Mobile Hotspot antenna and range

[Steyreo]

I'm aware. Since my device is busy with CarPlay, I want the wifi for our laptop or ipad air. She's using her phone right now but she wants to use the laptop without bothering to use her phone as a personal hotspot. I want her to be happy while we travel together

This also diversifies our coverage since we both have the same Tmobile plan.

I've spent way more than $250 on actual useless stuff before. This isn't even close to a bad purchase for me lol.

okay good. Makes sense to me (I pay for the service for similar reasons even though I haven’t been that impressed).

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[HammaMan]

I'm aware. Since my device is busy with CarPlay, I want the wifi for our laptop or ipad air. She's using her phone right now but she wants to use the laptop without bothering to use her phone as a personal hotspot. I want her to be happy while we travel together

This also diversifies our coverage since we both have the same Tmobile plan.

I've spent way more than $250 on actual useless stuff before. This isn't even close to a bad purchase for me lol.

The truck's cellular antennas are ~3x more powerful than your phones, and far better situated. Keep in mind antenna ratings are logarithmic. W/ VOIP failover you can maintain connection slightly longer in the vehicle, or sometimes it's enough to not drop at all.

The 5g TCU has slightly more powerful antennas than 4G's. Furthermore the energy used talking to the vehicle's wifi is less than talking to cell towers. The phone's antennas are such that less power leaves them than enters from its radio. That's a really poor antenna FWIW.

 

[turbopilot]

Somebody should point out to the op in case they didn’t know that you can’t have CarPlay and use the truck Wi-Fi on the same device. @Samson16

If you tether the iPhone via a USB cable then "turn off" CarPlay in settings on the iPhone, you can use the iPhone WiFi normally.

 

[HammaMan]

If you tether the iPhone via a USB cable then "turn off" CarPlay in settings on the iPhone, you can use the iPhone WiFi normally.

I'd assume it'd work like android does to swap over to the USB for vehicle communication. Plug in via USB, turn off wifi and if it was using it as the communication means it should shut off the wireless communication leaving the wifi open for tethering, or to connect to the vehicle wifi for data usage. That's the method that I set mine to going any meaningful distance.

 

[Snakebitten]

When one of my phones or tablets or laptops need a hefty update (600megs+), I use the truck's WiFi Hotspot for the bandwidth use.

A couple of reasons.......
I live in the boonies and cellular IS my internet. I have an Android phone dedicated as the WAN gateway on an Asus Router. (I use a USB-C > ethernet adapter) AT&T allows unlimited on each device, but limits to 40Gigs for tethered data. That Android device is tagged as tethered data.
I rarely run out of that data, but if I do I have an additional Samsung Android tablet that can be used as the WAN until the billing cycle turns over. (another 40 Gigs)

But if I use the truck for anything large, I insure that my terrestrial setup doesn't get taxed on the cap.

Although the Android WAN is a 5G connection, the truck often matches the throughput. I have zero complaints with the value equation for the Ford LTE account.

I also use it for downloading several gigs per month of Audible books and perhaps a movie or two. Both of which are hosted on the same Sim-less Android device I use for OBDLink and streaming Spotify and Sonos content.

Thankfully I live in a good AT&T zone, considering how remote and heavily wooded I am.

 

[turbopilot]

I'd assume it'd work like android does to swap over to the USB for vehicle communication. Plug in via USB, turn off wifi and if it was using it as the communication means it should shut off the wireless communication leaving the wifi open for tethering, or to connect to the vehicle wifi for data usage. That's the method that I set mine to going any meaningful distance.

I went through the trial and error process some time ago involving WiFi priority and the iPhone. In my case I have Starlink In Motion on the truck so I wanted all internet devices on board to use the Starlink WAN which is unlimited, fast and everywhere.

I determined the iPhone only has one WiFi radio that must flip between the two WiFi frequencies depending on SSID. Originally my hope was the the iPhone had two radios one for each WiFi frequency. Apparently not. So I discovered any time I activated CarPlay "wireless CarPlay" also turned on and took over the iPhone WiFi radio. When I turned off CarPlay on the iPhone and tethered via USB, the iPhone WiFi radio was released for normal duty, which in my case was to be connected to the Starlink SSID source. So rolling down the highway the iPhone is being fed data to support CarPlay via Starlink, not the iPhone cellular connection. The advantage is that Starlink is everywhere while cellular data is not.

 

[HammaMan]

When one of my phones or tablets or laptops need a hefty update (600megs+), I use the truck's WiFi Hotspot for the bandwidth use.

Thankfully I live in a good AT&T zone, considering how remote and heavily wooded I am.

5G unfortunately is a marketing term. Its actual capabilities vary greatly between devices and carriers. The performance given your location isn't unexpected. You're likely only able to connect to the lower cellular bands. Often in such areas, there aren't even multiple bands to use. Where 5G can shine is when you can physically see the antenna you're connecting to. Some carriers have been incorporating its features for a while in 4G, like carrier aggregation where you're connecting simultaneously to more than one band. In the woods, the sub 1GHz are the only things that can connect without a dedicated high-gain antenna. With a high-gain antenna, up to 3.7GHz can be used.

To get better performance you'd need a device that can accept an external antenna, and before you could obtain one you'd need to know what frequencies are available for you to connect to. It's easy to find towers and with a sigint app you can see what frequencies it's putting out. If there's additional frequencies for you to use, you could get better performance if desired by getting a device and antenna to use them.

 

[HammaMan]

The advantage is that Starlink is everywhere while cellular data is not.

Our pine trees disagree with this statement

 

[turbopilot]

Our pine trees disagree with this statement

The high performance Starlink antenna makes a big, big difference with obstructions. Since it sees a much greater section of the sky at one time (140 degree arc versus 100 degree arc). Just took a trip up through the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. Only time we lost coverage was driving down a narrow two lane road in Yellowstone with 100'+ trees right up to the road with no shoulder. Sky directly overhead but not enough. Everywhere else in Yellowstone seeing 100 to 150 down from Starlink. Some campgrounds with more than 50% of the sky obstructed with trees.

 

[Snakebitten]

I have 4 cell towers that are technically eligible for connecting to, depending on where on my property I am at.

Until recently, there was a hack for the Samsung that allowed me to force a specific band. When I was "at the barn", I would manually force band 12 and the device would switch towers (verify with app for seeing which tower is in use) and drop to LTE but at far better throughput.
Once I return to where the RV is, I would switch back to auto, and everything is fine.

Samsung broke the hack again with the release of OneUi 5.1. Arghhhh.


Starlink will not even take my order for service. Seems I'm in a dead zone with promises of "coming soon"
I'm all in if/when

 

[turbopilot]

Starlink will not even take my order for service. Seems I'm in a dead zone with promises of "coming soon"
I'm all in if/when

I think you can get the $150 Mobile-Regional plan but not through the Starlink web site. You order a Starlink High Performance dish from a third party like Home Depot then circle back and sign up for the Mobile-Regional plan. Last I heard if you order the high performance dish on the Starlink web site they lock you into the $250 plan and deliver that with the dish. Reports you can change it after delivery. The rules are constantly changing. Mobile Internet Resource Center posts all the tips, tricks and work arounds.

 

[Snakebitten]

Thanks! I'll report back my findings.

 

[Samson16]

I live in the boonies and

And you own a company and they need you as does your family, so it's Starlink time!!

You have a mac daddy KR land yacht so finish the painting Snake!

Nevermind I was responding serially like my PB and missed all the later texts lol.

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