Midwest Duo
Novice
I look at it more as a fallback in areas where cell service is non-existent. No interest in streaming, etc. Saw a video for the mini on Hobotech that featured a Peakdo battery for the mini. Very intriguing.
Cheap wifi
- Thread starter Dan sloan
- Start date
Sweeney
Administrator
You may find something like this interesting. Its cheap, runs on USB power and can do quite a bit. I use mine to create a wireless LAN, that I put my media server on - From there, I associate with my laptop and can stream movies and television until my heart is content. Usually about 30 minutes.
I could, if I wanted, have the mini router associate with another 802.11x network such as Starlink, making everything connect beautifully. There are severl other similar models available, this is just the one I settled on becuase of its size.
My media server is something I talked about, and it started out as a project here -- but it got really technical fast, and I kind of stopped developng the documentation -- it was moderately difficult for me, but I quickly realized that for 9 out of 10 people -- it was just out of reach. When you star talking RaspberryPI, Plex (now emby), router configuration - I was losing my audience. But, if anyone is interested, we can pick that back up in its original thread.
Yeah you would have lost me with the raspberry pie...I prefer pecan myself.
That depends. For Android auto ( Google maps and YouTube music) not really. I laid the antenna on the dashboard against the windshield and it worked fine heading east and west. You wont get the full 300 to 400 mps but for my uses I dont need it. I had it in my backyard. Cloudy day minimal trees and was getting 180mps good enough to play YouTube on the TV in my van out front and the TV in my camper inside the garage. I was pretty impressed.
I was looking at those. There are versions that accept Sims as well so you could get an attorney sim and have your own wifi hotspot without onstar
Sweeney
Administrator
I just watched this video....I'm currently using a RedPocket-powered hotspot for 40 gig a month, mostly because I find myself in places where there just is no internet for my business. No internet, no billing. No billing, no revenue. It works well, but is still cell dependant and there are a few places I go that it simply does not work.
I'm actually intrigued by Starlink, and have been for some time. I just found out that while on 'standby' the dish is in low-data mode. 750K to 1 megabit. These are slow by modern standards, but these same speeds would have made me GIDDY 10 yeras ago. My DSL was about this speed!
Then, if/when you need FAST...just enable the service and you'll get the speed you expect. I think I may be ordering one of the Mini's!!!!
Yup...lots of exclaimiation points...but I'm paying $40 a month 500 a year for something I really use for 4 or 5 months.
I'm actually intrigued by Starlink, and have been for some time. I just found out that while on 'standby' the dish is in low-data mode. 750K to 1 megabit. These are slow by modern standards, but these same speeds would have made me GIDDY 10 yeras ago. My DSL was about this speed!
Then, if/when you need FAST...just enable the service and you'll get the speed you expect. I think I may be ordering one of the Mini's!!!!
Yup...lots of exclaimiation points...but I'm paying $40 a month 500 a year for something I really use for 4 or 5 months.
dougbee
Novice
I do have the standard that I bought two years ago for camping and traveling. A few times trees have vexed me but I'd say 90% of the time I get enough signal for video to watch at bedtime. I no longer bring a ton of video to watch locally (movies, TV files) and just stream video from my home server. Or watch anything I pay for to watch at home, I can watch on the road (Yankee games). I'll give you it's not cheap (unlimited at $165) but overall I don't travel too much so most months are $5.
Look into Tailscale for the networking for being able to watch anything on the road you can watch at home.
I was thinking this spring to get the mini and switch my home Internet to the standard from Spectrum. Help fund the trip to mars.
But I'd have to get on the roof so might chicken out.Not necessarily. Mine works pretty decent on the dashboard of the van. And I just got a clamp and a section cup mount which can go on the camper.I do have the standard that I bought two years ago for camping and traveling. A few times trees have vexed me but I'd say 90% of the time I get enough signal for video to watch at bedtime. I no longer bring a ton of video to watch locally (movies, TV files) and just stream video from my home server. Or watch anything I pay for to watch at home, I can watch on the road (Yankee games). I'll give you it's not cheap (unlimited at $165) but overall I don't travel too much so most months are $5.
Look into Tailscale for the networking for being able to watch anything on the road you can watch at home.
I was thinking this spring to get the mini and switch my home Internet to the standard from Spectrum. Help fund the trip to mars.
dougbee
Novice
Nice! Trying to think where I had trouble - the Adirondacks are usually pretty tree covered. I think in at a KOA in Missouri I couldn't get a signal. On our big trip last May it was the only spot over the 25 days.
Sweeney
Administrator
I do have the standard that I bought two years ago for camping and traveling. A few times trees have vexed me but I'd say 90% of the time I get enough signal for video to watch at bedtime. I no longer bring a ton of video to watch locally (movies, TV files) and just stream video from my home server. Or watch anything I pay for to watch at home, I can watch on the road (Yankee games). I'll give you it's not cheap (unlimited at $165) but overall I don't travel too much so most months are $5.
Look into Tailscale for the networking for being able to watch anything on the road you can watch at home.
I was thinking this spring to get the mini and switch my home Internet to the standard from Spectrum. Help fund the trip to mars.
tailscale looks a lot like twingate on steroids. Normally I would stream off my plex at home, but internet has been the bottleneck. Which is why I have a synced library on a raspberry pi server. Little work, but it is 95% done. Every once in a while plex freezes, but it’s not terrible. Other servers like jellyfin and emby don’t seem to have a problem. I’m considering upgrading to a 5 and putting a touch screen in….but that’s a summer 2026 project.
dougbee
Novice
My library at home is over 30TB so I would bring some video on a 4TB drive. Give me something to watch. I have my MacBook Air with me just because of astrophotography so it doubles as my "TV" - don't need much screen in a 550! So access to the whole library is worth the money for starlink for sure.
Funny have a pi 5 out for delivery right now, but it's for my solar telescope setup. Well if the clouds go away at some point.
Sweeney
Administrator
I know it has been discussed here, but a 'development' on the topic traveled through in inbox today. The mobile carriers have discovered home internet can be profitable, and some (verizon and I believe ATT) offer 'home' internet --- its intended to have the router in your home servicing a fixed operation. Many people have discovered that they can take the router with them when the are roaming.
Now frankly in this day and age, having any kind of a data cap is annoying, using the weakest language possible -- I mean we havn't paid for a long distance phone call in 15 years or more, and 'connected' devices are ubiquitous. I digress.
Apparently, though, Verizon has discovered this 'hack' people are using and is clamping down on it - so use at your own risk.
TL;DR the article:
Now frankly in this day and age, having any kind of a data cap is annoying, using the weakest language possible -- I mean we havn't paid for a long distance phone call in 15 years or more, and 'connected' devices are ubiquitous. I digress.
Apparently, though, Verizon has discovered this 'hack' people are using and is clamping down on it - so use at your own risk.
TL;DR the article:
Sweeney
Administrator
My library at home is over 30TB so I would bring some video on a 4TB drive. Give me something to watch. I have my MacBook Air with me just because of astrophotography so it doubles as my "TV" - don't need much screen in a 550! So access to the whole library is worth the money for starlink for sure.
Funny have a pi 5 out for delivery right now, but it's for my solar telescope setup. Well if the clouds go away at some point.
Sounds like you're ripping HD -- I ripped to 480p since 99% of what I own is DVD's. I have a few bluray disks, but not enough to amount to much. I own physical copies of everythign I have in my plex server -- I revolted on streaming services when they were initially offered. Glad I did too, since I did 'buy' streaming copies which have been removed from my library because of a dispute between the service and the studio.
For the home, I have had to go back and rerip some of the things I ripped WAAAY back in 2005 or so - but those data amounts are trivial. I can fit most of what I have, but not all, in 3tb.
Part of the joy of being slightly visually impaired ('floaters' after cataract sugery) then posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) which has taken the floaters I have had for most of my life to '11' -- so HD isn't quite as important to me. I can see the resolution in 1080 and 4k, but the necessity to have this resolution is much lower.
If I DID go back and update my whole media library, I"m sure I'd be in the same rough size of library. What I would still do is transcode these back down to 480p for the plex server in the camper. On those rainy days - its wonderful to have your whole library with you instead of a few chosen titles on a the internal or external drive...
Not sure how that works? I have comcast / xfinity for my home wifi and comcast for my cell. Are you saying I could bring the router with me traveling and connect to any wifi available? Wonder if you could use a VPN to say you were home?
I only have home internet service (no cable, dish, or other) and because of that the cable company charges me $85/month and seems to raise the fee too often for my taste. A couple years back I looked into Verizon home internet which has been advertised for $50/month. What I found out was that they had to limit the number of customers they would take on because apparently it's limited capacity and when more people are on, speeds go down. Now I'm no power user but I do sometimes stream sports and I have no idea how that would be impacted. And given that my area had access to their home internet but they were no longer offering it due to limitations, I didn't think it sounded like such a great idea anyway.
I also found by doing some googling that many people with Verizon home internet were very unhappy with their constantly throttled speeds. Now I'm sure that can vary by where you are, but still...... Hopefully that will be remedied at some point in the future. But after learning that, I just resigned myself to keep paying Spectrum and wait for the day I can tell them to pound sand.
YMMV.
Sweeney
Administrator
I don't personally know anyone who actually uses these services long-term, but I totally get the desperation if you're trying to live the nomad life.
Back then, I spent so much time researching mobile internet options, and honestly? None reliably worked. We're heavy users—just Zoom/Webex calls with screen sharing would burn through a data plan in days (or hours!). Turn on YouTube? Game over
I dove deep into WiFi tech with WiFiRanger (which got acquired by Winegard—the products today are entirely different), TOGO, and resellers like Nomad Internet, ConnecTen, Unlimitedville, and a bunch of others. Sad to say, the landscape really hasn't improved much... unless you go with Starlink. Even that's not perfect, though.
In my experience, the best (and pretty much only reliable) approach is redundancy—having 2 or even 3 options running at once. That's the only way it's remotely feasible for real work on the road.
For a lighter teardrop/weekend warrior setup, though? It's not as critical. Sometimes it's nice to just step away from the tech and unplug
I was just watching a video on musks new bigger rocket and how hes got the next Gen sattelite ready for deployment. Much more bandwidth so should be any problem for big users. They're also offering direct sattelite cell phone service through most services.
No mention on pricing or whether or not the old sattelite dishes are compatible. The cell phone service works with existing phones.
Idk what the lifespan is for the low orbit sattelites but in the next year or 2 the next Gen should replacing them
No mention on pricing or whether or not the old sattelite dishes are compatible. The cell phone service works with existing phones.
Idk what the lifespan is for the low orbit sattelites but in the next year or 2 the next Gen should replacing them
Sweeney
Administrator
Remember when NASA was worried about space debris? Seriously -- the coordination of all these birds in the air has to be a logistical nightmare. I honestly don't know how they do it....or even could. People are much smarter than me!
I think when they expire they just burn up in our atmosphere. But may be wrong.
There is alot of crap orbiting the earth at thousands of mile per hr. Though. I remember one satellite or manned module almost crashed because a tiny spec of paint hit it going that fast.
Sweeney
Administrator
Each 'tiny' satellite still weighs 500 pounds
I know that NASA tracks everything they know about up there -- When the shuttle was flying, it would orbit with "engines" forwards so if a random nut, screw, or bolt were to strike it only the engine woudl be damaged and they weren't needed any more. Now ther is a cloud of these satelites. OK, thats overstated. BUt there are still a lot of them.I grew up in the city, and as an adult have had jobs that require me to wake early. So night sky viewing has never been a prioirty. There's only been a few times I've been "awed" by it -- and I can say the first meteorite I've seen just randomly was not that long ago! As I get older, and find myself in a profession that does not require me to get up at 6am anymore --- staying up later to enjoy the views is something I want to do a lot more of! I REALLY want to get back to Northern Michigan this summer...
I just did a quick AI search on this. The 500ish pound star link satellites break up upon re-entry. and are designed to have the largest piece have about 3 joules of energy by the time it reaches a person who happens to be standing in the right place at the wrong time. This is amazing ... 3 Joules would be equivalent to a tennis ball being thrown at you, or (ironically) an apple falling out of a tree...might 'sting' a little at worst.
Speaking of memories, as a kid, I remember when Skylab came down -- they had us all freaking out!!! I remember not wanting to leave the house that day, being convinced it was going to 'kill us all!'