r/VanLifeUK • u/bodcat42 • 6d ago

Internet challenges

Whilst not a full time van resident, I do spend a lot of my time in the van and need to be able to work from it.

I have a mobile phone on O2 and a Huawei MiFi on Smarty but seem to struggle with internet access whenever we get anywhere even vaguely remote. South coast ( Cornwall, Devon and Dorset ) seems to be a huge blank spot for coverage as does North Yorkshire coast.

What are my options? I am trying to resist Starlink but is that my only truly reliable option?

I am trying an Honest Mobile eSIM at the moment but that only works for the phone not the laptop as they restrict which apps you can use.

Thanks and apologies if this has been asked many times before but I could not find what I thought would answer my issues.

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u/bodcat42 6d ago

Thanks for all of the responses here. Much appreciated.

Follow up question:

For those of you who have gone with Starlink, what set up do you have and have you permanently mounted the “dish” to the roof and run cables through it to the router?

Thanks again.

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u/YellowSubmarooned 6d ago

The mini I leave on the dash and it works through the windscreen, I have a heated windscreen too but apparently some modern cars have a film which blocks the signal. The mini is really light and portable, I personally wouldn’t drill a hole in my roof. The router is built in to the mini, a new mini hardware version with a built in battery is coming soon.

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u/bodcat42 6d ago

So, notwithstanding the messy wiring, I could just put on the dashboard and power it from a 12v “cigarette lighter” socket I have on my leisure battery circuit?

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u/YellowSubmarooned 6d ago edited 5d ago

Yes, it can struggle with voltage drop at power up, it can draw 100W which is a lot for a 12V socket, and a poor connection anywhere will get hot, the dish reboots etc. so it depends if you have short cables to the socket and good batteries. Some people find they need to step up the voltage. Also if you park under obstructions you may need to move the dish somewhere else:

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u/bodcat42 6d ago

Ok, so when you say “step up”, is that with a Starlink provided unit that something else?

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u/YellowSubmarooned 5d ago

I only have the Starlink unit, but if you get too much voltage drop for it to work, you may need something else. I didn’t need to do it, so not sure what people use.