I recently had a need to setup connectivity for full stack lab gear and VMs etc on the go. There are bunch of options available to do this and I needed to do this on a small budget. Some of the options I looked at are below:
Starlink:
Since the coverage desired is on the go, only option available was the “Roam” option. Basic Roam 50 Gig plan for $50 would have been fine for me. But then there was cost of the equipment which was $449 currently but originally it is around $599. Lastly, my concern was that I may be in a room/area without any windows or view of the sky, then what?
Based on the equipment cost and need to have a clear view of the sky, I decided to not go this route.
T-Mobile 5G internet plan:
Since I am already a T-Mobile customer I decided to look into the T-Mobile 5G internet plan that they kept advertising for $50. This $50 plan is residential only and geo locked. Even if you get a business plan, it is geo locked so you can’t travel with it.
If you need something on the go, that requires the T-Mobile 5G Internet AWAY plan. $110 for 200 Gig isn’t so bad and more than enough for what I need it for. Plus it comes with the Wi-Fi Gateway. NOTE: This 5G internet gateway comes with RPSMA connectors also if you want to hook up an external antenna to it. I liked this solution, but then again $110 per month with a contract is not something I was looking to spend, atleast not right now.
T-Mobile 5G hotspot:
Last option I looked at was using the T-Mobile hotspot. I figured I can simply add this to my T-Mobile plan and I already get about 50 Gigs of hotspot data that I can use. But I was told that I will need to get a separate plan for this, which means $50/month for a 50 Gig plan, (Note: looks like they are now also doing $50/month for 100 Gig also). Plus the cost of the hotspot around $264.
I decided to not go with this plan because if I am going to pay for this, I might as well just use my phone as hotspot.
Connecting to my Cellphone hotspot:
How do I connect my lab to my phone now? My firewall isn’t able to do that, there is no ethernet port. My requirements were:
- I needed something as soon as possible, was hoping to grab it from Best Buy.
- Not very expensive.
- Fast boot time and easy to setup.
- Something that will connect to the Wi-Fi on my phone for the internet.
- Will have an ethernet port that I can connect my firewall to for outbound connectivity.
Good friend and a fellow Wireless guy Drew Lentz aka WirelessNerd just started working for Eero. I knew about their Mesh capabilities so I decided to message Drew. Drew confirmed that you are able to do this with the Plus subscription. (Note: Basic subscription AFAIK is free).
I ran over to Best Buy and was able to find a single unit for a pretty good price.
Eero 6+ What’s in the box:
Setting up the unit:
Setting up the unit was easy, I did need to connect it to the hardwire for the initial setup. One thing that was confusing was the fact that LAN/WAN ports aren’t labeled. I’m not sure if it just auto detects it or use the first one you connect as WAN and next one as LAN, but I just went with what the picture shows.
Next step was to sign up for the Plus subscription so that I can use the “Internet Backup” feature.
Once the “Plus” subscription is active, you can simply slide the “eero Internet Backup” button and then “Add a backup network”. I was able to connect to my cellphone hotspot. Connected my firewall to one of the ethernet ports on the Eero 6+ and everything was online in a few min.
I was thinking that using multiple Eero devices I may be able to extend this setup if I am stuck in a room with no cell coverage and I need temporary coverage by putting my cellphone outside the conference room. But looks like the remote units don’t have the ethernet ports so that may not be possible, I still can use a longer ethernet cord however it needed. Overall I loved using Eero that allowed me to accomplish what I needed to accomplish for a good price.