Hi, has anybody tried satellite internet on their vans or motorhomes and if so what is the cost ?
PeterD said
07:59 PM Sep 24, 2021
I have not used it because it costs the earth. Have a holiday when you are out of mobile phone range.
kdazz said
08:10 PM Sep 24, 2021
Thanks Peter, I would love to holiday but I still have to work as I travel unfortunately
valiant81 said
08:45 PM Sep 24, 2021
Hi all; Do you have mobile phone service ??? If so and using a smartphone, just tether your laptop computer to your phone. Works for me to the point that it is the only way i use to get on the the internet.
Use the search bar. A lot of Qs about mobile and internet. My conclusion is the netgear night hawk ( or similar) with an aerial seem to be best solution.
PeterD said
11:49 PM Sep 24, 2021
Darryl, how many days do you think you will actually be out of mobile phone data. As the oldbloke said, you will be mostly in range of mobile internet via the mobile phone system. If you get a Nighthawk M2 or a RV WIFI+4GX Portable with a Telstra mobile data plan you can plan your travels so you will not be out of Telstra range for more than a day or two. With an external antenna feeding your wireless modem, you will get a much wider coverage than you can achieve with a mobile phone. Use Our Coverage Maps to assisting planning your overnight stops so you are not off the air for very long.
Thanks for all the replies. I will look at the RV WIFI.
Brodie Allen said
07:56 AM Sep 29, 2021
kdazz,
Go here:
winsig.com.au
They have a number of antennas that connect to a CelFi booster/wifi unit.
I can unreservedly vouch for the performance of the outside knock-down
stick antenna coupled with the inside celfi unit.
And the bonus is that the celfi unit has such a strong signal that you can use your phone/computer or whatever anywhere within 20-30 meters.
If you mount an alternate smaller, say, Jaycar magnetic antenna on the car or van somewhere, you will receive a much improved signal in the car while travelling. Even the supplied stick knock-down antenna makes a huge difference even when layed down to reception in car if you don't want to fiddle with the small magnetic wire antenna.
And another tip - the piddling little supplied indoor radiator is marginal - spend $10 at Jaycar for a small magnetic/wire one for indoors.
It's plug 'n play.
The people are more than helpful and very easy to talk to.
Tony LEE said
09:43 AM Sep 29, 2021
I used an ANT satellite internet system for a couple of years as we travelled through the centre desert regions. Worked well and setup wasn't too bad but was expensive.
Starlink will be the go when it is fully up and running.
Young fella said
02:55 PM Sep 30, 2021
Hey Daz,
When I was travelling a few months back I was working on the road. So needed pretty reliable internet.
I found the Cel-Fi go worked really well. Seemed to boost my reception from 1 bar to 3 or 4. Could access 3G most really rural spots. Was a little slow but did the job.
Mostly had 4G outside of major towns.
Think the unit plus an aerial was roughly $1100. Found a great install video online and installed myself.
The wife and I shared a Telstra business plan $65 per month for 180gb of data.
Good luck mate!
kdazz said
03:33 PM Sep 30, 2021
Cheers, thanks for the advice. I will go and see Winsig as they are just up the road from where I am picking up my new van.
PeterD said
04:34 PM Sep 30, 2021
Young fella wrote:I found the Cel-Fi go worked really well. Seemed to boost my reception from 1 bar to 3 or 4. Could access 3G most really rural spots. Was a little slow but did the job.
Cel-Fi will not get internet connections any better than a good wireless modem using the same antennas as a Cel-Fi uses. What the OP is looking for is internet in areas that do not have mobile phone access. The only way you will get that is with satellite. This was discussed in another forum and fully explained there.
All Cel-Fi does is pick up a signal that is received in a good external antenna, amplifies it and transmits it through a second antenna so that devices with internal antennas can receive the signal picked up by the external antenna. If your device has an external antenna input it is far more cost effective to get a good external antenna and not waste a grand on that Cel-Fi brick. It's just like commerce, if you cut out the middle man you can get your goods cheaper.
-- Edited by PeterD on Thursday 30th of September 2021 04:45:26 PM
Young fella said
02:18 PM Oct 5, 2021
Hey Peter.
Oh okay I had the understanding the Cel-Fi actually turns one bar reception into 4? Well that's what it did for me...
I didn't think the modems or aerials actually amplified the signal?
Interesting stuff!
Thanks mate.
PeterD said
06:07 PM Oct 5, 2021
Young fella wrote:
... I didn't think the modems or aerials actually amplified the signal? Interesting stuff! Thanks mate.
Antennas don't amplify the signal. They just capture signal. The whole problem with phone and internet reception is getting some signal in the first place. If the signal is reasonably strong, then any device with an internal antenna will capture the signal and communicate with the outside world. As you move away from the phone cell tower, the devices with the least sensitive antennas will be the first to not get sufficient signal and fail to communicate. That is why Telstra suggest you purchase a blue tick phone if you are going to travel in remote areas. Blue tick phones have a better antenna in them than the cheaper phones. The better the antenna the more signal it will pick up in weak signal areas.
When you are out in the fringe areas of the nearest suitable cell tower there are ways and means of capturing a little more of the available signal. If you are in a car or caravan that is attenuating the signal then getting out of the vehicle and moving to another place will help. The signal level is not uniform around the place where you are. People have noted that they can get TV reception on certain sites in a caravan park and not in others. If you move around a caravan park when you are in poor signal areas you can often find you can use your phone in certain spots in the park. For those with motor homes where you can climb onto the top then you will often find a much better signal level up there. Signal levels increase as you get higher off the ground. That is why Peter (of Peter & Margaret) puts his phone up on a pole (and uses it as a Wi-Fi hotspot,) he gets a better signal up there.
If your device has an external antenna input then an external antenna can improve things for you. The larger and better built antennas will capture more of the available signal that is available than small ones in a handheld device. (Or to put in other words, a large antenna will gain more signal than a simple antenna. We refer to that as the gain of an antenna when we are comparing different size ones. There is no amplifier in an antenna.) The antenna on your Cel-Fi does not amplify the signal, it is in a more favourable place and is better than the antenna in your phone. If you had an external antenna input on your phone then you could connect that antenna to your phone and the phone would be able to connect to the external world.
Your phone does not have an external antenna input so you use the $800 black box to connect the external antenna to your phone. It is the black box that does the amplifying so you can connect the two items (via the RF phone signal.)
Getting back to the OP's problem, he is venturing out to places so remote from the cell towers that there is no measurable signal there. There is nothing there that even something the size of the Parkes telescope would be able to pickup.
Buzz Lightbulb said
11:07 AM Mar 11, 2022
I just read this article which maybe interesting to some:
NBN versus Elon Musk's Starlink: A guide to getting reliable internet in regional Australia
Hi, has anybody tried satellite internet on their vans or motorhomes and if so what is the cost ?
Hi all; Do you have mobile phone service ??? If so and using a smartphone, just tether your laptop computer to your phone. Works for me to the point that it is the only way i use to get on the the internet.
This is the type of thing you are up against - VSAT INTERNET PLANS - Equipment to access the net -
Darryl, how many days do you think you will actually be out of mobile phone data. As the oldbloke said, you will be mostly in range of mobile internet via the mobile phone system. If you get a Nighthawk M2 or a RV WIFI+4GX Portable with a Telstra mobile data plan you can plan your travels so you will not be out of Telstra range for more than a day or two. With an external antenna feeding your wireless modem, you will get a much wider coverage than you can achieve with a mobile phone. Use Our Coverage Maps to assisting planning your overnight stops so you are not off the air for very long.
You could take a look at Starlink:
Starlink
Still patchy coverage in Oz and not cheap.
kdazz,
Go here:
winsig.com.au
They have a number of antennas that connect to a CelFi booster/wifi unit.
I can unreservedly vouch for the performance of the outside knock-down
stick antenna coupled with the inside celfi unit.
And the bonus is that the celfi unit has such a strong signal that you can
use your phone/computer or whatever anywhere within 20-30 meters.
If you mount an alternate smaller, say, Jaycar magnetic antenna on the car or van
somewhere, you will receive a much improved signal in the car while travelling.
Even the supplied stick knock-down antenna makes a huge difference even
when layed down to reception in car if you don't want to fiddle with the small magnetic
wire antenna.
And another tip - the piddling little supplied indoor radiator is marginal - spend $10
at Jaycar for a small magnetic/wire one for indoors.
It's plug 'n play.
The people are more than helpful and very easy to talk to.
Hey Daz,
When I was travelling a few months back I was working on the road. So needed pretty reliable internet.
I found the Cel-Fi go worked really well. Seemed to boost my reception from 1 bar to 3 or 4. Could access 3G most really rural spots. Was a little slow but did the job.
Mostly had 4G outside of major towns.
Think the unit plus an aerial was roughly $1100. Found a great install video online and installed myself.
The wife and I shared a Telstra business plan $65 per month for 180gb of data.
Good luck mate!
Cel-Fi will not get internet connections any better than a good wireless modem using the same antennas as a Cel-Fi uses. What the OP is looking for is internet in areas that do not have mobile phone access. The only way you will get that is with satellite. This was discussed in another forum and fully explained there.
All Cel-Fi does is pick up a signal that is received in a good external antenna, amplifies it and transmits it through a second antenna so that devices with internal antennas can receive the signal picked up by the external antenna. If your device has an external antenna input it is far more cost effective to get a good external antenna and not waste a grand on that Cel-Fi brick. It's just like commerce, if you cut out the middle man you can get your goods cheaper.
-- Edited by PeterD on Thursday 30th of September 2021 04:45:26 PM
Antennas don't amplify the signal. They just capture signal. The whole problem with phone and internet reception is getting some signal in the first place. If the signal is reasonably strong, then any device with an internal antenna will capture the signal and communicate with the outside world. As you move away from the phone cell tower, the devices with the least sensitive antennas will be the first to not get sufficient signal and fail to communicate. That is why Telstra suggest you purchase a blue tick phone if you are going to travel in remote areas. Blue tick phones have a better antenna in them than the cheaper phones. The better the antenna the more signal it will pick up in weak signal areas.
When you are out in the fringe areas of the nearest suitable cell tower there are ways and means of capturing a little more of the available signal. If you are in a car or caravan that is attenuating the signal then getting out of the vehicle and moving to another place will help. The signal level is not uniform around the place where you are. People have noted that they can get TV reception on certain sites in a caravan park and not in others. If you move around a caravan park when you are in poor signal areas you can often find you can use your phone in certain spots in the park. For those with motor homes where you can climb onto the top then you will often find a much better signal level up there. Signal levels increase as you get higher off the ground. That is why Peter (of Peter & Margaret) puts his phone up on a pole (and uses it as a Wi-Fi hotspot,) he gets a better signal up there.
If your device has an external antenna input then an external antenna can improve things for you. The larger and better built antennas will capture more of the available signal that is available than small ones in a handheld device. (Or to put in other words, a large antenna will gain more signal than a simple antenna. We refer to that as the gain of an antenna when we are comparing different size ones. There is no amplifier in an antenna.) The antenna on your Cel-Fi does not amplify the signal, it is in a more favourable place and is better than the antenna in your phone. If you had an external antenna input on your phone then you could connect that antenna to your phone and the phone would be able to connect to the external world.
Your phone does not have an external antenna input so you use the $800 black box to connect the external antenna to your phone. It is the black box that does the amplifying so you can connect the two items (via the RF phone signal.)
Getting back to the OP's problem, he is venturing out to places so remote from the cell towers that there is no measurable signal there. There is nothing there that even something the size of the Parkes telescope would be able to pickup.
I just read this article which maybe interesting to some:
NBN versus Elon Musk's Starlink: A guide to getting reliable internet in regional Australia
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-11/guide-to-reliable-internet-in-regional-australia/100897238