[Question] In-Motion Satellite Internet for an RV

[b632]

Alright, I know this sounds kind of crazy, but hear me out:

 

My grandparents have had an RV since I was very young, and one of the things that always fascinated me about their setup was how the satellite TV would continue working while in-motion. Recently, my parents have also purchased an RV, and have come to me for advice on tricking it out with TV and with internet. Obviously, I recommended the in-motion satellite for TV (linked below), but I have been unable to find a similar solution for the internet. There are plenty of satellite internet providers (ex. HughesNet and Viasat), but for whatever reason I have been unable to find a dish compatible with ANY of them that is also capable of operating while in motion.

 

So, I was wondering if there is any way to configure and/or mod one of the aforementioned in-motion Winegard receivers (linked below) to connect to networks that aren't officially supported. Based upon my research, the dishes can be switched between DIRECTV, DISH, and Bell TV using an array of eight dip switches located under the dome (video linked below). However, the manual on Winegard's website (also linked below) provides absolutely no information regarding the internal function of these switches, and instead simply lists the necessary configurations for the supported platforms. The provided switch configurations do not, however, have any meaningful relation to each other, and thus likely have some greater relevance to the function of the dish.

 

That's all I have so far. So, my questions for you all:

 

1 - What, if anything, is the meaning of the values on the dip switch array?

2 - Can the dish linked below, in its stock form, be used to connect to HughesNet and/or Viasat? (If not, would it be possible to modify it to be able to do so?)

3 - What hardware, aside from the traditional modem/router/AP would be necessary to make a setup like this, in-motion or otherwise, function? They'll want to rent as little hardware as possible from the ISP.

 

Any and all feedback/advice for the project as a whole is more than welcome in the comments.

 

Links:

Winegard RoadTrip T4 In-Motion RV Satellite Antenna - http://www.winegard.com/roadtrip

Video Tutorial for DirectTV to Dish Network Conversion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPtuwrFW06M

Manual for In-Motion Satellite: http://www.winegard.com/help/images/c/cd/2452356.pdf

[Donut417]

6 hours ago, b632 said:

Can the dish linked below, in its stock form, be used to connect to HughesNet and/or Viasat?

Probably not. Hughesnet and Viasat use different bands than each of the satellite TV providers. What you might be better off looking for is some kind of LTE setup, as Cellular is designed to work in a moving vehicle. The only issue with LTE is your not always going to be in range of a cell tower camping. So you will have to rough it like we did in the old days. Plus LTE would be better for watching videos and doing internet stuff. Satellite internet is out right terrible in most cases and expensive. 

[b632]

3 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Probably not. Hughesnet and Viasat use different bands than each of the satellite TV providers.

True. However, my theory with the dip switches is that there is a direct correlation between the values represented (in binary) on them and the band/frequency that the antenna needs to look for signals on, thus meaning that the dome is, in theory, able to connect to a wide range of signals, hopefully including that of at least one of the satellite internet providers.

4 hours ago, Donut417 said:

What you might be better off looking for is some kind of LTE setup, as Cellular is designed to work in a moving vehicle.

I had looked into that. However, both of them already have unlimited LTE on their phones, so it seems like a waste of money to just install another cell line, particularly considering the range issues.

[Donut417]

1 minute ago, b632 said:

True. However, my theory with the dip switches is that there is a direct correlation between the values represented (in binary) on them and the band/frequency that the antenna needs to look for signals on, thus meaning that the dome is, in theory, able to connect to a wide range of signals, hopefully including that of at least one of the satellite internet providers.

I would venture a guess that the way TV is transmitted and Internet is transmits is different. I would also venture a guess that Satellite TV is a one way street. Meaning it doesn't communicate back to the satellites in orbit. Because I think from when my sister had Dish Network, her DVR was hooked up to their internet for On Demand Content. Also its not like you can force this. If the satellite internet companies dont support your dish, your not going to get this to work. Personally with LTE you get better bandwidth latency for that matter. If your camping out in the middle of no where, well you can survive without internet. Plus LTE would probably be cheaper. Also take in to account that Satellite internet has daily and monthly usage caps. LTE generally has a threshold before they "Deprioritize" your traffic or they throttle you. Even with data limits companies  like T Mobile zero rate a lot of services. You might only be able to do Netflix at DVD quality but who cares. 

 

If you want to pursue this further, id try calling one of these providers and seeing if they have a plan or equipment or know of equipment you can buy that they support. 

[b632]

1 minute ago, Donut417 said:

I would venture a guess that the way TV is transmitted and Internet is transmits is different. I would also venture a guess that Satellite TV is a one way street. Meaning it doesn't communicate back to the satellites in orbit

Fair point on the two-way street thing - definitely could be limited by the capabilities of the dish. However, as long as I'm using an appropriate modem for the task, I see no reason why it wouldn't be able to receive data from the satellite.

6 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Personally with LTE you get better bandwidth latency for that matter. If your camping out in the middle of no where, well you can survive without internet. Plus LTE would probably be cheaper. Also take in to account that Satellite internet has daily and monthly usage caps. LTE generally has a threshold before they "Deprioritize" your traffic or they throttle you. Even with data limits companies  like T Mobile zero rate a lot of services. You might only be able to do Netflix at DVD quality but who cares. 

Again, they already have really solid LTE, so this is a non-issue. The satellite would be in addition to their existing connection.

7 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

If you want to pursue this further, id try calling one of these providers and seeing if they have a plan or equipment or know of equipment you can buy that they support. 

Unless anyone on here has a better idea, my current plan is to tell my parents to just order one dome (for their TV) and then give me the opportunity to tinker with it once I have physical access. Hopefully this will reveal more info about the dome's capabilities, particularly on the "two-way street" side of things.

[Donut417]

2 minutes ago, b632 said:

However, as long as I'm using an appropriate modem for the task

Thats if the radio used for the satellite is in the gateway the company sends you. If the radio is in the dish its self then the dish has to support the bands. You have to look at it like this, Verizon, T Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, DirectV, Dish network, etc have wireless bands that belong to them. While devices can work on mutiple services, the transmitters themselves have to support those bands. 

 

Can I put this system on a boat or in an RV?

No, HughesNet is not available for mobile locations. To receive mobile high-speed Internet service, please contact the following Value Added Service provider:

Mobil Satellite Technologies www.mobilsat.com 1-757-312-8300

 

Thats from the Hugesnet website. They wont support your project. But they link to a service provider that does maybe. So Id check them out. 

[b632]

2 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Can I put this system on a boat or in an RV?

No, HughesNet is not available for mobile locations. To receive mobile high-speed Internet service, please contact the following Value Added Service provider:

Mobil Satellite Technologies www.mobilsat.com 1-757-312-8300

 

Thats from the Hugesnet website. They wont support your project. But they link to a service provider that does maybe. So Id check them out. 

Thanks for the intel - again though, I would like to at least ATTEMPT a DIY option before resorting to a "Value Added Service provider," whatever that's supposed to mean 

[Donut417]

2 minutes ago, b632 said:

Thanks for the intel - again though, I would like to at least ATTEMPT a DIY option before resorting to a "Value Added Service provider," whatever that's supposed to mean 

Just make sure the service provider you choose supports RV's then you should be fine if the dish works. Also the link that I provided seems to be a list of providers AND dishes that work for Satellite internet. So you might want to check the dishes out if the DIY option doesn't work. Keep us updated if you can. I always like learning new things. 

[b632]

1 minute ago, Donut417 said:

So you might want to check the dishes out if the DIY option doesn't work.

Already looking - seems like most are marketed towards boats for whatever reason, but I see no reason why they wouldn't work in an RV.

3 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

 Keep us updated if you can. I always like learning new things. 

For sure 

[schizznick]

There is a big difference receiving a satellite transmission... TV is one way everything is broadcast out by a high power transmitter on the Satellite. Internet being bi-directional has to have a similarly powerful transmitter to send it back to the Satellite. Even if you got it to work, your performance would be terrible as keeping the dish pointed to receive is much easier than to transmit. Let me explain why, when the Satellite transmits it can send a signal out in a wide area allowing everyone to receive it, it doesn't have to transmit to you specifically. This gives you a decent margin of error to align the dish. When you transmit back, you don't have that ability. You must transmit direct to the satellite which is a small point hundreds if not thousands of miles away. Early Satellite internet used DSL or even dialup for upload and the satellite only handled download. As technology got better we were able to do handle both upload and download over satellite, however the accuracy of the dish is important. When you are at a fixed point this isn't too hard with modern tech, but moving on the other hand is quite a bit different. Your best bet is cellular using something like wifi ranger. 

[b632]

On 6/25/2019 at 9:33 AM, schizznick said:

There is a big difference receiving a satellite transmission... TV is one way everything is broadcast out by a high power transmitter on the Satellite. Internet being bi-directional has to have a similarly powerful transmitter to send it back to the Satellite. Even if you got it to work, your performance would be terrible as keeping the dish pointed to receive is much easier than to transmit. Let me explain why, when the Satellite transmits it can send a signal out in a wide area allowing everyone to receive it, it doesn't have to transmit to you specifically. This gives you a decent margin of error to align the dish. When you transmit back, you don't have that ability. You must transmit direct to the satellite which is a small point hundreds if not thousands of miles away. Early Satellite internet used DSL or even dialup for upload and the satellite only handled download. As technology got better we were able to do handle both upload and download over satellite, however the accuracy of the dish is important. When you are at a fixed point this isn't too hard with modern tech, but moving on the other hand is quite a bit different. Your best bet is cellular using something like wifi ranger. 

Thanks for the insight - seeing as they're going to have to purchase one for tv anyway, I think I'm still gonna try just to see how it performs, but they will most likely end up with an in-motion dish for tv and a stationary dish for internet.

[Shane86]

Have you looked at HugesNet's service offerings and packages? They're abysmal. 

a 25x3 connection, with a 50GB transfer limit.. is $140 a month.