Ep. 303: RV Internet 5G Upgrade | Peplink Max BR1 Pro 5G cellular modem router Starlink T-Mobile

[@Honukimo]

Awesome and timely router update. Thank you!

[@GrandAdventure]

You are most welcome Jim, thank you very much for watching!

[@gypsymountaineers3215]

Love to see our Q23 friends show up. Like when we sat around our TV in Quartzite and watched Wednesday night after you left. BTW we will rewatch this one.

[@GrandAdventure]

For all the traveling you two do, something like this would be very effective to pull everything together. Just give it a couple of times to let everything sink in. I went through it rather quickly.

[@Starbreaker666]

Great info, and thank the gods we only need a phone hot spot.... Keep up the great work, Marc.

[@GrandAdventure]

Thanks so very much!

[@michelleekins1406]

Always learn something from your videos, thanks!

[@GrandAdventure]

Thank you Michelle!

[@najruqwi7008]

So sorry I missed your live stream but I am watching it now 👍

[@GrandAdventure]

Happy to have you here no matter when/where.

[@geraldsouthard7092]

Hi Marc. Super informative and quite timely for us. Thank you.

[@GrandAdventure]

Very happy to hear that Gerald, thanks so much for watching!

[@caitlinmoen5279]

Awesome video!

[@GrandAdventure]

Thank you Caitlin!

[@michaeltablet8577]

Your videos are so helpful! Thanks for doing all the research and sharing with us! Safe travels and God bless you!

[@GrandAdventure]

Thank you was always Michael!

[@laughingram7287]

This has got to be helpful to full timers for sure. Nice that you have done all the research and put it all together in this video. Ram 👍🏼👍🏾

[@GrandAdventure]

It truly is a foolproof setup for our connectivity, Ram.

[@WilliamFauver-m8g]

That's awesome I still use visible I connected my router to visible phone using usb tethering to router its still awesome

[@GrandAdventure]

That's fantastic to hear, William! For many folks that's a perfectly reasonable (and shockingly inexpensive) solution, and we're happy to hear that continues to work well for you.

[@daviscrt]

Need to have different ways to connect when on the road for sure. Thanks Don

[@GrandAdventure]

You bet, Don!

[@OdysseyCamper]

Great info, well presented as usual. Thanks for doing the legwork Marc!

[@GrandAdventure]

Thank you Darren!

[@UltraLimitedHD]

Lotta questions answered!

[@GrandAdventure]

Glad to hear it! Thanks so much for watching.

[@thewanderingshores]

Great setup Marc, we are still using the mobile must-have Pepwave MK BR1 and love it. Great products form both Pepwave and mmh - Kyle

[@GrandAdventure]

No doubt, Kyle. They're the best of the best for RV life. Thanks for watching!

[@SmokyMountainBlessed]

👍🏼 thanks for the explanation

[@GrandAdventure]

Our pleasure, thanks for coming to the Premiere!

[@ytluckynuts]

You could also combine the Br1 with the Transit and use the BR1 as Primary and if you set it up right, all the internet sources of the Transit will show up on your BR1. This way you cn have 3 Sims online at the same time and use it through one wifi

[@GrandAdventure]

Yes you could!

[@michaelmaynard7873]

Great info thanks.👍

[@GrandAdventure]

You're most welcome, Michael. Thanks for watching!

[@akgobears]

Ah poop...All over my head because we dont connect mobile on the road....still got a thumbs up LOL....Cant wait to see you on the road....Travel safe, be well

[@GrandAdventure]

LOL, same to you!

[@leapnlarry]

Hey Marc, I love the extensive dive into the pep wave interface, I have had a transit for a couple of years and I still learned a lot. We have gone all in on starlink alone, we will see if we are able stay connected this summer traveling west without a cellular plan for the pep wave router. Great vid hope you like the new setup. Lar

[@GrandAdventure]

Thanks Larry! You'll have an easier time on Starlink alone out West, as most regions in the West have only sparse tree cover. However, once you get into the PNW large conifer trees become prevalent and can definitely be an issue. As you already know, we actually make it a point to scout out locations first on Google Satellite to look for potential obstructions, but we found in the PNW that severely limits our options. Maybe just put a cheap $25/month Visible SIM in that Transit of yours as a failover on Verizon's network?

[@ZillaYT]

I watched part of 6 videos before watching this one in full. Thanks. The Peplink works well with just the indoor antennae? And which Starlink model do you have?

[@GrandAdventure]

Thank you! The Peplink works as well, if not marginally better, than your cell phone works indoors without an external antenna. So no issue for us. Our Starlink is the Gen 2 actuated model, as we've felt no compelling need to upgrade.

[@SVJoana]

Very well done video. I'm curious about your antennas. Are those antennas supplied with the router sufficient for your RV and lifestyle? I see the router installed in your cabinet behind the TV, but since the RV is metal, I was expecting you might need external antennas. Would you please comment on this?

[@GrandAdventure]

The RV isn't metal, Joana, although the structural members are aluminum. We find that the router's own antennas are perfectly adequate for our needs. We do have a booster with an external antenna, but we don't often use it.

[@slickwilly4613]

I'm contemplating getting a t-mobile home Internet gateway. how much better is performance and by that I mean range to tower and speed Between the two? great channel by the way

[@GrandAdventure]

Thank you! I wish that we had an answer for you; however, we haven't used T-Mo Home Internet ourselves, so we have nothing to base an opinion on. If you go that route, we'd love to hear how it works out for you!

[@richmartin8314]

I use Starlink as well. Love it when there's no obstructions. That cellular connection is super slow. I'm curious why did you opt for this over the TMobile home internet or the VZW home internet that are unlimited and significantly faster?

[@GrandAdventure]

We're still playing around with it, Rich, but haven't really done so much because we've been in areas without Starlink obstructions. I've found with other carriers that changing the frequency band often has a dramatic effect on speed. At the time we published this video we were still stationary for the winter, so we didn't have the opportunity to move around to check connection speeds in different areas.

[@richmartin8314]

@@GrandAdventure I paused my Starlink after this video to try out the VZW home internet. They say it's geo-locked, but I have used it at home base in Utah, took it up to Montana last week and used it with great success in Butte, Bozeman, and Helena. Service was not awesome in Great Falls. Tried it out in a few places in Idaho and am now in San Jose. Overall, it's faster than Starlink. I'm seeing 150mbps in rural areas and 290 mbps in the city. Obviously, the advantage of the satellite service is going to be boondocking up by Mirror Lake, the Tetons or in the Sierras where cell service is non existent. Great content btw. Really digging this channel. Thank you!

[@GrandAdventure]

@@richmartin8314 you are most welcome, and thank you for sharing your experiences with Verizon home internet!

[@mattkaminski6618]

We've had the same router, paired with the Parsec Husky antenna for about a year now. Works fantastic. Great video.

[@GrandAdventure]

Thank you Matt! We've thought about installing an external antenna, but a) we so seldom need to revert to cellular, and b) we have a cellular booster, which acts like a pseudo-external antenna anyway, so we haven't gone the external antenna route yet.

[@kevinwenrick7657]

10:34 great video, very helpful. I have a peplink max transit duo pro that I recently purchased. It runs very hot. I’m wondering if you or anyone else has noticed if the 5g model that you showed us also runs so hot. Mine runs hot enough I’m thinking to return it it for this 5g model (I don’t need the DUO capability. I appreciate any insight you might have in this.

[@GrandAdventure]

Thank you Kevin! Our MAX Transit Duo ran quite warm; our BR1 Pro 5G, not so much.

[@kevinwenrick7657]

@@GrandAdventure thank you for your quick feedback. I think I’ll return the Max Pro. I’ll use your Amazon store front for my new purchase. Thanks again.

[@GrandAdventure]

@@kevinwenrick7657 We sincerely appreciate that!

[@kevinwenrick7657]

FYI, I made that max BR1 Pro 5g purchase today. Looking forward to changing out the transit max pro with it. Thanks for the insight.

[@GrandAdventure]

@@kevinwenrick7657 our pleasure, wishing you great success with the BR1.

[@originaljasonbourne]

Does placing it behind the TV not interfere with the signal quality?? Also wouldn't it be better to have somewhere in the open for easier access to the unit and not have to dig it out?? Thanks for the great tutorial!

[@GrandAdventure]

Miguel, we've sensed no interference from locating the router in that cubby behind the TV. Our signal numbers have always been as good in that location as we get elsewhere in the RV (and we've tried numerous locations over time). It's along an exterior wall, and it also provides easy access to the two items we have connected to the LAN ports: the Roku TV, and a tiny stick PC running our Plex server kzbin.info/www/bejne/aYWrZJqKoa-lj9U . My only regret is that it's not easy getting our Starlink cable to that spot, unless we fish it through the slide weather stripping each time we set up and break camp, which is a PITA. Instead, we locate the Starlink router in the basement for quick-and-easy setup and teardown. We were surprised to find that using the Starlink Ethernet adapter to connect our Starlink signal to the Peplink resulted in no appreciable increase in speed, so routing our Starlink cable into the basement and connecting via Wi-Fi over WAN instead is no big deal. As far as gaining access to the router, it's quite simple, actually, as the TV is on a swing arm mount. Just swing it out and all of those cubbies are revealed. Thanks so much for watching.

[@jchism759]

Thanks for the great videos! Curious about using the Visible sim in a gateway/router, have there been any issues with the setup? Is it a totally separate sim just used in the Pepwave? Thanks again…James

[@GrandAdventure]

Yes it is, James. Visible does not support cellular modems; however, MobileMustHave did a great article on how to set up a Visible SIM card in one of their routers: support.mobilemusthave.com/support/solutions/articles/67000460963-visible-data-plan

[@jchism759]

Thank you!

[@coolierewind]

As you could see on the router configuration it only uses 1 of the cellular slots at a time. It doesn’t use both, I.e. you can’t run both the Verizon and Visible cards simultaneously and mesh them together. You have to manually switch between them since there are only 4 antennas and it needs all 4 for each. To use 2 cellular at the same time you’d have to step up to the next level of router. Mostly good information here, but it’s critical that people don’t think that this runs 2 cell plans at the same time. Can do it with 1 Cell and Starlink however. Honestly at 5G that speed (14ish) was not impressive at all. I’d like to see a Zoom call run with it. I’ve seen 5G UW hit 900 Mbps on my phone in town. What I was also curious in is how you wired it into the 12V as I think that would be helpful to everyone. Thanks!

[@GrandAdventure]

You are correct, Neil, that the Max BR1 5G Pro has only one cellular modem, and you're also correct that it's because of the antenna configuration required by 5G. In contrast, our Max Transit Duo has two cellular modems with the ability to utilize two SIM cards each, but to have two 5G modems with two SIM cards each would require double the number of cellular antennas, and there simply isn't room for that on the Max BR1 Pro 5G. You therefore can't use both cellular connections simultaneously on the Max BR1 Pro 5G, but you can configure the router to alternate between both SIM cards. You can also set allowances for each. The speeds we're seeing here are not impressive, but sufficient, as described in the video. We're stationary for another week, and will continue to report back on what we find once we start moving about the country. T-Mobile is known to be slow here (Draper, Utah), but elsewhere in the valley where 5G UltraWideband is available speeds are indeed impressive, which we also mentioned in the video. We decided against filming the actual hardwiring process because it took place in a deep, dark, tight spot that would've been difficult to share, if not impossible. We already had an existing 12V line behind that wall in the cubby space. The hardwire kit provided by Mobile Must Have comes with a T-splice for the positive lead that you simply clamp down on the positive 12V power source, and a ring terminal for the ground wire. Because our 12V system is already effectively grounded further down the line we instead used a second T-splice to connect the ground wire to the negative lead of our 12V power supply. The other end of the hardwire kit just plugs into the Molex connector on the router, and the kit already has a blade fuse wired inline on the positive lead. The whole process took about 5 minutes.

[@normgibson6565]

CHEERS Marc

[@GrandAdventure]

Cheers to you Norm!

[@gorrdd]

Just curious, Marc. Is there a real benefit in speed, with the work you do, between the T-Mobile 5G and the Starlink satellite system? Gord

[@GrandAdventure]

It all depends on where we are. Sometimes 5G will be faster, other times Starlink will be faster. For us the biggest benefit of having cellular as a failover is when we are beneath trees that prevent us from using Starlink effectively.

[@gorrdd]

@@GrandAdventure Very interesting, Marc. Does 5G have greater reception distance from their towers? Or is it relatively the same as 4G? Gord

[@GrandAdventure]

@@gorrdd It's actually less. 5G has shorter range than 4G, especially through the walls of buildings.

[@gorrdd]

@@GrandAdventure That's very interesting, as well. I think I will stick with my 4G... I already get a very nice suntan from that🤣! Gord

[@GrandAdventure]

@@gorrdd 5G modems are of course backward compatible, so you get the best of 5G where available, and it reverts to 4G where 5G is unavailable.

[@ggonz90ify]

Hello Marc, Are you still using Visible wireless?

[@GrandAdventure]

Yes we are, Gilbert.

[@chrismagallanes8858]

I see the p1000 plan but it says pay 200 i dont know if its one time fee or its 200 a month

[@GrandAdventure]

I must confess ignorance on that. I'm not really familiar with what their current offerings are, as they have changed numerous times since this video.

[@chrismagallanes8858]

I ACKNOWLEDGE I WILL BE BILLED $200.00/MO AND MY LINE WILL BE SUSPENDED IF PAYMENT IS NOT MADE AFTER 30 DAYS INCLUDED WITH INITIAL PURCHASE.

[@chrismagallanes8858]

Found it

[@douglasallenby7667]

Just today received the updated sim from Visible, activated in a verizon phone and when I put it into my Max BR1 pro 5G it will not correct. Not sure what I've done wrong or if the new SIM/pay structure has put a kabash on the router. How about you?

[@GrandAdventure]

We are on the old Visible plan, Douglas, so I can't speak to the new plan. However, did you follow all the steps here support.mobilemusthave.com/support/solutions/articles/67000460963-visible-data-plan including changing the APN?

[@douglasallenby7667]

Yes, that article was why I thought I could update. I'm going to try to redo everything but so far it hasn't been working for

[@GrandAdventure]

@@douglasallenby7667 I will be interested to hear how it turns out.

[@jeffbachant]

I'm curious on how this works as well. I was sent a letter asked to upgrade my old Visible plan and this was a requirement to continue service. My concern is the new Sim card will not work in my Pepwave.

[@douglasallenby7667]

8.3.0. Cellular 1, Network mode-Generic, SIM B, Vzwinternet Admin. + >Misc Settings >>Sim Toolkit >>>Tool SMS Works now. I haven't tried going back to Verizon network

[@Setinmywaysalways]

As an IT moron, this was like attempting to learn a new Language in one day.

[@GrandAdventure]

😄 We only half know what we're doing.

[@dwsan1tx]

800Gb per month? Someone likes to watch TV or play games.

[@GrandAdventure]

Or work. Or all of the above.

[@davidbraun3570]

Actually, that plan no longer exists. Now it's 1000 Gb per month. I just got it with my Pepwave BR1 from MMH. I need a high data limit because I'm away from my rig a lot for work and I have a security system that uses data to store videos on the cloud.

[@GrandAdventure]

@@davidbraun3570you are of course correct. That's the problem with making tech videos, things are always changing.