Having access to the World Wide Web is important to modern day activities. Conducting business online is a fact-of-life and having reliable internet is a big factor any trucker running a business should think about.
How did Rooster have the internet out on the road?
It was in the late 2000s when I decided I wanted to find a way to get an internet connection outside what the truck stop chains had. Some places had great coverage, and others you needed to be at the doorstep.
I scoured the internet to find some way to get a dedicated connection. 3G was king at the time and 4G was the new hotness.
My solution was to use a mobile hotspot, but those had data limits and I had a belly-full of that dealing with my previous experience with satellite internet providers. But I found an excellent group on social media that excelled in keeping up with the unlimited internet offerings some carriers had hidden.
Was unlimited internet truly unlimited?
There’s a handful of websites out there that cover the mobile cellular internet industry. I looked through a few of them and found a company that offered full-speed, truly unlimited internet via a mobile hotspot.
After some research, I ordered the hockey puck-sized mobile hotspot, spent a few moments getting everything set correctly, and enjoyed my first night of binge watching YouTube without worries of an outrageously expensive bill or a shrinking data cap.
Now the cost was a bit high at just over $100 dollars per month, but the cost was worth the value. It worked anywhere that there was a phone signal and that meant nationwide access.
I was able to upload my BOLs as soon as I was done delivering, so that cut out some unnecessary stops. And being able to download and print permits and other forms in the truck and not have to pay the dollar per page fee at the truck stop saved some money as well.
Unfortunately, most unlimited internet plans were wiped out by the removal of 3G and what few are still grandfathered in the 4G bracket cannot be transferred to new owners. Some third-party resellers still have the units, and they demand a pretty penny to acquire them.
Welcome, Saint Elon of Starlink, to our humble abode!
Satellite internet was the bane of many wallets back in early 2000s. For people living in rural areas, it was the only way to get internet speeds faster than dial-up.
It was expensive, with spotty coverage and an expensive appetite for cash if you like to watch movies or play video games. But we are witnessing a renaissance with a new provider making the news around the world for its speed and reliability.
Starlink is becoming the premier choice for high speed internet in rural areas, being used anywhere in the world with line of sight with the sky. And having an unlimited data allotment is a big part of that fandom.
Starlink is now able to be used outside of a stationary setting, with marine, aerial, and truck applications available. There’s even a big community of modders, pushing the top of the line components to their limits.
Other satellite TV providers have added internet to their services, but they are not priorities like Starlink. You can see the large white domes for the dishes mounted on the back of trucks, or even hanging on a door frame.
In closing, getting a high speed internet connection is a part of modern life. As much as some would like to go back to hanging around pay phones in truck stops, it’s all about the gigabytes now.
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