Cellular Hotspot

[philh]

Met a full timer who was using OTR Mobile Hot Spot Link. This last trip provided challenges as I was reaching my limit of hotspot on my phone, too many parks wifi is less than desirable, and the constant switching of source for TV and android was getting old.

While I haven't used it camping, I have used it around the house, and went someplace today with my computer, and took the hotspot. Worked like a champ. It's not cheap at $60 per month, but it works well, and the speed is decent. I have 3 out of 5 bars, and speednet checked out at 40mbps

[pconroy328]

philh wrote:

2nd, two whip antennas. Not only did it not improve signal strength, speed test showed a 20% drop in data transfer speed.

Talked to the smartest electrical engineer I know, he said even with the short (12") coax, the signal loss on that cable may overcome any advantage I might get out of the antenna.

This.
I'm not a EE and I'm not an antenna engineer.


But there's a Youtube nerd I watch regularly that will occasionally test antennas with his gear and a spectrum analyzer.

It's painfully clear that most attempts to mod ("improve") the antennas on an off-the-shelf piece of gear will likely make things worse.


I've had two good successes in increasing range. First was to take just the outside antenna that shipped with the Alfa Camp Pro and plug it directly into my laptop. That's a nice outdoor antenna with good dB gain.

The second was to take a decent Asus router (RT-AC3100) and use it as a range extender. It's pretty good.

[philh]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Phil,

What you are seeing is that Mimo has multiple antennas. When you add a booster or single antenna range may increase but throughput may be slower.

First one, which is probably a bad example, had two connectors

2nd was 2 separate antennas. Throughput on one antenna was slightly under no antenna. Two antennas dropped throughput 20%.

[pianotuna]

Hi Phil,

What you are seeing is that Mimo has multiple antennas. When you add a booster or single antenna range may increase but throughput may be slower.

[philh]

I had this ingenious idea of getting an external antenna for increased service coverage.

1st up, netgear factory piece ordered from amazon. It came in a package, with an interesting tag, "demo unit". It did absolutely nothing, nada... back to amazon it went.

2nd, two whip antennas. Not only did it not improve signal strength, speed test showed a 20% drop in data transfer speed.

Talked to the smartest electrical engineer I know, he said even with the short (12") coax, the signal loss on that cable may overcome any advantage I might get out of the antenna.

[philh]

people that were smart enough to get the unlimited plans... awesome.

We're limited to 10G hotspot per phone, or a slow down that is unworkable. Unlimited streaming, but that can be a PITA. This allows me to set the TV to this wifi name and password, along with the android unit. Bit pricey, but it also solves my problem at the park model. Their shared access is only 5M, I tested it a couple of times very early in the morning. By 9am on a even a slow weekend, forget it, it's toast.

[pianotuna]

Hi Dutch,

How does one find out this information?

[Dutch_12078]

They use a hotspot that's been hacked to appear as a phone or tablet to AT&T's system. That lets them activate it using a plan intended for phones and tablets in violation of the TOS. It'll work as long as AT&T doesn't catch on and shut them down.

[pianotuna]

Why does it look like a scam?

[zcookiemonstar]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Phil,

This one looks interesting, too.

https://www.unlimitedinternetprovider.com/

This looks like a scam to me. Be careful.

[pianotuna]

Hi Phil,

This one looks interesting, too.

https://www.unlimitedinternetprovider.com/

[Dutch_12078]

I have a grandfathered AT&T $20/mo hotspot plan with unlimited data, and a Visible (a Verizon company) phone with unlimited talk, text, and data including tethering and a hotspot feature. The Visible plan is $40/mo, but they also have a "Party Pay" feature that lets you join with up to three other people, even complete strangers, that can bring your cost down to $25/mo. Each member of the party gets their own account and bill, and only their first name and the last four digits of their phone number are visible to the other members. Between the two plans, we've not been anywhere lately where we didn't have service at streaming speeds from one or the other.

[Johno02]

For less time, I just turn on the hotspot on my phone, and use that. it works very well, but If I ned to go somewhere, no one can use it at the MH till I get back.

[Johno02]

I have an older hotspot that stays in the Motor Home. It is on a prepay plan, so the only timeit is used is when e are out on the road. I just pay for however amount of Gigs, and add more if needed. When that expires or is used up. the box just stays there waiting for the next time.