Reflections (2): Year One of Full Time RVing

This is the second in a series of posts about our retirement lifestyle in our class A motor coach (towing a Mini Cooper).

Connectivity:

• Most RV parks offer free wifi. However, they are almost always slow. I am way too impatient to deal with it.
• Therefore, we have a 30 gb/month data plan (with unlimited text and talk) with AT&T for our four devices (2 iPads and 2 iPhones). They now provide carry-over of unused data, which is great. The current cost is $200/month. It is worth it to us.
• There are some remote places in the U.S., however, where there is no AT&T coverage (mostly in national parks like the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Big Bend). The national parks usually provide wifi near their camp stores, lodges, and laundromats.
• Connectivity is important to us to manage our finances, as a news source, to update our blog, and to stay connected with our family and friends, so we feel the $200 monthly expense is well worth it.

TV Reception:

• We do not have a satellite dish and continue to discuss whether we should buy one.
• Most RV parks where we stay have free cable TV that hooks right into our RV. Then we just have to use the auto channel scan feature to pick up all of the channels.
• When we stay somewhere that does not have provide cable TV, we can set the TV to "air" and scan for channels. We usually are able to get a few channels, but the reception is, of course, not always that great.
• When we are in remote locations (like some national parks), we cannot watch TV. In these circumstances, we watch movies on the DVD when we are not listening to music.
• As devoted game players (backgammon, bananagrams, yahtzee, gin, clue, etc.), we spend time in the evenings playing our games, too.
• Again, this is a personal preference. We will continue to evaluate whether we should invest in satellite TV. But I refuse to live my life for television show

Mail:

• When we sold our home in PA in February of 2014, we purchased a mail service from myRVMail.com in Florida. This is our permanent, legal address. 
• We are able to view mail we receive there in an online mailbox. Included in the information provided online is the name of the sender of each piece of mail. There are various levels of service you can purchase. 
• We can determine whether we want each piece of mail shipped to us or shredded/trashed. 
• I review our mail at least weekly and have our mail shipped to us (wherever we are staying) on demand. We can specify how we want the mail sent (first class, priority, overnight, etc.)
• If I see something in our mailbox that I want to review right away, I can request that RVMail open it, scan it, and email it to me. There is a fee for this (I think about $2.) I have only done this once, but I received the email within an hour or two.
• Periodically, we replenish our shipping account (usually $30) that is charged for the actual cost of each shipment. 
• We receive a discount on the annual fee with our Passport America membership.
• We have been 100% satisfied with this service.
• Website: www.myrvmail.com

Do you have any experience with satellite providers or mail services that you would like to share?