Mobile Broadband in Static Caravan

I've been investigating and trying to understand what I need, to get broadband in a static caravan.

Mobile broadband seems to be the only viable option. I considered Starlink, but for the amount of time we'll be there, we can't really justify the cost.

I've been looking into 4G/5G routers (we'd much prefer 5G) with external antennas, because the signal inside a static caravan can be limited to non-existent. We've stayed at the location a lot of times so we know we get a generally good signal outdoors, but unpredictable indoors, depending where we are.

This all seemed fairly simple until I learnt about how the UK 5G network works. Up until now I had no idea there was such a thing as standalone and non-standalone 5G and the UK is predominantly non-standalone. This means (as far as I know) 5G won't work without a 4G signal?

The 5G router I'd been looking at, a TP-Link Archer NX210, has two external antenna connections. They are both, from what I can tell, for 5G. So if the router is indoors and the antenna is outdoors, it may get a great 5G signal, but little or no 4G signal. If it gets no 4G signal my assumption is it won't work at all?

This led me to investigating other router/antenna options and this is where I'm getting lost, because I know very little about this. I'm fairly technically minded, but this is just not something I know about.

How do I find routers that have external 4G and 5G? Is this what I need? Googling is hard, because I'm not 100% sure what to search for. I've searched for 4x4 MiMo, but found routers where all four external antennas are 5G. So my assumption this was what 4x4 MiMo is, was obviously wrong lol.

So working on the assumption there will be no signal (4G or 5G) inside, I need all the antennas to be outside. I'm struggling to find any 5G routers that do this, that don't cost a large amount of money (or have wifi antennas outside as well, that I don't need). Would it be easier to just go with 4G for the time being? Am I being too ambitious

I don't want to spend a fortune on hardware that makes little to no difference. To be honest I want to spend as little as possible, at least initially.

Is there anyone here who's done the same thing?

Your router will do all the protocols on the same antenna. Just need to check you have the right frequencies covered, known as ‘bands’. It is possible that you will get quite good coverage without an external antenna, what is the construction of the walls of your static? Most homes with brick cavity walls manage to cope with 4G and 5G signals.

It is much more likely there is little to no 5G signal or capacity where you go, so think for 4G anyway.

Do you have an approximate location, and or preferred mobile operator in mind?

Edited by jchamier (Tue 03-Jun-25 17:56:02)

You could look at Solwise. https://www.solwise.co.uk/mobile-antenna-outdoor

I can't recommend any specific, it's been a while since I looked at these.
I used Solwise a lot in the past, they have a very competent technical crew and very good at giving recommendation.

Hi there, thanks for your reply

Your router will do all the protocols on the same antenna. Just need to check you have the right frequencies covered, known as ‘bands’

Ah OK. I actually just got confirmation of that from TP-Link

It doesn't disable the internal antennas, but it will use the external ones for both 4G and 5G. So it will still work even if there's no signal inside at all.

It is possible that you will get quite good coverage without an external antenna

It may be possible yeah, but unlikely I think. We've been there several times before (renting different vans) and so far, only one has had a half decent indoor 5G signal. On all but one visit, I (on Lebara) get nothing indoors and my partner (on EE) gets a weak 4G signal, sometimes only if the phone is held by the window .

what is the construction of the walls of your static

I believe it's a galvanized steel chassis. But the walls are definitely clad in aluminum. It's probably not far off being a Faraday cage, just kidding, it does have windows

It is much more likely there is little to no 5G signal or capacity where you go

There is definitely 5G, as my partner (EE) gets a full 5G signal outdoors, especially on the beach, but also around a lot of the park. We only go out of season, with a LOT less people around, so capacity shouldn't be too much of an issue (hopefully haha)?

As far as I can tell, I believe there is an EE cell tower nearby.

Do you have an approximate location

It's Haven Greenacres (https://w3w.co/back.crumbles.playroom).

preferred mobile operator in mind?

We don't have a preference, but AFAIK EE is the only network with decent 5G coverage there.

In reply to a post by andybydna:

Ah OK. I actually just got confirmation of that from TP-Link

Surprising response. Ok!

I believe it's a galvanized steel chassis. But the walls are definitely clad in aluminum. It's probably not far off being a Faraday cage, just kidding, it does have windows

Makes perfect sense why you want to try external. 😁

As far as I can tell, I believe there is an EE cell tower nearby.

CellMapper is your friend here, for EE this is the map that I think covers your static location and the nearest EE mast.

We don't have a preference, but AFAIK EE is the only network with decent 5G coverage there.

Ok, so if you go to that cellmapper page above, you can switch the network to see where Vodafone (Lebara’s host) cell sites are. That will give you some idea of where to position an external antenna.

You can see number 16977 is close but it is hard to tell with Cellmapper which sites support 5G. This could be a 4G only site, with bands 3 and 7 this has a lot of capacity. Band 3 is 1800 MHz and Band 7 is 2600 MHz.

If you zoom out in the west is a mast 21392 with more configured on it, it is possible this has 5G, can’t determine remotely easily.

Edited by jchamier (Wed 04-Jun-25 11:39:27)

from https://bidb.uk/ it does look as if EE 5G is outdoor only..... Three's 4G singal looks not too bad.

I'm not sure if Andy can get to area and do some tests with an EE and a Three sim. As that would help him massively and us in guiding him in the right direction.

Atm we are just looking at data points on a map and not realife results

In reply to a post by Taras:

from https://bidb.uk/ it does look as if EE 5G is outdoor only..... Three's 4G singal looks not too bad.

And that’s just using the coverage maps the networks themselves publish…. Which sometimes are good, and sometimes bad. They are mostly computerised prediction.

I'm not sure if Andy can get to area and do some tests with an EE and a Three sim. As that would help him massively and us in guiding him in the right direction. Atm we are just looking at data points on a map and not realife results

Nothing beats a real site survey. If Andy has an Android phone then using the free Cellmapper app would update the website data set.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by Taras:

from https://bidb.uk/ it does look as if EE 5G is outdoor only..... Three's 4G singal looks not too bad.

And that’s just using the coverage maps the networks themselves publish…. Which sometimes are good, and sometimes bad. They are mostly computerised prediction.

Exactly - i'm supposed to get EE 4G were i live ..... but, i don't, i struggle to get one bar and and the speed - about 2mbits

In reply to a post by Taras:

Exactly - i'm supposed to get EE 4G were i live ..... but, i don't, i struggle to get one bar and and the speed - about 2mbits

Which is why I suggested using Cellmapper to locate the masts for each of the physcial networks you are interested in (EE, Three, Vodafone, O2) and then test with a telephone handset.

Computer prediction is useless once you are in an area in person.

I would opt for a IAD, where the router is external fed by a network cable, if at all possible.

We had nothing but problems with External Antennae and the associated cabling, the connectors are delicate and the losses significant.

Moving the router outside with a factory made connection to the antennae removes this complication and with a simple network cable connection to your internal router/firewall/wi-fi network.

John

In reply to a post by john_32:

We had nothing but problems with External Antennae and the associated cabling, the connectors are delicate and the losses significant.

Yes, the frequencies are high and so connectors and cabling are critical. The challanges with all-in-one units was many had not been updated in years. Cat 4 or even Cat 6 LTE just doesn't cut the mustard 10 years later.

We migrated most of our installs to Zyxel and have been using their 5G unit for 3+ years now, from memory that is LTE Cat 19

But horses for courses, we also have sites still using LTE CAT6 and proving a solid connection.

I see Mikrotik have gone 5G, will be interested to try one, especially the eSIM functionality which could be a game changer.

In reply to a post by john_32:

We migrated most of our installs to Zyxel and have been using their 5G unit for 3+ years now, from memory that is LTE Cat 19

Is the Zyxel unit able to be mounted high up on a pole? Could be a game changer.

I see Mikrotik have gone 5G, will be interested to try one, especially the eSIM functionality which could be a game changer.

It was the Mikrotik pole mounted unit that was Cat 4 for years, good to know they've upgraded.

Cat 6 has to be a bare minimum, and as Qualcomm showed you want everyone to move up to the highest they can, and even the older kit gets better performance.

I have just reviewed, I would look at Three and EE

EE does look to have more capacity and faster bands if 4/5G modem supports

To be honest I would look at a bonded sim one on EE and one on a Three.
Reasons for this are, benefits of failover and utilizing more bandwidth.

Just remember that you need a data sim that supports routers, EE and Three often have fair use policies and I have seen them be enforced for "improper" use.