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Old 01-15-2019, 03:38 PM   #1
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Apple TV instead of Satellite

Got a recent suggestion from my AT&T phone salesperson and wondered if anyone else may be doing this.
1. connect Apple TV( got this a Christmas present) to HDMI 2 port on back of Toshiba TV in living room.
2. Connect Apple tv to my AT&T service iPhone so that it uses Airplay to show everything on my iPhone.
3. Turn on video streaming through the Direct TV App.
Expected Benefits
1. Direct TV streaming is now "Data Free" for AT&T cellular customers.
2. Direct TV App gives access to live and recorded TV (everything you have on home service). No extra fee for this.
3.Don't have to buy and set up Satellite dish, cables and receiver.
4.Relies on cellular signal. This will vary from campground to campground but so does every other signal source.
5. Gets local channels from "home" area
6. Still have option to use roof antenna or campground cable since Apple TV will connect to HDMI 2 input port

Would appreciate any feedback from those who are doing this already!

Paul B.
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Old 01-15-2019, 03:51 PM   #2
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Your Apple TV will only function if it is connected through WiFi. Unless you have a WiFi Router in your trailer this will not work. The other issue is that some streaming providers don't allow Mirroring to another device. I don't know how they can tell but they can. I would try this on your home TV first.
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Old 01-15-2019, 03:52 PM   #3
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"1. Direct TV streaming is now "Data Free" for AT&T cellular customers."

this would be the 'info' to really check and confirm - I believe that this service for AT&T unlimited customers is simply to view on your PHONE, not streaming to other devices... but check my 'math' for sure.
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Old 01-15-2019, 03:53 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pdbelew View Post
Got a recent suggestion from my AT&T phone salesperson and wondered if anyone else may be doing this.

1. connect Apple TV( got this a Christmas present) to HDMI 2 port on back of Toshiba TV in living room.

2. Connect Apple tv to my AT&T service iPhone so that it uses Airplay to show everything on my iPhone.

3. Turn on video streaming through the Direct TV App.

Expected Benefits

1. Direct TV streaming is now "Data Free" for AT&T cellular customers.

2. Direct TV App gives access to live and recorded TV (everything you have on home service). No extra fee for this.

3.Don't have to buy and set up Satellite dish, cables and receiver.

4.Relies on cellular signal. This will vary from campground to campground but so does every other signal source.

5. Gets local channels from "home" area

6. Still have option to use roof antenna or campground cable since Apple TV will connect to HDMI 2 input port



Would appreciate any feedback from those who are doing this already!



Paul B.


I’m not but it’s a grand idea. I have dish because, well when I get off the pipeline the last thing I want to worry about is if I have a signal to stream off my phone service. And I’ve got 4 TVs. It would get old connecting and reconnecting to a different tv. That’s nice if it will work for you. I pay I think nine or $10 on top of my house bill with the families that and I get everything they get to include local channels there. My satellite dishes, it was a one time thing. I’ve spent more on stupid car parts that I’ve outgrown or busted being stupid after I bought them. But eight minutes after setting the camper the dishes are out and TVs are going.
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Old 01-15-2019, 04:03 PM   #5
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I guess it's good if you have unlimited data and a good cell connection. You can't really rely on WiFi at campgrounds. Most will have streaming ports locked down or be so overloaded their useless.
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Old 01-15-2019, 04:14 PM   #6
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I was going to try to do this the last time we went out, but I forgot to take the stupid little AppleTV remote. The remote control app wouldn't work, because the AppleTV wasn't set to my phone hotspot. I couldn't set the AppleTV to my hotspot because the phone wouldn't connect.

Take away...don't forget your AppleTV remote.

Let us know how it works.
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Old 01-15-2019, 04:29 PM   #7
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I do this with HULU Live on my home TV and a ROKU streaming device. WIFI works the best, screen mirroring is pretty good if you have great service to your phone/tablet. this is the big problem, having a reliable connection that is strong enough to stream. lots of times i can get a signal to look something up and make calls/texts, but not enough to stream anything. most streaming services need about 5mbps to work properly.

even with an "unlimited" plan, some (most) will throttle your speed down from 4G/LTE to something like 500/600 kbps after you use some amount of data, i think around 15-20 gigs.

my father in law has a sat dish for his camper, much more reliable than my setup.
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Old 01-15-2019, 04:45 PM   #8
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I have started to use this service WestPA.tv to stream television.

All that is needed is a capable primary device such as a smart tv, Firetv or FireTVstick.
Roku integration coming soon. I like this service because it has ALL the network feeds. They are NOT locals but you can watch all the network news and prime time shows.

If you plan to stream, please DO NOT bombard the campground's internet with your streaming service unless they have the option to purchase more data. It is simply not fair to others to hog the bandwidth by streaming tv.

Use a hotspot (of your choice) or use your phone as a hotspot.
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Old 01-15-2019, 04:52 PM   #9
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I think many folks who travel in their RV have wanted to/or tried to make some type of streaming or 'casting' work for TV viewing, but the vast majority of RVrs are satellite viewers because it simple works, no matter whether wifi or a cell signal, or not.
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Old 01-15-2019, 05:07 PM   #10
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Just don't plan on watching TV at prime time in medium to crowded RV parks without lots of buffering...if you even get that far. Good Luck.
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Old 01-15-2019, 06:30 PM   #11
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We don’t have Apple TVs but do have Rokus at each (3). We use truly unlimited cellular plans and have hotspot devices for them. We stream almost all of the content that we watch (on TVs and tablets). It has worked swimmingly for 3 1/2 years of fulltiming now.

As for the plan to show your screen to the Apple TV, I’m not sure if the app and/or the unlimited data side of it will work. There’s only 1 way to find out, though! Try and report back, please.
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Old 01-15-2019, 07:00 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IsleDog View Post
I do this with HULU Live on my home TV and a ROKU streaming device. WIFI works the best, screen mirroring is pretty good if you have great service to your phone/tablet. this is the big problem, having a reliable connection that is strong enough to stream. lots of times i can get a signal to look something up and make calls/texts, but not enough to stream anything. most streaming services need about 5mbps to work properly.

even with an "unlimited" plan, some (most) will throttle your speed down from 4G/LTE to something like 500/600 kbps after you use some amount of data, i think around 15-20 gigs.

my father in law has a sat dish for his camper, much more reliable than my setup.


We have a winner right here... Unlimited data on a cellular network like AT&T and others is unlimited. Read the fine print on your plan and you’ll se that after you consume x amount of data they throttle you and slow down. When they do, your data speeds are painfully slow and is barley tolerable enough to read emails, forget about streaming.

I know this from experience...First day at the campground their WIFI was awful... I tried it using my Amazon Firestick but the network was too slow.... Hooked up my phone and used it as a hotspot thinking heck, I have unlimited data... That worked great the first night but the next night they throttled me and it became unusable unless your the type of person who like to watch paint dry.
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Old 01-16-2019, 12:25 AM   #13
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Read the fine print on your plan and you’ll se that after you consume x amount of data they throttle you and slow down.

*maybe (and probably likely). But, not all unlimited plans have this limitation.
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Old 01-16-2019, 12:46 AM   #14
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Your Apple TV will only function if it is connected through WiFi. Unless you have a WiFi Router in your trailer this will not work. The other issue is that some streaming providers don't allow Mirroring to another device. I don't know how they can tell but they can. I would try this on your home TV first.
True that Apple TV requires WiFi. I assume you have apple products. You can get an lightning to HDMI adapter to plug into your Apple device and don’t need Apple TV. The adapter will mirror what is on your Apple device. We do it all the time.

We have Verizon unlimited plan and it works as well as the LTE data signal allows. They do throttle after 22GB for phones and iPads. Between the DW and I we have 2 phones and 2 iPads and a hotspot. A lot of data before we are throttled back. On the phone and iPad they say I could be throttled back during high activity times. Never made that yet. Hotspot is throttled back regardless of how much activity.

Get a lightning to hdmi connector and enjoy.
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Old 01-16-2019, 01:15 AM   #15
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As far as I can tell from 2 minutes of googling this is not going to work. Watching Directv on the phone requires a specific app which in turn does not allow mirroring via WiFi/ATV or the lightning/HDMI adapter. See here towards the end: https://forums.att.com/t5/DIRECTV-Ap...V/td-p/5548844
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Old 01-16-2019, 04:01 AM   #16
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As far as I can tell from 2 minutes of googling this is not going to work. Watching Directv on the phone requires a specific app which in turn does not allow mirroring via WiFi/ATV or the lightning/HDMI adapter. See here towards the end: https://forums.att.com/t5/DIRECTV-Ap...V/td-p/5548844


I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. He is using his iPhone as a Wi-Fi hotspot. All he is going g to do is configure his Apple TV to use that Wi-Fi
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Old 01-16-2019, 04:03 AM   #17
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Originally Posted by IchLiebeBier View Post
I was going to try to do this the last time we went out, but I forgot to take the stupid little AppleTV remote. The remote control app wouldn't work, because the AppleTV wasn't set to my phone hotspot. I couldn't set the AppleTV to my hotspot because the phone wouldn't connect.



Take away...don't forget your AppleTV remote.



Let us know how it works.


Next time use the Apple TV Remote app if you forget your remote...
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Old 01-16-2019, 04:39 AM   #18
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Next time use the Apple TV Remote app if you forget your remote...
That was the issue, and after re-reading what I wrote, I see I wasn't clear in my comment.

You can't use the app remote to set it up the first time. You need to be able to go into the AppleTV settings to configure the connection. But until you have a connection to the phone, they won't talk to each other. Therefore, the phone app remote is useless, until you have already configured it.

Long story short, take the AppleTV remote with you to configure everything the first time. Then the app remote will work.
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Old 01-16-2019, 07:30 AM   #19
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Hang on folks,

from what I read the new 5G will doom cable tv, dish and direct and the campgrounds can discard their wi fi goodies!


And there should be price competition!!!
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Old 01-16-2019, 08:01 AM   #20
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The directv app doesn’t allow casting/mirroring. Wish it did, I would have tore down my dish a long time ago.
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