Day 1, Tuesday….Arrive in Thomson and set up Hughesnet dish in our campsite…great signal….no connection!!…Dennis tried all day…NADA!
Day 2, Wednesday…Left Hiker there and drove 1 hr and 45 min. back home to Sandwich with Hughesnet dish, receiver, transmitter, desktop, router,..etc. and so on, in the truck..Tried Hughesnet at home…nope..a big NOT HAPPENING!! Wed AM Den spends 3 hrs on phone with Hughesnet tech ( Abdul A.K.A. “Mark”, from a foreign land) …zip, zero, zilch. “Mark” says we need someone to come to our house and take a look …$125 house call.. A tech will call us and make appt…Grabbed our laptop in case we need it, and drove 1 3/4 hrs. back to Thomson and our Hiker, the GMC full of “blue air”..
Day 3. ..Thurs. AM, tech calls makes appt. for Monday, the 20th..OK..we have to pull up stakes and leave here Sunday. Suddenly, a light bulb shines above McGyver’s head …We drive the GMC 10 miles to Clinton, Iowa to the Verizon Store..Get all the info but don’t purchase…yet. Drive back to Hiker and drink heavily..Call Hughesnet tech and cancel appt.
Day 4..Friday, AM…mulling over the possibilities…Wouldn’t it be sooo much nicer to travel without the big Hughesnet dish, tripod and transmitter…and save Den all the work of the setup every time we land somewhere. HMMMMM…McGyver calls and cancels Hughesnet tech appt…AND.. calls and cancels our entire Hughesnet account…YOU GO MCGYVER!! cocktail hour is a long one Friday night.
Day 5..Sat AM, drive GMC 10 miles back to Clinton, Iowa from our Hiker and sign up for Veriizon wireless…Get back to Hiker and drag out laptop….Get set up…good Verizon signal on both phones and laptop..but cannot browse on any of them…GRRRRR…A call to Verizon tech…says we must have a bad “device”..advises to take it back to Verizon LCC store…SAY WHAT???? ok…Den goes alone, I stay at the Hiker to brood. Den calls from Verizon Store… they try it there and all seems well. Den comes back and tries again..still no browsing. WISH I HAD SOME VALIUM!!! Where is Rick when you need him??? McGyver puts on his “techno geek” hat and does a few things to our laptop…WALLA!! WE ARE NOW WIRELESS!! (We both lost our screws long ago anyway.) McGyver has regained his title as GODMAN!!
Day 6…Sunday….Trying to get the catch out of my neck and shoulders….Here are some photos of our campsite and surroundings..I will not bore you anymore with our story…as we are now finally CAMPING after 5 days of trauma….
Note in right photo, the Hughesnet dish on tripod…the trouble begins here.
We are in “lilypad” Heaven…on Turtle Crossing Road…
Left, the outdoor amphitheater..Right, a campsight for military families only……:-)
Left is our site..We didn’t get the bikes off the rack until Friday..SHEESH!
Notice that the Hughesnet dish is now EL GONNO!! We are technologically exhausted….This is a really nice park…We were planning on staying for 2 weeks….but we are leaving this Tuesday after only a week….Like, I said ..sometimes life just gets in the way. We need to go home….and relax. ;-/
“LIVE IS JUST A BOWL OF CHERRIES…WITHOUT THE PITS REMOVED”
What a hassle - no wonder you're both worn out. I think you'll find the Verizon setup works well almost anywhere. It sure is a lot simpler than having to setup and connect a satellite dish - especially since you have a TV satellite too.
ReplyDeleteGood for Den in figuring out the wifi config problem on the laptop. Some folks might have just put it under the back wheels of the truck and drove over it. Not a good solution but a very satisfying one nevertheless.
We, like you, dumped all our Hughesnet problems about 4 years, grabbed hold of Verizon & never looked back. We still have our big old satellite dish too which now resides in the rafters of our carport. I was thinking of trying to sell it to someone who owns a Smart Car. They could use the dish to park their car under..........
ReplyDeleteDennis wouldn't want to travel with us. If we don't get TV signal from our antenna, we just do without!!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a nice park
and what i got out of the whole thing is: you saw turtles!!! i never see turtles, r u quiet or something? not that i am noisy, but just sayin'
ReplyDeleteWe're still on Hughes.... have had a LOT of problems up here in Maine. Bill's waiting until we go back to Ohio for a pit stop (I think he has some spare parts in storage there) before he does anything drastic. We don't have TV... but I sure do want my internet service! (The spare parts are for the dish... not Bill)
ReplyDeleteWe use our Verizon cell hot spot for our internet and so far works great.
ReplyDeleteLove Verizon! Great service.
ReplyDeleteNow just what would you do without McGyver, handier than a pocket on a shirt.
ReplyDeleteMomma said there would be days like that!..at least you finally got something posted!
ReplyDeleteWe use our old Sat dish for a hanging planter. Works well with succulents. That dish is much prettier and more useful than it ever was hanging around losing signals.
ReplyDeleteTake THAT Hughesnet!
Emjay
We dumped Hughes both at home and in the rig several years ago and now use Millenicom with an aircard. I got so tired of trying to reason with people who didn't speak English!
ReplyDelete