wifi from outside the rv to inside the rv...I need help??

You still might benefit by plugging your laptop directly into a lan port on the dsl modem. That will eliminate the router and/or rf signal issues.

And is it really Century Link you are using?

Okay, I followed the suggestions, and have tried the following:

First, to 1492.. thanks for that testmy.net link, that works really well! I also found (I think someone here told me about it, but I can't find it now??) an Android app, "Wifi Analyzer" on Google play that is absolutely fantastic!!!!! HIGHLY recommend it if you are having problems or questions about your service!! VERY handy app!!

Now: took the phone, with the "Wifi Analyzer" on, and wandered around inside the fiver and then outside the fiver and then into the Casita where the router is. Basically, the signal is off the chart inside the Casita, but inside the fiver the signal is a pretty poor.
BUT, I also took my laptop and went inside the Casita, had the Netgear wifi dongle to get "N" speeds and went online. Using the "testmy.net" (good link, but watch what you click on, the adverts can be confusing!!) and also "speedtest.net", I found out that the best I could get with the best signal is 1.3mbps DL and .4mbps UL.
Soooo, then I went back outside to the fiver, turned the TP-Link 450mbps wifi card back on, and connected to the router, ran both the testmy.net and speedtest.net tests and found that what I was getting out in the fiver was NO better than inside the Casita.
So, I guess it is what it is. We are tenants, here for the season and I guess we accept it as it is, now that we know it's the service not the equipment.
Many thanks to all for the suggestions and the links, I hope this might help someone else. I was almost ready to start throwing money at repeater/booster equipment until I found out it would serve no purpose.
Still, those two links and that app for the phone are great!! I'll be using those again, likely very frequently as we travel.
Oh yeah, one other thing, kind of irrelevant but may be interesting to someone?? After all the testing, I disconnected from the Casita router and turned my phone hotspot on and connected and re-ran the tests with testmy.net and speedtest.net. W O W !! 10.x download and upload!! Verizon, 4G LTE for those who care, fast, but expensive if you're going to be doing a lot of surfing, just sayin'!

Art Davis wrote:

HappyKayakers wrote:
I agree with the other posters - the DSL is your problem. There's no comparison between DSL and cable internet - the cable wins by a couple orders of magnitude.

Your statement here interests me as I have seen the converse claimed. Do you have a reference you can cite? Please understand that I am not being critical here, just interested and curious.

http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/brians-brain/4422519/DSL-versus-cable--The-continuation--and-conclusion--of-a-personal-tale You can do your own internet searches for dsl vs cable speeds. Sometimes you'll actually find a story about dsl being better than cable in a particular location but most of the time cable wins.

HappyKayakers wrote:
I agree with the other posters - the DSL is your problem. There's no comparison between DSL and cable internet - the cable wins by a couple orders of magnitude.

Your statement here interests me as I have seen the converse claimed. Do you have a reference you can cite? Please understand that I am not being critical here, just interested and curious.

Sounds as though you might be in the Fortuna Foothills area. I will arrive there in early January and will be faced with a similar problem, as we have just purchased a park model on a similar lot.

Are you with Century Link, by any chance, for your DSL? You said the router is one provided by Century Link, so I assume so. My experience with that company has been pretty bad, but you should legitimately be able to call them and ask for help. Though probably all they will do is tell you to reboot the modem and router.

One suggestion: plug your computer directly into a LAN port on your DSL modem or router. This will determine whether it is the service being provided to you or your router that is the problem.

As I understand things, DSL speed depends upon how far you are from the nearest telephone switcher.

Good luck.

IF the Wi-Fi card uses an screw on antenna (Many do) you can simply get an external antenna and the needed coax and run it out any handy opening you can pass a cable through.

If not. Amazon dot com is what I use, this is old outdated technology (G speeds max) but it acts like a MODEM but for Wi-Fi not cable.

It feeds (normally) a router inside the RV which in turn feeds my printer, computers cell phone tablet dvr's and such.

Alas I do have cases where it will not connect.

But when it works (most of the time) it works great.

As others have stated. DSL speed is totally dependent on the cost of the service. Some start as low as 19.95 for basic and go up from there. So that is one thing to check out.
The other is the distance from the router. Is it G or N? G has a short distance issue and 40 feet could be giving you a very weak signal independent of the speed. But your wifi may be G only also. Unless you upgraded your wifi in the 2009 computer, I will bet it is G.
RVs can have very different issues with wifi. I know that at one time our 5er was strange in that we could make phone calls from one end on the bed only. No other place. With 2 RVs at play, that could be a third issue.
Last, as someone posted, YouTube is notorious for having download problems just by itself. A search on the net will give you many suggestions on ways to solve this. Some might even work.

It may be helpful if you do a speed test of your DSL for us at testmy.net, and post the results?

Start by powering off the dsl, and the router. power up the dsl first, and give it a minute them power up the router. Recheck speeds on the computer.

Do your phones have wifi (they should if you are using them as a hotspot)?
If they do go to a speedtest website, and test the speed in the same room as the router, outside near the wall, outside your RV on the side that has the router, inside the door of the rv, and next to the computer's wifi antenna (have the computer off for the tests). The speeds should be fastest at the router, and drop as you move away. If they drastically drop as you go inside the rv then a repeater with an inside and outside antenna will help, if they are about the same inside or out you may need to replace the router.
If either the router or computer (or both) have external antennas that are removable, you can replace one or both with high gain antennas - again if the speed is about the same no matter where you are in the room with the router or outside the router may be bad. Another option is (not cheap) buy 100' of cat5 cable, and plug the DSL modem directly into the computer - if the speeds are ok then it is not the dsl, it is something else.

I agree there are DSL & cable plans where you pay for what you get.
Don't like it?
Sign up for the next level of service ours has 3 levels slow, OK & fast.

I have the OK service I don't do any streaming and it works OK @ 5 to 8 MBS.