I expect to spend more time “off-grid” in my new campervan. I have not figured out yet what the best choice is from a privacy perspective for accessing the internet. I only have one phone and one laptop to run and don’t need superfast internet.
From my reading so far, I could obviously just use the cell network on my phone and hotspot my laptop when I need to.
Or I could use a cellular connected router, but I am not sure if that is any better than just using cell data directly on my phone without needing to buy a special router.
Or there is satellite internet, i.e. Starlink, but it’s expensive and I do not know the privacy implications of going down that route.
Are these three options basically the same in terms of privacy? I already run a VPN on my devices. Thanks!
AFAIK if you make hotspot on cellphone, it connects to internet outside vpn. So hotspot is not on vpn.
Just tested it.
My cell is connected to starlink, and IP is M247 because it’s protonvpn.
Then I’ve enabled hotspot and connected tablet to it. It shows SpaceX IP.
I think some people use cellular routers for network firewalls, network-wide VPN/Tor connections, or as a “proxy” of sorts between their anonymous phone and cell tower (to hide IMEI, true phone number, etc). Aside from that I don’t think there are any other privacy benefits or cons to any of these options. Cellular is probably the cheapest but if you’re truly “off-grid” then you probably won’t have a good connection if any connection at all, satellite may be a more reliable bet.
I think a travel router could be what you’re looking for. Just buy one that supports VPN connections and has a SIM card slot (or supports an extension) and gets updates. Then you should be mostly alright. They can usually also be powered via a powerbank and USB-C
This may be way too far into left field - it’s not necessarily practical. But if you have your HAM license, you could look into packet radio. I think LoRa mesh networks have something similar, too, though I haven’t dug into it yet.
I will echo a travel router. If the location can receive 4g/5g then it’s a good option. Something like GLinet (it’s a brand I know) or any other router that has a sim slot and preferably can be used with OpenWrt.
Thanks everyone. It seems like travel routers are my best bet. Regarding mesh networks, I don’t know how radio licenses work in Europe. Would this be like Meshtastic or Reticulum?
I find that the info about Reticulum is too complex for me to fully grasp its potential as it stands, although it does seem interesting. Could I be using this forum through Reticulum, for example? Not sure how it works exactly.
My understanding is that Reticulum is an encryption protocol that can be run over packet radio or LoRa networks such as Meshtastic.
But, no - I don’t think that would be suitable for forums like this. Too little bandwidth for reasonable communication with all of the HTML, CSS, Javascript, and image overhead. It would work for purely text based forums.
Hmmm… It might be laggy as hell, but I wonder if a MUD (multi-user dungeon) would work over something like that.
They use the T-Mobile network so coverage might not be as good as some other options. The first year, you pay a bit of a premium to get the router. The annual membership works out to about $40 per month after that. For myself, I like supporting Calyx since they’re a privacy focused organization.
Starlink is more expensive, but if you only need low speed data then you can “pause service”. Pausing service actually puts you on a $10 per month low speed data plan that gives you about 500 Kbps. I find it’s good for texting, email and light web browsing (no streaming).
Note that this all assumes that you’re in the U.S. Options and prices are likely different elsewhere.
In terms of privacy, I wouldn’t necessarily trust either T-Moble or SpaceX. However, if you use a VPN or TOR then I think that you’re covered.
I’ll second a 4g/5g router. They’re considered older tech, but they’re better than hotspotting yourself.
Also, yes, I can confirm that running a VPN on a phone hotspotting yourself means that only the phone is on the VPN. A connected device is NOT also on the VPN.
LoRA is a fantasy. I’m sorry, but it’s just not there yet unless you live in a place with hobbyists. Ham radio internet is slow AF and unencrypted. You might as well dictate your email over the air, it’s just as fast and just as secure.
I have also seen that the VPNs on phones do not protect hotpostted devices. It was a bit of a disappointment, because last time I checked, my provider didn’t offer a linux based vpn for my laptop. I guess I need to look at that again.