AT&T Unlimited Elite (non-prepaid) 5x Lines - Game/Content Creation Internet

[Lyric]

Current plan: Full-Time Travel in an RV / 2x Gaming PCs / Automated Plex Media Server (ran off my PC) 32gb/3080/5800x, other pc is 3600,1080,16gb. I do Adobe Premiere Pro (editing) uploading to youtube, 3 kids who stream youtube, I'm also a gamer, and we use youtube/paramount/discovery streaming services heavily. We essentially do everything on the internet.

To give you an idea - we average around 5+TB a month in Data at home currently, obviously this won't be possible on the road. I'd estimate a conservative 1TB-2TB after I shut off my radarr/sonarr/jackett setup and just switch to what I have already as local media with the occassional additions every now and then.



Network (idea?) is GL x750v2 (AT&T) as cell modem, maybe implement protonvpn ks as I am visionary user -> my wifi router -> TL-SG108E Switch -> PCs/Hardwired Devices --then-- phones/wireless stuff connects to the wifi AP.

I currently have 4x AT&T Unlimited Elite phone plans, planned on getting another universal sim for $45/mo to add the 5th with BYOD and planned on putting it into a GL x750v2 with 2x Proxicast 7dbi bullet antennas spaced / bolted to each side of the rear of the RV on poles (approx 8ft spread). Will this work well?


Some notes/thoughts: I've heard the GL x750v2 works with a manual set APN/TTL modification with AT&T, but then also hear it doesn't work from some as well.

Then I also hear that come Feb 2022 it won't work....but then I also read GLiNet has the firmware prepped to go for Feb to implement a fix. (located here: https://dl.gl-inet.com/firmware/snapsho ... _fix/x750/) per this source: https://forum.gl-inet.com/t/x750v2-will ... g/17128/17


Thoughts on this setup? I can spend more....I think currently I have around $450 into this (what is coming from Amazon) including poles/antennas/x750v2/lowloss coax.

[LoveMeSomeCALTE]

My honest answer is that you really need to invest in multipath bonding to keep this working.

Current wireless networks are just not built to handle the level of congestion you're causing. 5G won't be your solution either as you're constantly on the move.

Your usecase is an extremely atypical and very hard problem to solve at a technical level.

At your 1+TB a month usage with the dynamic movement around towers you express, you're definitely on multiple lists on cellular providers and it's only a matter of time you're blacklisted.

To give you some perspective: your usage is the exact usecase wireless network engineers use when setting up and optimizing towers BUT it's to address the WHOLE community - not ONE person or their family!

Have you looked into Starlink? I understand that they don't support RVs but a lot of their current users are exactly that.

[Lyric]

My honest answer is that you really need to invest in multipath bonding to keep this working.

Current wireless networks are just not built to handle the level of congestion you're causing. 5G won't be your solution either as you're constantly on the move.

Your usecase is an extremely atypical and very hard problem to solve at a technical level.

At your 1+TB a month usage with the dynamic movement around towers you express, you're definitely on multiple lists on cellular providers and it's only a matter of time you're blacklisted.

To give you some perspective: your usage is the exact usecase wireless network engineers use when setting up and optimizing towers BUT it's to address the WHOLE community - not ONE person or their family!

Have you looked into Starlink? I understand that they don't support RVs but a lot of their current users are exactly that.

Yeah for sure, I understand it's a hard problem to solve. I have looked at starlink, and it is available in our area....but not sure how that would work with an RV. I've heard about some work arounds also by updating your GPS Coordinates in their app when you move and supposedly it works....sometimes.

[MattB29]

I think you will find that traveling full time in a RV with wife and 3 children will provide you with many limitations besides Internet access. However speaking about AT&T shutdown of their 3G network come Feb 22. I have researched it as much as possible and, unless AT&T relents, any device not on their whitelist will not remained activated. The idea that the device would work just fine if updated firmware will not be the issue. It is not if the device would work it is if AT&T will allow it.

[LoveMeSomeCALTE]

Agreed Matt.

Hence my recommendation for the OP to invest in multipath bonding to keep this working

Multipath TCP proxies have been made real easy by OpenMPTCProuter and we have a dedicated thread right here!

Cellular providers are going to fight against the level of congestion this is causing and this way, the OP atleast has one path to use while the other(s) are blocking them out from access.

[Lyric]

At your 1+TB a month usage with the dynamic movement around towers you express, you're definitely on multiple lists on cellular providers and it's only a matter of time you're blacklisted.

To give you some perspective: your usage is the exact usecase wireless network engineers use when setting up and optimizing towers BUT it's to address the WHOLE community - not ONE person or their family!

If Network Engineers are designing their infrastructure on less than 35GB per day, or 1TB a month then that is a failure on their end, and they are overselling "unlimited data". Here are some simple figures below....my PC has a 2k screen, and so does my oldest sons. So if we both watch a SINGLE 2k video that is an hour long, we have used approx 10GB (measuring conservatively based on figures below). Our TV is a 4k TV, so that would be one single video = 5.5GB (wife watching).

At this rate we have already hit 15.5GB in a single hour.

If you think that there aren't 10-20 people at any given time of day in your community doing this on a hotspot, phone, or otherwise, then I don't know what to tell you. The towers can support 1-5TB a month from a single user no problem, the network engineers aren't dumb.

This isn't even counting "Unlimited HBO Max" that comes bundled with your plan, other streaming services people use such as netflix, discovery, hulu, etc. We aren't even covering gaming traffic, basic IPTV traffic, facebook surfing data (multiple that by 1000x by people who sit on facebook all day, or instagram). I'm probably forgetting a plethora of other services as well (businesses, etc).

I would guess PETABYTES of Data are flowing through each average tower every single month.

Data Usage Estimates:
-------------------
720p (HD)
Resolution: 1280x720
Data Per Min: 20-45 MB
60min estimate: 1.2-2.7 GB
1080p (FHD)
Resolution: 1920x1080
Data Per Min: 50-68 MB
60min estimate: 2.5-4.1 GB
1440p (QHD)
2560x1440
Data Per Min: 45-135 MB
60min estimate: 2.7-8.1 GB
2160p (4k) (UHD)
Resolution: 3840x2160
Data Per Min:95-385 MB
60min estimate: 5.5-23.0 GB

1TB-5TB is perfectly reasonable in today's world if you do anything and everything on the internet.

[Lyric]

I think you will find that traveling full time in a RV with wife and 3 children will provide you with many limitations besides Internet access.

We have anything and everything you could think of to sustain off grid, or otherwise....have spent over $5k in accessories to prepare.....the only unsolved solution? Internet.

[Lyric]

Agreed Matt.

Hence my recommendation for the OP to invest in multipath bonding to keep this working

Multipath TCP proxies have been made real easy by OpenMPTCProuter and we have a dedicated thread right here!

Cellular providers are going to fight against the level of congestion this is causing and this way, the OP atleast has one path to use while the other(s) are blocking them out from access.

I'll check these solutions out and research. On a side note, we just put the deposit down for starlink as well as this looks like the only long term solution that will work for a reasonable price, pending my research of what you just posted above.

[LoveMeSomeCALTE]

On a side note, we just put the deposit down for starlink as well as this looks like the only long term solution that will work for a reasonable price, pending my research of what you just posted above.

Very nice. I think you easily have a year's runway with starlink before they start clamping down on capacity issues. That should buy you enough time to research into and set up OpenMPTCProuter

[Didneywhorl]

Verizon has been doing the "only accepted devices via imei check" for a while now and we use non-accepted devices there all the time. Just sayin. The ATT Sunset will just be another hurdle to jump.


Drop the glinet for hosting the modem and go with a WG3526-P and shut off it's wifi radios to conserve for the modem(s).

https://thewirelesshaven.com/shop/routers/lte-routers/wg3526-p/

Host multiple modems via USB3 adapters and a powered USB hub and rock the Eff out of your elite SIMs with whatever level of modem you want. I recommend category 12 or better modems that support all the ATT bands and beyond.

https://thewirelesshaven.com/shop/pcie-m-2/m-2-ng ... new-style/

https://thewirelesshaven.com/shop/modems/quectel- ... lar-modem/

Run made for WiFi delivery level WiFi. Sounds liek you already have that infrastructure anyway. Run WAN bonding or specialized VPN services on a thinclient or specialized router for that specific purpose.

You need delivery of data. my 2 cents.

[LoveMeSomeCALTE]

Host multiple modems via USB3 adapters and a powered USB hub and rock the Eff out of your elite SIMs with whatever level of modem you want. I recommend category 12 or better modems that support all the ATT bands and beyond.

On hosting multiple modems via USB3 adapters, I was wondering if it could be possible to have dedicated APs per hosted modem:

https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=8& ... 132#p20132

[mtl26637]

If Network Engineers are designing their infrastructure on less than 35GB per day, or 1TB a month then that is a failure on their end, and they are overselling "unlimited data". Here are some simple figures below....my PC has a 2k screen, and so does my oldest sons. So if we both watch a SINGLE 2k video that is an hour long, we have used approx 10GB (measuring conservatively based on figures below). Our TV is a 4k TV, so that would be one single video = 5.5GB (wife watching).

At this rate we have already hit 15.5GB in a single hour.

If you think that there aren't 10-20 people at any given time of day in your community doing this on a hotspot, phone, or otherwise, then I don't know what to tell you. The towers can support 1-5TB a month from a single user no problem, the network engineers aren't dumb.

This isn't even counting "Unlimited HBO Max" that comes bundled with your plan, other streaming services people use such as netflix, discovery, hulu, etc. We aren't even covering gaming traffic, basic IPTV traffic, facebook surfing data (multiple that by 1000x by people who sit on facebook all day, or instagram). I'm probably forgetting a plethora of other services as well (businesses, etc).

I would guess PETABYTES of Data are flowing through each average tower every single month.

While I generally agree with your overall statement that the towers should be able to handle it, I think it all depends on location. But no way are there petabytes (million gigabytes) flowing through the average tower every month. And yes, absolutely, they are overselling their 'unlimited data'. Based on the fact that carriers are using an upper limit of say 50-75GB on their 'unlimited' plans and the fact that ATT recently shut down most of their customers that were using over ~200GB on their unlimited plans give a good impression that their 'heavy user/abuser' is anyone using over a few hundred gigs/mo. Just something to keep in mind.

I think its great that you are using several data plans. I also would recommend OMR (openmptcprouter), I think it would fit your scenario perfect. I aggregate up to 5-6 LTE connections here at the house and with failover capabilities and tunneling you just can't beat it. Just don't skimp on the hardware and make sure you run it as your main router.

[LoveMeSomeCALTE]

The OP has calculated the data demands of a typical family well. I agree with that analysis.

My disagreement is that it's just not what is supported by the breakage models cellular providers use.

Cellular providers don't design capacity to support that kind of data demand - TBH - not even cable providers design capacity to support that kind of data demand (which is why people hate their cable providers)

But no way are there petabytes (million gigabytes) flowing through the average tower every month. And yes, absolutely, they are overselling their 'unlimited data'. Based on the fact that carriers are using an upper limit of say 50-75GB on their 'unlimited' plans

From what I have pieced together from anecdotes, a hard target is 500GB/customer, so if a tower is designed to handle 1000 customers with a 20% duty cycle, the tower is designed to handle 100TB/mo.

Obviously, a customer like the OP that hits 1TB+/mo with likely >> 20% duty cycle affects the capacity by a magnitude and won't be supported by the breakage models cellular providers use.

the fact that ATT recently shut down most of their customers that were using over ~200GB on their unlimited plans give a good impression that their 'heavy user/abuser' is anyone using over a few hundred gigs/mo. Just something to keep in mind.

True. I do have people in our community who have similar demands to that of the OP and I currently have them setup different routers with dedicated modems (and SIMs) per person in that household.

I think its great that you are using several data plans. I also would recommend OMR (openmptcprouter), I think it would fit your scenario perfect. I aggregate up to 5-6 LTE connections here at the house and with failover capabilities and tunneling you just can't beat it. Just don't skimp on the hardware and make sure you run it as your main router.

I would be interested in learning from you a different usecase I have in mind - instead of aggregating 5-6 LTE connections, I want to efficiently broadcast them over different APs from the same router:

Host multiple modems via USB3 adapters and a powered USB hub and rock the Eff out of your elite SIMs with whatever level of modem you want. I recommend category 12 or better modems that support all the ATT bands and beyond.

On hosting multiple modems via USB3 adapters, I was wondering if it could be possible to have dedicated APs per hosted modem:

https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=8& ... 132#p20132

[Dr-BroadBand]

Current plan: Full-Time Travel in an RV

How far off the grid are you planning to be??

RV parks or National Parks??

[mtl26637]

I would be interested in learning from you a different usecase I have in mind - instead of aggregating 5-6 LTE connections, I want to efficiently broadcast them over different APs from the same router:


On hosting multiple modems via USB3 adapters, I was wondering if it could be possible to have dedicated APs per hosted modem:

I believe this would work if you set up each modem with its own dedicated subnet and used mwan3/load balancing. It's been awhile since i've messed with it and it can be a bit tricky to get setup in the beginning but I do think its possible to do what you are looking to do.