I've just purchased a used Teltonika RUT951 that's been converted to 5G. Want to use it in our van as a WiFi network. It's missing two of it's Antennas, the mobile ones, but I knew that before buying it, so need to buy either an external mount one or a pair of the unit mount ones. I'm assuming these will do - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/22652658...pid=5339023013&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1 or https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/22658673...pid=5339023013&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1 But, what SIM to go for? We want to be able to do all the usual internet etc stuff from the van via a couple of laptops, and maybe even work from the van occasionally. UK only at this stage. But obviously don't want to spend a fortune. We are both with EE for our phones and I have a couple of Giff Gaff ones in trackers, but this will be a dedicated Data SIM. I also don't want to commit too much each month until I know the unit works to our expectation. Any suggestions?
Have a look at the deals through Martin Lewis MSE. There are some good Lebara deals (piggy backing Vodafone/3). These are 1 month contracts as well. I have two contracts on Lebara for a club I am in giving us 35gb broadband at 2 rural locations. Cost for both is now £18 a month but for six months it was £2 a month (that is for both SIMs) Personally, my home broadband is through an EE SIM card and 5g router. Once I am out of contract I will be switching to Mozillion (still on EE). I am currently on an unlimited data deal, the service very rarely drops out and I am getting between 70mbps to 110mbps. The service I get streams all our TVs, home broadband and calls over WiFi for our mobiles. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheap-mobile-finder/sim-only/data-only-sims/
I'd get a Data Sim without contract (one month) to see if if all works the way you want it to. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheap-mobile-finder/sim-only/data-only-sims/ has some deals. I switched to Lebara a couple of months ago and have not had any issues at all. Currently they have via MSE Data only SIM 10GB p/month for £1.50. Its not worth wasting time looking for a better price than that to get it all up and running methinks?
Antenna wise I would consider investing in a Poynting https://www.amazon.co.uk/Poynting-Omni-Directional-Polarised-Outdoor-Antenna/dp/B08F4S4DMN?th=1
If you want wifi on the go then why not do it properly and get Starlink? I used to fanny around tethering to a 5G phone when I was away van-lifing but tbh it was shit. I'm now two weeks into my first trip with Starlink as my source of internet and it's an absolute game changer. £289 (IIRC) for the mini dish which is about A4 size, £50 for the cigarette lighter power supply and £96pm for unlimited data, which sounds expensive, but the plan can be paused when I'm not using it and/or I can drop back down to the 50GB pm plan which is £50 pm (these changes take about 10 seconds to action via the app).
Teltonika RUTM52 & a Poynting Swirl 8 is my next setup. Together they will be around £1,500 but far superior too starlink, without the running costs of sim/e-sim packages. Dual 5g combined signals for massive uploads & downloads or backwards compatible 4G which is how I'll be running it as I'm slightly to far from my local 5G. Oh and you can also get dual E-sims running for redundancy purposes! Teltonika kit is brill the pill'
Try getting 5G in most of the places I end up when out in the van and you might reassess that opinion.
Thanks all, I meant to reply to @Zhed46 last week and got distracted. Yes, Starlink or similar would be good, but in the first instance for the amount we think we'd use it the cost would be considerable compared to the £50 used RUT951 I've already purchased. Plus whatever SIM we end up with. And actually, talking to Lady Nasher about it over the weekend, we both agree that if we can't get on the internet whilst away in the van, we'll put up with it and start another book. We need to get a few trips away in the van under our belt, settle in to how and when we'll use it, and have a better idea of what level of connectivity we want to the outside world.
Lebara, great app, renew every month, no CPI % increases, use mine as a data only router for my security cameras. £10 a month buys double most networks.
As Lebara are on the Vodafone network you now get the added bonus of using the 3 network since they amalgamated.
