This suggestion did come up before but I wrote it off because (to my understanding) I would need a computer at both ends? This means that the remote computer needs to be powered (and a computer generally uses more power.than a router).
Not a problem at home where I have mains power but power is very limited at the remote site (no mains, so will have to use solar).
Having said that, one of my work colleagues has just suggested that a Raspberry Pi has very low power consumption and may do the job.
I’m led to believe that Raspberry Pi’s run Linux, or can apparently be made to run a stripped down version of Windows. Might be worth considering.
I think the biggest challenge (apart from the internet linking) is going to be keeping everything powered. By my very approximate calculations (won’t be able to calculate it accurately until I haver the final setup and know exactly how much current each item draws), I need roughly 100-150 watts of solar panels and a fairly large leisure battery.
have you done a site survey for mobile signal performance?
I have tried several different SIM cards in my phone and results varied from non-existent signal on one provider to about 50% on O2.
To be honest, the signal was a bit flaky and not very reliable on my phone. It depends on where abouts in the field that you are standing.
Bear in mind that the internal antennas on modern phones aren’t particularly great as the manufacturers try to cram everything (including the antenna) into a small case.
It was much better on a broadband router especially with external antennas (similar to what you would use on a house or caravan).
I have in the past set up a 4g router when we did a bonfire night party to provide the guests with WIFI.
Using external 4g antennas on a mast at around 10ft off the ground it seemed solid. It was fine for a couple of people making WIFI calls, streaming from spotify & YouTube etc, so hopefully will be ok for what I want.
It bogged down once you loaded it up with more than around 3-4 people (which you would expect for a 4g connection).
I don’t think getting 4g into the field is my biggest problem to overcome if I’m honest (we’ve done it before).
you also need to decide what will “drive” the mobile broadband modem to make it go online
Sorry, I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean by “driving” the modem.