best way cell hotspot integration

[magna 6882]

Currently i have a wireless tmobile hotspot and use a wireless extender to interface with the boat. This works but seems unreliable. The hotspot will disconnect and will not automatic reconnect. My expectations are a device that stays connected to the cell tower as long as their is signal.
Am i going about this in the wrong way?
I would like to be able to monitor the boat while away for perhaps 3 or 4 months reliably. What do you guys see as the best way to do that?

 

[STB]

I have a Netgear Nighthawk M5 Pro MR5100 that I bought "refurbished" from the eBay seller "cellularprofessor", who I see still sells them as well as the newer M6 and M6 Pro. It looked brand new.

I pulled the battery out and plugged it in to an outlet that is powered by the inverter should shore/genset power are unavailable. I figured there was little need for the little battery given the big ones in the boat and there was no reason to have it charging all of the time.

It came setup to use its ethernet port as a primary internet connection and to switch over to the hotspot when the the hard wire was unavailable. But, I changed some setting in its usual configuration menu and the ethernet port went back to being a normal ethernet port, which I then connected to an ethernet switch ("router") to allow multiple devices to be hard-wire connected to it.

I use it with AT&T's "unlimited" hotspot service (which does have some throttling).

Before purchasing it, I switched from Verizon to T-Mobile, because Verizon had a pin-hole sized dead spot -- right over my boat's slip. I then switched from T-mobile to AT&T because T-Mobile kept throttling me back to 1981, even with their "Unlimited" plan. AT&T sometimes slows me down a bit, but I don't notice with the bandwidth any of the boat systems, including video, require. I mostly notice when I am trying to Zoom or otherwise do something really demanding, and it only becomes common when I do it a lot for a while.

Now I have some devices connected to it via hardware, notably my video and security system, and some connected to it via Wi-Fi, notable my laptop and phone.

It has run nearly flawlessly for 1.5 years, both at the dock and near coastal. I regularly watch my boat's 8 video cameras from home, Google Home manages my boats exterior and underwater and some interior lights on schedule, and some internal wi-fi devices send me updates. It also provides Wi-Fi connectivity for a monitored security system.

The only time I had a problem was for about 30 minutes, maybe 45, just ahead of Hurricane Ian. Everything went down and boat neighbor on the dock ran over to check. Everything was normal. I called AT&T and they said something about some service in the area being impacted by the hurricane -- just as it all came back alive and stayed alive. I have to guess they were doing some maintenance of some kind.

I do occasionally power cycle it, just for prophylaxis, but that is on the order of ever 4-6 months, not daily, weekly or even monthly.

Take this as what it is -- exactly one data point. I don't offer it as more.

 

[magna 6882]

With the netgear you have does it reconnect if the service is interrupted. With the tmobile hot spot i have, sometimes the boat is off line and i have to go down to the boat and login to the wifi with my phone and check the box to reconnect.

 

[STB]

I've never had thst problem. My Wi-Fi devices stayed connected to it, even when it lost connectivity with the network. And, when the network came back, they came back online.

But, at lot of that is on the client device. Let's imagine the power goes out and my inverter dies. My client's are configured to reconnect to it when they wake back up And, the Hotspot naturally reconnects to the network. If the clients would wait for me to intervene, I'd have a different result.

 

[magna 6882]

on my tmobile hotspot there is a login page with password and once accessed you can connect or disconnect. It seems if the unit has any issue be it power or cell strength it defaults to disconnected requiring the user to enter the password and click on connect. I would like a device that defaults to connected and stays that way so long as it has power obviously.

 

[Sababa]

This guy: https://seabits.com/

 

[STB]

on my tmobile hotspot there is a login page with password and once accessed you can connect or disconnect. It seems if the unit has any issue be it power or cell strength it defaults to disconnected requiring the user to enter the password and click on connect. I would like a device that defaults to connected and stays that way so long as it has power obviously.

There is no such "feature" on the Nighthawk. You can set a password for client devices to connect to it in which case they'll need to know it to reconnect.

I do have a password set on the Wi-Fi end of mine or the whole marina would try to stream from it. But my client devices have it associated with the network SSID and know to use it when reconnecting.

 

[Bmarler]

on my tmobile hotspot there is a login page with password and once accessed you can connect or disconnect. It seems if the unit has any issue be it power or cell strength it defaults to disconnected requiring the user to enter the password and click on connect. I would like a device that defaults to connected and stays that way so long as it has power obviously.

I have the T-Mobile home internet 5g service. (The little cylindrical tower) I run it off of the 12 volt system so it never loses power unless I turn it off. I use a small dc to dc power supply so it always has steady voltage. Works perfectly. I don’t have it interfaced with any other systems though, like cameras or whatever.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

I have the T-Mobile home internet 5g service.

I have my eye on that too. Any problems when you're on the move from coverage area to coverage area?

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Following

 

[fryedaze]

I bought an Orbic hotspot from Verizon. It worked well but could not be left on the charger 24/7. It would shut off and not restart itself. It is a feature to protect the battery. I bought a Cubby 1200 cellular router compatible with Verizon after changing settings. I took the Sim card out of the Orbic and put it in the router. It's been working great. $17/mo for 15 gig then it throttles.
In my research it appears it is easier to do this with T mobile and other providers. Unlocked Verizon compatible routers are harder to come by and require some settings adjustment. I just followed the manufacturer directions to set it up.

 

[magna 6882]

online i see a linovision cellular router thats reasonably priced. I dont need a fast 5g device. I have starlink but in the winter when we run south in the rv i plan on taking starlink with me. I can see the boat cameras with less than 1mb download speed. Tmobile said the reason the current hotspot shuts down is no activity detected.I dont think i need a $1000.00 router to accomplish what i need.

 

[STB]

If the problem truely is no activity that seems like an easy problem to fix. Buy some cheap wifi controllable led lights on Amazon or a wifi controllable outlet plug or a wifi temperature monitor. Any are probably ~$25 on Amazon.

Then have a Google Home ping the device on schedule for free. As a bonus you'll have cool lights, or be able to control something remotely, or know what temperature it is, etc

Depending upon what cameras you have, you may even be able to ping their interface and check status just so T mobile sees traffic.

I'm a little skeptical iof the reason they gave. But it is an easy experiment to conduct.
.

 

[Choices]

I have the old TMobile tower and new one. The old does not work as good as the new.

It can run two 4k big screens, two cell phones, and an iPad with two bars, no problem.

We move it from house to boat and car. Blows 5g up to 250'.

Love it, $50/month.

 

[Bmarler]

I have my eye on that too. Any problems when you're on the move from coverage area to coverage area?

Where I’m at the coverage has been good. No issues with it switching towers as I move around Puget sound from Olympia to port Townsend. (So far)
I tend to turn off the tv when I’m out, but no problem with the iPads connectivity, even with only a couple of bars of signal.
When I got it, T-Mobile said it was geofenced to my home area, but it’s not enforced. Yet. Time will tell, but I’m a year into the service and so far, so good.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Seems like a very slick solution.

 

[pjtemplin]

IMHO standalone wireless extenders are REALLY tough to get right. They've got to join on one channel and serve another channel. Layer in the desire/need to do that on two bands (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and the limited number of (usable) channels in the 2.4GHz band, especially in a market segment where every manufacturer wants to make their device as hands-off ("automatic") as possible, and it's a recipe for disaster. Mesh systems (where the "lead" or "primary" node participates in the meshing of the remote/satellite stations) are apt to be much better, but alas few if any have the cellular component in them and instead expect to plug into a DSL or cable modem.


My thought would be to get a hotspot where you can plug into a LAN port and feed it to the "WAN" port of a wifi mesh system, with the Wifi services disabled in the hotspot.

 

[Scottwb96]

Good morning,
Let me start by saying, my background for the last ~20 years has been in I.T. (network architecture). Walked away last Nov. and now doing marine canvas and upholstery (lol, bit of a change!!!)
Hotspots were not intended to be used 24/7 but more of an adhoc type of service. They also don't have the best internal antennas. Basically designed for you to be within ~10' or less of the device...
Until about a year ago, I was also using one of the Tmobile hotspots (100G data limit). Had that also paired with my work demo equipment. AT&T 4G (unlimited data) using a CradlePoint device. Both of those then went to a VeloCloud SD-WAN appliance for QoS, load balancing, failover. Being in the Puget Sound area, there was pretty much no where that I went that didn't have service. Last year, I tested one of the Tmobile "Home Internet" devices. $0 equipment costs, no contracts were pretty appealing!!! BUT, the biggest bonus was that it was TRULEY unlimited!!! They say that you "can't move it from registered home/service address". But that's total B.S.!!! I have used it from Tacoma to Succia Island. Tmobile in the San Juans can't be beat. A bunch of Tmobile execs all have properties up there, so the area is lit with 5G almost everywhere!
There's a few links you can also check out where you can "hack" the device and add external antenna capability. South sound, not really needed. Up in the San Juans, you can definitely tell a difference in some of the more remote areas...

If you plan to go to Canada, Starlink is the way to go. Tmobile home, basically stops working when you cross the border... Doing both would be a great setup and you could pause SL when not in Canada... Peplink makes a few devices you can use to bond connections together that are pretty slick...

I leave mine on and connected on the boat 24/7 so I can see ships data any time. I also have a Reolink PTZ camera connected to a solar panel that I can stream any time I want, which is nice if I want to check on things at the marina...

Bottom line, $50 per month for the "Home Internet" version is the best investment you can make for onboard internet and wifi. FYI, the wifi from the device is decently strong. I can still be on my network in the parking lot of the marina, ~50 yards away...

Any questions, feel free to ping me!

 

[HeadedToTexas]

That is great news. Thanks Scott!

 

[docvchulek]

We use Calyx, which is a T-mobile device using 5G. It has unlimited data and excellent bandwidth. It provides internet and roams anywhere in the US but not Canada. We also use it to make internet calls on our iPhones when there is no cell access.

The cost is $65/month in the first year and $42/month after that. This is paid annually. We take the device with us on trips anywhere in the US (by boat or land). We are liveaboards, so we rely on the device for all things internet, including our TV.


https://calyxinstitute.org/membership/internet

 

[CarlF]

I've had my Starlink dish for six months now and just sold all my other routers, hotspots, extenders and such. Starlink is only $135/month and so much better and less hassle than cell or wifi that there's no comparison. The $135/month RV service only works to about 10 miles offshore and may cut off if you are going more than 10mph. Waves are no problem. But I just sailed the boat from Cape Cod to Florida and never lost connection. We were watching the F1 races on TV as we rounded Cape Hatteras! We never have a problem streaming Netflix or doing Zoom calls with the family. And when we're off the boat it provides a completely reliable internet connection for all the things monitoring the boat.

 

[Capt Ray]

https://shellerina.com/network/

I have added this link to my network page, as I think this fellow has a nice set up. This guy: https://seabits.com/ Thank you Sababa for sharing this fellow's content.

Here is a description of our set up, which does not [yet] include Starlink. It was all done with VZW and T-M sim card accounts.

For a WIRELESS network connection from a MOBILE vessel or vehicle, one cannot over-emphasize the importance of one's antenna and feedline. Everything has to come and go through an antenna, so my existing network system leverages that to obtain the reliability I need for my work.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

I've had my Starlink dish for six months now and just sold all my other routers, hotspots, extenders and such. Starlink is only $135/month and so much better and less hassle than cell or wifi that there's no comparison. The $135/month RV service only works to about 10 miles offshore and may cut off if you are going more than 10mph. Waves are no problem. But I just sailed the boat from Cape Cod to Florida and never lost connection. We were watching the F1 races on TV as we rounded Cape Hatteras! We never have a problem streaming Netflix or doing Zoom calls with the family. And when we're off the boat it provides a completely reliable internet connection for all the things monitoring the boat.

That is great stuff. Hard to not see Starlink dominating this space in time. Makes me really hesitate to spend anything on interim solutions.

 

[tiltrider1]

There is no one solution for every boater on this subject. Starlink covers the most boaters in the most situations.

If you cross oceans and you need guaranteed connection starlink will let you down, you will need a different more expensive satellite system. If you cruise the ICW, never go off shore or enter Canada then 5G can be a lot cheaper than Starlink.

If you cruise the PNW but never go past the San Juan’s then 5G is a great inexpensive solution. If you go to Canada or down the coast to Mexico then Starlink is the answer.

Having travel abroad most of this year I have discovered how tHere is no consistency in data plans. I have acquired 8 different SIM cards, none of them offer anything close to what we get in the US.

Steve Mitchel at seabits.com is a great resource for understanding how to fine tune your onboard communications.

I have been through WiFi, 5G, and now I am moving to starlink.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Very good points. I should have qualified my post with “for my situation.”