How I get Blazing Fast Internet Off Grid - Mega Rural Network Tour
Summary
TLDRThe video documents the network setup of a rural New Hampshire resident who combines multiple internet connections for faster speeds. With no good wired options available, he uses Starlink satellite as his main connection, supplemented by two T-Mobile Home Internet lines. To combine them, he opted for an affordable TP-Link router capable of handling three connections. He also set up a mesh network of TP-Link access points to distribute Wi-Fi across his property. Additional components like solar-powered outdoor access and a propane tank monitoring system provide robust connectivity and monitoring. Despite some limitations, the system gives him reliable, high-speed internet to power his smart home and work needs.
Takeaways
- 😀 Chris lives in rural New Hampshire with limited internet options
- 👨💻 He combines Starlink, 2 T-Mobile connections, and YouTube TV for fast internet
- 📶 The TP-Link ER7206 router combines the 3 internet connections
- 🌐 Chris has wifi access points around his house and property for full coverage
- 🛠️ He hardwired access points for max performance and to avoid interference
- ⚡ The Omada controller manages all the TP-Link access points centrally
- 🏡 Mesh access points connect his house to the barn without cables
- 🔋 Solar-powered outdoor access point provides wifi in the yard
- 🛢️ Imon tank monitoring system alerts when propane gets low
- 📝 Overall a complex rural network with redundancy across 140 devices
Q & A
What types of internet connections does Chris use at his home?
-Chris uses Starlink as his main internet provider, along with two T-Mobile home internet connections for additional speed and reliability.
Why does Chris use multiple internet connections?
-Chris combines all three internet connections to get much faster speeds than he could from just one, since he works from home and uploads YouTube videos.
How does Chris connect all the internet services to his network?
-Chris uses a TP-Link router that can handle combining three WAN connections, with Starlink in bypass mode and the T-Mobile modems connected to WAN ports.
What kind of Wi-Fi system does Chris use?
-Chris uses TP-Link Omada access points around his home and barn to distribute the signal, controlled by a central Omada controller.
Why did Chris choose TP-Link products?
-TP-Link routers and access points provided the functionality Chris needed at an affordable price point for his rural home network.
How does Chris monitor his propane tank level?
-Chris uses an Imon 900 MHz wireless sensor network with a direct tank gauge to remotely monitor his propane level from within his home.
What future improvement is Chris considering?
-Based on viewer comments, Chris is interested in trying out Ubiquiti networking equipment in his home setup.
Why did Chris hardwire his Wi-Fi access points?
-Hardwired access points provide more reliable connections without wireless interference issues.
How does the outdoor access point connect?
-The solar-powered outdoor access point uses wireless mesh to connect back to an access point in Chris's barn.
What happens if Chris loses all his internet connections?
-Chris says all the equipment will continue working fine even with no internet connectivity.
Outlines
🏡 Introducing a rural home network setup
The first paragraph introduces the speaker Chrisan living in rural New Hampshire with limited internet options. He previously installed a Starlink satellite dish and T-Mobile routers to combine multiple internet connections, getting speeds up to 400Mbps down. He uses a TP Link router to combine the connections and distribute the network across his house and barn.
👆 Boosting the T-Mobile signal with an antenna
The second paragraph explains how the T-Mobile routers have ethernet ports but no bypass mode, so they cause double NAT issues. The speaker added a directional antenna to boost the T-Mobile signal which nearly doubled his speeds. He plugs the router into the TP Link WAN ports to combine the connections despite the double NAT.
📶 Distributing the network with access points
The third paragraph describes how the speaker distributes the network across his house and barn using multiple TP Link access points. He hardwired most but uses mesh to connect to an outdoor solar-powered access point. He also uses a 900MHz wireless sensor network to monitor his propane tank level.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Starlink
💡T-Mobile
💡Load balancing
💡Mesh networking
💡Wired backhaul
💡monitoring
💡WiFi coverage
💡reliability
💡affordability
💡automation
Highlights
I live in New Hampshire and it's certainly picturesque here but many parts like my area do not have any good types of cabled internet.
I'm paying $200 a month for three different internet connections to get much more speed than I could alone.
The device you're going to need to combine them all is an internet router but you're not going to be able to get by with just a regular one.
I ended up choosing was a TPL link router. What's unique about TPL link is they have a model that cost 60 bucks that can also do two Wan connections.
I actually made a video showing you guys where I pulled these wires pre-turn terminated which is not that easy to do and I pulled two of them all the way back to my house.
I showed you exactly how to do that by using this antenna from the company waveform. This includes a kit that allows you to plug into your router once you've added this antenna you will typically get at least 40% greater speeds.
I have tried all three models of the TPL link router currently here you can see that I've got the ER 8411 the feature set is actually identical all the way down to the $59 model.
Once your controller's in place, all you need to do is add your devices. Now this is where having a managed wi-fi system is fantastic because if you're adding one or 10 all of the settings can get propagated throughout your network.
I chose to hardwire my access points now many of you may just say that I'm old school and that may be the case but if you can hardwire your access points in most cases that will make your life easier and it guarantees that you'll have no Wireless type of interference.
I put this access point into a mesh mode and it beams the signal all the way back to my barn.
This company specializes in making monitoring sensors. I've got an inground propane tank and last year on Christmas Eve I realized I had about 4% propane left.
Now you certainly can go over and read the gauge on the propane tank it's normally covered with snow using this Imon setup they make a direct gauge that goes onto the tank and provided that you've got Wi-Fi like I do now I can read this tank anytime I want and it is accurate I can see it right down to the individual percent.
In total I'm using about 140 internal IP addresses and it's not really computers I'm using the Lutron lighting system that I've made some videos on additionally I'm using a number of enq garage door openers.
In my rural setup I can tell you that the TP Link stuff has worked really well it's affordable it's easy to use I've tried to really give you guys an overview and show you some of the things that I'm doing.
Transcripts
396 down and 68 Meg up hey guys I'm
chrisan the silver symbol Channel and in
today's video I'm going to finally
reveal a full Network tour I live in New
Hampshire and it's certainly picturesque
here but many parts like my area do not
have any good types of cabled internet
now where I live there is nothing more
here than power from the town last year
I made a video where I documented the
installation of my Starling Tower and
also discussed my T-Mobile setup but the
challenge is how do you connect
everything together what kind of router
do you use along with an affordable
Network that gives me both Wi-Fi
internet throughout my property today I
can get between 3 and 400 Meg down and
about 20 to 40 Meg up really doesn't
feel any different than when I used to
have Verizon FiOS what I'm doing here
that's different is I'm combining three
different internet connections I've gone
with starlink as a main provider here
but I wanted to go one step further I
also added the T-Mobile home internet
service to my setup but I didn't just
get one I actually purchased two two of
them and if you're wondering why I need
that in addition of my starlink I do it
for a living so having a solid internet
connection was really critical
additionally I do these videos on
YouTube which I really enjoy so I wanted
to make sure I always had a connection
but by far the best reason is that I'm
able to combine all three of those
connections together enables me to get
much more speed than I could alone so
I'm paying $200 a month for three
different internet connections to get
television I add YouTube TV the device
you're going to need to combine them all
is an internet router but you're not
going to be able to get by with just a
regular one they're products like
microti ubiquity firewalla and some
others that say that they can combine
multiple internet links and they can but
for the most part they will max out at
two connections I needed to find a
router that could combine three or four
internet connections into one not cost
me a lot of money and the product I
ended up choosing was a TPL link router
what's unique about TPL link is they
have a model that cost 60 bucks that can
also do two Wan connections and
originally I did purchase that box I
fooled around with it and it seemed to
work just fine so I upgraded to their
next model this is the model that can
handle up to three wide area network
connections it not only allows you to
put those connections together you can
change the settings so you can waight
the connections Now by weight I mean
setting them up so that Starling for
example may only have a download speed
of 100 to 150 Meg you can program that
into the TPL link router through a
simple web interface it will determine
which is the best connection to use
typically Advanced features like that
are usually part of very high-end
routers from companies like Cisco now a
year later after using it I can tell you
the box is very solid even their
top-of-the-line model that they just
came out with sells for about 500 bucks
the features are essentially the same
this one has a couple of 10 gig ports it
also has these SFP ports that allow you
to use Fiber inside your switch now you
might think on a home network nobody's
going to have fiber but out here I am
actually running it because my barn is
about 250 ft away and the cables run
underground I actually made a video
showing you guys where I pulled these
wires pre- turn terminated which is not
that easy to do and I pulled two of them
all the way back to my house I have
tried all three models of the TPL link
router currently here you can see that
I've got the ER 8411 the feature set is
actually identical all the way down to
the $59 model after using this ER 8411
for about 5 months I really just didn't
see any extra value so if I was doing
this today I would still stick with a
TPL link router but I would not bother
with the highest end model I like this
$59 one as well as the ER 7206
how do you plug all of these things in
now let's start with starlink starlink
made a really bad decision a few years
ago by eliminating the ethernet port
that used to be on every starlink router
fortunately they do sell an accessory
this little box cost around $40 you plug
it in line with your starlink router and
now you have that same ethernet port
that they used to give you for free but
before you hate these guys starlink does
do one incredibly great thing that
allows you to utilize this in your home
network with a thirdparty router you
simply go into your starlink app and you
put put your starlink router in bypass
mode that means your starlink router
will now pass all of its information
directly to your TP Link or whatever
brand router that you put behind it this
makes networking quite a bit easier and
that takes care of starlink but now
we've got a problem because when we go
to T-Mobile you might think this is
fantastic it not only has one ethernet
port it's actually get two of them but
unfortunately T-Mobile's home internet
service is typically sold to folks that
are just going to use it with the
built-in wireless connection and these
ethernet ports are normally used for
someone plug in a computer directly into
them in fact we're going to plug another
router into them now that will
technically work and that's the only way
it can work because T-Mobile doesn't
offer any type of a bypass mode you've
got to remember T-Mobile owns these
routers they're included in your monthly
fee but if you discontinue service you
have to return them they've got built-in
antennas and you may live in an area
where your signal is great and they just
work perfectly right out of the box but
in a rural setting like I am you want to
boost your signal as much as possible
why wouldn't you want more speed if you
could get it and in a previous video I
showed you exactly how to do that by
using this antenna from the company
waveform this includes a kit that allows
you to plug into your router once you've
added this antenna you will typically
get at least 40% greater speeds and in
my case I was almost able to double my
speed because once you play with that
antenna a bit you get it pointed
directly at your Tower and now you can
boost your speed and throughput
tremendously but now back to T-Mobile
and plugging it in we'll start by
plugging one cable into the Lan one port
on the back of the T-Mobile device and
then easy enough the other end will go
right into one of the WAN ports on the
TPL link router but as I said there's no
Bypass or special routing mode and
you're not doing anything illegal or
breaking a rule you're still using the
internet service properly but you are
creating a small problem it's it's
referred to as double netting but I can
tell you after a year and a half of
doing this I've not noticed anything at
all we do use online gaming we stream
High defition videos but it's never been
a problem for me so this is still an
integral part of my entire setup with
all three of these connections plugged
in you're basically Bally ready to go on
my network I also use this router to do
DHCP meaning it will hand out IP
addresses to all the equipment I have on
my inside Network now we need a way to
distribute it that's where we need to
talk about getting the network spread
across my house my barn and even outside
of my yard now starlink in both of those
T-Mobile routers will provide local
Wi-Fi you could use them if you have a
small network but for me I knew I needed
about a dozen wiress access points some
of them were going to go outdoors and I
wanted to spend as little money as
possible so I bought several TP link
access points and I can say that after a
year I'm very pleased with them now they
do have a central management system and
you do need to purchase one small
controller now again TPL link makes
different models this is their omata
controller you can host it in the cloud
I didn't want to pay any kind of service
fees so you can buy one of these boxes
for about 50 bucks and this is the brain
of sorts that runs all of your access
points and it can also manage things
like computer network switches as well
and this is another area that I made a
mistake I went ahead and bought their
larger controller thinking that it would
be better for my network but I saw no
changes on my home network if you're
going to get into this and you're going
to choose tplink and omada I would
recommend their smaller controll that's
50 bucks once your controller's in place
all you need to do is add your devices
now this is where having a managed wi-fi
system is fantastic because if you're
adding one or 10 all of the settings can
get propagated throughout your network I
have small ones in my basement where
it's a pretty modern part of my house
but upstairs my house looks really old
and the last thing I wanted was a really
bright access point kind of on the
ceiling so here I hit it inside of a
closet there's still enough ventilation
in here so it's not going to overheat I
chose to hardwire my access points now
many of you may just say that I'm old
school and that may be the case but if
you can hardwire your access points in
most cases that will make your life
easier and it guarantees that you'll
have no Wireless type of interference
trying to run those access points I do
have one special access point that is
Distributing Wireless outside my house
you may have seen that video where I put
an outside access point that runs off of
a Solar panel It's contained in
something that kind of looks like a
small ouse there's no cables so what I
did is I put this access point into a
mesh mode and it beams the signal all
the way back to my barn in the corner of
my barn you can see this small access
point now I actually spray painted this
to match the color of the barn so again
I'm trying to kind of hide this
technology so it doesn't stand out the
nice benefit of mesh is even though this
is sending a signal to that access point
down on my field it also gives me a
signal around it you could continue
putting stations like this one after the
next and spreading your mesh Network out
now what of my barn here I do have one
other unique box you may have noticed
this thing with an antenna on the top
this is not a regular internet router
though it does have an ethernet port
this is a 900 MHz kind of sensor type of
network this is made by the company
called Imon this company specializes in
making monitoring sensors I've got an
inground propane tank and last year on
Christmas Eve I realized I had about 4%
propane left now I had only been in the
house for about 3 months so I wasn't
familiar with what was going on quite
yet but there was another problem I
wasn't able to get a propane delivery
because we had so much snow hair at the
time and mud in the driveway but I did
not want that to happen in the future
now you certainly can go over and read
the gauge on the propane tank it's
normally covered with snow using this
Imon setup they make a direct gauge that
goes onto the tank and provided that
you've got Wi-Fi like I do now I can
read this tank anytime I want and it is
accurate I can see it right down to the
individual percent so now I have an
alert set to let me know when the tank
gets to 30% so that I know that I to get
a fill right away now in total I'm using
about 140 internal IP addresses and it's
not really computers I'm using the
Lutron lighting system that I've made
some videos on additionally I'm using a
number of enq garage door openers now
for some of you guys that are living in
a log cabin you might say all this is
just too much none of the equipment I'm
running needs the internet to operate
all the power can go out here I can lose
all of my connections everything can
fail and life still goes on but in my
previous video I got many comments
saying that I should try out the company
ubiquity stuff and I would certainly
like to do that and I'm my rural setup I
can tell you that the TP Link stuff has
worked really well it's affordable it's
easy to use I've tried to really give
you guys an overview and show you some
of the things that I'm doing but if
you'd like to know more about what I've
done or you have suggestions for how I
could do something better be sure to
leave me a comment below and if you
found this video helpful I'd really
appreciate it if you give it a thumbs up
and subscribe to the silver symbol
Channel if you want to see more videos
coming up
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