The GMP is signed. Trailers are set. Monday is groundbreak, and somewhere between the site logistics plan and the trade sequencing schedule, someone puts a line item in front of you: mobile connectivity, monthly. Not a capital purchase. Not a change order. A subscription you're either signing this week or explaining why you didn't.
That line item covers three very different things depending on which tier you pick, and the tier matters more than most GCs realize going in. NETWORK gets you coverage. +DEVICES gets you coverage plus comms. FULL COMMAND gets you coverage, comms, and a person watching the site. Pick the wrong one and you're either stuck on personal phones for six months or paying for an operator you didn't need.
We already covered the connectivity problem—carrier wait times, IoT with no backhaul, why permanent infrastructure doesn't fit a project with an end date. This post skips that. It's about the decision in front of you this week: which package, for this job, starting this month.
Why It Breaks Down
Most jobsites don't fail on cost. They fail on layer mismatch. A super buys a hotspot kit thinking it solves connectivity, then finds out foremen still don't have a shared channel and subs are texting punch-list photos into a group chat. Someone else buys standalone cameras for the gate, then discovers there's no network to carry the footage off site—and now there are two vendors who don't talk to each other.
- Too much capex, too little job: permanent network infrastructure sized for a project with a demob date.
- Coverage without comms: the network goes up, but crews are still on personal phones and uncoordinated radios.
- Cameras with no backbone: perimeter cameras installed before there's a network to actually carry the footage.
The fix isn't a longer vendor list. It's picking the right layer up front, and knowing you can add the next one without starting over.
What Actually Works
Clover IQ runs one Mobile Connectivity Unit—the same van, the same rack, the same crew—and sells three packages off it. Each one is a strict superset of the one below it. You're not choosing between three different products. You're choosing how much of the platform gets turned on for your job.
NETWORK
- Private 5G or Wi-Fi across the full site
- Starlink backhaul with automatic failover
- Monthly subscription—no long-term lock-in
Also included: outdoor Wi-Fi 6E for trailers and high-density zones, and core coverage for foreman tablets, CMMS, BIM, and document management. NETWORK is remote-operated—no full-time person in the van. It's for a GC or owner who already has radios, tablets, and PTT sorted and just needs site-wide data and backhaul until the carrier finally shows up.
+DEVICES
+DEVICES is the construction devices-and-comms package: everything in NETWORK, plus on-prem PTT for all crews and subs, and leased rugged tablets for foremen and supervisors.
- Everything in NETWORK
- On-prem PTT across all crews and subcontractors
- Leased rugged tablets for foremen and supervisors
It also adds an IoT VLAN for sensors and telematics, and devices come pre-provisioned to the network and the right talkgroups. Still remote-operated, with on-call escalation for PTT and device issues. This is the tier for a multi-trade site currently running on personal phones, mismatched radios, and the daily question of whose tablet that is.
FULL COMMAND
- Everything in +DEVICES
- AI video monitoring—perimeter cameras and PTZ detection
- Three-station mobile control room with an on-site operator
FULL COMMAND adds on-prem NVR (footage stays on the project, not a vendor's cloud), LPR at the gate, a drone C2 VLAN if the job needs it, and edge analytics. This is the tier for jobs where visibility matters—theft, perimeter, after-hours activity, progress—and where a named operator running the van is worth more than remote monitoring. Large multi-phase builds often start here instead of working up to it.
You can start on NETWORK and move up as the job scales. None of these are one-way doors.
A Short Decision Framework
This is the fifteen-minute version. Walk it in Monday's meeting.
- Do you already have working crew comms and devices? If yes, and you only need coverage and backhaul, start on NETWORK. If crews are on personal phones or uncoordinated radios, go to +DEVICES.
- Does the site need to be watched after hours, at the gate, around the perimeter? If cameras, AI detection, and a place to actually run the job matter at groundbreak, that's FULL COMMAND.
- Who owns the outcome at 2 a.m.? NETWORK and +DEVICES are remotely operated with weekly on-site visits. FULL COMMAND puts an operator in the van during active shifts.
- Will the footprint move? All three packages reposition with the job in about an hour. Don't buy a higher tier for mobility—buy it for capability.
- Can you start smaller and grow into it? Yes. Start on NETWORK in week two, add +DEVICES when trades stack, move to FULL COMMAND when material exposure and after-hours risk peak.
- Coverage only, devices already handled: NETWORK
- Coverage plus comms, no cameras needed yet: +DEVICES
- Coverage, comms, and eyes on the site: FULL COMMAND
The Unit on Your Site
All three packages come off the same van on the construction page—not three different trucks with three different install crews. Week one is a paid site survey: an RF plan and a fixed-price proposal, with the survey fee credited toward the deployment. Week two, the network is live. Positioning to network live is inside an hour; on Full Command-scope jobs, full site handoff—cameras, PTT, IoT—is inside eight hours.
Commercially, it's a three-month minimum, then 30-day notice to demob—no early-termination penalty once you're past the minimum. If the job runs long, it extends month to month. The setup fee waives at six months or more, with an additional discount at twelve. Weekly on-site maintenance visits and 24/7 remote monitoring are in the base subscription across every tier, with a 30-minute response window during active engagements. The full-time on-site operator is what FULL COMMAND adds; on NETWORK or +DEVICES, it's a separate line if you want a person in the van instead of remote monitoring.
Site layout changes—laydown moves, a new gate, a phase shift—are a reposition, not a change order: about an hour, not a re-permit.
What It's Worth
The comparison that matters isn't line item versus line item. It's monthly operating expense versus infrastructure that outlasts the job. Whatever tier you're on, the equipment leaves with the van at demob—nothing depreciating in a yard after the project closes out. If the tablets or rugged endpoints need to extend beyond the network package itself, device rental covers that separately. If footage review and search across cameras becomes its own workstream on a Full Command job, that's what video analytics is built for.
Questions from the Field
What's the actual difference between NETWORK and +DEVICES?
NETWORK is coverage and backhaul only—private 5G or Wi-Fi plus Starlink failover, with no PTT or leased devices included. +DEVICES includes everything in NETWORK and adds on-prem push-to-talk for every crew and subcontractor, plus leased rugged tablets for foremen and supervisors. If your crews already have working comms and devices, NETWORK is enough. If they don't, +DEVICES solves that on top of the same network.
Can we start on NETWORK and upgrade to +DEVICES or FULL COMMAND mid-job?
Yes. All three packages run on the same van and the same subscription, so moving up a tier as trades stack or site risk changes doesn't mean a new install or a new vendor. Most jobs that end up on FULL COMMAND didn't start there.
Do we need FULL COMMAND to get cameras on site?
Yes, cameras and AI video monitoring are part of FULL COMMAND, not NETWORK or +DEVICES. That's because cameras need a network to carry the footage and, in Clover IQ's model, a control room to run the monitoring—both of which are what FULL COMMAND adds on top of the lower tiers.
Does NETWORK include an on-site operator?
No. NETWORK and +DEVICES are remotely operated, with weekly on-site maintenance visits and 24/7 remote monitoring included in the subscription. A full-time on-site operator is included with FULL COMMAND, and can be added to the lower tiers as a separate line if a job wants a person in the van without the camera and control-room package.
What does the discovery call actually decide?
The call covers project type, location, groundbreak date, and what you already have for comms, devices, and cameras—then lands on which package makes sense as a starting point. If there's a fit, the next step is the paid site survey in week one and a live network in week two.
Straight Talk
FULL COMMAND is overkill for a short job with a small crew and no real perimeter or after-hours exposure—you'd be paying for an operator watching a site that doesn't need watching. NETWORK is under-buying if your crews are already fumbling comms; you'll end up running a hotspot kit and this network side by side instead of just paying for +DEVICES once.
And some jobs shouldn't buy any of this. An urban site with solid carrier signal, a small crew, and a duration under three months usually doesn't clear the economics—we'll say so on the call rather than sell you a package you don't need.
Tell us the project type, the groundbreak date, and what you already have for comms and cameras. We'll tell you which package we'd start you on—and if the economics don't work, we'll say that too. Book a 30-minute discovery call.
