Tired of working from home? Put the office on wheels

Ha, his 30 ft plus fifth wheeler with multiple slide outs probably is a home from home 😳
 
When you look at square footage , and cost of new build house you can see why they are deciding the way they do :)
 
Yes he can probably buy it through his business as an office and put all the running costs against his tax too 🤔
 
One of the reasons we changed vans is the pandemic has made both our employers realise that remote work is possible. We can both now work from laptops. Our new van has a massive lounge and table. I'm planning to go away on Thursday nights, work remotely on the Friday and already be on the cold snacks when everyone else is stuck in traffic in the Friday night rush.

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I regularly work remotely from the van, during the pandemic I’ve been home based with all work done by laptop/iPad and all contact over zoom. I’ve got unlimited data on my Vodaphone package and between that and occasional CCC free WiFi have had no issues at all re bandwidth or video quality.
just back from 3 weeks away, one week was working out of CCC Chertsey site, just ideal!
 
Have spent a couple of weeks away working for the van earlier in Summer, as travel for business has been restricted I am working fully remotely so can work from anywhere with good connectivity.

Allows us to also have longer trips during the school holidays as I can work some days and combine with holidays to make longer trips or go visit customers enroute.

I have a three day workshop coming up in rural Denmark so seriously thinking about taking the motorhome and making a trip out of it.
 
My daughter's being doing this in a more modest fashion for a year - takes her T5 to a New Forest car park.
 
Its amazing how long it sometimes takes for people to realise this is possible, remote working has been a possibility for years as long at there is connectivity when you need it and that could be a local cafe (remember the bold days of internet cafe's) its only constrained thinking that stops this sort of flexible working. There are some 5 million BT hotspots if you are on the move in the hughstreet or just parked up so if your BT customer you can just pick up a link for 'free', other providers do the same.
 
Where does the post go though? This was the hardest part of full timing for us. That and registering at doctors, dentists etc..

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Did anyone else read the bit about improving the signal which is the main issue most have when working from home in a MH? It was interesting to read this:

Kevin Taylor, the founder of Powerful Signal, says WiFi at mobile home parks can often be patchy - so his firm specialises in mobile phone signal amplification devices.

Each amplification system includes an aerial outside the mobile home that works to capture signals outdoors from local towers.
"That signal is then transmitted by cable to an amplifier inside," he explains. "The amplifier boosts the signal power and sends it to [another] antenna inside the RV, which rebroadcasts the signal to the cellular devices inside the vehicle."
According to Mr Taylor, these antennas are constantly improving, making it likely that in the near-future travellers will be better connected than ever before.
Click to expand...

Basically:
  • an external antenna receives and transmits the mobile network signals via cable to an amplifier inside
  • the amplifier sends the signals to another antenna inside to which the devices (eg phone, tablet) connect.
This differs from a MIMO antenna and MIFI as the MIFI has the sim in it.

One of the issues, due to more and more people using phones to create hotspots rather than a MIFI with it's own sim, is how to boost the signal to a phone when we can't connect aerials to them to do so.

So, if I'm understanding the above correctly, it means that a phone could connect to a signal via the amplified antenna within the MH and not directly to the mobile network signal externally, in which case could this be a way to boost a phone signal for those of us who don't use MIFIs?
 
Minxy Girl said:
Hmm ... might not be 'so simple' due to legality of using boosters and the cost of those that comply!

www.ofcom.org.uk

Using a repeater to improve your indoor mobile phone signal

Poor or no indoor mobile signal? A repeater could help you get better coverage.
www.ofcom.org.uk www.ofcom.org.uk
Click to expand...
Yep - there's only so many frequencies, which are re-used across the network with sufficient geographical separation to prevent interference. Misuse of those frequencies can block signals, incuding your own reception, and may lead to OfCom's men in vans coming around.

When I worked with Emergency Services comms, we had a couple of instances ... a neon tube in a chipshop window and a lift motor on a hotel roof both took out the system across a wide enough area to be a nuisance. Apparently both are typical of the issues the network providers have.

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nicholsong said:
Mel

Another good source of info is Adam at

motorhomewifi.com

He is a member on MHFacts with that username if not on here.

He and Sophie are MHomers as well as running the business.

Geoff
Click to expand...
Yup I know about MHWifi but was just reading the article so did a bit of googling. It isn't a cheap option though to get one that is legal so unless someone really needs it I doubt many will bother, it would probably be cheaper to get an antenna, mifi and separate sim.
 
I did consider this option, after I started working from home permanently in about 2003.

The trouble is the weight of all the paper files, and practitioner textbooks ... the IT stuff was not really a problem except maybe the fax machine ... lawyering is very much a paper exercise despite digital technology. I would have needed at least 3000kg payload, as well as space for about 36ft of shelves and a huge file carousel. Possibly an office on a trailer?

Next: how do you park this rig near a Court ... :whistle2:
 
Not sure if anyone has mentioned insurance?

When we had our business I found it really difficult / impossible to get insurance. When I did find someone to cover for business use the cost was eye watering.
 
Puddleduck said:
Not sure if anyone has mentioned insurance?

When we had our business I found it really difficult / impossible to get insurance. When I did find someone to cover for business use the cost was eye watering.
Click to expand...

I used to have business use included for my previous VW camper so I could use it to visit clients. It was a modest addition to the premium in my case.

I think the business use that the insurers really hate (or exclude) is car boot sales. Not sure why.
 
SpeedyDux said:
I used to have business use included for my previous VW camper so I could use it to visit clients. It was a modest addition to the premium in my case.

I think the business use that the insurers really hate (or exclude) is car boot sales. Not sure why.
Click to expand...

I just had small laptop and mini-printer, stock with a value of about £100 and padded envelopes. The insurance was less than £300 without business use and over £3000 with. As I had mentioned business use when getting prices I then had to declare no business use when I did insure it. The motorhome was / is a coachbuilt. When away all I would do would be to check for orders (email), pack up the items (diagnostic rapid tests for farm animals about the same size as one lateral flow covid test) and post them. It all went into a 4 ltr box (about the same size as a ream of A4 paper but not as heavy).

The car was insured for business use as I took letters / parcels to the post office. That didn't cost much more though.

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It’s working for us, first step was buying a software package from Zoho that enabled our guys to switch from manual invoicing to paperless invoices with their smart phones.
The second step was convincing my wife that we could work remotely, ( not easy ! ) so last November we did our first months end stuff away from the office. Everything went well, we can monitor each day’s activity, email copy invoices, amend any vat errors or other mistakes that occur occasionally. Then at month end we can reconcile payments at the bank and email requested copy invoices and issue updated statements.
We have been away since April, we had to install a wifi ariel and router to the van to enable the laptop to work, all seems to be working out without any need for paper, other than the constant double checking my wife/chief administrator does with pencil and paper. 😂
Now I wonder what it would cost to get our van over to the Caribbean where some of the islands are offering incentives to digital nomads. ;)
 
Crazylegs said:
It’s working for us, first step was buying a software package from Zoho that enabled our guys to switch from manual invoicing to paperless invoices with their smart phones.
The second step was convincing my wife that we could work remotely, ( not easy ! ) so last November we did our first months end stuff away from the office. Everything went well, we can monitor each day’s activity, email copy invoices, amend any vat errors or other mistakes that occur occasionally. Then at month end we can reconcile payments at the bank and email requested copy invoices and issue updated statements.
We have been away since April, we had to install a wifi ariel and router to the van to enable the laptop to work, all seems to be working out without any need for paper, other than the constant double checking my wife/chief administrator does with pencil and paper. 😂
Now I wonder what it would cost to get our van over to the Caribbean where some of the islands are offering incentives to digital nomads. ;)
Click to expand...
Not quite the Carribean but Croatia has started offering 12 month digital visas along with incentives around tax, language and schooling.

www.visit-croatia.co.uk

The new digital nomad visa in Croatia

Learn more about the digital nomad visa in Croatia which lets you stay in the country for a year - how to apply and what documents you need
www.visit-croatia.co.uk www.visit-croatia.co.uk
 
orridge said:
Not quite the Carribean but Croatia has started offering 12 month digital visas along with incentives around tax, language and schooling.

www.visit-croatia.co.uk

The new digital nomad visa in Croatia

Learn more about the digital nomad visa in Croatia which lets you stay in the country for a year - how to apply and what documents you need
www.visit-croatia.co.uk www.visit-croatia.co.uk
Click to expand...

But because wlldcamping in Croatia is illegal and site fees seem to be quite high it could be a costly place compared with other countries. However it would get around the 90/80 restriction for a UK Citizen.

Geoff

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For those who are not technical or have little or no knowledge a commercial provider is a sensible thing to do. But if you have a working understanding of mobile networks it’s pretty straightforward to install a reliable Mifi. But like everything a little knowledge can be dangerous 😉
 

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