ATT MIFI

Rodman is in the middle of nowhere, but is a decent campground. It's Florida, so there will be gnats and mosquitoes, but you should miss the love bugs that usually come in May and can be a pain to wash off the front of whatever you are driving. We camped there back in January. I had a SureCall booster that amplified my Verizon signal from -110 dBm to -82 dBm (if I laid the phone on the interior antenna), but did nothing to help my data rates. I was still able to stream YTTV at night through the phone hotspot and a Firestick, normal voice calls were not an issue, neither should VOIP.

Dutch_12078 wrote:
We were at Rodman a few weeks ago, and using our Netgear Unite Explore AC815S with our dual aimable yagi MIMO antennas gave us speeds in the mid-20 Mbps range on AT&T using our Mobley Connected Car unlimited data plan. Our Novatel MiFi 7730L was connected to dual omni MIMO antennas and gave us a solid 5 Mbps, the max that our Visible unlimited data plan allows on Verizon towers. Either service worked quite well for streaming and surfing, as well as VOIP phone calls.

I should be good then. If I need an ATT MIFI, I'll go get one.

BTW, how did you like Rodman? Were the bugs bad? It looks like a pretty cool spot and was easy to get into. We're going to use it as a base to explore FL on a motorcycle.

Maybe look for another close by campground on or near major highway that has better bar signals review. Good luck and cheers to the brave.

jorbill2or wrote:
I don’t think they are looking for an engineering class on why ??

Actually, having some firm solid understanding to why and how something works or doesn't work can be very helpful to avoid pitfalls.

Some folks have paid tens of thousands of Dollars to get the same "Engineering class" that I presented and the OP got it here for 100% free.

When someone says signal "bars" don't matter, that is not correct. They do matter, otherwise cellphone manufacturers would simply not bother to spend the money in writing the code to interpret and display those silly bars..

When employing a booster, success hinges on the booster getting strong enough clean signal (IE "bars")to overcome the RF noise, the booster only amplifies the signal and garbage it sees, it can't clean it up, only amplify..

That is why they sometimes work and sometimes not and the only way to find out is to try one.

OP could of coarse go to the campsite and then see if they have consistent cell connection, but if they can't get a consistent connection they will not be able to stay due to their work needs.. I think the OP was trying to be proactive and be prepared just in case things don't work without a booster..

We were at Rodman a few weeks ago, and using our Netgear Unite Explore AC815S with our dual aimable yagi MIMO antennas gave us speeds in the mid-20 Mbps range on AT&T using our Mobley Connected Car unlimited data plan. Our Novatel MiFi 7730L was connected to dual omni MIMO antennas and gave us a solid 5 Mbps, the max that our Visible unlimited data plan allows on Verizon towers. Either service worked quite well for streaming and surfing, as well as VOIP phone calls.

jspringator wrote:
Is there a good ATT MIFI that I can turn on for the month I need it, and turn it off when I don't?

The hardware you use is less important than the DATA PLAN you choose !

None of the cell companies actually manufacturer the equipment (they may add a few custom software features).

Reception depends a lot on the antenna, so make sure what ever you buy has an external antenna connector.

I wasn’t confusing anything . I wasn’t talking about my booster which I rarely use. I’m not new at this. I was discussing the raw signal the phone or hotspot recieves. As I already stated I bought a booster years ago when I started this and rarely use it. The hotspot with , maybe a mimo antenna is in 95% of my uses enough.
The op was considering a 400$ booster i merely suggest they may not need it. I don’t think they are looking for an engineering class on why ??

jorbill2or wrote:
In 6 years of full timing all over the country …. DW needs zoom calling every day for her contract work. the powered booster has been more problem than solution. ( but it has made impossible possible a few times ) sorry but with 6 years real use I must disagree with signal strength ( bars). I’ve had 2 bars and got fantastic service and full and lousy. I have Verizon and att hotspots and most times “bars” isn’t what I look at before deciding which to use.

Your confusing BOOSTER output strength to what the signal the booster is getting at it's input.

That is an entirely different animal.

If your booster is seeing 1 bar of signal it also can be adding more problems to the mix even though your cellphone now sees more bars.. In reality your cellphone is now seeing the output strength of the booster.

The booster acts as a "repeater", picking up the weak signal, amplifying and re transmitting what it sees, but it is amplified or boosted to your cell phone and your cellphone now reads 1 or 2 bars more..

A booster can't improve connectivity or speed if it does not have strong enough clean signal to work with at the input. Speed will be limited to what the booster can negotiate with the cell towers it sees and that connection speed gets passed to your cellphone.

The problem is along with the weak signal comes RF noise, then the booster in the process of amplifying that weak signal with noise will amplify the RF noise it sees at the input and add additional (internal) noise to the final output..

Basically garbage in = louder garbage out.

To get boosters to work you need to start out with as strong of signal as possible, this often means an external high gain antenna mounted up as high as possible, cellphone frequencies do not follow the curvature of the earth.

1 or 2 bars of signal at the booster input may just be enough to get you a solid enough connection so sometimes they do work and sometimes they don't..

Thanks for your insight. To be honest, my iPad is a better hotspot than my MIFI with an antenna. I'm just going to hope for the best.

In 6 years of full timing all over the country …. DW needs zoom calling every day for her contract work. the powered booster has been more problem than solution. ( but it has made impossible possible a few times ) sorry but with 6 years real use I must disagree with signal strength ( bars). I’ve had 2 bars and got fantastic service and full and lousy. I have Verizon and att hotspots and most times “bars” isn’t what I look at before deciding which to use.