Using Tablo in an RV

Due to the fact that I have no OTA reception where I live here in Canada,I’m very interested in having a Tablo for my yearly RV travel in the US southwest each winter,which is over a 4-5 month period. I know from past experience that the areas I travel in have excellent and abundant OTA reception,so in trying to understand all the set up and usage info, I’m still a little confused about the home network issue.
The only home network that I would have would be a 3G internet hot spot,so would this device make all the necessary connections between my tablo and iPad?

You’d want some decent network speed between the Tablo and the iPad. 
Internet connection could be 'guide only".  However, you’d need to verify your 3g
router could handle the tv streaming or add an additional and faster router to handle
the tv stream.

You don’t have OTA at home so you can’t sort out the bugs before hitting the road.  

Read the manaul on that 3G internet hot spot. See if it will route between devices and at what speed.  See if it can serve as an internet connection to another router.


Thanks stivae,my Verizon MIFI 2200 hotspot has no instruction book but has given me good YouTube video streaming service between it and laptop/iPad.
My only plan in my small travel trailer is to supply a stream between the Tablo and my iPad only and if what you say is that the on line part is just for the guide,then I should be fine.

What I was trying to find out was if the Tablo streams directly to an iPad without Internet use,other than guide.
I guess you could liken this MIFI hotspot to being the same as using your iPhone as an internet hotspot on 3G.
So if that was the case,do you think this setup should work?

Trying not to be long winded but because I shut down my internet device when not in use to save its battery power,so will the Tablo still record (if preprogrammed) with no internet?

Just to add to this last post…when writing it I’ve got separate paragraphs,but they are not showing up in the post…what am I doing wrong?

The Tablo will not stream directly to your iPad.  Both have to be connected to the same network, so your MIFI 2200 hotspot would always have to be on to stream.  


The Tablo will record without a network connection, so you could turn off your hotspot when you are not using your iPad.  

Understanding the network stream is what has me confused not knowing the power capabilities of a little Mobil hotspot in the network and if it can handle the data flow…that’s why I was hoping that the data flow came directly from the tablo to the iPad and the hotspot was just keeping the tablo website open to the system for selections,if that makes any sense.

I can understand using it here at home with my router, but I don’t want it for home use…only travel since I don’t have any OTA signal here.

Looks like it should just work. The CNET review said the device is limited to 5mb in routing mode between devices… So that limits you to the new 720 chromecast/roku or 480 standard def Tablo record settings.

Keep all three devices on (Tablo, iPad, 3g hotspot) and it should just work. The review talked about plugging the USB power into the wall vs. a computer to keep it out of (single device) modem mode.

Now my concern would be if I intended to use it while moving… I don’t think Tablo auto scans for reception… So I would imagine, the only usable scenario would be to use Tablo when stationary and after you run through another channel scan. Not an RV dude myself, so I’m just thinking out loud.

As far as solutions I know about, Tablo seems like a good one when limited to 3G.

We actually ran Tablo off of a 3G smartphone at a recent tradeshow. (They wanted 4K for an internet connection… for three days…) 


So it SHOULD work but it’s certainly not a common use case. 

You will have to do a rescan and download the 14 days of guide data at each stop though. 

That’s very encouraging news,thank you…having used both the iPhone and the MIFI as a hotspot for my laptop,they both seem to have similar power…I can put up with a rescan and download for a week travelling each way,then I would be settling in to one general area once I arrive in Arizona.
I realize my situation is different than a regular home owner,but there are thousands of snowbirds travelling in RV’s who could benefit from Tablo if they knew about it…if it works out for me I’ll spread the word.

@Marbil146 - Yes! Please keep us posted!