A General Statement About Nomad Internet

I am a little resistant to giving details, but I feel like I must. I spoke highly of them and was wrong…if you need internet please read this.


DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH NOMAD INTERNET. EVER.


I posted a few times about having internet while on the road, something which was very important to me in 2022 as I was assisting my parents through some of the trials of the elderly. I had to stay with them and was for several extended stays living out of my teardrop and having no access to the internet except a hotspot.


I have been with nomad for several years — since 2019. While I had some bumps, they always seemed willing to help — even if contacting them was extremely difficult, as all of their internet-based support is. How you get support for your internet when you don’t have internet is a bit of a mystery. I always had a backup plan, so I was able to adapt – but it meant having 2 services.


In November 2022 or possibly very early December, they announced they had agreed with Verizon (formerly, they used ATT), which would resolve the connectivity problems and improve user experience. I will thrilled! They announced a price decrease to $99 from $149 if you migrated. They also announced that if you had ATT it would continue working — but if there was a problem, you would be required to move to their new plan.


Without warning, much as every other problem I had, about a week later my service failed. So I upgraded. I was using a “sim only” plan using my own hardware. When I got the new verizon sim, the activation was not documented. I called and had them activate my service for me. I worked, but was slower than ATT. A few days later it stopped working again.


At this point I called and they had me re-activate the SIM using an app on my phone. Things again worked — My suspicion is that the SIM had a “demo” plan on it — it was about 10 days before the failure. At that time, they announced “Oh, by the way….its 149” .


THis herky jerky situation was pretty much the norm when I started the servie back in 2019. Their company is like a jelo mold – they don’t plan ahead and things shake for a week after a change is made….the gel never sets right.


This was the last straw — I opted to cancel the service. What good is something you can’t trust, and I don’t >need< to travel any more….so it is a luxury at best. Besides, I found another option that promises to work better. More on that after some time.


The fight to deactivate begins. Since early January I have been trying to cancel — they offer no-contract “cancel at any time” service, so this should be effortless right? I go to the member portal and all of my records are gone — All I have is the new service – I have no proof that I had a sim-only plan and that I had the service for nearly 3 years.


I email billing, and they tell me to contact cancellation department. Cancellation doesn’t answer the phone, and they do not respond to email. Then comes a “customer forum” and there were hundreds of posts….everyone saying “How do I cancel?” I mean hundreds. Same for comments on facebook advertisements which allowed replies. And twitter.

After 3 weeks of calling, emailing – being polite, being rude, being threatening….I had enough, but I got a call from them – and they apologized profusely and cancelled my service. I explained I had the SIM-Only service and wanted to know what to do with them SIM. I was told they were single use and should throw it away, so I did.


Comes 31-Jan-2023 and I get a notification of another bill.


I called chase, my credit card company and they politely tell me that since Nomad is a repeat billing, they are effectively unable to stop the payment.


SO…I do what any red-blooded American can do. I threatened to notify the FCC, Verizon, Federal Trade Commission, and Texas department of consumer affairs, and…to make a trip down to speak to someone face to face.


Today — I FINALLY got my cancelation….

We’ll see on March 1’st if they meant it.


The sad part is, the BBB still gives them a B rating….don’t was your time with these jerks.

Be warned....I think my "nightmare" is over....but time will tell. My next step is a step is a trip to Texas.

 

Apparently, this saga has continued to 'evolve' --- and their biggest promoters are starting to jump ship.



Has anyone used Verizon's "home" internet? Apparently, it's pretty good as well, and may work in an RV as well --- I'm surprised it isn't hard restricted to a certain number of towers in a specific geographic area. But I have heard good reviews in general about it...

 

Thanks for the update, Sweeney!
Starlink continues to evolve...(see below source for more)
Here is something more prosaic with good tips in general, for newbs like me, closer to what you are doing, Sweeney.
Going North to Alaska? Mobile Internet Options for Keeping Connected

 

I’ve looked into Verizon home internet. It’s only available in very select areas where their 5G Ultra Wideband is available. Can’t see it working anywhere one would camp.

 

I can't even get Verizon home internet at my stationary home in Chicago, and there is 5G UW down the street. Absolutely 0 chance it'd work on the move.

 

I was afraid of something like that. I have another LTE company (they do support 5G as well, but my router doesn't) but they are kind of riding the rail on sketchy, a lot like Nomad did in the beginning. So far, 4 months, I've had no outages. But being one who works remote am looking for that magic bullet.

Starlink SEEMS to be improving (flat mount dishes etc) but I'm still usually in deeper trees which pretty much make it worthless regardless.

There's a sizable market for this, I am really curious why the carriers and eve the smaller virtual carriers (cricket or the rabel of others) don't have an offering...

 

Well, it must be good if the discount code is "BONGINO!"

 

I've looked at Patriot. I like what they stand for. Right now, cheap is my goal

 

I've actually considered this Now that those who have been shilling for Nomad, and have been talking down Starlink have been exposed as unreliable, I am wondering if RV Starlink is all that bad. I've seen other Starlink supporters saying its only improved...which is supported by the fact people are flat mounting now...

I am confident if I still camped in a 'big rig' where I was out from under the canopy, I'd definitely do this. Even if the speeds were much slower. Most people do NOT need 250 megabit transfer speeds --- 10 is a very workable number for multiple concurrent Zoom calls. Also, its fine for streaming. Unless you are a competitive gamer...most people would never see the difference in any substantial way. Your bigger limiting factor is usually your wifi.

All that said, too many parks I go visit are heavily tree covered. Nothing will help with that.

If my situation were the same as it was at this time last year, at this time where I was moochdocking and was effectively living in a state park (with 1 tree per campsite) for weeks on end, I'd definitely do something like this.

Until then, my current data plan seems to be working....my backup plan will work for recreational use...unless something changes, I'm not doing anything differently.

 

Don't tempt me....

With my calendar opening up, I'm looking for a week's trip from central Indiana, northern Kentucky, or maybe even Tennasee. I'd love to get out to the southwest, but 2 weeks which is the most I can reasonably take just isn't enough for a 20-hour each-way drive....

 

RVMiles on YouTube just released a video detailing the past scams of JD Garza who is CEO of Nomad. Seems like Mr. Garza has a checkered past. I found it interesting to say the least.

 

Agree it was very well done and researched.

 

I want to see that. I'm curious how long it will take for them to either fold or completely rebrand themselves. I don't think it will be very long.

EDIT: Good video; I was expecting another video of a content provider browbeating other content providers for not doing due diligence etc. There has been some who really beat up Nomadic Fanatic for his part, as well as others. These are independent guys and gals who are trying to make a living, while living their dream. They don't always have the time to do research and hire a team of lawyers and ethicists. Hell, just wiring this took 10 minutes.

It really turns me off when people just dump on others who made a mistake. Especially when a con-man is involved. I was taken in by a huxter in my teenage years. They can be VERY convincing. I just learned early.

As for young Jaden, he is definitely a 99.44% match for the "older" Jaden we know from Nomad. While I am not qualified in facial aging "science" if I were on a jury, I'd say the RESEMBLANCE is clear to me. Its the same guy. Eyes and nose are identical.

Just based on their 'look' in the photos --- I wouldn't trust either of them to care for my pet rock while on vacation. But that's just my intuition.

 

The saga continues. Apparently, there has been considerable legal movement again them. The state of Texas has put an injunction on them. Their website is still active, and there's nothing on it yet about the injunction. I thought about opening a chat session, but just don't want to even open that door. I'm waiting for the "poof" to happen.

RV Miles has covered this better than I could here in a video --- I think the sad part about this is that there still is a nitch for the service and right now there are just no real, honest, reliable options. RV Miles talks about how expensive the plans are and how they are available commercially -- I sure can't find them.

Nomadism is a real thing. Some are not by choice. The once unthinkable idea of "living in their RV" like a family in an OLD TV show (Promised Land) isn't that strange. For someone like me who last year was required to work remotely for days and weeks at a time -- I had 'data anxiety' every day hoping that when I woke up "I home my data works..."

Starlink, right now, is the only "totally supported" of its type where you can talk to the actual provider and not try to hide what to are doing. I hope something else comes along soon. Because technically Starlink isn't 100% yet.

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/press/Nomad Internet Lawsuit.pdf