Hello, my wife and I are planning on hitting the road soon. we need to have consistent Internet connection that will allow us to work from out computer and attend zoom call with video chat. Can someone help me figure which router would provide sufficient connectivity for this? We also plan to drive through more rural areas, would a booster be needed for that?
The ābestā? that is a subjective answerā¦ 
MBX Mini 5G (MAX-MBX-MINI-5GH-T) would be ābestā. Dual modems/dual carriers is critical IMO for reliability. All in one package.
I have 2x Max BR1 Pro 5Gās in my campervan. The way I have things setup gives me bonded dual carrier setup plus dedicated wifi for wifi-wan and AP. I have a fully unlimited premium data plan with ATT and a 50GB premium data plan with Verizon. Both are post-paid plans. When in strong Verizon areas I can also leverage the hotspot on my phone to delay drawing down the data off the sim in the router. Getting the right plans is as critical as selecting the right device. I use the ATT as my primary for streaming given the unlimited premium dataā¦
On the roof I have 2x Panorama Mako mimo antennas. One is 4x LTE the other is 4x LTE + 2x WiFI.
I worked from Yosemite Valley this past friday. I use SpeedFusion and host my own hub in Silicon Valley area. I was able to get 30Mb down 10Mb up speedtest that day. The Valley is a congested network on most days. In less congested areas with my current setup I can exceed 200Mb down and 100Mb up, this is not even in āgood serviceā areas where proper 5G exists with uncongested backhauls.
Previously I have used:
MAX BR1 MK2 (too slow)
Max Transit CAT18 (limited by single modem)
Transit CAT18 + Balance 20x (this setup was ok but speedfusion topped out around 65Mb even in good service areas. encrypted traffic bottleknecked the CPU at 65Mb)
MAX Transit Duo CAT12x2 (having all-in-one dual modems was nice. but this doesnt support all bands. and carrier aggregation was limited to 2CA. it also didnt reliably pickup band30. it also suffered from the same CPU bottlekneck for speedfusion)
I jumped on the Max BR1 Pro 5Gās right away when they came out due to the maximum cellular capability plus the significantly improved speedfusion throughput.
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Best OR sufficient?
What is your budget?
You can easily spend $5-10k for the āBESTā system or maybe $1k for something sufficient.
What is your budget for data plans and how many carriers do you want?
You can easily spend hundreds per month on that for the Best.
As Eric advised ābestā is a very subjective & budget bound decision.
Even the best, most expensive equipment can not provide a consistent internet connection if there is no signal to receive. IMHO, you should establish realistic expectations & realize you may need to adjust your travel & camping locations to accommodate your work schedule.
I would also encourage you to realistically assess your technical networking skills & find a trusted Peplink partner to assist/guide you through the purchase/set up process if you intend to pursue some of the more advanced functions with the Peplink products. While this forum is a great resource, a trusted Peplink partner you can call & talk to is invaluable at times.
I would assume you would want a device that will hold multiple SIMs, will allow WiFi reception (in the event you have it), will allow carrier aggregation (combining bands from same carrier), has the capability to attach antennas & allows you to set up a secured LAN in your RV.
While everyone appears to be enthralled with 5G, you can decide for yourself if the additional $300.00 cost (approximate) for a 5G modem is worth it for the type of traveling you do. If you have not done so, would encourage you to research 5G service & how it applies to the RV environment.
With regards to a dual modem device vs a signal modem deviceā¦ Again incremental cost for hardware & 4 SIM cards (or data plans) to take full advantage of what a dual modem device offers. Is it really worth the additional expense for your use case?
I have been living & working from my RV for over two years now. I have found the MAX-BR1-PRO-GLTE-S-T-PRM (4G with CAT-20 modem) more than adequate for my use.
One of the biggest struggles associated with using these devices is finding data plans to support them. I use AT&T as my primary & Verizon as my backup. The AT&T plan was acquired from a 3rd party reseller some 2 years ago & Iāve not experienced any outages. The Verizon is a data only plan acquired as an āadd onā to my cellular phone service.
If I can help, feel free to PM me.
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No simple answer, but for me right now the new TST Pro is a good option that should not be discounted just because it is not a 5G unit, for similar or lower price to the BR1 Pro 5G you get 2x CAT-12 LTE modems and you can also bring in other bandwidth via WiFi WAN or the wired WAN port as available.
Dual CAT-12 LTE is more than able to deliver good enough bandwidth to support a couple of people working remotely (itās more than good enough for a number of our clients doing live to air TV transmission), and the TST Pro has a substantially beefed up CPU vs the older TST models (basically itās the same guts as the BR1 Pro 5G) so some of the previous bottlenecks where PepVPN / Speedfusion capabilities have somewhat been resolved.
5G can be very impressive, we have seen exceptional performance from a BR1 Pro 5G in areas with good service, however I am not overly convinced at the moment that if you are mostly planning to be using this in rural / remote locations that the price premium for a 5G capable unit is worth it vs having multiple modems and carriers used concurrently.
The money saved can also be invested into a decent antenna setup which will likely also do more good than a 5G modem when youāre in the arse end of nowhere with a ropey signal.
If the cost of a solution is not really a concern or consideration vs outright performance then by all means something like the MBX Mini or MBX HD4 is an excellent device with a price tag to match the convince of the form factor and capabilities.
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