When I’m travelling, I have a need for fast 5G internet when in Telstra coverage areas, and Starlink Internet for when I’m either out of coverage area, or the local tower/network is oversaturated.
Protection and security for users on my network is key as well, so I will be using the “HTTP DNS Proxy” package for the router to enable NextDNS.
I also wanted the ability to track my caravan via GPS – and the Teltonika supports this by default, and can even upload this to a Traccar server (which is easy to setup on Linode via Cloudron), although instructions to do so are beyond the scope of this post.
For this I’ve chosen:
- Teltonika RUTX50 5G Router
- Starlink Mini
- 5-in-1 Starlink PoE Injector Splitter for Mini
- Linode running Traccar Server (optional)
Note: The 5-in-1 unit above does something very cool for caravan use of the Mini – it turns it into a 12V powered PoE device meaning you just need to run one outdoor STP cable to your mini from the caravan which will power and provide data connectivity – so caravans that already have the IP rated ethernet port on the outside of the van can just plug into it. With the setup detailed here, you set the Mini to “bypass mode”.
Setup
Step one – Basic Setup
- Install the RUTX50 as per manufacturer instructions, getting your SIM card working and WiFi setup.
- Update the firmware of both the RUTX50 device and the inbuilt modem via System/Firmware/Update Firmware.
Step two – Starlink
We want Starlink to be the priority internet connection, so it automatically uses Starlink when it is up and running on the WAN port of the router, but when not working or turned off it falls back to using 5G.
- Go to Network/Failover/Multiwan
- Set the mode drop-down to failover
- Toggle on the switches under “Failover / load balancing interfaces” for both the wan and the mobile connections you use
- Move the “wan” to the top of the the list below “Mode”
- Click “Save & Apply”
- Go to Network/WAN
- Move “wan” to position 1 and “wan6” to position 2.
- Enable the “failover” switch for “wan” and for the mobile connection that is where your 5G connection is.
- Click “Save & Apply”
Step three – NextDNS
- In System/Package manager, install “HTTP DNS Proxy”
- Once done, go to Network/DNS/HTTP DNS Proxy
- In here choose “Custom” from the drop down, then add Google DNS addresses into the “Bootstrap” fields – this is so the router can initially find NextDNS before it hands over to it to start working.
- Then add your “DNS-over-HTTPS” address from your NextDNS dashboard into the “Resolver URL” field, followed by Port “5053”
- Toggle the “Enable” switch and hit “Save & Apply”
Step four – GPS (optional)
- Go to Services/GPS/General and enable all of the toggles, then click “Save & Apply”
- Go to Services/GPS/Map and check that your GPS location of the router is being shown on the map
- For Traccar, you want to use “AVL” which is available via Services/GPS/AVL
- Enable the top two toggles, then input your Traccar server address
- Click “Save & Apply”
- On your Traccar server, check the logs for a new unknown Teltonika device – grab the 15 digit code that is immediately after “Unknown device -” and on your Traccar server, add a new device, name it, and input this 15-digit code into the identifier field. If done correctly, the Traccar server should show the location of your router, and the router on the AVL tab will show “Status Up” under General.
That’s it for now. If you’ve found this and it’s been helpful – awesome. Otherwise I guess this is just me recording things so I have a reference for if/when I need to do it again sometime 🙂