That’s How We Roll: Time for Another RV Internet Upgrade

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Photo – Bob Coates Photography – bcphotography.com

Everything we love about our nomadic lifestyle depends on one thing … a speedy internet connection. Without it, we couldn’t keep our businesses running smoothly, which means we couldn’t pay our bills. So having reliable internet service in the RV is more than just important to us — it’s crucial.

Two years ago, we beefed up the internet equipment in our office-on-wheels, but technology is always changing, and our needs have evolved, too. Rod’s now coaching his clients and running firm-wide training programs using a video conferencing platform, and GoPetFriendly.com is growing and requiring more bandwidth. In other words, we’re both feeling the need for speed! But our internet configuration wasn’t keeping up. A conversation with our friend, Scott Ueland at Techie4Hire, confirmed our suspicions – we needed an upgrade.

Building On The Foundation

Fortunately, our new RV internet setup will include some of the equipment we installed two years ago. The CradlePoint MBR1400 broadband router still meets our needs, and the Wilson 311119 RV / Trucker Roof Mount Cellular Antenna is working fine, though there’s a new model being sold by Wilson now.

The developments in cellular data services that had outpaced our old system are LTE-Advanced, which allows for carrier aggregation, and multi-antenna capabilities or MIMO (multiple in – multiple out). Scott recommended some new components for our system to take leverage these changes and we set a date to meet for the installation.

The Installation

1. Dual Antennas

Internet connection speeds can vary depending on your location, how many other people are using the tower, and even the weather, but to gauge the impact of our upgrades we ran a speed test on our network just before we began installing the new equipment. According to Speedtest.net we were getting 7.01 Mbps download and 9.8 Mbps upload.

Our first improvement was to add a second trucker’s antenna to the RV. Wilson’s new trucker’s antenna offers some benefits over our older model, but one drawback for us is that it comes with a bracket for mounting on a mirror rather than through-the-roof. Since w already have one antenna on the roof, and I’m a fan of reusing things when we can, we chose to get another Wilson 311119 second-hand rather than ponying up for two new antennas. If  you’re installing internet for the first time, going with two of Wilson’s newer 304415 model might make sense for you.  

weBoost 4G-OTR Cellular Antenna Truck Edition With 3-Way Mount

To optimize performance, the two antennas should be mounted at least four feet apart, and not in the way of any moving objects (like your satellite dish). Additionally, when it comes to antennas, shorter cables are aways better, so (keeping the four-foot separation in mind) place your antennas as close as possible to your modem’s location.

In our case, a hole was drilled in the roof four years ago where the antenna on the right is now. Two years ago, when we upgraded our antenna, we brought it through the same hole. This time, we didn’t want to drill another hole in the roof to move the antenna but, if we’d been starting from scratch, we’d probably have put the first antenna in the right front corner of the RV and the second about four feet back on the same side. However, measuring four feet from our antenna’s position put us over a slide room, and rather that deal with that complication, we placed the second antenna on the left side of the motorhome.

Fortunately, that location aligned with a speaker in the RV’s ceiling, which gave us easy access to the roof and made for a simple install.

Running the cable from the driver’s side of the RV across to the passenger side where our equipment cabinet is located also turned out to be easy. When we moved into this motorhome four years ago, we installed a curtain to separate the driving compartment of the coach from the living space to keep Buster from barking at oncoming traffic. He outgrew that habit (thank goodness!), but we’ve kept the curtain to pull across when we’re using the furnace or air conditioner – it reduces the area we’re heating or cooling.

For this project, the copper pipe we used as a curtain rod made an efficient conduit to get our antenna cable across the RV to the equipment cabinet!

The final step in preparing your antenna is to shorten the cable, leaving an allowance for some maneuvering, and replacing the SMA male connector on the end with a FME female connector.

2. The Modem

Our old modem was severely behind the times when it came to LTE-Advanced and MIMO capabilities, so we upgraded to the Sierra MC7455.

SIERRA WIRELESS module MC7455 LTE 4G module

This circuit board was installed in an Oley Mini PCI-E to USB Adapter with SIM Card Slot protection box so it could be connected to the rest of our components.

Oley Mini PCI-E to USB Adapter With SIM Card Slot Protection Box for WWAN/LTE Module

With the Sierra MC7455 installed in the protection box, we tossed the two small antennas that came with the unit, and used two RP-SMA male to SMA female adapters, which allowed us to connect the trucker’s antenna cables to the modem. The Oley box has a full-sized SIM card slot, so you might also need a SIM card adapter set to allow you to slip the SIM card from your mobile wifi device into the modem.

3. Raspberry Pi Single Board Computer

A new component to our upgraded setup is the Raspberry Pi 3B, a single board computer.

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Motherboard

This is also circuit board, which needs to be installed in the Flirc RPi case so it can be connect to the other components.

Flirc Raspberry Pi Case Gen2

The Raspberry Pi acts as a small server for the system, and the firmware required to operate it can be flashed to a 16GB Class 10 Micro SD card, which then gets installed into the Flirc case. The firmware we used is called ROOter and is open-source.

4. Power It Up

The next step is powering the system. We didn’t have 12-volt power inside our equipment cabinet, so we wired up a surface-mount outlet from a nearby cabinet. Combining that with a USB car charger adapter with two 2.4A USB ports, gave us exactly what we needed.

5. Making Connections

Once everything was in the cabinet, we just needed to make the connection to get it up and running. The antennas connected to the modem using the adapters described above. The modem connected to the Raspberry Pi/Flirc case using a short USB cable. The Raspberry Pi/Flirc case connected to the router (in our case, the CradlePoint MBR1400 broadband router) using a Cat6 Ethernet cable, and the Raspberry Pi/Flirc case plugged into the USB car adapter using a USB micro cable.

When everything was connected, we turned on the router and, using an ethernet connection, set up the router and modem. The modem needed to be put into MBIM mode, and the APN was set to correspond to our data service provider. The APN for Verizon is usually “vzwinternet,” for AT&T it’s typically “broadband,” and for Sprint, “n.ispsn” usually works.

The BIG Test

The final step of the installation is running another speed test to see how much your internet connection has improved. You’ll remember that before the upgrades we were at 7.01 Mbps down and 9.80 Mbps up. After the upgrades we got 24.55 Mbps down and 16.02 Mbps up! That’s a significant improvement –  one that we’ll definitely notice!

Combined parts and labor for this upgrade, which included me asking a million questions and slowing Scott down, came to $750. For the time and frustration the faster connection will save, we feel it was well worth the investment. And, as you can see, Ty and Buster were beside themselves with delight.

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Alaskan Mole-amute

“Moleskin notebooks do not taste like mole”

She fancies herself an art critic. She’s big on postmodern, surrealism, and anything with SQUIRREL!

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Alaskan Mole-amute

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The Goldador Dog: A Golden Retriever and Lab Mix

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The Goldador Dog: A Golden Retriever and Lab Mix

INTRODUCTIONIf you are looking for a lovely family dog, there are many breeds on the market. The Siberian husky, the Bull terrier, the Fox terrier, the Cocker spaniel, the French bulldog,…

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>

HOW TO GET FUNNY WITH YOUR DOG

How to Create The Funniest Viral Dog Videos

While cats are said to rule the internet, in reality, dog videos are more in line than their feline rivals. Time and time again, dog videos go viral.
Do you think your dog has what it takes to become an internet sensation?
Creating a viral video isn’t an exact science. It is hard to know exactly what people will find funny enough to share widely, and what silly things might fall flat. But, with some solid inbound marketing tips and the right strategy, you can get well on your way.
In this article, we will give you some tips on how you can create a viral video. Read on to find out how to spread some laughter.

1. Do Your Research

Before you get started on making your video, you need to do some preliminary research. You need to know what trends are up and coming, and which ones have worn out their welcome.
Research keywords that are related to dog videos and other current viral hits. Figure out what is trending, and how you can take advantage of this in your own unique way.
Since you want your video to go viral, even outside of the English-speaking world, consider looking into multilingual videos This can help you get an even broader audience for your dog videos.

2. Think of Your Dog’s Humorous Strong Suits

The dog videos that perform best are usually ones that are funny. Videos that evoke strong emotional reactions like laughter are more likely to be shared.
Dogs are often pretty funny on their own. The key is capturing them at the right moment or in the right circumstances.
Think about what your dog does that makes you laugh. Do they steal food, or react to a certain cat, or freak out when they see you bring out the leash?
You can also bring your dog to new locations to see how they react. Just get a crate or portable kennel like those from pet crate direct and start bringing them around with you. You’d be surprised by how much a change in scenery can bring out your dog’s funny side.
Once you have some ideas, you can start brainstorming about how you can make those funny things even funnier.

3. What Makes Your Dog Unique?

Each dog is unique. That uniqueness is what makes dog videos so funny and loveable.
Often, that uniqueness is what makes a pet video go viral. Think of Lil BUB, a cat who became incredibly famous due to a bone deformity that makes her tongue stick out and makes her look a bit odd. Her strange appearance was what made her so popular.
She is definitely a very unique looking cat. It was this uniqueness that set Lil Bub apart from all the other cats vying for the internet’s attention.
Uniqueness doesn’t have to be related to their appearance. It could be that they like to sleep in odd places or odd positions, or that they can do interesting tricks.
Generally, their unique trait should be something that is heartwarming. You’ve already decided on something funny in step 2. The uniqueness with add that warm and fuzzy feeling that makes people even more likely to share.

4. Keep It Simple

Some of the best viral videos work well because of how simple they are. Someone slipping on a patch of ice may garner more views that something you have cleverly scripted.
To increase your dog videos chances of going viral, keep your video short and to the point. If the funny part of your video is that your dog fails at going after a squirrel, you don’t need two minutes before or after where your dog is just walking through a park.
The longer that the video is, the less shareable it is. This means it is less likely to go viral.
Plus, one of the strengths of dog videos is that usually the joke will work in any language. Dogs don’t have to speak to be funny.
By keeping it simple and just focusing on what your dog is doing, you can increase your video’s reach. The video will be funny whether the viewer speaks English, French, Spanish, or anything else.

5. Get Filming

When it comes to viral sensations, you don’t need to be an expert videographer. Many viral videos are just shot on a cellphone, no fancy equipment required.
Since you’ve completed the previous steps, you probably have a pretty good idea of what you want to capture on film. Just keep filming your dog when you are in the sorts of situations where you think they may do their funny thing.
However, don’t try to force it. For the video to really go over well, it is better if it appears to be natural. If people can tell you’re just making your dog do a trick for the camera, it won’t have the same impact.
Just take lots of video, as often as possible, and you are sure to capture something great. You can even film your dog when you aren’t expecting anything funny at all. They may surprise you!

6. Create an Online Presence

To improve a video’s chance of going viral, you should try to build a following. Create a YouTube channel for your dog, and link social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Since you are filming your dog all the time, you’ve probably got a fair bit of footage. Pick out the best bits and edit them into short videos. You will want to post them over time, building an audience for your dog. That way, when you have a truly hilarious video, you’ve already got a dedicated audience who will want to share it.
Once you’ve got dog videos with viral potential, there’s a lot you can do to improve its shareability. We’ll run through those now.

7. Apply SEO to Your Videos

Remember those keywords you researched before? This is when they are going to become extra important.
Do some quick keyword research again to see if anything has changed. Are your keywords still on the rise? Make note of any keywords you didn’t account for before.
Then, when you post your first video, use these keywords everywhere possible. The file name should be simple and contain the most important keywords. The video title should contain the keywords and the unique thing about the video.
Some viral videos describe the funny bit in the title so it makes it easier for people to search it. For example “Dog Fails At Catching Tennis Ball” mimics what people might type to try to find it.
However, it can also be a good idea to include your dog’s name in the title. This is a good strategy if you are building a following for your dog over many videos.
As for the description and the tags, keep using those keywords! The more places you can use your keywords, the more likely your dog videos will rank higher in searches.
In the description, include links to your other platforms. Link to the related social media accounts as well as a website, if you have one.

8. Optimize Your Dog Videos For Mobile

If you want to go viral, your mantra should be “mobile first.” Because more of this is done on smartphones. So if you make a video that is great on the desktop but hard to see on mobile, you’re missing half your audience.
Since the viewing screen is so small, you need to keep your video simple. Film close to your dog. If your dog is doing something hilarious but is just a speck on the horizon, no one will share it on mobile.
To optimize for Facebook and Instagram, square videos work better. On YouTube and Twitter, widescreen is still optimal.
Also, make sure that any text or graphics in your video are large and clear. White font with a thin black outline works best.

9. Add Captions and Subtitles

Captions and subtitles can draw more attention to your video on Facebook. Since Facebook has silent autoplay, having some text can grab people’s attention and get them to click on the video.
Subtitles and captions also increase your SEO ranking, especially if you can work some of your keywords in. Just don’t sacrifice the content to cram in keywords. Sure, people will be able to find it more easily, but you don’t want to make the video itself less enjoyable.
It also makes your video more accessible, since people with hearing disabilities will be able to enjoy it too. Plus, it means it can more easily be translated for an international audience. This gives your video an even further reach!

Wrapping Up

Now you have all the tools you need to make viral dogs videos. Capturing your dog’s funniest side and heartwarming unique traits is only the first part. Then, a strong online presence and SEO will help you build the audience who will share your viral hits.

And the best part? You get to do all this working with your best friend ,your dog.