Staying Connected on the Road

Eventually, once Jan retires, we plan to spend a considerable amount of time on the road in our travel trailer.  RVICS has an expectation that couples will commit to at least 3 work projects per year, so that alone means 3 months of the year we will be on location somewhere in North America living in our travel trailer.

Internet access is very important to us.  We rely on it for so many things and we have ideas for several future endeavors that will require reasonably good internet access.  When on the road we will need to rely on our cellular data plan and Wi-Fi. The problem is that some places may have less than ideal cell coverage.  Also, how can we make use of Walmart's, Starbuck's or Panera's free Wi-Fi from the far corner of the parking lot ?

Hopefully the answer is using cellular and Wi-Fi boosters.  The diagram below is our cellular booster system plan. Cellular data access is our first priority since it will provide internet access in most locations in North America.  The booster system will strengthen weak connections to the cellular system and allow the cellular internet access to be shared among all of our devices in and around the trailer.

WeBoost 4G-M Booster System

You can see in the diagram the communication cabinet we will be using.  It currently has the stereo system and solar charging controller on the right (with 12 VDC within) and the dinette slide out on the left (see the partial floor plan below).  For now the plan is to run the external antenna wire through the slide out to avoid making a hole in the roof.

Location of Communication Cabinet

The antenna has more gain than our iPhone antennas and is capable of pulling in weaker signals. The Drive 4G-M boosts and repeats the cell signal and transmits this signal using the 'Hershey bar' antenna that will be located in the cabinet with the 4G-M.  One of our iPhones will be placed on or very near the interior antenna thus receiving a strong cellular signal.  The iPhone, set as a hot spot, will create a local Wi-Fi access point that any of our laptops, iPads and iPhones can use to share the cellular data access.

We can also use this system in our truck while driving so that we can stay connected even when going through areas with less than optimum coverage.

Stay tuned as the communication cabinet gets powered up and test results on cellular signal strength gains become available. The topic of Wi-Fi access will also be covered in a later post.  Feel free to leave a comment.