I have always been a technology enthusiast more especially technologies to do with access to internet.
Back in 2016, I purchased a Telkom (then called Orange) Router which I used while staying in Nairobi to access Telkom internet. Orange was the cheapest source of internet. We used to enjoy internet of KES 250 for a whole week or KES 50 per day.
Other times, I made use of the mobile hotspot from my phone. From Nov 2019 I started using Safaricom LTE internet for business. It is very reliable but only accessible when I am at home.
One day I was on a field trip to record a video to be broadcast at the UN event. I shot the video good in time on the deadline. Uploading it was a pain on the ass. The internet was too slow to complete the assignment.
I’m sure my colleague who asked me to do the video was not impressed by the slow upload. In many African urban areas, internet is painfully slow.
Now, I conducted my own research and bought a mobile signal booster which works quite well in some places.
I once went to a farm area to do some work during my annual leave. On that day I also had an urgent call to make. I connected the mobile signal booster. The Yagi Antenna was perched on a pole outside the house, the portable solar panel was connected to power the unit and the mushroom antenna was also put in place inside the house to broadcast the strong signal.
I tested the network by calling one of my friends on WhatsApp, it was not working smoothly as expected.
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I hit the road once more and research for a better solution. The keyword was “access to high speed internet from remote areas.”
I came across a product manufactured by a company known as Mikrotik. The product is named Mikrotik LHG 4G kit. In the product description it is clear that the product is meant for accessing internet in remote areas.
I knew I have found a solution to my challenges as a digital nomad. Below is a description from the Mikrotik website:
” The LHG 4G kit is a device for remote locations that are within cellular network coverage. Mount it outdoors, on a pole, mast or any high enough structure, and connect even where cell phones can’t. Due to it’s large sized high gain 21dBi antenna, the device is capable to connect to cell towers in extreme rural locations, giving you the ability to provide last mile internet access where nothing else is available.”
Further, the company website adds that:
“The unit is equipped with one Ethernet port, has a built in high quality Category 4 modem for speeds of up to 150 Mbit/s downlink and 50 Mbit/s uplink.”
The device can work under extreme temperatures ranging from -40 to 60 degrees Celsius.
The device uses the RouterOS Operating System. It uses power over Ethernet (PoE). This means that there is no separate cable to power the device other than the Ethernet cable. It is both an antenna and a router. It is a great combination, I guess.
Below are some preliminary test results from us:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CSRcnWOsFXo/
Now I’ve a task to test this new unit from various remote locations across Kenya.
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