Let’s Get Together
FMCA has two great international conventions scheduled for 2022, and all RVers are invited.
By Rett Porter, F369084
National President
rporter@fmca.com
Our excitement is building! The 104th FMCA International Convention and RV Expo will be held in Tucson, Arizona, March 23 through 26, 2022. I hope that you will be joining us at the Pima County Fairgrounds, a location we’ve been to only once for a convention, and that was back in 1985. So, we’re overdue for a visit. Great entertainment, seminars, block parties, display RVs, vendors, and much more will keep you busy deciding what to do next.
With COVID-19 still front-page news, we want you to attend our event, but if you are sick, then please think of your RV family and do not come. FMCA has been diligent in trying to keep our members safe. The last two international conventions had over 7,000 attendees combined and only seven reported cases of COVID-19. Help us continue to keep everyone safe, and follow FMCA guidelines.
Spread the word about FMCA. Just before Christmas, Claire and I went to Ramblin’ Roads RV Resort in Hope, Arizona. We were attending our Anasazi chapter Christmas rally. The RV resort has 177 full-hookup sites, but other than our group of 16 RVs, we could find only one other FMCA member in the park. The point I’m trying to make is that fifth-wheel and travel trailer owners still don’t know they can be FMCA members. Many owners of Type A, B, and C motorhomes don’t know about FMCA, either. I need you to spread the word. When you’re at an RV park or resort, be sure to look for FMCA membership plates (or lack of), and share the best-kept secret in RVing.
While we were at Ramblin’ Roads, I met Cowboy Ken, and he did an interview with me and Wayne Cernie, Anasazi chapter president, that you need to see. Go to YouTube.com and search: Rett Porter and Cowboy Ken, or put this link into your browser: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d8D-M0dgZ0.
The resort sits on almost 300 acres of privately owned prop-erty surrounded by Bureau of Land Management land. If you like to be close to nature and ride in the desert, then this is the resort for you. You can play golf on an 18-hole desert golf course with no grass. You have the option to use their golf clubs and not tear up your clubs on rocks and sand. If you are into off-roading, then you will love this area. The Ramblin’ Roads RV Resort owner is joining as an FMCA commercial member and invited us to come in January to tell the whole resort about FMCA and try to get other RV owners to join our family.
Do you know your membership number? FMCA issues our members a family number that remains theirs forever. This number is important. You will see it on your badge at FMCA conventions and area rallies, and this is the number that the FMCAssist Medical Emergency and Travel Assistance Program uses to identify you as a current member if you need those services. In last month’s column, I talked about how these numbers are assigned for life, and how your children or grandchildren can use this number with a suffix if they own a qualifying RV.
Recently, I was asked by someone selling his RV if he could pass on his number to the next owner. As noted, immediate family members may use the number with the appropriate suffix attached, but a new owner who is not related to you cannot use your number. Instead, consider buying an FMCA membership for the person who just bought your RV, so they can enjoy the benefits and family experiences, too.
In conclusion: We are adding new benefits for our family members throughout the year. Please check our website (FMCA.com) and see what’s new. You can also learn more when you come to our Tucson FMCA International Convention and RV Expo, March 23 through 26, 2022. I will look forward to seeing you there in Tucson or somewhere along the road if you can’t join us this time. Also, make plans now to attend FMCA’s 105th International Convention and RV Expo, August 24 through 27, 2022, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Registration begins on February 24, and the registration form can be found online and will appear in the March issue as well.
Changes To FMCA Wi-Fi Plan
With the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile, changes are afoot for FMCA’s Wi-Fi offer.
By Chris Smith
Chief Executive Officer
csmith@fmca.com
The age-old saying that “nothing is certain but change” seems to ring true more often these days. FMCA recently learned of changes that will impact our mobile Wi-Fi plan. As many of you know, the plan had made use of the Sprint system, and recently Sprint was involved in a huge merger with T-Mobile. The Sprint name and Sprint services are being phased out. So, FMCA members who have signed up for the FMCA Wi-Fi program are being transitioned to a T-Mobile plan.
Some members who have already moved over to the new plan experienced a data slowdown, something that hadn’t happened with the Sprint plan. FMCA has learned that while the T-Mobile plan is still unlimited in terms of LTE data usage (no overages or data caps), after you reach 50GB, you may at times notice reduced speeds in areas with network congestion. Data prioritization will be noticeable only when you access a congested tower and have used over 50GB of data in a particular billing cycle. You will continue to get unlimited high-speed data on your mobile hotspot when you aren’t accessing a congested tower. In that way, it’s different from data throttling, which slows you down for the remainder of your billing cycle, all the time, regardless of network conditions. T-Mobile’s “fair use” policy is in line with common industry standards for network management, which are designed to optimize network performance and service.
FMCA will be rolling out the new plan to members on an ongoing basis as time permits. Each member will need to be sent a new device and will be contacted by FMCA staff about a shipping address when their time arrives. Ultimately, the existing devices will cease to work, but we will have all members moved to new devices before that happens. Pricing for the plan will remain the same — $49.99 per month, plus a one-time rental fee of $39.99 for the device.
We appreciate members’ patience as we move forward with this transition.