working while overlanding

[Matt Hixson]

If you work while on the road I'd like to hear about what you do and how you do it. Assuming you receive and deliver work electronically what do you use for internet connectivity in the outback? How do you contact potential clients that you will be passing through their area and arrange to meet with them? Is craigslist a good resource for this?
My wife is a school counselor and has the summers off. I'd love to be able to take a couple weeks in the summer and explore the southwest US or northern BC and Alberta. The problem is my current job won't let me have that much vacation off at one time. What I'd like to do is apply my skills as a software developer and general IT hacker to meet with people on my travels and pick up work from them that I could do remotely. I also have a health coach certification and would love to put that to use as well. I also love to cook. If I ever meet you out on the trail I'll offer to be camp chef.
I know that I have the ability to help people with their tech projects and improve their health. I'm wondering how to go about balancing the application of these skills with being on the road and then, once returned home, continue working for those clients.
Would love to hear your thoughts, stories, lessons learned, suggestions, etc. on this.
Cheers,
-Matt

 

[David C Gibbs]

Hi Matt,
My company allowed me to work while on the road, a Day and 1/2 travel, from Boise to Flagstaff, 3 Days in Flagstaff at Overland Expo, and a return trip back to Boise. My Internet Connectivity was via 4G LTE enabled Cradlepoint IBR900-600M Router, with a 5 in 1 antenna on the Roof of the Transit Van. So I had real time Connectivity with GPS going down and back. Was able to stay caught-up with email and deal reg, while attending OLE. Was able to upload video & Photos without difficulty. Cradlepoint has an extensibility Dock which allows a 2nd Modem, for Dual-Concurrent Connections, across 2 Cell Carriers. They are Carrier agnostic so you could have 2 AT&T sims in Slot 1 of both Modems and Verizon in Slot 2, and failover if one Carrier has a weak signal. We will see if I have the same coverage at the End of June when we head-up to Northwest Overland Rally in Plain, WA... David

 

[Scout]

wow.. what?? lol..

 

[BayAreaTundra]

My Internet Connectivity was via 4G LTE enabled Cradlepoint IBR900-600M Router David

I used to work for a company that sent these out to remote sites where cell coverage existed, but pulling in cable for traditional connectivity was cost prohibitive. We tried many different models similar to the Cradlepoint, but Cradlepoint won out. However, even with high gain antennas, you still need some semblance of 4g coverage to be effective. If you are in the sticks, don't count on coverage.

 

[David C Gibbs]

I used to work for a company that sent these out to remote sites where cell coverage existed, but pulling in cable for traditional connectivity was cost prohibitive. We tried many different models similar to the Cradlepoint, but Cradlepoint won out. However, even with high gain antennas, you still need some semblance of 4g coverage to be effective. If you are in the sticks, don't count on coverage.

Cradlepoint still has the LPE Modems for 3G fallback for Verizon, the 600M modem for the IBR900 does 3G Fallback for AT&T, T-Mobile. In rural regions I'll take a 3G connection if it allows me to clear email. David

 

[Berkshires]

Working while overlanding is a challenge since, by definition, we go to remote places where internet service is often non-existent. There are plenty of full-time / long-term RV or even VanLife people who work while on the road, but they often travel in more populated areas with internet access. That said, both my wife and I often work remote / telecommunicate (she is a writer for a tech publishing company, and I'm a consultant). We both use our mobile phones as hotspots and in order to increase coverage, she has Verizon and I have ATT.

But your question is much bigger and sounds like more of a career change. I think it would be difficult to "pick-up work from people you meet while traveling", or at least it would not be easy to depend on that for income. Having a credible brand would be important and harder to establish when you are just passing through.

 

[Arailt]

@venture4wd might know a thing or two.

 

[mylilpwny]

For myself my work is vastly phone and email dependent. Most work can be done from just my phone. When I need to do reservation work I can tether my laptop and my phone and use the data from my phone. I have though of installing a signal booster in the truck but I am currently in slow season so if I am out of service a few days it is no big deal right now.

Sent from my SM-G930V using OB Talk mobile app

 

[BeastModeABM]

Very interesting topic. For years I've been obsessed with the internet/working remotely. I'm an insurance broker who works from home. We usually take an off-road trip once a month leaving Thursday night and camping somewhere with reception all day Friday and Monday so that we essentially get a 4 day weekend. We both work at the same place and hot-spot from our phones for our laptops/VOIP work numbers.

The downside is I'm on the phone a LOT so I need decent internet the entire time for VOIP calls. I think a programmer or software developer can work with a crappy connection since most of the coding can be done offline. That and email seems to be a popular method of communication vs telephone for those industries.

Although insurance can make a decent career. I'd prefer something I can do offline with a bad connection.. I've dabbled into HTML/CSS/Python for fun. I may end up diving deeper into it..

 

[mylilpwny]

Very interesting topic. For years I've been obsessed with the internet/working remotely. I'm an insurance broker who works from home. We usually take an off-road trip once a month leaving Thursday night and camping somewhere with reception all day Friday and Monday so that we essentially get a 4 day weekend. We both work at the same place and hot-spot from our phones for our laptops/VOIP work numbers.

The downside is I'm on the phone a LOT so I need decent internet the entire time for VOIP calls. I think a programmer or software developer can work with a crappy connection since most of the coding can be done offline. That and email seems to be a popular method of communication vs telephone for those industries.

Although insurance can make a decent career. I'd prefer something I can do offline with a bad connection.. I've dabbled into HTML/CSS/Python for fun. I may end up diving deeper into it..

Does your company require voip or do you use it as a second number? If it the later That is what I used but recently ported the number to the cheapest phone st the Verizon store (ended up free for phonr) and 8 bucks a month on my plan. Had worked much better for me and since most of my calls are inbound I just forward the calls to my cell.

Sent from my SM-G930V using OB Talk mobile app

 

[WutHoLeChit]

I don't necessarily work while overlanding, however I do work in remote locations and need cell/internet reception for work as well as entertainment. Right now, I'm in the Northern part of Colorado, about an hour and a half from steamboat, the next closest town would be Walden. Beautiful up here, but the cell reception is lacking the majority of the time. But with the help of a mobile hotspot from my phone and a 4G signal booster, I get by pretty well. I'm actually using it and my laptop to post on here and shop online for truck parts. If I'm in the middle of a small deep valley I have zero reception, but I don't think that there is much changing that. Having both ATT and Verizon for service providers (work and personal phones) also helps. sometimes one will work when the other does not. The booster I use only ran about $400 at Best Buy, I would not suggest the cheaper cradle version. Its just a nightmare to use, and not as powerful.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/weboost-drive-4g-m-cellular-signal-booster-black/3247029.p?skuId=3247029

 

[North American Sojourner]

Hi Matt,
My company allowed me to work while on the road, a Day and 1/2 travel, from Boise to Flagstaff, 3 Days in Flagstaff at Overland Expo, and a return trip back to Boise. My Internet Connectivity was via 4G LTE enabled Cradlepoint IBR900-600M Router, with a 5 in 1 antenna on the Roof of the Transit Van. So I had real time Connectivity with GPS going down and back. Was able to stay caught-up with email and deal reg, while attending OLE. Was able to upload video & Photos without difficulty. Cradlepoint has an extensibility Dock which allows a 2nd Modem, for Dual-Concurrent Connections, across 2 Cell Carriers. They are Carrier agnostic so you could have 2 AT&T sims in Slot 1 of both Modems and Verizon in Slot 2, and failover if one Carrier has a weak signal. We will see if I have the same coverage at the End of June when we head-up to Northwest Overland Rally in Plain, WA... David

David I took a quick look at this and at $1800 plus the 4g service it sounds very expensive. How's it do when you're at 6,000' surrounded by cows in the BLM areas?
I'm not a smart man so dumb it down a little for me.
Zim

 

[David C Gibbs]

David I took a quick look at this and at $1800 plus the 4g service it sounds very expensive. How's it do when you're at 6,000' surrounded by cows in the BLM areas?
I'm not a smart man so dumb it down a little for me.
Zim

ZIM,
It's cellular - if you've bar's it works. No Service, no go... But the software heals itself when reconnected... It's really simple.
David

 

[Alanymarce]

We're trying something different this year - working remotely every second week while travelling - so this means 5 days remote work and 9 days not available for work. Clients seem fine with this, at least in our case.

What this requires is 5 days with good internet access/communication capability, and 9 days during which there is no need for either (except for emergency purposes). We have been handling this by staying in places with good internet access either via cellular coverage or WiFi (many campgrounds have WiFi) for the 5 "workdays". The balance is working well.