Internet and Vanlife: the guide to being connected almost everywhere

Mobile internet packages

Before we dive into the hardware, we need to choose the right internet provider. As UK travellers heading into Europe, the good news is that “Roam Like Home” rules generally apply in the EU, so your UK plan often follows you across the Channel — though always with a fair usage cap to watch out for.

To be honest with you, we run multiple subscriptions with multiple operators to ensure we always have a working connection, whichever country we’re in. Redundancy is the name of the game when your work depends on connectivity.

Let’s take a look at the main UK operators and what they offer for travellers.

The main mobile providers in the UK

UK plans used long-term outside Europe

UK roaming plans are generally designed to be used only a few months outside Europe. Most operators follow a “Roam Like Home” policy with a fair usage period (typically 60-90 days within a 4-month window). Stay abroad longer, and your provider may ask you to use a local SIM, throttle your speeds, or apply extra charges under their fair usage policy.

In practice, you can often push that a bit, but the operator may flag your account if you appear to be permanently roaming. Worth checking your specific operator’s fair usage rules before a long trip.

Local SIM card in Europe and outside the EU

You can also buy a SIM card in the country you’re visiting. That’s what we did when we crossed Switzerland. Normally, once you’re in Europe — even in non-EU countries like the UK, where reciprocal agreements between operators are still in place — you’ll be fine using your UK plan. Outside Europe, a local SIM card (or an eSIM) becomes essential to avoid eye-watering daily roaming fees.

The non-UK subscriptions we tested

Swisscom (Switzerland): around £60/month, no contract, unlimited — useful as Switzerland sits outside EU roaming.
MEO (Portugal): around £30/month, no contract, unlimited — our pick for longer stays in Portugal.
Inwi (Morocco): local prepaid, requires immediate cancellation after purchase to avoid auto-renewal — see our Morocco article for full details.

The Different Types of Modems for Vans and Motorhomes

Once you’ve chosen your plan, you’ll need some hardware to stay connected from your home on wheels. Depending on your needs and how much you value your connection, you’ll need different equipment. However, they all share the common trait of being able to run on very little power, either via USB or a cigarette lighter socket, so you won’t need a transformer to power a modem.

Your Phone

Let’s start with the simplest option. You can connect to the Internet using something you already have with you every day: your phone, or rather, your smartphone. These devices include a modem function, usually called a hotspot, letting you turn your phone into a small modem for your computer or tablet.

Benefits: It’s free if your phone already has this feature.
Drawbacks: Inside your van, signal strength can be weaker, affecting your Internet speed. In areas with good coverage, it should be fine for basic browsing, but in more remote areas, it might struggle.

Mobile Modems (Consumer)

If you don’t want to use your phone as a modem, there are mobile modems available both from ISPs and over-the-counter, with varying performance based on two main criteria: with or without an antenna or external connection.

Antenna-Free Mobile Modems

These will perform similarly to your phone. Their main benefit is freeing your phone from being multitasked. Models like the Huawei Router at around £45 will do the job. Some high-end models, such as Netgear’s NightHawk modems, offer better battery life and reception quality but don’t allow for an external antenna connection, which I find to be the biggest drawback. Considering the price of these modems, you can find better value elsewhere, but they do have the advantage of being portable thanks to their battery.

Mobile Modems with External Connection

The second type includes those that allow for external antennas or even domes on the roof of your vehicle. This ensures that the signal isn’t blocked by the metal body of your van or motorhome, improving the signal.

Advantages: Suitable for standard Internet activities like browsing, email, and watching YouTube videos. Easy to set up with more conventional after-sales service. Can be used outside the motorhome with a battery.
Drawbacks: As you move up in price, the cost isn’t always justified. You end up paying more for the brand than the performance.

Professional Mobile Modems

After extensive research, I found that there are several brands that aren’t well-known to the general public but are perfect for demanding mobile Internet needs.

These modems are used in public and private buses, or even in ATMs, so you can trust their reliability.

After a year of testing, we can confirm that the performance is spot on.

We chose the Teltonika RUTX-11. This modem can be powered from a 12V cigarette lighter socket (low power consumption despite high performance) or a mains socket, with two SIM card holders, four Ethernet ports, two WiFi antennas, and two sockets for connecting either 4G antennas or an external dome (LTE sockets), which we added to use the product to its full potential.

So, it’s not for everyone, and you’ll need to learn more than you would for the consumer modems mentioned above. Its administration interface is well-designed, and I use only about 10% of its capabilities.

Among the features, I tested the automatic network switching (and thus SIM cards) if:

• There’s no signal
• Signal strength is too low (in dBm)
• Based on data availability
• Network access is denied

A USB port is available for connecting a hard drive to create a mini file server.

Two WiFi networks are created, one in 2.4GHz and the other in 5GHz, and it’s possible to create several with different SSIDs, or even a public hotspot (be careful with data and authorized sites).

The Tests

In 365 days, we only struggled once to stream in a remote rural area, but we still managed to surf and stream in 540p, which requires a decent upload speed. We successfully streamed while driving over 150 km without interruption, as our dome connected to various relay antennas along the way.

Here are two speed test results taken in challenging locations: one in a remote area of Italy and the other during a thunderstorm in Switzerland.

Twice, we removed the modem from the camper van and plugged it into our host’s home (with the two antennas, not the dome), which had a worse ADSL connection than our modem.

Advantages: It’s hard to get a better connection right now. You could potentially improve it by upgrading the dome, but that would increase the height of the camper van, which might not be ideal.

Drawbacks: Worth noting that performance varies between networks — running two SIM cards from two different operators (we use EE + a backup) gives the best results.

Where to Buy a High-Performance Modem for Vanlife?

To save you time, I’ve prepared a list of links for this equipment:

• Teltonika RUTX-11 modem (or newer model)
• Dome antenna for Modem LTE 4G 12Dbi
• Cigar lighter socket for modem (not included with the modem)