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solar powered remote 4g with bridge to house - advice needed

JM98

Casual Member
Dear All,



I live in a remote area with intermittent zero to 2 mb broadband with an occasional peak of 6mb. (South Hams , Devon)

After years of lobbying and promises, it is clear that this situation will not improve and the mile and a half of regularly patched old copper is not fit for purpose.

OpenReach is called out on an almost twice monthly basis in this valley and this has been the case for the last decade.

Although I have considered Starlink, I find the monthly cost too high and also do not like to be tied to a single provider.



Although I have no mobile coverage near the house, we do get a 4G signal in a field of ours 300-350 meters away as the crow flies.

That location has no services so any solution would need to be solar powered and beam the signal onto the house.
Would the connection to the house be directional wifi or is there something better available.



I would like to keep costs reasonable and the setup as simple as possible.



Cabling is not an option given the complicated much longer route this would need to be and passing numerous farm gates etc.



Would any one have any tips to a good resource a) how to design this r b) where I can find the relevant product or c) know someone who may offer a solution not to far away.
I am happy to install myself, but open to any suggestion.

Many thanks

Jaap
 
Considering the complications and expenses, to be honest Starlink doesn't look so bad..

You'd need a serious panel to power the 4G router and then a wifi device to beam the internet into your house (hope you have line of sight). Expenses could well be similar if not more than the Starlink deposit and the speeds nowhere near ...
 
Thinking more about it, you'd probably have to spend somewhere in the region of below to get a working solution:
- £200-400 battery + solar panel
- £200-300 long range wifi combo (from mikrotik, ubiquity etc)
- £100-200 LTE router
- £?? on CCTV or other security? :)

And at the end of all that you'd be getting maybe a 10-20 Mbps (I hope more!) .. at least with starlink you get some top-notch speeds and you can put it on the roof.
 
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Thank you Lucian.


yes I am considering Starlink too.
However, given I get no broadband (essentially) now nor mobile coverage, even a reliable but slower option would be an improvement.

At my officeI have a reliable 1ms 600MBfibre connection (for less than double what I pay at home to BT), so working from home with 0-2mb is not only depressing but impossible..

no security costs as private land not overlooked.
Starlink has upfront cost as well (+-500) and 89 per month versus <20 per month for unlimited 4g sim. added benefit is that I have the flexibility of changing provider, which I like. But, yes, Starlink is an option.
If I compare costs over 5 years there is quite a difference:
(I know costs may change but as an estimate:--AND I MAY BE WRONG)
Starlink 60(months)*89= 5340 plus hardware around 500 totals 5840
DIY 4G: 60*20 (could be less)= 1200 plus hardware around 500-800 totals 1700-2000
I know it is like comparing apples and pears but still, significant, in addition to being tied to one provider with Starlink.
I am not discounting either option but there is an almost 3000 difference over 5 years (or at least 60 pounds per month more..)
But i do appreciate Starlink will be much faster and more likely "just work" without fiddling around.
 
I have a WiFi security camera 500M away with a solar panel plus battery to power it. I have a wifi antenna very vaguely pointing at it from the house and it gets 78mb/s connection. So its doable but I won't know if I have sized the solar panel correctly until next spring. It has to power the camera for 24 hours from possibly only a few hours of daylight.
 
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I'll throw in my experience. At the girlfriends rural place I suggested Starlink as the best solution. Easiest to install. The upfront cost for which £500 and £72 a month? In this case, Gigaclear is building out to them, should be in (from today) in the next 12 to 18 months, installed. Instead a 4G solution was installed to last until then (4 months ago). Surveyed the site with a few payg sims and iphone as well as Cat 6 router and a directional antenna. It was found the best location was near a barn at the edge of the property. So built a PTP radio link back from barn where 4G mast and antenna are - used an ER605 load balancer to use both 6Mbps ADSL and 4G at same time. Cost up front for cabling and all equipment was £350 to £400. There was some free cables I had and a free router as well. The monthly cost is £25 a month for an unlimited Lebara SIM. We not get 20 to 30Mbps down and 10 to 20Mbps up. It only made sense because all my work was free. I am a network engineer by profession. For someone to setup for you £200? Or tied into a 2 year contract with a company specialising in these setups?
Depends how tech savvy you are? You with a directional 4G antenna nearer to the house you might be able to get a useable signal?
Have a company that specialises in this to come do a survey and talk you through what's involved and costs. Easiest / still most expensive- go the Starlink route and try for 30 days, I think you can send back within 30 days and get a full refund for equipment? And you only pay for the days of the month you have used it for. I get the being tied to one provider problem - and that would have been a conern for me too.
 
I have a WiFi security camera 500M away with a solar panel plus battery to power it. I have a wifi antenna very vaguely pointing at it from the house and it gets 78mb/s connection. So its doable but I won't know if I have sized the solar panel correctly until next spring. It has to power the camera for 24 hours from possibly only a few hours of daylight.
I changed this setup in the summer. Its now a 250W solar panel charging a 12V 90AH gel battery. It lasted from Jun until the 28th Dec before the CCTV finally stopped sending its Wi-Fi feed and the 12V LED pir floodlight started to go mental. Charged the battery for a day off the grid and with todays sunshine its back to fully charged. So not 100% but not far off either. Might have to do one more grid charge in late Jan but then the solar should be good until Dec.
 
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