Help Me Wrap My Head Around The Decision To Become A Truck Driver

OP, I hear a little of me in you. I will say this though. A college degree isn't necessarily a ticket to a better job. (Please don't hear me discount education and bettering oneself. Due to certain challenges I faced, many thought I wouldn't finish college. The fact I graduated is one of my greatest accomplishments [and from a well known school.]) I took a job last year for $9 an hour working at a sporting goods store. It's the only job I could find at the time. I swallowed my pride and did what I had to do.

My hesitation with taking the plunge into driving is more a lifestyle decision, as the monetary expectations are well known from the companies I'm considering.

Paul. Not sure what rainy has. But mine is the same. Straight talk from Walmart. They even take 5 off if u sign up for auto pay. Also sorry to hijack the op lol

Paul. Not sure what rainy has. But mine is the same. Straight talk from Walmart. They even take 5 off if u sign up for auto pay. Also sorry to hijack the op lol

Seriously? Wow, I have been paying way too much for cell service

T-mobile offers unlimited everything for $50/month and even allows tethering. If you want to go very cheap, I use a service called TextNow from Canada (uses sprint network) and mine is $18.99/month and yes its unlimited but amt of hi speed data is very limited lol. The reason they're so cheap is they utilize wifi at every opportunity to reduce the bandwidth. The customer service is not great, but it's cheap and works well enough for me, but I don't live on my phone like many "yougsters".

Ronnie Milsap, now that's a memory. And my two cents...give it a shot! I drove ten years ago and couldn't really decide whether I liked it or not, so I went back into restaurant business. And I let my Cdl lapse, so obviously I have to start from scratch. I really want to drive again but people in my life are making it difficult. I'm so burnt on the restaurant business. Pay is pitiful 15$ hr if you are lucky. If I want to put in 70+ hrs on my feet etc I could probably pull down 50,000$. Just do it!

I'm with AT&T. Cell service was something I wanted to find out about. I'm sure, in todays market, most cell providers will be fairly similar, in relation to coverage. However, it wasn't always that way. Years ago, depending on what part of the country you lived in, AT&T might be better or Verizon might be better. Does anyone have any experiences that would make them say one company generally has better service for truck drivers than another? I.e. since you are moving from area to area, one service has poorer service overall than another?

Also, how does one go about watching TV while on rest breaks? The only thing I can think of is, a) carry a set of rabbit ears or HDOA antenna with you and pick up whatever local channels you can, or, b) use your phone as a mobile hotspot to provide signal to a streaming box, such as a Roku and you can watch programs from a something like Amazon Prime. How would that work though, since most of the time, cell signals are generally not stable enough to provide streaming video without a lot of buffering. Do most truck stops have pretty good wifi that you can connect to?

I'm with AT&T. Cell service was something I wanted to find out about. I'm sure, in todays market, most cell providers will be fairly similar, in relation to coverage. However, it wasn't always that way. Years ago, depending on what part of the country you lived in, AT&T might be better or Verizon might be better. Does anyone have any experiences that would make them say one company generally has better service for truck drivers than another? I.e. since you are moving from area to area, one service has poorer service overall than another?

Also, how does one go about watching TV while on rest breaks? The only thing I can think of is, a) carry a set of rabbit ears or HDOA antenna with you and pick up whatever local channels you can, or, b) use your phone as a mobile hotspot to provide signal to a streaming box, such as a Roku and you can watch programs from a something like Amazon Prime. How would that work though, since most of the time, cell signals are generally not stable enough to provide streaming video without a lot of buffering. Do most truck stops have pretty good wifi that you can connect to?

I Have T Mobile and the coverage is okay but ATT and Verizon areuch better. Verixzon does not have unlimited and I stream constantly between my.movies and pandora. My bro and I are on the same account so I'm a second line. I think he pays $60 for his and mine is $50. The sucks part is that many truxk stops jam my reception ro force me to buy theirs. Screw them I wont.

I can tether my phone to my laptop. I know drivers who have roku and pay for the WiFi annually at the truck stops. To them $300 per year is worth it. When I have paid in the last for either the month or the day... the coverage was spotty. Spaces up front got better reception and of course at night it was slooooowwww. I paid for 24 hours at the petri in laramie wy and cause the road was shut down everyone was using it. Couldn't stream and not worth it.

I know a few people with Dish or direct TV satellites. After I get my new mattress in a couple weeks.. the satellite will be the next thing. ;) honestly though..I'd rather have the net than a satellite. I love my roku

Wonder if it is possible to get satellite internet while on the road. I think both dish and DTV offer satellite internet, not sure of that though. It would work similar to using satellite TV while on the road, just clamp the dish to your mirror when you are parked and you have good internet everywhere. That may be something I look into.

I was in IT - I never want to go back, as most IT people I've met at jobs have their head up their bums. I don't care about pay - I want to do something that I'll enjoy rather than going to the same place every day, stuck behind a desk.

Do I wish I could get another job in IT? Somewhat, but I don't think I'd enjoy it as much as being OTR - I'm looking forward to driving, and if I don't at least try, I'll have never known if it was worth leaving IT or not (I'm assuming it is, though!).

Wonder if it is possible to get satellite internet while on the road. I think both dish and DTV offer satellite internet, not sure of that though. It would work similar to using satellite TV while on the road, just clamp the dish to your mirror when you are parked and you have good internet everywhere. That may be something I look into.

Dude its really not worth it, I had sat service thru hughesnet and the only times that are truely free is between 2am and 8 am. The rest of the time is throttled and it talkes up your bandwidth to much. I was paying for sat service here at my house and it was costing me over 100 a month for the next to best package and I ran out of bandwidth before the month was up and you have to sign a 2 year ageement to get it. Its really not worth it to get satelite internet, just get it thru the truck stop you go to alot!!!