Little Lifeboat

I work remotely, so communication is critical.

I’ve decided on a multi-layer connectivity setup with WAN failover/load balancing.

Starlink

I don’t need to explain this one, as starlink is widely known, but I went with a Standard dish as I get 300Mbps and more reliable connectivity vs the mini dish as averages 100Mbps. I put it on a strong magnetic mount that’s on a camera ball mount for adjustment. It’s positioned to not shade my panels. it does use about 50W vs 20W between Standard and Mini and snow melt wattage is a thing too.

Running the 5G modem and Starlink off of 12v is more efficient than running it off of 110V.

Spitz AX X3000

Awesome 5G modem! Runs OpenWRT. I’ll be connecting Starlink and running it in bridged mode while using the Spitz as my AP. It’ll be connected to a peplink omni antenna outside of the van which will provide increased signal strength and much better Wifi range outside of the vehicle. As mentioned, I’ll be using WAN failover/load balancing. Most RV sites are shaded with tree cover, Starlink solo doesn’t always work out, and 5G can be faster.

For more permanent setups, Waveform directional antennas are a beast:

I don’t run one right now as I do not plan on being stationary, but have and my speeds went from 100Mbps to 1Gbps on T-Mobile!

That about wraps up comms! Paired with Wi-Fi calling on cell phones, it will be a good, tested setup.