A Mobile Home for the Wired Professional

mikael writes "The BBC is reporting that an Internet entrepeneur has given up on the high cost of housing in the city but has decided to merge his office/home lifestyles in the form of a luxury custom-built mobile home. Utilizing satellite technology, VoIP and a home cinema for video conferencing, the owner and his girlfriend are able to communicate with clients from anywhere. At the same time, the machine allows the occupants to remain self-sufficient in water, food, electricity and amenities for a whole week, allowing them to commute to the nearest national during the weekends." The price seems high even for all the amenities; a well-equipped Airstream can be had for enough less to pay for quite a few electronic upgrades.

Comments

RV's

[Anonymous Coward]

I used to work at an RV Dealership pumping LP. These machines are insane. Some times, old folks would come in and plunk down giant multi-million dollar checks, or even cash, to walk out the door with one of them a few hours later (we hated that).

My father, whom I worked with at the time, did all these sorts of upgrades - one time, I worked helping install a computer into one as the centre of a digital home hub. I did a lot of the work with that, and it was insane. And yes, they paid cash.

Re:RV's

[Tony Hoyle]

Loans are much more profitable - the punter/mark/putz pays often 2-3 times the asking price for a loan.

Satellite Latency

[mpeg4codec]

To me, it would seem that the latency involved with satellite communications would really inhibit the use of VoIP. Either that or make it really, really difficult to use. Are there any /.'ers who can vouch on either side of this issue?

Re:Satellite Latency

[dougmc]

the latency involved with satellite communications would really inhibit the use of VoIP.

We've been making long distance phone calls via satellite for decades now. True, it's not over VoIP, but the cause of the latency (the long distance to the satellite) is still there, so the latency is there too.

Yes, it's a bit odd to hear an echo of what you say into the phone a signifigant fraction of a second later, but you got used to it. You were just happy to speak to grandma, even though she was 6000 miles away and this call was costing you $0.40/minute!

I have been reduced to saying, "And this is news?"

[kfg]

This was done by bicycle, http://www.microship.com/, 20 years ago (complete with a binary "keyboard" on the handlebars so that the rider could type while riding and satellite uplink) and my aunt gave up her house 10 years ago to go RVing and says she doesn't understand anymore why anyone would want to own a house in the first place.

Slashdot breaking news story: Sam's Club!

KFG

All well and good

[YrWrstNtmr]

...as long as you have no kids.

2 yuppies, cruising around in a motor home with no fixed address is fine, if a bit expensive (gas prices in UK?).

I don't see this as a real money saver. Yes, 1/4 million pounds is less than many (by far not all) homes in SE england. But depreciation and operating expenses will eat up any potential savings, and when they decide to give up this hobby, they'll be behind the real estate/money curve.

But, if money isn't a consideration (and it appears not to be in this case), why not do it for a couple of years? I'd get tired of it pretty quick, but he might not.

Not all that new

[SJasperson]

I was doing full-time computer consulting and living full-time in an RV back in 1997-2000 (in the US), and I was hardly the only one. Even then, it wasn't that hard to stay in touch; plenty of RV parks would let you plug in a wired modem somewhere, more and more had internet hookups right at every site, and you could have a satellite modem if you were willing to pay enough for it (around $2/minute for 9600 baud access, which was plenty good enough for email and shipping code back and forth in those less bloated days). It's fun when you get to camp in the boondocks next to a hot spring for a couple of weeks and still bill a good hourly rate for the hours you care to work on your laptop while recharging from the solar panels. It's not so fun when you're stuck in the client's parking lot in Schaumburg Illinois for a week in winter because they really need to see you on site and the propane heater barely keeps up with the chill.

Maui Van

[pensano]

I've been doing something similar for the past six months. I purchased a fifteen passenger van in Colorado -- refurnished the interior with bed, closet, kitchen, pullout laptop desk, girlfriend, and surfboard storage racks -- and shipped it to Maui. It's been great. Net access is pretty good over cell modem, or we can wardrive when we want to download a movie torrent. :) I've been working three hours a week teaching physics for food money, and windsurfing tons. Journal and pics here:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/mauitian/

Don't get the motorhome

[bluGill]

If anyone is considering getting something like this, don't make the mistake of getting something with a built in motor. Get a trailer with a separate tow vehicle. I prefer 5Th wheels (they tow nice), but make your own choice.

With the built in motor you have to drive the whole house to a store, and fitting an RV into a standard parking spot is an exercise in frustration. Worse if you want to park near downtown sometime. Much easier to leave the house behind and just take the tow vehicle.

And there is the problem of what if it breaks? With the separate tow vehicle you just drop it off at the dealer and drive a loaner car. You will be hard pressed to find a town that doesn't have a dealer who can fix your truck, while someone willing to touch a RV is harder to find. Or just trade the truck in on a new one (only rich people live in an RV, it is too expensive for normal folks, so this is reasonable). Of course you could trade the RV in when it breaks, but good luck finding one you like in a random town, while truck dealers are all over.

Oh, and if you are doing this, please don't get a gas engine! Diesel is much more efficient, meaning it won't burn what gas my generation wants to live with for the rest of our life.

Re:Don't get the motorhome

[Anonymous Coward]

What your are referring to is a 'Diesel Pusher' and yes they are more powerful and efficient than a Gas engine (ten times the torque of an equivalent Gas moter at the same horse power). Most of them also have enough power to tow a small car behind so you can park the elephant in a park and drive the car for errands and such..(Mini Coopers and Ford Focus' are a fav with the RV set).
Plus Diesel engines, with proper maintenance, can last over 1 million miles. Ask any 18wheel truck driver. The only real drawback is the oil change is very expensive.
The most poplular engines are Catepillar and Cummins, though Ford is making a move on the lower end of the scale.

btw, taking this concept further is an RV called the 'Fun Mover' a 39 footer powered by a front engined Ford V10 diesel. It's a 26 foot moterhome with a 13' long garage attached that can be used for anything including turning it into an office.
Just google funmover and rv. The most expensive one is under 200k and includes an onboard 7K watt diesel powered generator.

if you get an onboard AC current generator, make sure it uses the same fuel as your truck engine for obvious reasons. The newer ones are really quiet too.

Lastly by going with Deisel, you can take advantage of the increasing availability of BioDiesel. And the resulting lower sulpher content.

Big deal

[Fapestniegd]

I've been doing this for over a Year.

And for about $14k. And $5k for the pickup truck.
I'm posting this from the pod right now.
Most RV parks have WiFi, well the good ones anyway, so latency isn't a problem.