Internet on board

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Gnilias

After looking into all the suggestions, I am leaning towards the Teltonika RUT X50 mentioned by Kaz911. A few questions for Kaz911 and anyone else with this router:
- what antenna did you choose and where have you mounted it? how much better is the external antenna compared to the stick antennas that it comes with?
- what cable did you choose? Presumably you need four or five cables to get the 5G functionality of the router?
- what cable length have you ended up with? We originally thought we’d put our antenna up our mast but that will make our cable run a minimum of 13 metres so now we are looking at having the router and cable closer.
- would you say it is possible to configure it with a bit of patience and some basic knowledge (and a willingness to do research), or does it require a comms specialist to help? Have you found the Teltonika wiki information useful and easy to follow?

Does anyone know if it works in both the US and the rest of the world? are there different versions and I need to specify one particular one for worldwide cruising?

Many thanks for your help!

Julia

AFAIK None of the RUT Teltonika routers does 5G.
Ours RUT955 certainly doesn't.



As stated above we regret buying an expensive router.
A hot-spot on an old phone works just as good, and, you can take it with you when going into town.



We are in the third year of liveaboard cruising in Europe, first Atlantic than Mediterranean, almost exclusively at anchor.



Might be different in the Caribbean though, as distances of anchorages might be further from shoreside antennas than over here.



If you install your UMTS antennas on board, don't mount them to high and ideally one horizontal and one vertical.

The latter was suggested to me by an antenna specialist. Not sure if it really makes a big difference

[kaz911]

Originally Posted by Franziska

AFAIK None of the RUT Teltonika routers does 5G.
Ours RUT955 certainly doesn't.

RUTX50 is a 5G router.

https://teltonika-networks.com/products/routers/rutx50

[Franziska]

Thanks. I was not aware of this. The successor of our RUT955, the RUT 956 isn't, which gave me the (wrong!) impression...

Originally Posted by kaz911

RUTX50 is a 5G router.

https://teltonika-networks.com/products/routers/rutx50

[kaz911]

Originally Posted by Gnilias

After looking into all the suggestions, I am leaning towards the Teltonika RUT X50 mentioned by Kaz911. A few questions for Kaz911 and anyone else with this router:
- what antenna did you choose and where have you mounted it? how much better is the external antenna compared to the stick antennas that it comes with?
- what cable did you choose? Presumably you need four or five cables to get the 5G functionality of the router?
- what cable length have you ended up with? We originally thought we’d put our antenna up our mast but that will make our cable run a minimum of 13 metres so now we are looking at having the router and cable closer.
- would you say it is possible to configure it with a bit of patience and some basic knowledge (and a willingness to do research), or does it require a comms specialist to help? Have you found the Teltonika wiki information useful and easy to follow?

Does anyone know if it works in both the US and the rest of the world? are there different versions and I need to specify one particular one for worldwide cruising?

Many thanks for your help!

Julia

Most mobile routers are not happy with long cable runs. The loss in the cable is great. I would not go above 8m total cable length as maximum. But the shorter you can keep it the better.

As far as I know the RUTX50 will work in US and ROW. But it is not yet FCC certified. For certifications check here: https://wiki.teltonika-networks.com/...e_view_desktop

Configuration - quite easy - not completely hands off though.

Cables - for mobile 5G 4x4 your antenna uses 4 cables. But the best antennas have GPS and WiFi (2x2) as well - so total of 7 cables.

The best antenna currently is probably this one: https://poynting.tech/antennas/mimo-3-17/ - it comes with 2m cable but you can buy a 5m? 7 cable extension.

You could also get a custom "antenna and case" like this : https://www.quwireless.com/product/quspot-for-rutx50

There the RUTX50 is mounted "inside" the antenna. But you would have to be handy to get the extra ethernet cables out - and the antenna/case is made to be powered via POE so only have 1 standard external ethernet connector.

Benefit is very short antenna cables. Negative is only one external ethernet. So if you have fx Starlink or other WAN connection - you need to put in more cable glands. But if you only use the RUTX50 as a mobile router via SIM or harbour WiFi - that is a great solution.

It does require an Ethernet switch with POE - like the Teltonika TWS101 4 port switch. The switch takes 9-30V DC and can send power via ethernet to the RUTX50. It can also power a few other POE devices (I have it powering my Flir AX8 thermal camera + JCU-3 control for Flir M232 camera)

With the "embedded" antenna and router case - you only need to pull an ethernet cable - so no "signal loss" in those cables. So then you are very free to mount the router/antenna combi anywhere. Ethernet cables can be up to 80+ meters long before problems start to show. So you could mast mount it on fx the first spreaders. But I would keep it in a "reachable" height.

[kaz911]

As I said before the RUTX50 looks like it is the "base device" behind Digital Yacht's 5G router. The only difference seems to be the "mount option" and 2 of the antennas have different antenna connectors.

They have a manual that is slightly modified from the original manual (so kind of a getting started manual). https://digitalyachtamerica.com/down.../?wpdmdl=14213

So Digital Yacht charges $2000+ for their RUTX50 with external antennas - but you can buy the "original" for about $500 + $150-300 for an external multi antenna. (RUTX comes with "stick" antennas for everything in the box - but not very long range if mounted inside)

[Gnilias]

Thanks Kaz911. I'm getting to see how this could work. I think I can get a second waterproof socket assembly from QuWireless that I can use to get a second ethernet cable in through the housing.

I understand that the RUTX50 needs passive POE and it looks as though the
Teltonika TWS101 4 port switch is active POE. I am at the beginning of the learning curve here but would it be better for me to use a passive POE device? Do you know of any that would be suitable?

Could I connect the access point to the POE switch or will I have to modify the Qu Spot housing so that I can have a third ethernet cable, this time going from the RUTX50 to the access point?

Thanks

[kaz911]

if you put in an Active to Passive POE converter (about $10-$20) on the TWS101 to the RUTX50 - you just plug anything else you need into the TWS101.

So best case - a single ethernet cable needed.
With StarLink or other WAN - 2 ethernet cables needed

/k

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by kaz911

Most mobile routers are not happy with long cable runs. The loss in the cable is great. I would not go above 8m total cable length as maximum. But the shorter you can keep it the better. . . .

To be clear, NO mobile routers are happy with long cable runs. There is no difference between routers in this. It's a matter of physics -- signal attenuation in coax at these high UHF frequencies is huge. Add to this the plethora of antennae you need for MIMO setups and it becomes ridiculous to separate the router from the antennae.

Originally Posted by kaz911

. . . It does require an Ethernet switch with POE - like the Teltonika TWS101 4 port switch. The switch takes 9-30V DC and can send power via ethernet to the RUTX50. It can also power a few other POE devices (I have it powering my Flir AX8 thermal camera + JCU-3 control for Flir M232 camera)

You don't need a switch with POE built in -- you can use any old $5 POE injector. Switch with POE is a little more elegant -- one less power supply you have to hook up, but it's not essential.