Motorhome WiFi environment recommendation(s)
Just discovered this informative forum. Is it possible to setup a WiFi environment in our motorhome to enable usage for printing and internet connectivity for us as Fill Time RVing? Thank you in...
Forum Discussion
I believe the OP principally asked about setting up a wifi environment INSIDE his MH. There's been lots of good information provided in response to his question, but much of it dealt with things well outside his original question.
A very simple answer to the OP is that "yes" it is relatively easy to set up a wifi network environment inside your MH for purposes of printing or other routine network activities. Any standard Linksys, Netgear, or similar router can do that.
As for providing internet connectivity, you obviously have to link that router and its network with an internet source. Your options for that are primarily either cellular or RV park wifi. If you go the cellular route you can use a smartphone as a wifi hotspot or a standalone hotspot such as a Verizon jetpack. If you take either of these approaches you can, if may wish to dispense with a router since both hotspots will act as a router for the devices connected to their wifi networks. You can print just fine if the printer and your computer are both connected to your phone's hotspot.
However, if you wish to connect to a park's wifi you will find that the standard home routers I mentioned above won't work because they have no way to connect to a wifi and then re-distribute it to devices on their network. To do that you need a router with what is known as "WiFi as WAN" capability. That's what wa8yxm was describing when he was explaining what his Wireless Game Adapter can do. There are several manufacturers of such routers and a number of them were mentioned in the posts above.
Because I work for one of those companies I don't want to make any statements that could be construed as commercial. If you have specific questions you are free to PM me.
Joel
A very simple answer to the OP is that "yes" it is relatively easy to set up a wifi network environment inside your MH for purposes of printing or other routine network activities. Any standard Linksys, Netgear, or similar router can do that.
As for providing internet connectivity, you obviously have to link that router and its network with an internet source. Your options for that are primarily either cellular or RV park wifi. If you go the cellular route you can use a smartphone as a wifi hotspot or a standalone hotspot such as a Verizon jetpack. If you take either of these approaches you can, if may wish to dispense with a router since both hotspots will act as a router for the devices connected to their wifi networks. You can print just fine if the printer and your computer are both connected to your phone's hotspot.
However, if you wish to connect to a park's wifi you will find that the standard home routers I mentioned above won't work because they have no way to connect to a wifi and then re-distribute it to devices on their network. To do that you need a router with what is known as "WiFi as WAN" capability. That's what wa8yxm was describing when he was explaining what his Wireless Game Adapter can do. There are several manufacturers of such routers and a number of them were mentioned in the posts above.
Because I work for one of those companies I don't want to make any statements that could be construed as commercial. If you have specific questions you are free to PM me.
Joel
