Community Forums

relay700 · 09-23-2021, 09:47 AM

I currently have a Max BR1 installed but it has been a little flakey in the past. We are preparing to sell our sticks and bricks and move into our RV full time and MUST have reliable Internet as I am an IT person and work remotely.

Thinking of the MobileMustHave ultimate package with the Parsec 7n1 antenna.

Obviously, I will jump on Starlink once they offer a mobile dish but I need something solid right now. I might need to keep both, we'll see.

Have a new RV on order that comes with Wineguard Connect but that will not cut it for me....

Thoughts?

Rumline · 09-23-2021, 09:50 AM

Yes, AT&T and Verizon are the best. I'm not sure if that bundle comes with the CAT 18 Max Transit or the dual CAT 12 "Duo" but for your use case I'd recommend the Max Transit Duo. So you can have two modems, one on each service, and then use SpeedFusion bonding not for increased speed but increased reliability.

I have that same antenna and I love it. Excellent improvement over the paddle antennas.

Edit: once Starlink comes out it'd be easy to add as a wired uplink connection to the Max Transit and be able to juggle it as another source in the Peplink software.

lemodrop9344 · 09-23-2021, 10:29 AM

Have been full timing since December, 2019. Work from my RV.

Purchased Peplink Max Transit Cat-18 May, 2020 after trying several other products with return guarantees (thank goodness).
My research at the time indicated Verizon & AT&T would provide the best coverage. I believe that is still the consensus with T-Mobile being very strong in the 5G arena.

If you are considering a 5G Peplink, device, I would strongly encourage you to read the information concerning 5G at the Mobile Internet Resource Center. I also posted a link to the article on this forum. In addition, I don't believe the Max Transit 5G devices have yet been certified by Verizon.
Both the Max Transit Duo & Max Transit Cat-18 are great products. The Peplink UI is very intuitive & very similar in all of their products.
I struggled with the decision to go with either of these products & eventually decided the additional costs associated with the Duo did not offset the benefits. I took into consideration the costs associated with 4 data plans (SIMs), price differential for base product & price differential for on going Prime Care subscription. Please take the time to read the spec to see how each of these products function, if you have not so already.

I have yet to install my outside antenna, & have found the provided paddle antennas are more than adequate.

Again, both are great products.

IdahoBen · 09-23-2021, 10:47 AM

Just throwing my $.02.

I have the Peplink CAT-18 bundle from MMH with the Poynting roof antenna. SIMs connect to AT&T (reseller) and Verizon (visible). We aren't full time but are often out for weeks, to months, at a time. I'm in tech as well so Zoom/Webex meetings are a way of life. KNOCK ON WOOD, I haven't had an issue yet, and we primarily boondock. I do check cell maps for areas we're looking to camp to increase my odds of getting a signal.

It's been an excellent setup to date.

relay700 · 09-25-2021, 05:18 AM

Thanks for the reality check folks!
We appreciate it!!!

Aquaadverse · 09-25-2021, 07:42 PM

My Caylx, and before that FMCA 4G LTE Sprint/T-Mobile unlimited plans have out performed my Verizon gUdp plan 80% of the time in the year and a half I've been using them. I don't think it's a matter of coverage, it's a matter of congestion and T-Mobile's deployment of the midrange bands they got in the Sprint merger, especially band 46.

Rumline · 09-25-2021, 10:56 PM

I think it may help to qualify what part of the country you're in when discussing carriers. In my travels in the west (Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming) and in the past ~7 months of my testing at each place we camp, Verizon usually outperforms T-mobile. We mostly camp adjacent to or far away from large developed areas, where there's often only one cell tower in range.

We're currently camping at a place with zero Verizon service (on my phone). The CAT 18 Pepwave and Parsec Husky antenna give me 7.5 Mbit down and 0.6 mbit up on Verizon. But in this location T-mobile gives me 14 Mbit down and 4 mbit up. This is the only time when T-mobile has been clearly better. Other times that we've actually used our T-mobile plan is when it's been time of day or weather condition dependent, like Verizon good in the morning, T-mobile at night, etc.

In my experience with congested towers (from larger/more popular campgrounds) if Verizon is saturated so is T-mobile. In such an instance it's a crapshoot as to which is faster at any given point in time. You can identify congestion if your signal is strong yet you still get poor performance.

This is just my experience in the places we've camped. YMMV.

Aquaadverse · 09-26-2021, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rumline

I think it may help to qualify what part of the country you're in when discussing carriers. In my travels in the west (Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming) and in the past ~7 months of my testing at each place we camp, Verizon usually outperforms T-mobile. We mostly camp adjacent to or far away from large developed areas, where there's often only one cell tower in range.

We're currently camping at a place with zero Verizon service (on my phone). The CAT 18 Pepwave and Parsec Husky antenna give me 7.5 Mbit down and 0.6 mbit up on Verizon. But in this location T-mobile gives me 14 Mbit down and 4 mbit up. This is the only time when T-mobile has been clearly better. Other times that we've actually used our T-mobile plan is when it's been time of day or weather condition dependent, like Verizon good in the morning, T-mobile at night, etc.

In my experience with congested towers (from larger/more popular campgrounds) if Verizon is saturated so is T-mobile. In such an instance it's a crapshoot as to which is faster at any given point in time. You can identify congestion if your signal is strong yet you still get poor performance.

This is just my experience in the places we've camped. YMMV.

I think it also depends on the plans you have. I saw my Verizon grandfathered Verizon unlimited $65 plan being heavily network managed after they discontinued it. Plus the equipment you have is also an important factor. If you have a router or hotspot that can lock out congested bands and lock on less congested ones, it can make a significant improvement depending on location. The amount of variables that effect nomadic cellular internet make it very difficult to have a consensus solution.

lemodrop9344 · 09-27-2021, 07:30 AM

With out a doubt, where you are traveling and camping has a significant impact on cellular coverage.

In looking at the coverage maps of the 3 major carriers, it's pretty clear the eastern states of the US are more heavily saturated with towers than the western states. You can generally count on decent cellular service along major highways & cities.
All the advice offered up by the various posters is valid.

Good luck & safe travels.