// OFF-GRID · ALL WEATHER
Internet where there is nothing to plug into
Plenty of firms will bring you a connection if you provide the power. We bring both. The 365 Crafter runs on solar and lithium with a Victron system we designed, monitor and support ourselves — which is also why we are listed in Victron’s Recommended Software Integrator Program. This page is about the awkward locations, and about how the kit copes with British weather. Rated 4.9 on Google.
- ● Genuinely off-grid
- ● Victron Recommended Integrator
- ● Wireless links since 2015
/01 — GENUINELY OFF-GRID
What “off-grid” actually means here
It is a phrase people use loosely, so here is exactly what is in the van: a Victron Cerbo GX running Venus OS, MPPT solar charging, a lithium battery bank, a SmartShunt 500A and an Orion XS DC-DC charger. We run our own business from it.
We did not buy that as a prop. We designed, built and monitor it — and we build live monitoring dashboards on Victron systems for customers worldwide, which is why we are listed in Victron Energy’s Recommended Software Integrator Program. You can watch the van’s own solar, battery and power draw live on our site right now.
Why that matters to you: it means the power side is engineered and instrumented rather than hoped for. We can see the state of charge and what everything is drawing before we commit to a job, so when we say we can run for a given period at a given location, it is based on data from a system we monitor rather than optimism.
We also have form with connectivity in awkward places well before satellite made it easy: we have run a point-to-point wireless link across the River Avon for the Environment Agency since 2015, and we still support it. Eleven years of a link that has to keep working, outdoors, in Dorset.
Independent. 365 Techies is not affiliated with, endorsed by, authorised by or a reseller for SpaceX or Starlink. We are an IT support firm that uses a Starlink Business Priority service, on a plan whose terms permit providing access to third parties. Starlink is a trademark of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
/02 — EXTREME WEATHER
Heatwave, snow and ice: how the kit actually copes
We have run this through British weather ourselves, and we also want to be precise about which claims are ours and which are the manufacturer’s published ratings. Both matter, and they are not the same thing.
Starlink’s own published specification sheets give the current dishes an operating temperature range of −30 °C to +50 °C (the Performance model is rated wider still, −40 °C to +60 °C), an IP67 ingress rating, operation in sustained winds around 96 km/h, and an integrated snow-melt system rated to clear up to around 40 mm of snowfall per hour.
Put that against British weather and it is not close. The UK’s highest recorded temperature is just over 40 °C and our lowest is around −27 °C — both comfortably inside that range. For comparison, the consumer mesh WiFi in most homes is typically rated 0 °C to 40 °C. The outdoor satellite equipment is in a completely different class to the box on your shelf.
What we can tell you from our own use: we run this year-round from the van, through UK summer heat and through winter cold, and it keeps working. That is our experience rather than a laboratory test, and we will not dress it up as more than it is.
What actually causes problems — and it is not the weather. By a wide margin the thing that breaks a satellite link is obstruction: trees in leaf, a building, an overhanging structure. Very heavy rain or wet snow can cause brief interruptions, which is physics and applies to every satellite system ever made. But a clear view of the sky matters more than the forecast, every time. That is why “where can we park” is the first question we ask.
One practical detail we like: the indoor router is only rated for indoor use, which is fine, because in our case “indoors” is the van.
/03 — WHERE IT WORKS
The locations this is for
- Rural businesses and farms with no usable fixed line and no mobile signal worth having.
- Sites with no power at all — land, barns, compounds, early-stage builds.
- Temporary and seasonal operations that need connectivity for weeks rather than years.
- Filming and photography on location, where the real requirement is usually getting large files moving before you leave.
- Marine and harbour-side work — a genuine gap locally given Poole Harbour.
- Anywhere a survey, an inspection or a monitoring installation needs to send data back from somewhere inconvenient. That is exactly what the Environment Agency link does, and has done since 2015.
Where it will not work: anywhere without a clear view of the sky, anywhere we cannot legally park within cable reach, and any situation where you need a permanent installation — at which point you should own the equipment rather than rent our van, and we are happy to install and configure it for you.
/04 — PERMANENT INSTALLATIONS
If you need this permanently, buy it — and we will fit it
We are an IT support firm, not a connectivity reseller, so we have no reason to keep you renting.
If a location needs a permanent connection, the sensible answer is to buy the equipment and subscription in your own name and have us install and configure it — siting the dish for a genuinely clear view, running the cable properly with surge protection where it enters a building, sorting the power (including solar and battery if there is no mains), and joining it to your network safely.
That way you own it, the subscription is yours, and there is no van in the equation at all. Ask us and we will tell you which of the two makes sense for your situation.
FAMILY-RUN SINCE 1995 · ★ 4.9 ON GOOGLE · 200+ COMPUTERS UNDER OUR CARE · NO FIX, NO FEE · SAME-DAY REMOTE SUPPORT
// GOOD QUESTIONS
Frequently asked
Can you get internet somewhere with no mains power?
Yes. The 365 Crafter carries a Victron off-grid system — a Cerbo GX on Venus OS, MPPT solar charging and a lithium battery bank — so it supplies its own electricity as well as the connection. No generator, hook-up or socket needed. We monitor that power system live, so when we say we can run for a given period at a location, it is based on real data rather than a guess.
Does satellite internet work in snow, ice and heatwaves in the UK?
The published specifications rate the current dishes from −30 °C to +50 °C, IP67, sustained winds around 96 km/h, with an integrated snow-melt system clearing roughly 40 mm of snowfall per hour. The UK’s record temperatures sit comfortably inside that range. In practice, obstruction from trees and buildings causes far more trouble than weather ever does — a clear view of the sky matters more than the forecast.
What causes a satellite connection to drop?
Obstruction, overwhelmingly — trees in leaf, buildings, or anything overhanging the dish’s view of the sky. Very heavy rain or wet snow can cause brief interruptions, which is a property of satellite communication generally rather than a fault. If a site’s view is partly blocked, it can take up to 24 hours of mapping to say honestly how well a link will hold up there.
Is 365 Techies qualified to do off-grid power as well as internet?
We run our own business from an off-grid Victron system and we build live monitoring dashboards on Victron installations for customers worldwide, which is why we are listed in Victron Energy’s Recommended Software Integrator Program. We are not electricians and we do not carry out mains electrical work — but on low-voltage solar, battery and monitoring systems, this is genuinely what we do.
Somewhere with no power and no signal?
Those are the jobs we find most interesting. Tell us where it is, what has to work and for how long, and we will tell you honestly whether we can do it — and what would need to be true for it to work.
01202 775566 · help@365techies.co.uk · MON–FRI 9AM–5PM