WiFi Ranger

bluwtr49 wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:

If this Cradlepoint device will do that it sounds like a perfect solution. The idea being to set it someplace, and than use whichever wifi signal (park or phone) works best....am I interpreting this capability correctly??

Yes, that's the way it would work. You can select which service you want to use and if the main one fails the secondary one would kick in. Personally, I believe the cellular to router connection is best handled with a wired connection (tether) but the possible reduction in speed when going from your hotstop to the router to your computer is likely fairly minimal.
I currently use (and recommend) the Cradlepoint MBR95. I also use a stand alone USB air card plugged into that router so I can use my phone as a phone even while I am on the internet. That's a personal choice and it adds $20/month to my bill but I like it.

Thanks for the info, this sounds like what I'm looking for and I think I'll order one Monday.

One more question. Once it's set up and you move the coach to a new park, will the unit automatically pick up the strongest wifi signal or is some intervention necessary.

The reason I'm interested is that I have a nice location in a cabinet behind the TV where it can just sit there and do it's thing but if I have to physically access it change configurations it would be a small nuisance.

I might look into a dedicated Verizon 4g thing but I don't know if I would lose my unlimited data service in so doing and my Droid Razzr is quite good at supplying all our needs.

Thanks again for you help.

There is some user intervention required at each new location but it is handled by a browser interface so no access to the router is required. It takes just a couple of minutes to setup for the new campground and you are good to go.

I use Roague Wave WiFi extender. It is made for large boats works great on rvs.Range is about 5 miles line of sight.It makes your system secure. Look it up on the net.

dshinnick wrote:
I discovered the WifiRanger team at an RV rally in Wyoming. I've been a network instructor for 20 years, and was really impressed with their wireless router. It had some creative and desirable features. I got to spend some time with the owner of the company, we became friendly, and he ended up giving me one.

Took it home, fired it up...and wasn't impressed. Kept rebooting, as I remember, and just didn't work as advertised. I was looking forward to making it my primary router, but it's sitting in a box. The web site seems very spartan, almost ignored. I keep feeling like the business will just disappear before too long. I would just exercise caution and not put too much money into it. I have a Cradlepoint, and it's super. Reliable, lots of features, receives regular updates.

Yea, we remember you. I thought I remember telling you to upgrade to latest firmware, as the one we gave you was a demo and running older firmware, but maybe that got lost in the discussion. If you are pre-665, then definitely upgrade it. The Go/Go2 has 1000mw radios, where as the MBR95 as about a 200mw radio, so WiFi For WAN will be vastly improved with a WFR Go versus a MBR95. Jack Mayer did a side by side of distance a few years ago, and even with the older gear, the MBR 95 got came in last place with marginal, if at all WiFi for WAN performance. Additionally, a WFR can add an external CPE device or secondary router outside for longer range reception if desired.

Bill.Satellite wrote:

If this Cradlepoint device will do that it sounds like a perfect solution. The idea being to set it someplace, and than use whichever wifi signal (park or phone) works best....am I interpreting this capability correctly??

Yes, that's the way it would work. You can select which service you want to use and if the main one fails the secondary one would kick in. Personally, I believe the cellular to router connection is best handled with a wired connection (tether) but the possible reduction in speed when going from your hotstop to the router to your computer is likely fairly minimal.
I currently use (and recommend) the Cradlepoint MBR95. I also use a stand alone USB air card plugged into that router so I can use my phone as a phone even while I am on the internet. That's a personal choice and it adds $20/month to my bill but I like it.

Thanks for the info, this sounds like what I'm looking for and I think I'll order one Monday.

One more question. Once it's set up and you move the coach to a new park, will the unit automatically pick up the strongest wifi signal or is some intervention necessary.

The reason I'm interested is that I have a nice location in a cabinet behind the TV where it can just sit there and do it's thing but if I have to physically access it change configurations it would be a small nuisance.

I might look into a dedicated Verizon 4g thing but I don't know if I would lose my unlimited data service in so doing and my Droid Razzr is quite good at supplying all our needs.

Thanks again for you help.

If this Cradlepoint device will do that it sounds like a perfect solution. The idea being to set it someplace, and than use whichever wifi signal (park or phone) works best....am I interpreting this capability correctly??

Yes, that's the way it would work. You can select which service you want to use and if the main one fails the secondary one would kick in. Personally, I believe the cellular to router connection is best handled with a wired connection (tether) but the possible reduction in speed when going from your hotstop to the router to your computer is likely fairly minimal.
I currently use (and recommend) the Cradlepoint MBR95. I also use a stand alone USB air card plugged into that router so I can use my phone as a phone even while I am on the internet. That's a personal choice and it adds $20/month to my bill but I like it.

We use a range extender from Hawking. Here in our "home park" we get maybe one bar signal direct, the hawking gets 3 bars.

Problem is the parks wifi is horrible. Strong horrible is no better than weak horrible.

So I put my phone in hotspot mode, and connect the hawking to it. I have a Wilson cellular amp (it's 3G, I need an upgrade here) which is helpful pulling in a useable cel signal in marginal areas.

Now all I gotta do is convince the teenager not to spend his weekends camping streaming you tube videos on his iPhone, that really eats up our Verizon dataplan.

dshinnick wrote:
I have a directional antenna, called a "patch" antenna, mounted onto the stalk on the coach roof where the batwing antenna would normally mount. Being mounted there allows me to control the direction of the antenna from inside the coach.

You could then connect to that antenna, via the proper cable, a router which has a connection for an external antenna. When I get to the park I raise the antenna via the inside crank, point it toward the office, or the park antenna if I can see it, then power up the router and log into the park's system. The router, acting as its own wifi hotspot, then transmits a signal throughout the coach. The beauty of this is that only ONE device, the router, is logging into the park's system. All of your personal devices (PC's, tablets, printers, laptops, internet radio, etc, etc) log into the ROUTER, not the park's wifi. The router uses a system called NAT to redirect traffic to and from the park. The park's wifi only "sees" one client: the router. This is really handy if the park gives you one code, to use on one device.

Want to get it better?

Get a router which has "Wifi as WAN" capabilities. What's that, you say?

Imagine you're in a park with no...or bad....or really expensive....WIFI and you want to use your MiFi, or your phone. These act as small wifi hotspots, right? Well, you can tell your router to not use its wired connection, leading to the antenna, but instead to wirelessly connect to YOUR hotspot (say, your phone), for internet access. And then, again, to use its NAT capabilities to allow all your other devices to connect.

So, whether you use the park's wifi, via the cable and your patch antenna, or you use your own hotspot, you only have one active connection from your router to the hotspot, but all your other devices can connect simultaneously to the router for internet access.

Been on the road for 3 years. Works great. I use the Cradlepoint MBR95. This has wifi-as-wan capabilities, but does NOT have a connection for an external antenna. I have a slightly different setup, which I won't go into, but it's functionally the same as I've described. So, if you're interested, find a router with an external antenna connector, and wifi-as-wan. Be careful to get a router-cable-antenna combination which is compatible.

OK, so this post makes sense....I think. Since I don't know what Mifim NAT or LAN is that might still be a question. What I do know is that I don't want to plug any thing into the computer or phone for normal operation. So far I have never been in a location where neither my phone nor park wireless has not been available and all I want to do is to extend the range of the phone hotspot and/or perhaps improve the park WiFi signal. Also do no want to mount anything external to the coach.

In the past, I turn on the phone hotspot and leave it on the counter plugged into power. The WiFi signal is adequate to service all out WiFi devices unless we are outside than the signal is a bit weak. In some parks the supplied service is very good but, depending on our location, how many large RVs are between us and the antenna, etc the signal could stand a little boost.

If this Cradlepoint device will do that it sounds like a perfect solution. The idea being to set it someplace, and than use whichever wifi signal (park or phone) works best....am I interpreting this capability correctly??

Thanks for the input.

J-Rooster wrote:
Verizon WiFi Jetpack is what we use in the S.W. Tri State area!

Your Verizon device is for the use of cellular data only. The OP is talking about access to WiFi and not cellular. Devices like the WiFi Ranger and Cradlepoint routers allow you access to either cellular or WiFi or both.

In the park where I'm parked,, The manager improved park Wi-Fi by connecting an outside antenna to his router.. But when the router started acting flakey (I figured out the cause this week by the way, Yes, that's my skill set, Dang thing does not like the heat, Put a fan on it and it behaved much nicer) the current replacement modem/routers do NOT have the ability to connect an outside antenna.

Well, the router has gotten worse and worse (to the point where I finally decided to see what could be done without the aid of a screwdriver and .. See last comment) So he went ahead and ordered a new one.

Parked next to it (I told him it did not have to be in the same room) is a Wi-Fi Extender, this unit has two antennas, one that picks up the modem/router, and one that hooks to the antenna Up On The Roof.

MY magic box (linksys WGA-54G) sees both the DSL-Modem/Router and the "Extender"

Limiters on the Modem/router run around 20-50,, On the Extender with the outdoor gain antenna up on the roof, 40-70.. Much stronger.

That said I'm connected direct to the modem/router just now (Cause that is how I had it configured) and oh, yes, bandwidth .. More than tripple the old heat senistive unit per speed-test on my phone. I am very happy camper.

I use this one on the road.. I can park near a McDonalds or other places that offer free Wi-Fi and get a good signal with no problem... http://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Wireless-Network-Adapter-Antennas/dp/B006JWMOOI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400895921&sr=8-1&keywords=wi-fi+antenna+booster