The question you’ve seen 100 times…
Posted by Chase6809400931@reddit | Truckers | View on Reddit | 112 comments
As mentioned, I’ve seen this question asked many times, but never in the way I would ask it, so here we go. I’m starting my trucking career on Monday, but before I get into it, I would like to know what the best way to have a constant reliable internet connection for computer gaming would be. I intend to download hundreds of Gigabytes of mods for single player games so I will need a limitless 5g data cap. I’ve seen that Starlink has an unlimited data cap plans for like $160/month. What do those with experience in this think?
Artistic_Alfalfa_860@reddit
I thought for sure the question was going to be, "How do I get home daily local work in SoCal with a criminal record and no experience?"
Chase6809400931@reddit (OP)
Nope, I want otr and I have no criminal record 👍
Emergency_Ad1152@reddit
You do not want OTR. No sane person wants OTR. Find a dedicated account, if possible. To answer your question though, I used to have Verizon home 5g, it was $35/month with my phone plan. I think T-Mobile also offers it around the same price with a phone plan. They say you can only use it at home, but I never had a problem anywhere except remote areas.
fishnwiz@reddit
I worked in a factory for 30 years. After I left I got my cdl and went OTR for 7 months. It was a nice adventure but got a local job after that.
BraveG365@reddit
if i can ask what type of factory work did you do? and after only 7 months of OTR was that enough experience to get the local job? thanks
fishnwiz@reddit
Used wastepaper to produce nose and butt tissue, paper towel, napkins etc. hired by an independent Coca Cola distribution company. Walmart and large format grocery stores. No touch, just drop pallets.
BraveG365@reddit
Thanks for the reply. I have a friend who is in their 50s who has been laid off and has been looking into local factory jobs. Since you worked in factory for 30 years was the pay better then what you get with your CDL now?
Also he has noticed that most factories do rotating shift from day to night....was something you had to deal with and is it easy to get use to it?
Thanks
fishnwiz@reddit
We worked 12 shifts. Shifts vary with companies. We worked 14 day off 14 days on in a 28 day period
Emergency_Ad1152@reddit
That’s the way to go 😎
StLouiii@reddit
Haha the good ole dollar tree accounts. I been trucking for 2.5 years and decided to do dollar tree (will complete a full year in june) im sure we have a couple of funny stories. Anyways after this year im hanging up my cdl and probably will just build a box truck fleet
BraveG365@reddit
After only 2.5 years why are you hanging up your CDL?
Emergency_Ad1152@reddit
I did my one year and dipped lol, yeah man we were the ones who got hit with the tornado in marrietta. Life went to shit after that, we were picking up out of Houston and holy shit the summer there compared to Dallas is like a 50° difference. Did one load there and nearly got a heat stroke, all for $280. 👎
NomadTruckerOTR@reddit
For someone with no family/friends/significant other, OTR is amazing. That's just not most people. Calling people that enjoy the OTR life "not sane" isn't fair.
BraveG365@reddit
Can newbies make good money in OTR and if so how much usually? thanks
Emergency_Ad1152@reddit
No, you’re going to get the shitty loads and constantly be waiting for one too. I stand by what I said though cause all you do is drive 11 hours, shit and shower in truck stops, 90% of truckers are nasty as shit, sure it’s guaranteed pay but you’re working 70+ hours a week for $1000 week? That’s about $15/hr. Getting on a dedicated account gives you more consistent freight, some are touch, which get you out the truck and keep you fit. If you sit all day and then go to sleep you’re going to get sick and your body will begin to get weak. If you do OTR, do it as a last resort and just for the experience.
BraveG365@reddit
So for a newbie how much experience is usually required to get a dedicated acct?
Also, just out of curiosity why is 90% of truckers nasty as shit?
thanks
Emergency_Ad1152@reddit
I kept applying for 2 months before I found one in Dallas, TX. They’ll hire no exp it’s just a bit harder.
Like I said, most drivers just drive for 11 hours, then go to sleep. It’s unhealthy, their mental health will start to decline and they will stop taking care of themselves. Some go days without showering and some don’t even wipe their ass after shitting. Some just piss at the fuel islands for everyone to see, while others throw a bag of shit outside their window. My biggest advice for you is stay active and eat healthy. Drop the trailer after work, PC, and go to Walmart for fruits and veggies; canned beans and rice in a bag go a long way.
NomadTruckerOTR@reddit
Get on with Swift. Best pay for newbies. I averaged 1300 per week my first year. But you gotta grind and learn some tricks quick
Mr_Fancy_Fuck@reddit
Idk, I'm about to leave a cozy home weekends guaranteed pay job for OTR and most of my friends think I'm insane lol
NomadTruckerOTR@reddit
Well depending on what that jobs pay is would probably agree lol. I went OTR mostly because I was sick of only making 30-40k per year
Chillimaniac@reddit
It’s true. I’m the same way. However OTR did not pay nowhere near enough with the company I’m with so I had to go dedicated. If you find the right company. But they ain’t easy to come by from my experience.
Cardinal_350@reddit
It's not healthy mentally or physically at all. For anyone long term. 25+ years driving truck. I did OTR for about 10 years. I'm faaaar happier and healthier being home everyday and having weekends off. You can't get close friends/people when you're on the road constantly
Tricky_Big_8774@reddit
Sane might not be the right word, but the general concept of what he said is fair.
Abubble13@reddit
Is it hard getting a local in socal? -someone who just moved to the near Victorville
Tashiku@reddit
I’m interested in getting my CDL and driving but i live in San Diego is socal generally a bad market to start my career out of?
Artistic_Alfalfa_860@reddit
Yup
HeywoodJaBlowMe123@reddit
Brother I’m from San dog. Idk about the market, but i know the ridiculous cost of living. The SD life style ain’t worth it, especially on a trucker salary in SD, i’d think about moving to midwest.
Objective-Outcome811@reddit
Please don't give Starlink a dime, the faster that sick ball of slime fails into bankruptcy the better for our whole world.
offsetbackingtoright@reddit
You do understand to objective observers the way you people act seems like you have the emotional and intellectual development of a teenage girl with behavioral issues, right ?
No way to live your life. Letting outside agencies with their own political agendas program you as if you were their personal NPC or golem. Couple of years ago you would have had his babies and been gushing about how great wasteful inductive charging and rare earth mining/refining is, at the same time you couldn't find the areas you are all worked up over on a map and know nothing about the people and issues there. Where is all your outrage for Africa, ? Do you have any idea how many far worse conflicts have been going on with horrible atrocities since before you were made to get all worked up over some wheat fields for growing breakfast Chinese cereal ?. Very shallow of you on the knowledge end of things, you have been turned into a cattle that is easily stampeded. The cowboys doing this ARE NOT your friends Mr. cow. They are driving you to the slaughter house so they can get paid and go get F-upped and some hookers.
Really overall it just shows you don't have the mental maturity and stability to be trusted hauling 80k down the road at 70.
Objective-Outcome811@reddit
It's funny the atrocities that Ret#@dlicans will just gloss over and keep on throwing their good votes into the bonfire of their children's lives.
HeywoodJaBlowMe123@reddit
You’re an idiot if you think this political stunt is going to make him bankrupt.
Good lord. Go outside.
ScharhrotVampir@reddit
Lol, "political stunt", because calling out an obvious shit bag is somehow political, as are the literal rest of the fucking world boycotting his shit, apparently. I do not need to be partisan to 1 side to see that the richest man on the planet, who got there by being a shit bag and fucking over multiple people, shouldn't be allowed to casually throw $250 MILLION at a presidential election and be able to effectively buy a fucking country so he can systematically dismantle any part of said countries government that happens to be investigating his shitty business practices.
HeywoodJaBlowMe123@reddit
Im curious, what business practices was the government attempting to investigate?
And nobody is arguing that you cant speak out against Elon. Do as you please, it’s your god given right in this country. Freedom of speech.
All i said was, if you think boycotting his shit will cause him to go bankrupt, you’re an idiot? If you disagree, please explain to me how you’re going to bankrupt the richest man by burning Teslas. I’m all ears.
Also, I’d like to point out that Tesla, the car company, is 100% made in the USA. Destroying Tesla, boycotting it, etc is only hurting your fellow Americans and their jobs that they work to provide for their loved ones. Set your hatred aside for 5 minutes and realize there’s better avenues to go down to express your feelings towards Elon.
ScharhrotVampir@reddit
He was being investigated by half a dozen different parts of the government. I know at least 1 was union busting related, the rest i don't know off the top of my head and don't have time to look them up.
Lol, several people actually are arguing that, including Muskler himself, the supposed "free speach absolutist" that constantly bans journalists, activists, and plenty of other people from the platform he owns for bullshit reasons, funny how everyone that bitched about censorship before was dead fucking silent on all that.
Ill agree bankruptcy is probably a bit of a stretch goal, but Tesla has lost damn near half its stock price since December of 2024, and it continues to fall like 1 of his rockets after they ~~exploded~~, I'm sorry, "rapidly disassembled themselves", in mid orbit. The majority of his wealth comes from tesla that's his money maker, his tesla stock is the majority of his collateral on his loans. I would be genuinely surprised if SpaceX is profitable, and StarLink is likely barely making anything at best, Shitter is in an even bigger hole than before, if he has any companies I'm missing they likely don't make enough to support his "casually drop $250 MILLION DOLLARS on an election" lifestyle.
HeywoodJaBlowMe123@reddit
You have folks keying/destroying other people’s Teslas/property. “This is the most effective way to voice our disapproval of his actions” is absolute bullshit. Lol.
Hatred for Elon Musk is so intense that folks are vandalizing innocent people’s cars? Does this sound familiar to you? You know.. the BLM riots where innocent businesses got destroyed. Were the BLM riots also the most effective way to show disapproval? Hell, was storming the capital an effective way?
The answer to it all is No. I had to end it with the capital because I don’t want you getting the wrong idea here that I’m all “MAGA!!” Nah, there’s a hell of a lot wrong going on here and multiple circumstances.
You can’t convince me lighting Teslas on fire is the most effective way to show your feelings towards Elon Musk. That’s ridiculous. That’s not activism or making a statement. It’s deranged behavior.
You believing this is the most effective way shows me that you should sit down and indulge in some critical thinking. Politics aside, we as a society should not continue to jump to mayhem and chaos because you don’t like something. I’m speaking to both the left AND the right, and the people that don’t care either way just wanting to see the world burn.
We can all do better here. First step is recognizing behaviors.
ScharhrotVampir@reddit
I never said shit about the vandalism, and the boycott is and was working just fine until that point. So imma stop you right there. Like it or not, tanking the business he has the majority of his net worth in is the only recourse we have. What the fuck else can we do exactly? Not like he was elected in any way, so we can't vote his ass out or impeach him, we either tank tesla until he gets the hint and leaves, or until he doesn't have enough money to keep trump in check.
viledeac0n@reddit
Pipe down. You should use literal less literally, because you don’t seem to know what it means.
viledeac0n@reddit
Insufferable. No one gives a shit about your political alignment.
Chase6809400931@reddit (OP)
If his company offers me the best deal, then so be it. 🤷♂️
Jiangcool9@reddit
I’m not sure $160/month is a good deal
Tricky_Big_8774@reddit
I believe that's what Tmobile charges if you don't have a fixed location.
NomadTruckerOTR@reddit
Go cry some more. Starlink is awesome
Annual-Skill-7432@reddit
Buying starlink and five Tesla's now. Thanks for making my mind up.
bigpierider@reddit
Starlink is the only thing that will meet ur usage needs. Downloading mods is one thing. But then playing is another. Starlink will have better latency. From what I hear about the megas these days you'll be lucky to get 2500 miles a week. Which isn't much. At 50 mph avg speed its 50hrs a week driving. That leaves plenty of time for playing. Assuming a 7 day week. But at 45 cpm it doesn't leave much money to pay for shit.
BraveG365@reddit
So if the Megas are not paying good then is there really a way to make 90k or better in trucking?
bigpierider@reddit
Yes. Experience. Get ur year maybe 2...then go somewhere paying 60cpm and run hard. 3k miles a week. Thats 1800$ a week. ×50 weeks = 90k
BigRigPirateBooty@reddit
To answer the question you actually asked. I know personally Verizon is cracking down on people using the HOME 5g. They cut mine. They offer a business equivalent for 70/month. I'm looking into starlink myself now and have heard good things from friends, but it needs direct line to the sky. As far as OTR. Most people on here seem to hate it. I love it, I've researched the companies I've work for over the last 10 years of driving. It is definitely NOT for everyone. I like the company I'm at, like my checks, and I have a 21 on 8 off schedule. I've run local routes in the past and was way more tired doing that. You just have to see what works for YOU. Definitely difficult to have a home life. No kids, and if you can cut home costs.. otr for awhile can help you set up a good future depending on who you work for. Good luck.
BraveG365@reddit
Is it true that people can make 100k or more with OTR?
BigRigPirateBooty@reddit
Not at first. But short answer is yes. With the right companies and unfortunately sometimes it depends on your dispatchers. You just have e to research the companies really good. Talk to drivers at truck stops and weed out who is an idiot or full of bs haha. I'm 10 years in. My company is great. I'm making that working of that 21 on 8 off schedule. I stay out longer half the time.
PanicRevRay@reddit
Are you dead set on otr? If not theres plenty of food service jobs that provide good experience for newer drivers that have you home daily. Now i wouldnt reccomend trying to game on a 10 hour off period (been driving for 6 months for one) but on weekends and days off its do-able forsure!
BraveG365@reddit
Isn't food service jobs hard on the body compared to OTR?
Chase6809400931@reddit (OP)
I only plan on doing it for an hour or two, tops, every other day or so. I’m only super interested in it at all because I just spent $2K on this computer a few months ago. I know that’s not a whole lot to a trucker who doesn’t have a lady, let alone kids to take care of, but at the time I was only making $1400 in a single month. Which is why I’m starting a career. I want to do otr so I can see places, at least during my days off
PanicRevRay@reddit
There were 0 times when having 10 hrs off that ive been able to touch my pc lol i think you'll only get it on resets
xxenoscionxx@reddit
I use or used Verizon’s Business 5G Internet, it was less than $100 for 50 mbps / unlimited, no throttling like a hotspot. It definitely varies where you park but it was always fairly decent.
Jiangcool9@reddit
I’ve seen people get Verizon/T-Mobile home internet on the truck. Not sure if companies will cut the service
Tricky_Big_8774@reddit
Tmobile charges more if you don't have a fixed location and is reportedly enforcing it. I use Tmobile, but had it before fixed location was a policy and didn't give them an address when I signed up. With what they charge, I'm considering switching to Starlink if they start enforcing it on me.
xxenoscionxx@reddit
That’s weird, Verizon never said anything but I also didn’t volunteer information. The one hiccup I had was when I upgraded it to 50 Mbps , I had to be home for it to provision.
Starlink makes you buy all the proprietary gear for throughput less than 5G. I wasn’t impressed when I looked down that road.
Tricky_Big_8774@reddit
Honestly, I mostly consider Starlink when I'm out west. Nothing makes less than 5G throughput look enticing like zero throughput.
Jiangcool9@reddit
Try looking into calyx institute hotspot. They are non profit and use T-Mobile network, cost around $40-60 a month depending on the plan you choose
sstr677@reddit
My husband is a gamer and was OTR for 2 years. This is what he used.
Delicious_Gap9633@reddit
I'm a gamer myself. Otr. There is a couple of options out there. Just look up wifi for truckers. If I remember correctly along with star link, there was like two others. All roughly the same price. I'm only on console though so I went with a 100 g hot spot. Couldn't tell ya how good any of the others are... But my shity little $50 hot spot works basically anywhere any wether. So i would imagine they would work pretty well.
RonnieV562@reddit
People are gonna tear you down with that question bro about how you need to focus on driving this that and a third, but I tell you this block the noise out and enjoy yourself as long as you feel rested and could still do your job safely its nobody's business how you choose to do your reset hour time who in the hell sleeps 10hrs anyways..but I got wifi at all times in my truck its a plug in router from tmobile perfect for gaming or watching movies whatever you want all in the truck enjoy your time bro take things easy and stay away from all the negative drivers that are always complaining..
LanguageHistorical19@reddit
I use the t mobile 5g home internet. Plugs in to an outlet and works almost everywhere. Only really have issues in really bad service areas. But in most places I get minimum 4-500 mbs. I play online and stream on discord to my friends with no issues. Just don’t tell t mobile you’re not gonna be using it at the home adress you sign up with lol. $50 a month added to my phone plan. I think it’s max 1gb speed.
dosplatos225@reddit
You’re getting a lot of big mad energy from these replies. This stems from the “trucker hours” you’re going to be keeping. You’ll find out all about that once you get 3-6m in.
All I can say is “unlimited” data for cell carriers simply doesn’t exist. I would highly recommend having one of those plans for the job, but as soon as you get in the habit of streaming more than music and doing basic gps stuff, then you’re likely going to hit the ”unlimited data” cap and get throttled.
I wish I had a good solution for you, but I think your most cost effective (and realistic) bet would be… if you have the downtime to download games and mods, I would pay for a hotel room that has good internet somewhere and do that. This way you can spend the month planning what you need to download and then execute that as soon as it’s convenient.
Because of the trucker hours you’ll keep, you may end up paying for something you won’t get your moneys worth out of. But a good nights sleep outside of the berth while getting the downloads you need… that’s beneficial in a lot of ways.
Jiangcool9@reddit
Actually unlimited data does exist, and it’s actually pretty common now. The new trap for mobile companies is prioritized speed
ScharhrotVampir@reddit
No, unlimited data does not exist, every mobile carrier in existence is going to throttle you at some point.
Jiangcool9@reddit
I can list two that doesn’t throttle. Visible/Calyx. Go to their subreddit and search, there’s people that had used 1tb of data in a month
dosplatos225@reddit
If you read the fine print, you’ll see that there are data caps for speed on all unlimited plans. Your data is unlimited, but once you hit the cap the carrier sets, you’re throttled… and anything your phone needs for data is effectively unusable. That’s really what I mean.
Chase6809400931@reddit (OP)
This is the kind of answer I was looking for. Though, now another question arises. How would I transport my stuff to a hotel. Are there hotels that allow tractor trailer parking?
Mobile-Ostrich7614@reddit
I have to drop my trainees off a hotels each night. Most allow you to park as long as it’s a decent sized lot and you have a room. Sometimes there’s a spot you can sneak in nearby, some places have a big ass lot where there’s plenty of room
Nero-Danteson@reddit
Sometimes you'll be right across the street from one, or it'll be a proper travel plaza with the truck stop kinda in the middle, hotels and detached restaurants all like right there. Swift actually has pretty robust Internet at their terminals and sometimes looks the other way if a driver comes in and they don't have a 'gaming' area to hook up to the TVs and do stuff. If you're on a laptop or one of those handhelds (Ally, Steamdeck) just carry it into the terminal. You can always just see if your company has internet for drivers at the terminals, might get the same luck.
DenseCommunication82@reddit
The correct answer is T-Mobile or Verizon 5G home internet. I've been using this 5G router from T-Mobile for over 2 years. 100% unlimited data with no throttling and no deprioritization. The caveat is, if you're downloading a huge file while driving through a dead spot, will the download resume once you get a signal again?
RipIt1021@reddit
They exist. Kinda gotta keep an eye out for em on your routes.
KarmicEQ@reddit
Starlink.
Kolau@reddit
I used Calyx Institute for my internet when i was OTR. It had a good signal in most areas plus it doesn't have anything to do with Elon Musk. It runs off of T-Mobile Towers. I'm currently paying $150 every 3 months
Beneficial_Cloud5481@reddit
I find a truck stop with a McD's (or one with parking) or the like when I have big downloads. Also, some of the big chains have wifi that you can pay for in time increments, from by the hour to by the year. This is sometimes useful when you don't have a good signal on your Internet. The catch is that they don't all have it and/or you'll need to figure out where to park at the truck stop based on the signal strength.
Ephialtesloxas@reddit
How much space do you have? Because I gamed when I was still OTR, and honestly it was easier to download the games I thought I was gonna play at home before I went out, and then if I wanted to play something else I'd wait until I got to a truck stop that had Wi-Fi and download over that.
If you're worried about your mod size (and believe me, I get that, I'm in the same boat. They add up quick, don't they?), ask in the games mod subreddit about how to use an external drive to run your mod list. That way you can have them loaded and ready to go when you want to play that game with mods, but still have room on your computer for other games.
Chase6809400931@reddit (OP)
Storage isn’t the problem, I have 3TB worth of it. I just like downloading new ones fairly often
Ephialtesloxas@reddit
That's definitely a do at home thing. It's not fun trying to fix your load order when you just want to game on your 34.
Capn_T_Driver@reddit
Firstly, if you expect to be playing lots of hours of games a month on the road, you need to re-examine your career and/or job choices. You will have days where you will be sending it hard core for damn near your entire 11-hour clock, and when you're done, you will be -done-. No time for games, just right into the sleeper, because you will be exhausted.
If your gaming takes priority over getting sufficient rest to ensure you are not a rolling hazard to everyone around you with a potentially 80,000lb guided missile, you do not belong in the driver's seat of a truck. I've driven tired before, and those near misses will take years off your life. Do NOT fuck around with your rest. There's a lot of people who got put in their graves way ahead of schedule because someone thought they could send it tired.
Secondly, if you want to spend $160/month on Starlink, more power to you. I spend about $50/month for a T-mobile hotspot that does well enough for me for that time I do take to game or stream video or whatever. The trick is, I download all the important stuff at home so I only have to worry about the small to medium patches on the road. I don't have a need for a monster constant connection, because I might only spend 2-3 hours every other day gaming, and that's a maybe.
viledeac0n@reddit
If you can’t answer the prompt just keep your mouth shut. Truckers are so bad at containing their opinions and word vomit.
Chase6809400931@reddit (OP)
No, I’m not implying I will play it constantly. I play a lot of Fallout 4 for example. The game is highly customisable with over a few thousand mods, and a single mod pack can have anywhere from 400GB of data to download and up. This takes a while even on my 1GB/s home connection. I’m wanting something that doesn’t have a data cap of 50GB so that I can actually download large amounts of files.
Dankreefer420@reddit
Visible is $25 a month phone with unlimited hotspot, you just need a device. It doesnt fix your large download needs. But its the cheapest unlimited hotspot you can find.
I hear moving with a starlink isnt effective. You gotta be stationary.
strawwbebbu@reddit
my husband and i both game, i tend to download a lot of mods while he downloads a lot of games. we're on verizon with i think 120g of data per month and rarely do we ever eat through that even when we're both gaming and watching a lot of tv. it can definitely be slow tho, i'm crawling through downloading the inzoi demo as we speak and it's a little bit agonizing. usually my husband sets his downloads up before he goes to bed -- if they take all night and in to the next day it doesn't matter because he's driving.
ppl are mentioning you won't have a lot of time to game but it really depends. if you're on reefer you'll have plenty of time lol. yesterday we sat around for 7 hours at a receiver, drove for three hours to a shipper, then sat around for another 4 hours. in your first 6 months you'll probably use some of that time to sleep (you will be tired all the time) but after that it gets easier and you'll have more time for gaming.
and yes you do have to be kind of weird to enjoy otr but some of us do enjoy it! we're coming up on 3 years otr and it's been mostly pretty good.
InvadurZim00@reddit
If you haven’t noticed you can’t talk to truckers normally a lot of them don’t have the brain capacity to learn how to read and then on top of it comprehend what they’re reading. Good luck your going to run into this a lot here
Tricky_Big_8774@reddit
Prime example ^^
SubstantialWonder409@reddit
Hey, as a gaming trucker, you will have time. These other guys are just so insufficient with their clocks, they don't even have wanking time. I only ever used my 100GB hotspot on the road. Downloads were for any wifi I could find from truck stops to hotel rooms. I would crack open my laptop on a night. I wasn't going to game and just let it download all night over truckstop wifi. I mostly make sure all my shit is downloaded before I leave home.
gear_jammin_deer@reddit
What you want to look for is Internet providers that market themselves to RVers. There are a few different ones, they use cell towers to provide your data, but it's through an actual router, not a hotspot, and it is truly unlimited. I currently use a company called Ubifi, the plan I have is $120/mo, and I very rarely find myself somewhere with absolutely no signal, but of course speeds to vary depending on what cell towers are around.
Quick_Lingonberry_43@reddit
I still can’t get t mobile home internet. What do you guys tell them?? Because t mobile thinks it’s going to be used in a home?
IBurnChurches@reddit
This is android only i believe but I use PDANet+ (one time payment) with unlimited AT&T plan. My hotspot isn't unlimited but it goes around the hotspot and just uses the phone data. I don't get much time on the road but I have used it for days at home when the home internet decides to go out. It does heat up the phone, and if the phone screen turns off it may disconnect, and the free version disconnects after a certain amount but like I said, one time small payment. Try it out if you can.
AdventurousLawyer646@reddit
T-mobile home. Or Verizon or whatever carrier you have
commandough@reddit
I90 in Idaho and Montana is the only stretch I recall shutting down and not having internet at the rest areas.
You don't really need the expense of star link, and you'd have to rig up your own set up
wartime675@reddit
Why are you expecting to be spending countless hours playing video games? Why do so many people have this weird misconception that truck driving is this relaxing, nomadic lifestyle where we just travel and make money, and that we have all this spare time? My god, I wish it was like it. You’ll find out soon. To answer your question though, you’ll find internet connection at 90% of truck stops is pure ass. You can try their wifi but it’s not great either, unless you want to pay for the premium wifi.
Chase6809400931@reddit (OP)
I never implied I would play it constantly, I’m implying I would like to be able to have downloads running while I’m driving so they’re done when I take my break, and would like to not have to worry about the internet going out. If that’s even possible of course
NomadTruckerOTR@reddit
Don't listen to these whiners. You'll have plenty of time to game. You have a MINIMUM 10hr break every day. That's 2 hours of freetime+8hours sleep. You also will probably have live loads/unloads occasionally. That's another 2 hours of freetime. Then one 34hr reset per week. Thats a whole day with nothing to do. Lol
ComprehensiveDark814@reddit
Don't pay for premium wifi and Love's. It's garbage. I paid 24 hours one time and woke up to only 10 gigs downloaded overnight. TA premium is worth it. Got like 9 gigs per hour. It probably varies by location. If you're at a bigger company all of the terminals will have wifi. If you can afford it, then Starlink Roam.
wartime675@reddit
I use the hotspot on my iPad, if I’ve got 5G(I do pay for the highest possible internet plan) I can usually get some great download speeds for being on the move 25-50 MBps
Pass_Me_That_Phone@reddit
Probably because of all the stories about waiting for a super long time. I’d rather stay awake gaming to be alert, and once load is ready. Pretrip, and then get on the road. What’s the issue with gaming in those particular moments of down time?
ComprehensiveDark814@reddit
No fun allowed.
wartime675@reddit
a side note, I actually do bring a gaming laptop with me on the road and I get to play it once or twice for a few hours but that’s it, out of 4-5 weeks on the road
But we run loose leaf not too many 10 hours breaks over here lol
Riiakess@reddit
I would use hotel/business wifi sources for downloading large files, and save the wifi on your truck for playing. I went with the T-Mobile Away, and I'll get to start testing it when it arrives. I'll try to come back for an update!
duhrun@reddit
Im a heavy gamer, use multiple devices with hotspot allowance on each ranging from 60gig to 150gig for a bit over 300 gigs total. I would not recommend this due to price but I have other uses for those devices too. I have a system of borrowing internet for updates/new games using public wifi at various places I frequent to keep my data cap low. Would def try out the star link, never used myself but have been seeing more of them and have heard you can use the smaller one with bigger unlimited plan.
Jiangcool9@reddit
Look up calyx institute hotspot. They offer true unlimited hotspot
Chase6809400931@reddit (OP)
I saw two plans: One had a cap of 50GB of data while the other claims “Unlimited”
duhrun@reddit
There is a hotspot device plan with 150 gigs, they hide it but it does exist.
Jiangcool9@reddit
I highly recommend you to look into calyx institute mobile hotspot. They run off T-Mobile network and is truly unlimited. Most importantly, they are affordable.
Next recommendation is Visible Phone provider, they also offer unlimited hotspot for their plan but at a slower speed.
redditisfacist3@reddit
You won't have time. Otr is brutal you'll be exhausted driving 70 hrs a week.
___Divergent___@reddit
10 hours never went by so fast until trucking.
Tat2dtrukr@reddit
find another profession. this one is full
jmzstl@reddit
I'm not a gamer so this may be a dumb question...but why don't you just wait until you're at home to download what you need?
Chase6809400931@reddit (OP)
In about half the games these days, they won’t let you play them without updating them. So if a game receives an update and I don’t have the option to play it offline, then I can’t even open it until I update it, and important updates range anywhere from 20GB-80GB nowadays
mike-2129@reddit
Honestly since you are just starting out and gonna be going through a training program for a few months to you get your own truck. Obviously it's gonna limit the stuff you bring. But it would give you time to ask other drivers what they use. A lot of youtubers use that tmobile others use. But I've heard the 5g cellular router is pretty great. But also that the starlink is one of best.