Hello SNB'ers!
I primarily use a cellular hotspot but there are some areas that it does not work and some areas where it does work during high tide but not during low tide when the boat is sitting 6-9 feet lower than it sits at high tide. In some of the areas where there is cellular limitations, there are outdoor hotspots available which I can get access to.
I am looking for a solution that automatically works between cellular and Wifi as Wan, can fail over to one another, or I can manually select which to use. I plan to mount an external omnidirectional antenna each for cellular and wifi outside. Another limitation is running cable from the antenna into the cabin would require 40-50 feet of cable which my understanding would degrade signal. I can possibly install the equipment outside at the base of the mast or under a seat that would lower that length down to 10-15 feet and any power/POE/ethernet runs could make up the remaining 35-40 feet.
My understanding is a lot of folks get one device to handle the cellular, router, local LAN/wireless, and the WiFi as Wan would be done on a separate device plugged into the cellular router. If there is an all-in-one solution that would be great but seems that using WiFi as Wan would limit the radio power/bandwidth if it has to do both Wan and Lan? I would also consider two separate "radio" type devices one for Cellular and one for WiFi that I could just run ethernet to the cabin and have a router/LAN WiFi there but it would need to be able to handle the two internet sources/failovers, etc.
Other considerations are while I do have AC power inside the cabin, I would need to run DC power to anything outside, and I prefer to use DC power for direct wire into my boat's DC system. POE to the devices outside/at the mast would be ideal because then I can just run 1-2 ethernet cables there but can also consider running DC power straight up there or tapping into something existing. If wiring directly into DC is there any sort of converter/regulator/protector that would be needed or can I wire straight into the battery perhaps with a simple fuse? On a boat battery power can vary from ~12 volts all the way to 14.5 volts or so...
Another concern I have is using just one antenna for cellular and one for WiFi. I see some routers consider the second cellular Aux/Diversity and many routers have multiple connections for the WiFi. Would I experience any major issues wither with signal or frying the radios if using only 1 of the 2 jacks for the external antennas and leaving the others open? I am looking at LTE/LTE-A Cat 6 modems. There does not seem to be any Band 14 support on anything that I have seen. I do see some mini routers/wifi radios that have a single antenna jack that I can consider for the wifi.
Any ways, hoping for some thoughts on a system. Hoping its not too complicated... thank you!
I primarily use a cellular hotspot but there are some areas that it does not work and some areas where it does work during high tide but not during low tide when the boat is sitting 6-9 feet lower than it sits at high tide. In some of the areas where there is cellular limitations, there are outdoor hotspots available which I can get access to.
I am looking for a solution that automatically works between cellular and Wifi as Wan, can fail over to one another, or I can manually select which to use. I plan to mount an external omnidirectional antenna each for cellular and wifi outside. Another limitation is running cable from the antenna into the cabin would require 40-50 feet of cable which my understanding would degrade signal. I can possibly install the equipment outside at the base of the mast or under a seat that would lower that length down to 10-15 feet and any power/POE/ethernet runs could make up the remaining 35-40 feet.
My understanding is a lot of folks get one device to handle the cellular, router, local LAN/wireless, and the WiFi as Wan would be done on a separate device plugged into the cellular router. If there is an all-in-one solution that would be great but seems that using WiFi as Wan would limit the radio power/bandwidth if it has to do both Wan and Lan? I would also consider two separate "radio" type devices one for Cellular and one for WiFi that I could just run ethernet to the cabin and have a router/LAN WiFi there but it would need to be able to handle the two internet sources/failovers, etc.
Other considerations are while I do have AC power inside the cabin, I would need to run DC power to anything outside, and I prefer to use DC power for direct wire into my boat's DC system. POE to the devices outside/at the mast would be ideal because then I can just run 1-2 ethernet cables there but can also consider running DC power straight up there or tapping into something existing. If wiring directly into DC is there any sort of converter/regulator/protector that would be needed or can I wire straight into the battery perhaps with a simple fuse? On a boat battery power can vary from ~12 volts all the way to 14.5 volts or so...
Another concern I have is using just one antenna for cellular and one for WiFi. I see some routers consider the second cellular Aux/Diversity and many routers have multiple connections for the WiFi. Would I experience any major issues wither with signal or frying the radios if using only 1 of the 2 jacks for the external antennas and leaving the others open? I am looking at LTE/LTE-A Cat 6 modems. There does not seem to be any Band 14 support on anything that I have seen. I do see some mini routers/wifi radios that have a single antenna jack that I can consider for the wifi.
Any ways, hoping for some thoughts on a system. Hoping its not too complicated... thank you!
