Wifi boost

[Picinisco]

This may already have been covered but I am planning on adding an omni antenna and a wifi signal booster to my travel trailer so that I can pick up flakey campground WiFi and boost it inside the trailer to use on cell phones and tablets. My question is, do I need a laptop to process every new location each time I move.

[Heisenberg]

This is not the brand I use. See Here But for inexpensive boost for campground Wi-Fi these external USB antennas are far superior to the internal antenna of a laptop. Sometimes campground Wi-Fi is not as bad as it seems. You are dropping packets because of the antenna behind your LCD. One of these will allow you to find optimum signal (good or bad) by placing the antenna where it can pick up the signal which is rarely where you are sitting or rotation of antenna. If I find good Wi-Fi in a campground it allows me to save data use on my hotspots. Just a suggestion...............

[Bill_Satellite]

I used to travel extensively out West and have not found the lack of cellular connections to be at issue at all. I have Verizon which makes a big difference out West. I also tend to travel on the Interstates and stay near cities (of all sizes). Unless we are really out there (like an over night in a rest area in UT) we will have service.

[JohnPF]

ThomBoles wrote:
Having traveled for the past 5 months I have found one thing to be consistent among parks 95% of the time. That one thing is that the WiFi is so bad it's not worth connecting to. Very slow if you can get it at all. We spent the $ on a good cellular plan and the boosting ability to get a cellular signal from further away from the tower. (WeBoost Drive 4G-X)

You obviously don't live or travel in the west where cell coverage can be spotty or non-existent for much of a trip. For me, if I can occasionally connect to a wifi signal to download email I doing pretty good. Boosting a slow wifi signal out here is the difference between having no connection or some connection. I wouldn't trade it though.

[Picinisco]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Sorry, it was David Bott and it was posted on the Tiffin RV Fourm. I will try to find the link. David is a highly respected techo nut and I trust his opinions. He has a website also called Outside Our Bubble https://outsideourbubble.com/ if you would like to see some of the stuff he has put together for RVers pertaining to communications and many other things.
Winegard sent him a unit to test and his short description included this descriptor "BAAAAADDDDDD!"

Perfect. Thank you.

[Bill_Satellite]

Picinisco wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Not sure I understand your comment. I have not tested the unit but the review I read was not good. What's strange about that?

"A guy I know"? Surely a link to the original review would be more productive?

Welcome new member!
Glad I could help.
http://www.tiffinrvnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=775061#p775061

[Bill_Satellite]

Sorry, it was David Bott and it was posted on the Tiffin RV Fourm. I will try to find the link. David is a highly respected techo nut and I trust his opinions. He has a website also called Outside Our Bubble https://outsideourbubble.com/ if you would like to see some of the stuff he has put together for RVers pertaining to communications and many other things.
Winegard sent him a unit to test and his short description included this descriptor "BAAAAADDDDDD!"

[Picinisco]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Not sure I understand your comment. I have not tested the unit but the review I read was not good. What's strange about that?

"A guy I know"? Surely a link to the original review would be more productive?

[Solo]

wa8yxm wrote:
Generally.. YES.. Or you can use the browser on your phone or tablet.

Oh, and I strongly suggest a DIRECTIONAL antenna (more range in the on-axis direction)

How I do it when I am at a campground NOTE this is for WI-FI.> NOT CELLULAR DATA

The Ubiquiti Network products like the NanoStation that WA8YXM is decscribing are a great way to utilize park WIFI. I used the Bullet instead on a 8dbi omni antenna attached to my crank-up TV antenna. No doubt a directional set-up would outperform the omni antenna but still works well enough to do as intended and is very simple to deploy. Unfortunately, the Ubiquiti solutions are not terribly user friendly to those who are not familiar with basic networking.

For a quick connection with slightly limited performance, I have available in my arsenal a AmpedWirelss Range Entender attached to an exterior omni antenna. The set-up wizard on this product is very simple to use and no other equipment is needed if preferred. Again, not as performance oriented as the Ubiquiti products but, WAY easier set-up for many users without the desire to set-up their own network. In most parks we have been in, this is all that we need. WIFI is line-of-sight and getting that signal up and away from obstructions is huge. I am nearly 18' up to the tip of my omni antenna. For a quick lunch break or fuel stop and break, very easy and quick to deploy and enjoy WIFI at times.

And to answer the OP's question, all I use is the browser on my phone to make the connection.

[Bill_Satellite]

Not sure I understand your comment. I have not tested the unit but the review I read was not good. What's strange about that?

[Picinisco]

Bill.Satellite wrote:

Winegard also has a new product called Winegard Connect (Wi-Fi and 4G LTE extender): Check it out here......

The review I read from a guy who really knows his stuff says that this is NOT a good product.

That's a strange criticism.

[Bill_Satellite]

Winegard also has a new product called Winegard Connect (Wi-Fi and 4G LTE extender): Check it out here......

The review I read from a guy who really knows his stuff says that this is NOT a good product.

[Road-Trekker]

No doubt directional antenna will have better range than Omni antenna but you have to repoint and retune the antenna every time you connect to a different AP. I have Omni antenna on my Roadtrek running on 12 volts DC. Setup is more involved, but once setup, it easy to connect to a hotspot. To connect, I login to the Wi-Fi booster using my cellphone browser (added to my favorites- for one click login), then scan the area for an open Wi-Fi, and then connect.

Wi-Fi booster is not a perfect solution but rather a backup or last resort attempt to connect online (at least for me), if you have a good Cell network like Verizon, you will have better nationwide coverage and probably not need a booster…but, there are areas with no or funky cell service and the campground Wi-Fi is the only means of connection outside, the booster could be a life saver. You can also use it to connect to free public Wi-Fi’s; just don’t expect that you’ll be able to video stream from these connections.

Here is the link to my Wi-Fi booster and how to set it up. Ubiquiti Bullet and airGateway combo

Winegard also has a new product called Winegard Connect (Wi-Fi and 4G LTE extender): Check it out here.

[vermilye]

A good YouTube tutorial on setting up a Nanostation for an RV is at Outside Our Bubble.

If you want to run the system on 12V rather than 120, a Tycon Power Supply can replace the one that comes with the Air Gateway section of the system.

[Bill_Satellite]

While a stronger signal "may not" get you a experience, it often will help so an inexpensive highly effective WiFi booster is quite worthwhile if you plan to use campground WiFi on a regular basis.