As small business owners, we don’t get to escape our work, but we are free to conduct it as long as we have internet connectivity (for the most part.) It was time to take our devices on the road, and see what pitfalls we encountered.
Did we try tethering a cell phone? We have a spare line on our business plan, running on an iPhone 6s. Not the newest hardware, but it still speed tests well natively. Our previous trips left us trying to connect one device at a time, with multiple failed attempts, and poor bandwidth once connected. While we do have a wireless bridge that could tether multiple devices to the cell phone, there are too many steps to take every time you want to set it up.
What about a MiFi or hotspot? We had one of these for our business in the past, and it was plagued with poor reception on the cellular end. We didn’t want to try that path again.
On average we have 5 WiFi devices, and the Cerbo GX to monitor the electrical system in the trailer. We wanted something that was as “set and forget” as possible for our needs.
That led to the next logical step: finding a dedicated 12 volt device for connectivity. There are a few RV-centric products out there, and after some research they seemed limited, specifically in the arena of cell provider certification. What does that mean? We couldn’t plug our carrier’s SIM card in and expect it to function as intended.
The search continued… Again, a hat tip to Adventurous Way for introducing us to a company we had never heard of: Peplink. Interestingly enough, this solution was a few dollars cheaper than the crippled RV units we were looking into.
The Pepwave MAX BR1 MK2 is a commercial grade all in one cellular radio and networking device, which includes two SIM card slots, WiFi with bridging, and LAN; and it is certified by nearly every major carrier on Earth. It is remarkably robust, and the availability of an external antenna array was another push in it’s favor. Eric couldn’t wait to unbox it, power up, and dig into the Admin panel!
The MAX is designed for mobile/vehicle applications, and is provisioned for 12v hard wiring; another plus in our use case. This eliminates a barrel plug that could be an issue in the RV environment.
The external antenna array houses two cellular, two WiFi, and one GPS antenna. It was important to us to have the ability to pull and distribute signals from the outside of our rig, and this fit the bill to that end. The antenna came with a few mounting options, and we utilized the pipe clamp style bracket.
The wiring was brought through our solar combiner box, into the closet bay below.
We needed to install the MAX where it can be accessed, to replace SIM cards, or to check status of the indicator LEDs. Once we were roughed in, we double checked functionality before tidying up all of our wiring.
We installed a dedicated on/off switch for the MAX, so we can control our power consumption on the 12v side. The toggle switch at top was an extra from a previous order, and found a home above the inverter button.
Everything is installed and functional! Time to hit the road for testing.
We are using an AT&T Unlimited Plan SIM card right now, and initial bandwidth tests are very promising. From our driveway at least! This beats our double bonded DSL at home by a long shot. We have performed speed testing in a few locations, and speeds aren’t nearly this fast, but the bandwidth is still enough for streaming and web based applications.
WiFi bandwidth exceeds expectations, and we are measuring 200+ Mbps inside the trailer.
An overview of the admin panel of the BR1. This is where you can set up your connection priority, such as WiFi bridging and cell service. We are currently running on cellular only, as there is no camp WiFi available.
With two trips under our belt, this setup has been working perfectly for our needs. It allows our Fire TV, iPad, phones, and laptops to be connected at the same time with no hiccups. This post was drafted entirely on this connection 🙂 Time will tell if we add another carrier SIM card, and we will follow up if and when we do!