Best solutions for internet - REAL solutions please! :)

[crasster]

I'm having a lot of trouble traveling because I can't get a "decent" connection. I must have one for part time work.

Decent means 10mbps. That's it. 🙂 Fast enough for a tiny vid conference or some upload.

I'm having a lot of problems.

I've tried Weboost and it seems spotty (yes it's for my service AT&T with the correct bands supported). It sort "meh". It somewhat helps.

I'd be willing to buy a crank pole antenna with a parabolic or anything... I just want to be able to travel more.

My thoughts
1) Parabolic with a crank pole antenna mounted to my RV. Simply zero in on a cell tower at a campground.

2) Perhaps have a 4G or 5G supporting router with external jacks for step #1 rather than a cell phone near Weboost connected to the antenna.

3) How is starlink?

4) How is any other satellite internet?

I'm sort of desperate here. If I can make this work almost anywhere, I'll be able to travel very often.

Detailed tips really appreciated.

[pyoung47]

My son has Starlink, and he is very satisfied with it. I’m not sure about the practicality of hauling it around.

[philh]

Winegard with built in LGE router. AT&T sim card, ZERO issues, and speeds have run between 25 & 54

[Thermoguy]

Starlink is $100 per month and not available everywhere - it is not available for mobile units, such as an RV. I have looked into it and it is not available where I live - limited number of people in each area.

[blazenpm]

My son lives in the state of Washington on the east side. He needs internet to earn a living but where he lives internet is very weak. So he and his father in law subscribed to "Star Link", he is very pleased and the signal is as good as it gets. The equipment costs around $500 I do not know what or if there is a monthly premium. Anyway, Star link can only get better as Elon Musk is sending up satellites almost daily to cover the entire off grid world. Try it you might like it. Let me know how it works out if you decide to use it.

[crasster]

Dutch_12078 wrote:

Gulfcoast wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:
As Jon said, a MIMO (Multiple In Multiple Out) antenna set is a good choice if your hotspot or router supports it. I use an aimable dual Yagi set that has equaled or out performed our previous $600 amplifier/repeater everywhere we've been with it at less than one-third the cost. My set is mounted just above our Winegard "batwing" TV antenna.

Hey Dutch.... could you please post a picture of the rear of your batwing antenna? I have my yagi's, just need to see the best way to build a bracket for them. I have to build a bracket that will allow the antenna to go up and down, but I haven't worked that out yet. Thanks

Here's a couple of shots of the back and the roughed out bracket. The red arrows on the antennas were just temporary to indicate the top so a condensation vent was at the bottom. The bracket was cut from a piece of 1/4" thick scrap aluminum. The two larger holes were already in the scrap piece, and were not used. The antenna mounts themselves are just the 'L' brackets that came with the antennas hammered flat. The antennas maintain the same orientation when lowered the same as the batwing.

This is really great. Thanks!

[Gulfcoast]

Thank you so much for the info. I will get started on my bracket in the morning.

[Dutch_12078]

Gulfcoast wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:
As Jon said, a MIMO (Multiple In Multiple Out) antenna set is a good choice if your hotspot or router supports it. I use an aimable dual Yagi set that has equaled or out performed our previous $600 amplifier/repeater everywhere we've been with it at less than one-third the cost. My set is mounted just above our Winegard "batwing" TV antenna.

Hey Dutch.... could you please post a picture of the rear of your batwing antenna? I have my yagi's, just need to see the best way to build a bracket for them. I have to build a bracket that will allow the antenna to go up and down, but I haven't worked that out yet. Thanks

Here's a couple of shots of the back and the roughed out bracket. The red arrows on the antennas were just temporary to indicate the top so a condensation vent was at the bottom. The bracket was cut from a piece of 1/4" thick scrap aluminum. The two larger holes were already in the scrap piece, and were not used. The antenna mounts themselves are just the 'L' brackets that came with the antennas hammered flat. The antennas maintain the same orientation when lowered the same as the batwing.

[Dutch_12078]

crasster wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:
As Jon said, a MIMO (Multiple In Multiple Out) antenna set is a good choice if your hotspot or router supports it. I use an aimable dual Yagi set that has equaled or out performed our previous $600 amplifier/repeater everywhere we've been with it at less than one-third the cost. My set is mounted just above our Winegard "batwing" TV antenna.

Thank you!
What type of router are you using?

I use it with either a Verizon or AT&T hotspot depending on which signal need the most help.

[TechWriter]

crasster wrote:
I'm having a lot of trouble traveling because I can't get a "decent" connection. I must have one for part time work.

Decent means 10mbps . . .

3) How is starlink?

Very good for a stationary location. I've had it for about a year and DL speeds are almost always 100+ Mbps. Starlink has become very stable over time.

However, for mobile use, I don't think it's there yet. Starlink service is not guaranteed in all areas.

crasster wrote:
4) How is any other satellite internet?

I used a portable HughesNet Gen 5 dish for two years and it was bullet proof. DL speeds averaged to 10+ Mbps. And service was available as long as you could see the Echostar 19 sat.

However, HughesNet Gen 5 is expensive and klunky. The equipment you need for a portable system (dish, tripod, modem, etc) costs about $1500. Then you must purchase a data plan (which you can change every month in you want) which range from 2 GB/mon ($40) to 1 TB/mon ($2000). We opted for the 50 GB/mon data plan for $120/mon.

FYI -- this is Business HughesNet Gen 5, not Residential. In short, it means you use a bigger sat dish and have more data plan choices AND you can move it around.

[jorbill2or]

Gdetrailer wrote:

Thermoguy wrote:
Is FMCA just a Sprint mobile internet plan? How does it work if you have a poor cell signal or no cell signal? Seems like it would be the same as any cell service - is this incorrect?

I have a Verizon jet pack and when I get to about 1-2 bars, it is worthless. Won't load anything on my devices.

Starlink will be the solution, but it's still a couple years off. Not sure how the cost of expensive hardware and $100 a month will make it worth it.

Sometimes it's nice to just check out of technology.

Yes.

FMCA is nothing more than a reseller of Sprint.

There are only three real cellphone OEMs, Verizon, ATT and Sprint. Every one else is nothing more the resellers, buying services from one of the big three.

It is possible to have one or more of the big three OEMs close enough to you to work for any of the big three OEMs or only one close OEM enough to work but you are not on that specific OEM network and you have no signal.

Not all three OEMs have good coverage in all areas and you need to do your homework to figure out which of the big three OEMs have a tower closest to where you are planning to camp.. Unless of course you subscribe to multiple OEMs services..

In my area home, ATT has more towers (three within 3 miles) close to me, Verizon has one (two miles from me) and Sprint has zero (IE zero service, Sprint in fact has only one tower in my entire county which happens to be near a Interstate far, far from me)..

Sprint and Verizon tend to have more towers near larger Metro areas, ATT seems to have a bit more coverage in rural areas like I am in.

With 5G rollout and 3G networks going dark soon, everyone will be relying on 4G LTE networks even heavier changing the coverage landscape. 5G does not go as far and requires more towers making it a lot more costlier to roll out to rural areas so your are most likely only going to see true 5G close to big metro areas.

There are cell tower maps you can search the internet for which can show the concentration of cell towers for each OEM carrier and the coverage of those towers instead of guessing.

Yes there are 3 but not Sprint it’s T-Mobile. Sprint is gone Sprint plans are really T-Mobile and as noted will need new phones or hotspots to fully take advantage of tmobile. Sprint devices are using the old sprint that’s still left and what T-Mobile that they can receive.
As I said If you travel a lot to most of the country you need at least 2 of the three. There are places with no cell service yes but they are fewer and fewer.

[theoldwizard1]

Gdetrailer wrote:
FMCA is nothing more than a reseller of Sprint.

There are only three real cellphone OEMs, Verizon, ATT and Sprint.

Sprint was bought out by T-Mobile. If you have a cell phone or hot spot that runs on Sprint you will soon need a new SIM card.

[Gdetrailer]

Thermoguy wrote:
Is FMCA just a Sprint mobile internet plan? How does it work if you have a poor cell signal or no cell signal? Seems like it would be the same as any cell service - is this incorrect?

I have a Verizon jet pack and when I get to about 1-2 bars, it is worthless. Won't load anything on my devices.

Starlink will be the solution, but it's still a couple years off. Not sure how the cost of expensive hardware and $100 a month will make it worth it.

Sometimes it's nice to just check out of technology.

Yes.

FMCA is nothing more than a reseller of Sprint.

There are only three real cellphone OEMs, Verizon, ATT and Sprint. Every one else is nothing more the resellers, buying services from one of the big three.

It is possible to have one or more of the big three OEMs close enough to you to work for any of the big three OEMs or only one close OEM enough to work but you are not on that specific OEM network and you have no signal.

Not all three OEMs have good coverage in all areas and you need to do your homework to figure out which of the big three OEMs have a tower closest to where you are planning to camp.. Unless of course you subscribe to multiple OEMs services..

In my area home, ATT has more towers (three within 3 miles) close to me, Verizon has one (two miles from me) and Sprint has zero (IE zero service, Sprint in fact has only one tower in my entire county which happens to be near a Interstate far, far from me)..

Sprint and Verizon tend to have more towers near larger Metro areas, ATT seems to have a bit more coverage in rural areas like I am in.

With 5G rollout and 3G networks going dark soon, everyone will be relying on 4G LTE networks even heavier changing the coverage landscape. 5G does not go as far and requires more towers making it a lot more costlier to roll out to rural areas so your are most likely only going to see true 5G close to big metro areas.

There are cell tower maps you can search the internet for which can show the concentration of cell towers for each OEM carrier and the coverage of those towers instead of guessing.

[Thermoguy]

Is FMCA just a Sprint mobile internet plan? How does it work if you have a poor cell signal or no cell signal? Seems like it would be the same as any cell service - is this incorrect?

I have a Verizon jet pack and when I get to about 1-2 bars, it is worthless. Won't load anything on my devices.

Starlink will be the solution, but it's still a couple years off. Not sure how the cost of expensive hardware and $100 a month will make it worth it.

Sometimes it's nice to just check out of technology.

[Second_Chance]

These folks are the gurus on this topic - lots of good information:

RVMobileInternet

Rob