Wifi in remote areas

pianotuna wrote:
Starlink is open for beta and covers a lot of North America.

1 meter dish and $99 usd per month. First come first serve.

https://www.starlink.com/

Better information here:

https://www.satelliteinternet.com/providers/starlink/

Starlink, at least for now, is not meant for mobile use:

Can I travel with Starlink, or move it to a different address?

Starlink satellites are scheduled to send internet down to all users within a designated area on the ground. This designated area is referred to as a cell.

Your Starlink is assigned to a single cell. If you move your Starlink outside of its assigned cell, a satellite will not be scheduled to serve your Starlink and you will not receive internet. This is constrained by geometry and is not arbitrary geofencing.

The FAQ doesn't say anything about whether or not they'll eventually open it up to non fixed addresses. For now I think they want to have good control over how many customers are in each cell. The cells are estimated to be around 15 miles diagonal, so you'd have to be camping pretty close to home to stay in the same cell.

speediq99 wrote:
We are back to camping after several years out. We are going to be in remote locations and need to do basic Internet work. Any better solutions out there than a Verizon Jetpack? Any antenna we can purchase to get a better signal?

Thank you!

The problem with cell connections is distance. You can get an antenna that will dredge up a signal--perhaps even 2 or 3 bars. BUT the range is limited to about 25 miles. Anything farther away and the "hand shaking" times out.

I think the worlds record for wifi is something like 140 miles--but I don't think we mere mortals can afford the equipment to do that.
I had an Alfa with a high gain (omni directional antenna). It was running 5 watts. The best I ever did was about 2 miles.

Starlink is open for beta and covers a lot of North America.

1 meter dish and $99 usd per month. First come first serve.

https://www.starlink.com/

Better information here:

https://www.satelliteinternet.com/providers/starlink/

I also set up a LAN with my setup. I set up with a directional antenna. But if there is no bandwidth it is useless. Eg 700am, dinner time etc.

Verizon has the best coverage but others are also good. Consider a cell booster which consists of outside antenna, amplifier and inside antenna. Wilson is excellent, expensive and I'm sure even more so for 5G. Typically they cover multiple cell providers. Other types and antennas are available and consider external antenna port capability for any hot spot you buy.