConnecT will boost the signal of any local WiFi signal, offering considerable improvement in performance and stability of connectivity.
The ConnecT +4G provides mobile broadband internet access anywhere within the AT&T wireless coverage area, with no monthly service contract.
The system comes with antenna assembly, hotspot, router, all necessary wiring and mounting hardware, and simple to use admin interface software.
Installation and set up is simple, and adding data to your Winegard account as you need it is easy and affordable.
Get Online Anywhere with the Winegard ConnecT +4G LTE!
Once we left the remote northern Colorado mountains, the Winegard Connect +4G provided consistent fast internet connectivity for us, all the way to southern California.
We enjoyed 4G speeds capable of streaming Amazon Prime video without any interruption. I was able to upload large graphics files for clients, and backup files to our AWS S3 buckets quickly and securely.
We strongly believe redundancy is the absolute best internet for RVers. The ConnecT is a great addition to the mix for any full-time RVer who needs to get online and work from anywhere, or those who enjoy staying connected at all times, for any reason. Performance of the ConnecT is completely comparable to our Verizon Mifi (aka JetPack) mobile broadband hotspot. And the 4G speeds beat our satellite internet connection.
In my opinion, the best feature of the Winegard ConnecT +4G has to be the ability to purchase data as you need it. Finding a wireless internet service provider who will not require you to sign up for a monthly service contract is difficult these days. In a sense, Winegard offers unlimited internet without a contract. Add data to your plan and you can download whatever, whenever you want!
Run out of data? Just add more to your account via the intuitive interface. You can use it to easily identify how much data you have left at any time.
The only drawback I see, is that you must be online to add data to your account. So, you must be within reach of another WiFi network to get online and purchase a data plan. Out boondocking in the boonies somewhere? No problem! Take your phone to town and purchase additional data. Back at the RV, get online immediately with multiple computers or devices. When that is gone, add some more, it’s that simple. And with the WiFi extension features of the Winegard ConnecT, getting online at any RV park that has free WiFi is easy – even if you parked far away from the antenna!
I use a cell signal booster. “Weboost” and use my cell as a hotspot. So far so good. Additional $10 a month for data and a 1 time cost of the booster.
🙂 We love our weBoost!
The AT&Tdata plans seem expensive. AT&T 20G for $150. My Verizon 30G is $112 a month. Also my Pepwave MAX BR1 Router with North America 3G/4G/LTE Modem does the same thing for $549. That’s over $100 cheaper than the Amazon price of $661. The Pepwave also does WiFi over Wan. It also switches automatically between WiFi and 4G. You can also connect an ‘Access Point’ to the Pepwave that will allow you the ability to capture a WiFi signal up to a mile away and broadcast back to that WiFi with 1 watt of power, not the typical milliwatts found on most wireless routers. This was a huge advantage on our recent trip to Alaska when typically the only WiFi available was within a few feet of the campground office. We were the only ones within our group that had internet in our RV using the ‘Access Point’ capability of the Pepwave. The Winegard seems like a good product, but do your research, there are better options available.
Sweet, good for you!
I do plenty of research. This stand-alone review is for the Winegard ConnecT, that’s why it focuses in that specific device’s features and benefits. This post is not intended in any way to be a product comparison, or a comprehensive roundup of the many mobile internet options available out there. That is another post altogether.
Eric. Good input for someone about to venture to Alaska in an RV. The link you show for the Pepwave router takes me to Amazon and a $139 router. I can’t find the one you seem to be referring to.
Thomas: Eric provided no helpful links, so I added those after searching Amazon for the Pepwave model he referenced. If you find it, feel free to reply with a link to help others. Thanks!
Have used our Verizon/Moto phone Hotspot with no problems. We can change the Verizon data plan meet our at home/traveling needs (minimum/unlimited) at will. In the coach we have a WiFi repeater/router to provide a consistent WiFi network for our devices. It is driven by either the Hotspot of the local park WiFi. This was set up prior to Winegard offering the Connect +4G.
It’s hard to imagine paying 30-40 dollars to stream a film. Maybe you consider $20 for a gig of data affordable I’m of so sure. My hot spot isn’t that expensive and I’d never consider using it for that.
What I consider is affordable is the varied functionality of this device, and data plans that require no contract. Redundancy is best, and we would never use our more “expensive” data to stream movies. We have much more important things to do online. But use it to boost the signal of available free Wifi to watch something? Yeah, I’d consider that cost effective.
The internet is doomed to hackers and companies with their hands out PAY< PAY< PAY
And it is doomed by users who demand everything for nothing.
Make it so I can use my Verizon Plan with the unit and I will buy one of these SO fast. With 4 kids I can’t go straight plan like this.
Huh? The Winegard ConnecT uses AT&T. If you find another Wifi extender +4G out there that uses Verizon, let us know! Good luck with that…
We bought the system wifi/4g. We have Verizon and had to use our Verisin hot spot. Worked like a champ. We have two computers and use two Amazon fire sticks which we have SlingTV, and several apps on that including Amazon Prime and Netflix. I would recommend the Winngard system to anyone wanting to dump Satellite cost. We will give the 4g a try later, but we do not see the need for it now because of our Verizon plan.
Thanks for the comment Howard! Why would you use the ConnecT with your Verizon Hotspot? If both devices are in your rig, I see no need to boost the hotspot signal, but I’m always interested in the different applications people discover…
Thanks Jim. That was my question. We have a MIFI and hot spots on two phones. There is 10 gig on each device before throttling [which has never happened]. Next trip I’m going to stream until each phone slows down and the use the MIFI for reading. We couldn’t read 10 gig in a month if our lives depended on it. Never found a bad spot with Verizon but I know wewill at some point.
Jim – can you buy data for more than 1 month? The status screen doesn’t seem to show how many days are left on the plan, and I presume you “use it or lose it” by the end of the month?
Thanks, Pete
Good question Pete, sorry if I wasn’t clear. The Winegard data plans are month to month. As the screenshot shows, they expire in 30 days. You do have the option to create an auto-renewing subscription for any of the amounts, but any remaining data does not “roll over” so yes, use it or lose it!