Asking for Help on Improving Tailgate Setup (TV/Satellite)
Hello Friends,
With the season being just over a month away, I was starting to plan/budget our tailgate setup for this year. Our main tailgate organizer told us he would be taking a step back and only tailgating a couple games, so my family is taking the throne and were able to secure the main parking spot on Greene & Hoover. I have always been envious of other people's setups that include TV's for Gameday/late games, and now that we will have more control, I am looking for some tips and advice for setups.
I have done some initial research on the Dish Network options, which seem like the way to go, but I am curious if people tailgating around the stadium have had luck with the YoutubeTV/Hotspot combination. I know the stadium cell service has been brutal since I can remember, but unsure if anybody had any tips. I also, have always been a Sprint Customer, so now with them being a part of T-Mobile, unsure if I would have any luck.
Again, any tips or insight on what works best for you or general must-haves for your tailgates is greatly appreciated. Go Blue!
Get a VPN and get a Verizon unlimited plan with a phone that has millimeter and midband spectrum support
Why Verizon - they have Gigabit speeds on those frequencies if you have decent line of sight, more than enough for YouTube TV.
Why VPN - Verizon will do deep packet inspection and deprioritize streaming traffic on congested cell sites
email me mgovault at gmail dot com
Would the vpn that comes with McAfee be enough for this? Or is it some crap vpn?
Eh, that VPN software isn't that performant compared to Mullvad ($5/month), which uses Wireguard.
In case you have an affiliation with the University, they offer a free VPN that supports around 100 download/upload.
Source link: https://its.umich.edu/enterprise/wifi-networks/vpn/getting-started
If you don't, here are some of the top VPN services according to cnet
Source link: https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/best-vpn
Great points. A VPN is just a really good idea in general. I was told by a friend who does network security stuff (I'm not too techy) to find one that (a) doesn't keep logs, and (b) is based outside the US (in a country like Panama).
I use Nord and it's only like $3.99/month.
Tinfoil hat time: I've always wondered if the mere act of accessing a Panamanian VPN would get someone on a government watch list. Black helicopters, etc.
Probably. Same reason you shouldn't join any radical groups (either side). Even if you never did anything but sign up, you know you are on some government list somewhere.
That happened to me back in the '50s. I had long ago attended meetings of a certain political party but then suddenly couldn't get an acting job in Hollywood anymore.
Ha. Hasn't happened to me yet...that I know of (listens intently for helicopters).
Actually, my tinfoil hat is one of the reasons I use a VPN. You never know when someone will take office and declare Mother Jones and its readers enemies of the state 😊
Panama is just good about privacy issues, excepting of course the whole Panama Papers thing.
Oh, and I never drink the local government-supplied water. Gotta protect my precious bodily fluids.
August 2nd, 2022 at 12:09 PM ^
Streamed YTTV with ease in the Pioneer lot during last year's Rutgers game off my iPhone 12 Pro + Verizon 5G UWB connection.
My brother in law got the starlink subscription for RV users and it's awesome for high speed internet pretty much anywhere. I'll probably be scrapping my internet provider at home and go with starlink instead even if it costs more due to the speed and flexibility to get a high speed connection wherever I go.
Just thought I'd throw that out there.
what are the deets for starlink - cost, availability, contract set up, etc?
Don’t know about your particular availability but their website says $110/month and an initial $600 hardware cost.
August 1st, 2022 at 10:06 PM ^
To piggyback, it's $135 for his RV service. I put a deposit down for residential service last year but it's still not "available" where I live. I assumed there was no coverage in my area. What I didn't know was that if you sprung for the RV version you would be able to use it in areas where the residential isn't available yet.
August 1st, 2022 at 10:33 PM ^
Thank you for that info. We (read: I) are so cheap I couldn’t imagine paying that at this point. Hopefully they will get the price down at some point
signed,
country mouse
August 1st, 2022 at 10:51 PM ^
Certainly not cheap, but worth it's weight in gold if you're working remotely and need to stream. When he had it out in the rockies, he and my wife were able to stream at the same time even with all the little kids hanging out streaming on their tablets
oh, and no contract. You pay only for the months you want to use it.
Second this. On gameday I wouldn’t trust the mobile providers. Starlink all the way .you can also just use it for your home internet when you aren’t tailgating. The dish is small and easily portable
Great question. Been wondering the same thing. We’ve had tailgates ruined due to inability to get satellite/service to work in AA.
This brings to mind an important concept in IT: Redundancy. OP, if you're rolling in $ your path is clear. Starlink *and* Verizon. Multiple TVs, too. :)
Tailgate "ruined" because you couldn't watch TV?
A great tailgate is about the food, the drinks, the games, your family and friends, the passersby who become your friends.
"A great tailgate is about the food, the drinks, the games, your family and friends, the passersby who become your friends."
... unless the central point was maybe to get together to watch a certain game. You don't really know, right? Why judge?
It depends on what you wish to broadcast, and receive.
i usually tailgate near the Stadium, and have used over the air portable, digital antenna - with good results. For parents weekend last year - the Indiana game - at night, we easily picked up the Wake Forest game, which was a noon start, and followed that up with MSU v Purdue (a very enjoyable game to watch) - which had a lot of people stopping by out spot.
of course, over the air is limited to certain major networks, unless you have a VHF / UHF antenna.
I know a lot of people who stream at different campuses, a suggestion might be to have an OTA(over the air) antenna as a backup. It’s relatively inexpensive - and can help if there are network issues.
Also with an antenna, even if you only get one game and it's a game you don't care about, you will still most likely get to see highlights of other games and they usually show scores from other games so it is still nice to have over having to check on your phone with no service.
Starlink mobile
You know, Verizon went through and added booster antennas in areas near the stadium over the last few years, but of course, very few of them are actually on university property (at least from what I recall). AT&T has some cleverly hidden antennas nearby too, but again, not on university property, so there is always this void immediately adjacent to the stadium itself, but walk a block of two away, and you would never know there was a game sometimes. Funny how that works.
I would just run a really long cable from your house.
I second this, CAT5 should do
August 1st, 2022 at 10:00 PM ^
I have the T-Mobile home internet. Technically it’s supposed to be at a fixed location but we camp and have taking it all over the country in our camper and they are yet to say anything. Its only $50 a month, no contract and the router was provided.
Trouble with using cellular near The Big House on game day is you have towers that usually support 2.5k people trying to support 125k people so you run into capacity issues. I recall a few years ago (pre 5G) we used my phone to stream a game to a TV on the golf course and it worked just fine. We transitioned to my phone while walking to the stadium and it cut out when we were a few hundred feet from the stadium. 5G is supposed to help with capacity but I have my doubts that it would help with 100x capacity spikes (with any of the wireless carriers). May be worth testing though giving that their is no contract or upfront equipment to purchase.
In my experience you can stream via 5g hot spot until about 2 hours before kickoff. Then it get dicey.
Thus we usually watch game day via stream until we have bandwidth problems then transition to a HD antenna. Quality wise no issue getting good picture on antenna. The negative is you have 1 or maybe 2 games to choose from. And in some cases if Michigan may be on ESPN or BTN this you can’t even watch the Michigan game.
Thus, as said above I think satellite either TV or internet would be the only way to go to guarantee coverage.
Good luck.
One thing to consider is the generator ban that Ann Arbor is putting in place for many of the tailgating sites. No gas generators. So make sure you have an alternative power source; we had to buy a Jackery for ours in order to power all this stuff this year.
I hadn’t heard about the generator ban. Can you share any details?
I used a portable generator last year, without an issue / problem. My generator runs pretty quiet, is shielded, and low on emissions.
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:24 AM ^
I can't find anything about banning generators either. The closest I can find is one of the parking sites is banning RVs because of fire code violations.
August 2nd, 2022 at 11:34 AM ^
We got an email from the company who runs the pioneer parking. Along the concerns that prompted the RV ban were permit issues for generators and storage of flammable liquids on site. So it probably doesn’t impact UM property.
August 2nd, 2022 at 12:16 PM ^
1. Generators – permits and inspections. This can be done with one permit for the generator installation(s) on the site. However, if an additional generator is needed later, an additional permit and another inspection would be required. Grounding is the main concern; hence, an inspection should be scheduled prior to any start up. Furthermore, generators should be protected from the public.
2. Electrical cord coverings – to avoid trip hazards.
3. Tent Permit application – This can be done with one permit that would cover all AAPS tailgating areas – for any tents / membrane structures over 400 square feet. An inspection should be scheduled prior to the event. On November 26, 2021, there were several large tents (one specific on the north side of the lot) that were over 400 square feet and had multiple propane heaters.
4. Flammable gas storage - Excess quantities of propane and gasoline need to be stored away from overnight sleeping areas.
September 1st, 2022 at 12:24 PM ^
What size Jackery do you use? I was just starting a thread on battery options for this reason, but figured I would add it here.
I have read a post from 2011 about hooking up 2 marine batteries to an inverter. I was hoping old/modern problems call for modern solutions. So good to know that smaller and lighter Lithium options are being used.
I found this Relion battery for $999 but it seems a bit much for 1 tv for 3-4 hours. I'll continue to look, but no need to reinvent the wheel if someone here has done it.
My solution for our travel trailer was to purchase Starlink with roaming to replace my local provider. I then purchased a separate cable that goes from the Dishy to the router. This enables easy connect/disconnect. When we go camping I simply grab the dish and router and put them in a bin to bring along.
For power, I got an EcoFlow “solar” generator. Basically a lithium phosphate multi use battery pack. It has solar charging capability along with cigarette charger and plug in.
A key point of this is being a full resident account means we don’t get throttled when traveling. YMMV