Wi fi Antenna to pull in signal in camp grounds

In those rare RV parks with decent WiFi, we use the "WiFi as WAN" feature of our Pepwave Surf On-The-Go repeater/router with a cell hotspot tethered to it as a failover connection. Most of the time, we just use the hotspot connected to it it.

ChooChooMan74 wrote:
Good luck!! WiFi at parks sucks. Too many people using what little bandwidth they have. I do have a setup on my trailer, but it is pretty complicated for most people. I have a WiFi transceiver on the roof, that passes the data down to a mini router in the camper, that is just powerful enough to use around the camper.

I agree that WiFi at "most" parks suck. I have never found a good one until this week. I had to evacuate Panama City, FL 3 days ago due to the Tropical Storm and moved to Live Oak Landing just south of Freeport, FL. Their WiFi was fantastic anytime of the day and at any site in the park. Not only that this was one of the friendliest parks I have ever stayed in. I recommend it highly.

Gone fishing wrote:
Can anyone recommend and wi-fi antenna that will pull in the signal in a camp ground. I have tried and Alfa marine antenna and that did not work at all.

Thanks, Bob

I use the Alfa model with the USB repeater (see here: http://www.technorv.com/RV_WiFi_Boosters_s/85.htm) and it works fine. But the comments above are right. If the problem is that you're on the far side of a campground, a WiFi booster (or a yagi antenna) will solve the problem. But more often the problem is a combination of minimal bandwidth and/or stupid, selfish campers hogging the bandwidth. The latter is, I think, the real culprit. We talked to a campground owner recently who said they kept upgrading the system and had purchased the highest bandwidth available in that area, but every time they upgraded their system, the utilization increased just as quickly. At check-in, they provide a list of bandwidth-hogging activities (including some I hadn't thought of, like automatic OS updates), and ask people not to engage in those, but mostly to no avail. They had concluded that the only way to provide decent internet capacity to folks to use e-mail and ordinary web access was to install technology to detect uses like video streaming and selectively throttle those users' connections. Personally, I'd prefer throttling the users rather than just their connections, thereby not only freeing up bandwidth but solving the campsite availability problem at the same time.

Anyway, rant off. The Alfa system works fine and the technorv people are very helpful.

Skip

BearExtender makes nice models

My Alfa works great, maybe you have a bad unit.

sch911 wrote:
Even if you got a perfect signal from the AP it still doesn't mean you'll be happy. Most park systems are over utilized and have huge backhaul issues. And there are many of us who abuse the bandwidth by trying to stream video to multiple tv's and computers. Get a Verizon MiFi device and be happy!

yes that's exactly what I was trying to say you can have all the signal in the world but if the bandwidth or whatever is poor or overloaded your not going to get good wifi

Even if you got a perfect signal from the AP it still doesn't mean you'll be happy. Most park systems are over utilized and have huge backhaul issues. And there are many of us who abuse the bandwidth by trying to stream video to multiple tv's and computers. Get a Verizon MiFi device and be happy!

usersmanual wrote:

wolfe10 wrote:
I have used this very successfully for the last decade on the sailboat and in the motorhome to boost weak WiFi signals:

http://wavewifi.com/products/rogue-wave/

I don't think you can boost a wifi signal? would it not have to be the actual source that sets the signal strength?
I know little about such but understood theses device just are able to pick up a signal from a greater distance than your situated in

????

These Antenna and devices all receive a weak signal and boost it and in the example I ( and you ) pointed out send that to a router to "convert" it to a internal Pvt wifi in the rig . A somewhat secure way to use park wifi. they also ampliify the outgoing signal and direct it to the park ( or Starbucks or? ) system. Because you not only need to receive that weak signal you need to be able to reach it with your devices. I'm no expert but that's my understanding. Hopefully to OP has some things to check out

I've had good luck with a USB WiFi adapter and a yagi antenna hooked to it instead of the little stup antenna. Less than $50 on Ebay from China. Requires one for each computer.

I used to buy these for ...........$36. No need to mount outside.

jorbill2or wrote:
I've used this This and it's worked great for me watch the video and it will explain better than I can

thanks that's been posted yesterday looks like a cheap effective method