May 9, 2013

The Matrix: RV-lutions

By Unknown Thursday, May 09, 2013 1 comment

When we started planning this trip,  part of me thought "Get out there and leave it all behind for a while, it will do you good!".  Then the little voice on my other shoulder said "A year without the Internet ?  LOL".

I proceeded to spend the next week of my life figuring out how to make sure we could stay connected as much as possible while we're out here.

To be fair, we needed constant web access when we were looking for RVs, and now we need to be able to scope out our next destination each day, as well as Skype and of course updating this blog.

Well, enough self-justification.  To cut a long story short, I ended up buying various antennas, signal boosters, routers, dongles and cables.  The net result is that any time we're within about half a mile of the nearest free wifi, we can get online that way.  If none are available, we automatically switch to Verizon's LTE network, then normal 3G.  If none of the above are possible then I guess you won't be hearing from us for a few days!

So far this is keeping our iPhones, iPad, laptop, Kindle, etc online nicely.

So basically now our roof has a few more holes in it and looks like this:



I can't get a picture of the cupboard with all the cabling etc at the moment but can confirm that I've employed my usual high standards where cabling etiquette is concerned.  From memory the cabinet looks something like this:



OK, for anyone who's made it this far, here's the kit-list:

Maximum Signal Super Trucker Antenna
Cyfre CA-819 2G/3G amplifier
Cellphone-Mate CM700V-32 LTE amplifier
2 x Cellphone-Mate wideband diplexer
WifiRanger Mobile antenna
WifiRanger Go router
Verizon/Millenicom 4620 MiFi device (on Millenicom's Hotspot data plan)

I could do a Visio diagram or something but after 7 or 8 years of doing technical design in my job, I think I've earned a break!  If anyone wants more detail, feel free to get in touch.  You might also want to check out the following sites, which do a great and more detailed rundown of a lot of this gear:



1 comment :

  1. edna buxtonMay 11, 2013 at 5:56 AM

    Thanks for photos and diary of events, looks as though you are getting lots of good food your plates look enormous.Dont throw any meat away or those alligatores might follow you. Enjoying Adams commentary he has a good style of writing, keep in touch love to hear of your travels. Love Gran Edna &Reg xxxxxxx

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