Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#81

Post by al_chemist » Wed, Mar 24, 2021, 5:09 PM UTC

lukevp wrote: post #46

I’m not living this lifestyle, but I feel that Starlink will drastically alter this market and open up so much more remote working environments. You should consider to at least sign up for the beta so you can get access sooner, theoretically you would get 100+ mbps anywhere in the US with no caps within the next year or so, and I’m guessing they’ll make a remote-friendly plan. Right now you officially can’t travel wi…

> I feel that Starlink will drastically alter this market and open up so much more remote working environments

You're not allowed to use Starlink in other location than you ordered. It's not for nomads.

https://www.starlink.com/legal/terms-of-service-preorder

6.3 You acknowledge that you are only authorized to access Services at the location identified on your Order, and you will not divert the Starlink Kit or Services to any other locations

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#82

Post by ghaff » Wed, Mar 24, 2021, 5:09 PM UTC

juusto wrote: post #38

Maybe not the perfect instagram digital nomad life but I do have some experience on working from the road. I travel a lot between EU/Asia/LatAm (yes its still happening) and for that my company provides unlimited plans. I spend most of my year on the road, from 6-8 months, but the longest stretch was only 4 months. We have 2 subs that cover pretty much the whole world. I use a MacBook 13 fully specced out and a Samsu…

Much above 13" is definitely sub-optimal for travel. If the rumored Apple Silicon MacBook is similar to the rumors though I may upgrade to that--mostly though because I'd use it to replace both an iMac and a 13" MacBook Pro that are both 5+ years old. (And I often travel with just a 13" Chromebook anyway.)

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#83

Post by ehnto » Wed, Mar 24, 2021, 5:11 PM UTC

Not really a digital nomad right now, but my work setup is what I did use as a software developer. Just my laptop, my phone for a hotspot, and a backup USB rechargeable battery for the phone.

The most important things for me are simplicity and robustness. So it's a light, relatively cheap laptop with a very long battery life. The phone is also cheap and robust. I would normally work outside somewhere, so the laptop needs to last a while.

I'm lucky enough that in my country we have a very comprehensive 4G internet network, I've even been able to work in national parks in the sticks, although if I'm at a national park I'd rather be exploring that working anyway!

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#84

Post by iancmceachern » Wed, Mar 24, 2021, 5:11 PM UTC

pradn wrote: post #79

dan353hehe wrote: post #24

I lived out of an RV for about a year an a half, I found that Internet was the most challenging part of being on the road. We ended up planning where we were staying based on if there was coverage there or not, which surprisingly still allowed us to go where we wanted to go. What I did for internet was pick up a sprint hotspot from FMCA: https://www.fmca.com/index.php?option=com_fmcatechconnectv2&... they have specia…

Do you know if StarLink would help? Is it possible to set up a StarLink antenna on an RV?

Starlink does not allow you to be mobile. You have to give them a service address and that address cant change (often enough for RV travel)

Edited - spelling

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#85

Post by Lammy » Wed, Mar 24, 2021, 5:12 PM UTC

Everyone is talking about hotspots, but since I got used to having WWAN (as opposed / in addition to 'WLAN') directly in my laptop there's zero chance I could ever go back to tethering.

My main portable is one of those custom modern motherboards for a 2011 ThinkPad X-series shell since I hate the keyboards on all the new ones. Originally a "third-batch" I7-8250U that I've since supplemented with a "fourth-batch" i7-10510U system so I have a spare just in case something happens to it, and paired with a Telit LTE card and a T-Mobile "unlimited" (50GiB soft-cap) SIM.

T-Mo is probably not a good choice for very remote areas since their reception is spotty, but the price is right since I have a family plan of four unlimited lines for $130/mo thanks to some grandfathered stacked promotions. Pixx: https://imgur.com/a/JWGC39n

I don't have a good recommendation for the Zoom bandwidth issue, but it is possible to host an audio-only meeting if your participants are okay with that :) https://it.umn.edu/services-technologies/how-tos/zoom-host-o...

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#86

Post by jcboon » Wed, Mar 24, 2021, 5:14 PM UTC

alert0 wrote: post #60

jcboon wrote: post #28

I've been doing van life for about a year and a half now. Zoom is the real killer and I try and steer my calls to audio as often as I can. I'm also a sysadmin/compliance consultant so I don't need as much screen time. My setup: Internet: Xfinity Wifi in city / TMobile Max for the road unlimited phone and 40GB tether. I've not yet tried to do all my zoom on the phone but in theory that would mean your Zoom wouldn't co…

Can you get xfinity wifi without a home plan?

Yup you can pay for it as a plan by itself or you can snag a login from a friend or your work as an additional user. Also worth a shot though I've not tried would be getting an xfinity mobile plan and trying the login through that. Could also ask the chat rep too.

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#87

Post by faeyanpiraat » Wed, Mar 24, 2021, 5:14 PM UTC

sinak wrote: post #76

I run https://www.waveform.com and we help a lot of folks like yourself get better signal. It's not really worth messing around with cheap options - your productivity is on the line and it's worth spending a little for great connectivity. With that in mind, the best option is a Pepwave MAX HD2 Dual SIM. Then put a Visible SIM from Verizon in one slot and a Calyx SIM (T-Mobile) in the other, or sign up for the AT&T iP…

Can you share any non confidential info on how you helped spacex and tesla?

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#88

Post by pradn » Wed, Mar 24, 2021, 5:15 PM UTC

iancmceachern wrote: post #84

pradn wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know if StarLink would help? Is it possible to set up a StarLink antenna on an RV?

Starlink does not allow you to be mobile. You have to give them a service address and that address cant change (often enough for RV travel) Edited - spelling

Thank you. Is this for billing reasons or something technical?

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#89

Post by mikeiz404 » Wed, Mar 24, 2021, 5:15 PM UTC

pradn wrote: post #79

dan353hehe wrote: post #24

I lived out of an RV for about a year an a half, I found that Internet was the most challenging part of being on the road. We ended up planning where we were staying based on if there was coverage there or not, which surprisingly still allowed us to go where we wanted to go. What I did for internet was pick up a sprint hotspot from FMCA: https://www.fmca.com/index.php?option=com_fmcatechconnectv2&... they have specia…

Do you know if StarLink would help? Is it possible to set up a StarLink antenna on an RV?

Starlink is effectively geo- locked (at least) right now.

“Starlink satellites are scheduled to send internet down to all users within a designated area on the ground. This designated area is referred to as a cell. Your Starlink is assigned to a single cell. If you move your Starlink outside of its assigned cell, a satellite will not be scheduled to serve your Starlink and you will not receive internet. This is constrained by geometry and is not arbitrary geofencing.” [1]

It looks like the service address can be updated.

“If you have already ordered Starlink and your service address is changing please contact our Support team by logging into your account.” [1]

1. https://www.starlink.com/faq

Re: Ask HN: Digital Nomads: What's Your Setup?

#90

Post by giobox » Wed, Mar 24, 2021, 5:16 PM UTC

pradn wrote: post #79

dan353hehe wrote: post #24

I lived out of an RV for about a year an a half, I found that Internet was the most challenging part of being on the road. We ended up planning where we were staying based on if there was coverage there or not, which surprisingly still allowed us to go where we wanted to go. What I did for internet was pick up a sprint hotspot from FMCA: https://www.fmca.com/index.php?option=com_fmcatechconnectv2&... they have specia…

Do you know if StarLink would help? Is it possible to set up a StarLink antenna on an RV?

While you can move the dish today within a limited area around your registered address and it works, the design of the network doesn't allow you to travel greater distances and have your own dish reconnect yet. In a recent Reddit AMA the Starlink team have said the ability to travel and reconnect to the service for RV scenarios etc will be supported once network expanded out enough. If/when this happens, Starlink would likely become a fantastic option for RV use.

> https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/jybmgn/we_are_the...