Working on the road.

[Scott_Julie]

I have the new lance 1172 and belly bars on the T100. I and the wife are now working from home and would like to get out on the road. We both need reliable internet at streaming speeds. I have been truck camping for 20 years. During that time I never Needed internet. HELP?

[Crabbypatty]

I have the weboost amp, indoor antenna panel and outside I put up the trucker, non ground plane antenna. I installed the antenna on a painters pole and pushed it up 15 feet over the rig. Works very well except when windy as the antenna is moving. Nothing is perfect as there are so many variables. Trees in the way, hills as you cant get a signal through dirt. That said if there is path I stream netflix. I also just bought and am waiting for the directional antenna from Wilson. As I set up camp and dont move for a week. So aim it the best tower should increase my through put. I work while camping over the summer so being connected is very important. I use my iphone as a hotspot then connect to my laptop. I also hae a backup system. Hawkings smart repeater that can connect up to a wifi hotspot. Dual systems whatever works the best gets used.

As far as dollars? One job pays for it all, the rest are gravy. Happy trails

[Bedlam]

The software hotspots within phones are great where signals are strong, but you need the capability of using a higher gain antenna in weak or congested areas. You can use passive repeating devices, pico cells, bridges and other solutions, so there are many ways to capture some bandwidth...

[bighatnohorse]

A quick Google search shows that apparently the galaxy note 9 has a built in hotspot.

[Freep]

Scott&Julie wrote:
I have the new lance 1172 and belly bars on the T100. I and the wife are now working from home and would like to get out on the road. We both need reliable internet at streaming speeds. I have been truck camping for 20 years. During that time I never Needed internet. HELP?

We used mifi hotspots for years but cell companies give you crappy deals on data usage for those. So I bought this cell router instead. You use the sim card from a phone on your plan and it uses the "unlimited" plan we have for it. Bascially we went from getting 40GB for $150 to getting 75GB for $50.

I also installed some external antennas on the camper which helps dramatically with bandwidth and quality of service.

Next year I hope to be a beta tester for Starlink.

Edit: I should point out that we worked in the camper in the southwest for a month this year. Both of us having daily meetings. We work remote all the time.

[Bedlam]

I'm having a hard time time suggesting a system currently since 5G is phasing in, but the technology is still in early releases. Do you buy a solid 4G system and get left behind as more 5G is activated or do you get a 5G that may not be as good next iteration coming out in 6-12 months? I use a Verizon Jetpack with external directional antenna. It is relatively cheap to replace the dedicated hotspot or antenna compared to these integrated vehicle systems. I do like Wilson products for cellular and Wineguard for OTA television, but I don't always agree their products are the best value.

[Camper_Jeff___K]

Bedlam wrote:
Togo is a hotsopt by Wineguard for vehicles rather being a personal device. If you only work from your RV, it is a good solution. If you travel away from your RV and still need to work, it is not the solution.

https://winegard.com/products/cellular/4g-lte-hotspots/togo-roadlink-c2/togo-roadlink-c2

What are your thoughs Pete, I'm about to drop some dollars on a
WEBoost Drive Reach OTR Mobile Signal Booster Kit
Where I'll be the next 4-5 weeks is poor signal zone. I can get decent phone but 4G LTE not at all. I can go into my settings and switch from GLOBAL to either LTE/CDMA or LTE/GSM/UTMS and get 4G though. I'll have to discuss this with Verizon to check if it's OK for me to do that or if I will incur additional charges.
So anyway, it's 600 clams through the Wilson store. I'm open to suggestion of a kit you think is as good for less or if this is it. The RV kit at nearly 800 dollars it too much. The OTR kit is pushing it. Thanks for your input.

[Bedlam]

Togo is a hotsopt by Wineguard for vehicles rather being a personal device. If you only work from your RV, it is a good solution. If you travel away from your RV and still need to work, it is not the solution.

https://winegard.com/products/cellular/4g-lte-hotspots/togo-roadlink-c2/togo-roadlink-c2

[Scott_Julie]

Thank you for all of the help/advice. It really helped.
A few things:
We do both have to do video conferencing. (a lot)

I have a galaxy note9 and DW has a company provided Iphone6. Changing either in the short term is not likely.

Giving up and enjoying the outdoors would be fun, but at present the side effects, such as unemployment, are too severe.

After reading your comments this is our plan.

Get a MIFI.

Experiment with the phones as hotspots.

Get a wifi extender for campground use.

Questions:

Are we going to far/ getting to much stuff? (Belts and suspenders)

Other research seemed to point towards a togo as a solution. Why did nobody here recommend it?

[jaycocreek]

wanderingaimlessly wrote:
On the case of newer phones having more bands to work with. One problem few seem to consider, while the newest phone may be able to access the newest bands which have the fewest users accessing them. They always seem to be in urban or congested areas, where you can get a signal with ANY phone.
Very seldom will a provider place the newest technology out in remote areas where we have the most trouble getting signals and bandwidth.

That is quite true..Where I live was one of the last spots Verizon put in a tower..A little town of 3K with one stop light, didn't appeal to them for the longest time..5g here,probably not in my lifetime..

I keep my old rooted Motorola Nexus 6 up to date with a Lineage OS just in case one of our newer phones see's the pavement or quits..I use it as a hotspot rather than my Verion Mifi..Just change sim cards and it's ready to go..For some reason I just can't get warm with the Mifi..But I keep it around just in case.

Lot's of options for the op to live and work in an RV..Many folks do it with hotspots/Mifi's and there laptops/tablets...

[Grit_dog]

Geo*Boy wrote:
There’s no way you have a Lance 1172 on a Toyota T100.

Yeah, let’s talk about this!
I wanna see pics!

If I had a Lance 1172 on an old 1/2 ton Yota, I’d have called this thread “Working on the Side of the Road (with a broken axle)”. Lol

[wanderingaimles]

On the case of newer phones having more bands to work with. One problem few seem to consider, while the newest phone may be able to access the newest bands which have the fewest users accessing them. They always seem to be in urban or congested areas, where you can get a signal with ANY phone.
Very seldom will a provider place the newest technology out in remote areas where we have the most trouble getting signals and bandwidth.

[valhalla360]

Unless you will be out in the boonies a lot of the time...just get a standard cell phone with hot spot (your current phone probably already has it).

Then pick one of the unlimited plans...around $60/phone depending on provider. (or pick up a burner phone for $20)

It won't stream 2-3 high def videos but will do standard def video just fine. And unless your work requires constant video conferencing, it's not a big issue.

[jaycocreek]

I have two of these Wilson boosters,coupled with a quality high gain antenna,I get coverage where most cannot without it..Even though they are outdated,they still work great on Verizon 4G..What I like abut them is,the ability to put the antenna(pictured on the right) right up against the back of the phone where the phone antenna is...



Once 5g takes over,all of them will probably be obsolete..LOL

[gitpicker2009]

https://www.netgear.com/home/products/mobile-broadband/mobilerouters/MR1100.aspx