Wifi a long way away from RV site.

[whizbang]

A lot of campgrounds and RV parks have "wifi at the office" but not in the park. Is there a long range receiver, booster, or antenna that allows one to get the signal from a campsite?

15 years ago, I bought a range extender that actually did this. It worked great until 5G came out and security protocols changed. I just did several online searches for wifi extenders, boosters, and antennas, and, all I can find are products that allow one to TRANSMIT wifi further. I want to RECEIVE wifi from further away from the source.

Can you recommend anything???

[liamricci]

Wifi adapters is often waste of money from my experience. We always carried them around and it never worked properly. In one of the campsite i had to finish a big project but without a good internet connection it wasn't even possible. AT the end i found paper writing company https://domypaper.com/, who did the job for me. At the end i was actually happy that i can enjoy my vacation and not to spend time in front of my computer.

[JimBollman]

I made one years ago with one of those add on WiFi thumb drive WiFi adapters and an old collapsable colander for a reflector.




Jim...

[joebedford]

I realize that it's 5Ghz in Wi-Fi, but anybody who truncates that to 5G is just asking for misinterpretation.

[APT]

joebedford wrote:
5G and wifi are not related in any way.

Well, there are some terms between celular and wifi that are similar and perhaps adding confusion. 802.11 does define both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies. So there technically is a 5G wifi protocol which is 802.11AC. 5G in cellar means fifth generation while Wifi means gigaherz. As you said, the are not related in any way.

So a wifi extender from 10 years ago or tomorrow for 2.4g or 5g should still work today.

[joebedford]

Pringles can antenna? It's a real thing.

5G and wifi are not related in any way.

[AllegroD]

DancinCampers wrote:
I have the system in this thread

David Bott Tutorial

I haven't used it for the past several years because we have had good coverage on our Visible and Verizon phones. But it did work well when I used it. I mounted it on a PVC pole I bungeed to the ladder on the back of the coach. I could point it toward the access point, the ethernet cable ran inside to the wifi and power supply. Mine was only for 2ghz, but I think the new models are also 5ghz.

David Bott's website which has updates.
https://www.outsideourbubble.com/secure-private-rv-wi-fi-and-making-a-better-park-connection-for-under-100/

[RICK-ards_Red]

I use a CampPro Wifi extender from Amazon and clamp it to the edge of the slide and the cable from the antenna runs thru the rubber of the slide to the router inside. It picks up free Wifi signals in the area you can tap into. You set up a password for your router. It has been working well so far.

[wa8yxm]

Is there a long range Wi-Fi Adapter

Why yes. there is
Ubiquiti has Many long range Devices.. I had a Nano Station loco M2. But the larger one is even better than they have some DISH units.. LIke a sat dish but for Wi-Fi

Also there is a video pod cast Amateurlogic.tv Episode 3 they built a directional Wi-Fi client based on a Linksys WGA ( made it it works.. Sometimes, more on that later) And later they married it to a genuine Sat Dish for even greater range.

The problem with "Sometimes" is my WGA-54G is a very old device and the modern Security protocols it does not understand.. But work it does. Bigly.

The nano station outperformed it however.

Here is the web site https://ui.com/wi-fi

Google will find you dealers.

[CA_Traveler]

And CG WiFi often has limited or no password protection so anyone can see your information.

[valhalla360]

As cell phone data and tethering has gotten cheaper, I suspect the demand for these devices has dropped off.

That said, we've noticed over the last few years that campground wifi has gotten much better (or maybe so few are using it that there's enough bandwidth to get better performance).

That said, we switched to starlink and now we don't have to bother with wifi. We can check that there is a clear view of the sky (and even some marginal sites it's worked pretty well) and we have high speed internet.

[DancinCampers]

I have the system in this thread

David Bott Tutorial

I haven't used it for the past several years because we have had good coverage on our Visible and Verizon phones. But it did work well when I used it. I mounted it on a PVC pole I bungeed to the ladder on the back of the coach. I could point it toward the access point, the ethernet cable ran inside to the wifi and power supply. Mine was only for 2ghz, but I think the new models are also 5ghz.

[Matt_Colie]

In the time before tethering from a phone worked well, I used the Alfa network adapters. Usually purchased from Ebay suppliers. Not only do these run a transmit power that is multiple of what ever, but the receiver sides are equally as good and I have some high gain antennas that can be aimed at the source.
I still use them sometimes if I get in a position that I don't want to burn phone data.
Matt_C

[LouLawrence]

5g cellular and WiFi are not related in any way. There are antennas that will help boost the incoming signal and amplify the out going but it still won't help if the campground service is overloaded as usual.

[APT]

I recommend planning for your own internet and not rely of any public or park. Cell phone, cellular hot spot, or even satellite are the typical solutions.