Tailgating using R1T hotspot

[gombater]

Hi all,
Got a use case where I want to watch football in a tailgating scenario. Got the TV all set up using R1T power and using a Amazon fire to access content via the Rivian hotspot. I could use my phone as a hotspot, but my plan caps data usage and video uses it up very fast. What I found was I could not locate the R1T hotspot from the tailgate position - did some reading and found out the hotspot only works when the truck is 'awake'. Therefore I opened the front door and magically the hotspot showed up and connected properly. My issue is the last time I left the door open for an extended period of time, the 12v battery drained and everything was 'dead' later on when I wanted to drive.... closing the door and letting the 12v battery charge appeared to fix the issue. My question - am I missing anything here? Can others connect to the hotspot without the R1T 'active'?

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[Lord Leroy]

Try show and tell mode and see if that works.

 

[jeeden]

You want camp mode here. You can turn it on to keep the wifi alive, but then you want to turn on the outlets, and turn off the climate, and displays unless you are using them for something. You should then be able to keep the doors closed.

This setup will make your energy usage much more efficient as well.

 

[gombater]

You want camp mode here. You can turn it on to keep the wifi alive, but then you want to turn on the outlets, and turn off the climate, and displays unless you are using them for something. You should then be able to keep the doors closed.

This setup will make your energy usage much more efficient as well.

Thanks for the guidance! appreciate it... not used camp mode yet....

 

[jeeden]

Thanks for the guidance! appreciate it... not used camp mode yet....

Yup, very handy for things like this, actual camping, or leaving teenagers in the car with climate, media, and power/wifi. Wife and I refer to it as "camp and teenager mode" not to be confused with "pet and frozen food mode"

 

[SwampNut]

I’ve left the door open for many hours many times.

 

[KBabione]

Got a use case where I want to watch football in a tailgating scenario. Got the TV all set up using R1T power and using a Amazon fire to access content via the Rivian hotspot.

I have the same use case - have you tested your setup away from home? I know with Hulu Live (which is what I use), I can't use a Fire Stick outside my home zip code. Hulu checks your location for TV's and considers a ChromeCast or Fire Stick to be TV's. My way around it is to connect to Hulu on my laptop (which Hulu allows as long as you've connected in your home recently) and connect the laptop to the TV via an HDMI cable.

I'd hate for you to get to your tailgate and have everyone gathered around to watch other games only to find that streaming doesn't work for you outside of your driveway. Next weekend will be my first tailgate (OSU @ PSU) with the TV setup and I'm hoping the Rivian hotspot works. Beaver Stadium becomes PA's third largest city on game day, and I'm a little concerned that AT&T will throttle data speeds to ensure that everyone has at least some data coverage. Our personal cell phones are AT&T as well, so using our unlimited hot spot won't help. If it fails, I have this antenna in my Amazon cart for next year. I'd build an easily-collapsed antenna pole out of 1.5" PVC that I can secure with a stake at the bottom and velcro to my canopy strut. I won't get cable games (ESPN), but there are network transmitters 34 miles away (all on the same mountain top so I only have to aim the antenna once), so I'll get enough to make hauling the setup worthwhile.

 

[gombater]

tried it out Saturday night. Rivian hotspot was useless, never connected. Went to Verizon hotspot, was in and out, never really consistent. Guess it matters where your at and how many people around you are accessing their phones.... of course worked from the driveway on cellular.

 

[KBabione]

tried it out Saturday night. Rivian hotspot was useless, never connected. Went to Verizon hotspot, was in and out, never really consistent. Guess it matters where your at and how many people around you are accessing their phones.... of course worked from the driveway on cellular.

Definitely NOT the response I was hoping to see from you! Sorry - that's a bummer it didn't work while you were at the game. My game is at noon on Saturday and we'll hang out for a couple hours after the game and I'm hoping, with people leaving, the cellular coverage improves enough to pull in some of the games. Maybe I'll just bring my laptop to start as proof of concept, but it sounds like I might need to go the external antenna route. I'll post an update next week.

We were spoiled for years tailgating because my parents had an RV with a Direct TV dish mounted on the roof - It just always worked!

 

[KBabione]

tried it out Saturday night. Rivian hotspot was useless, never connected. Went to Verizon hotspot, was in and out, never really consistent. Guess it matters where your at and how many people around you are accessing their phones.... of course worked from the driveway on cellular.

We were at the Penn State-Ohio State game on Saturday. Attendance in the stadium was 111,030 and there were probably another 10-20K people who tailgated and didn't go into the game. I took my laptop to try connecting to the Rivian hotspot but never even bothered to try - we could barely send texts! Next year I'll get an HD antenna and build a PVC stand that I can anchor to my canopy to hold it so that we can get the games. I'll post in the forum when it's done (and working).

 

[ashnazg]

Or get Starlink's RV service and carry that dish with you

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