Satellite water tank monitoring with no mobile signal.
Short version: if your tank sits where there is no mobile signal, you can still read its level from your phone. There are two ways to do it. A satellite link that reports from anywhere in Australia, or a low-power radio mesh that hops the reading back to the house. Satellite is the one you reach for when the tank is so far out that nothing else can reach it. This guide covers when to use each, and how you still get a run-dry alert either way.
Last updated 1 July 2026 · by Alien IT Solutions
Can you monitor a tank with no mobile signal?
Yes, and a no-signal site is the exact problem tank monitoring is built for. The sensor on the tank does not need mobile coverage of its own. It gets the reading off the property a different way, either straight up to a satellite or back over a radio mesh to a gateway near the house that has the internet connection.
The far bores, dams and back-paddock tanks are usually the ones with no signal, and they are also the ones most likely to catch you out. Nobody drives past them every day. A trough that ran dry on Tuesday might not get noticed until the weekend, and by then you are counting stock losses instead of reading a phone alert. The whole point of monitoring a remote tank is that the place you cannot easily check is the place you most need to know about.
The two ways to beat no signal
Most properties end up using one, or a mix of both.
Radio mesh
The sensor sends a short, low-power radio burst that hops tank to tank and back to a gateway near the house. The gateway holds the internet connection. Cheaper to run, updates often, and ideal when tanks are roughly in line of sight of the home cluster.
Satellite
The sensor reports straight up to a satellite, so there is no gateway, no hop and no infrastructure in between. This is the answer for a tank so far out that even a radio mesh cannot reach it. It reports a few times a day to make the battery last for years.
A mix of both
Mesh for the tanks near the house and sheds, satellite for the one bore three ridges away. Both feed the same dashboard, so you still see every tank in the one place instead of juggling two systems.
Run-dry alerts on either
Whichever link carries the reading, you set a low-level threshold and get an SMS, email or push before a tank or trough runs dry, not after. The alert is the part that saves the stock.
Why the link is the hard part, not the sensor
Measuring a water level is the easy bit. A pressure sensor or an ultrasonic reader will tell you how full a tank is all day long. The bit that trips people up on a remote block is getting that number off the tank and into your pocket when there is no phone signal for kilometres.
That is the real question behind all of this. Not "can you measure it", but "how does the reading get home". Radio mesh and satellite are just two honest answers to that one question, and they suit different layouts. Get the link right and everything else follows. Get it wrong and you have a sensor that knows the answer but cannot tell anyone.
How to choose between them
Three questions, in this order.
Start with how remote the tank is
If it is near the house cluster, radio mesh is usually the cheaper, more frequent option, provided there is a reasonably clear line back to a gateway. Radio does not like a hill in the way. If the tank is well beyond reach of any gateway, or there is solid terrain between it and the house, satellite earns its keep because it does not care what is in between.
Then how often you need a reading
Mesh can report often through the day, so you watch a level move almost live. Satellite typically reports two or three times a day to protect battery life. That cadence is a deliberate trade, not a limitation. For a tank that draws down over days, three readings a day is plenty to see the trend and to fire an alert well before run-dry. If you genuinely need a reading every few minutes, that tank wants a mesh near the house, not satellite.
Then the cost over time
Satellite carries an ongoing data cost per device, because every unit talks to the satellite on its own. Mesh shares one internet connection back at the gateway, so adding another tank to an existing mesh is cheap. We work the numbers per property rather than guess, because the layout of your tanks decides it far more than any brochure figure.
Battery, not mains: the practical reality out there
Neither approach needs power or internet at the tank. That matters, because a back-paddock bore usually has neither, and running either out to it is a job you do not want. The sensors run for years on their own battery, and a small solar panel on the satellite units keeps them topped up in the sun.
This is why the reporting cadence is set the way it is. Every time a unit wakes up, measures and transmits, it spends battery, and a satellite transmission costs more power than a short radio hop. Reporting a few times a day instead of constantly is the difference between changing a battery every year and leaving it alone for the life of the sensor. On a remote install, the best maintenance is no maintenance. Set it once, set it right, walk away.
Who builds it
Tank Monitoring is the water-monitoring service of Alien IT Solutions, an Australian IT, networks and connectivity company with more than 18 years of experience. We work out whether satellite, radio mesh or a mix suits your property, then install the sensors, the link and the dashboard and keep an eye on it. It is part of a family of rural services, all Alien IT: Rural IoT for other sensors, Paddock Networks for whole-property wifi, Long Range WiFi for long links, and Starlink Rural for satellite internet.
Where this comes from
The primary sources behind the above, so you can check any of it yourself rather than take our word for it:
- LoRaWAN and low-power wide-area networks, the radio behind the mesh option above.
- Mesh networking, on how a reading hops from node to node instead of reaching a tower directly.
- ACMA: low interference potential devices class licence, the Australian spectrum rules for this class of radio.
- Telemetry, background on sending a remote reading back to where someone reads it.
Questions people ask
Can you monitor a water tank with no mobile signal?
Yes. Where there is no mobile signal, a tank can be monitored two ways: a satellite link that reports from anywhere in Australia a few times a day, or a low-power radio mesh that hops readings from the tank back to a gateway near the house, which then sends them on. The right choice depends on how remote the tank is and how often you need a reading.
Is satellite or radio better for a remote tank?
Radio mesh is usually cheaper and updates more often, and it works well when tanks are within line of sight of a gateway near power and internet. Satellite is the answer when a tank is so far out that even a radio hop cannot reach it, because it reports straight up with no infrastructure in between. Many properties use both: mesh for the home cluster, satellite for the far paddock.
How often does a satellite tank monitor update?
Satellite tank monitors typically report two or three times a day rather than continuously, to keep the battery lasting for years. That is enough to track a slow draw-down and to fire a low-level alert before a tank runs dry. If you need readings every few minutes, a radio mesh near the house is the better fit.
Do I need power or internet at the tank?
No. The sensors run for years on their own battery and need no mains power, and they do not need internet at the tank itself. With satellite the data goes straight up; with radio mesh the internet connection lives back at the gateway near the house, not out at the tank.
Who installs and supports it?
Tank Monitoring is the water-monitoring service of Alien IT Solutions, an Australian IT, networks and connectivity company with more than 18 years of experience. Alien IT works out whether satellite, radio mesh or a mix suits your property, then installs the sensors, the link and the dashboard, and monitors it.
Know your water, even with no signal. Tell us where your tanks, dams and bores sit. Alien IT will work out whether satellite, radio mesh or a mix suits the property, and price it honestly. Get a quote.