Cradlepoint vs. wifi ranger

[gscudder]

We start fulltiming this winter and the wife needs good internet for work, who has which and what are your suggestions/recomendations?

Thanks, Gregg

[docj]

rvten wrote:
Just updated my WFR. It was working. Turned it off and now NaDa.

Were you updating it to the 6.6.3 firmware? The company is aware that certain units are unable to take the update because of defective chips n the OEM units on which the WFR routers are based. All routers affected by the update have been replaced at no charge regardless of warranty status.

I'm sure the folks at WFR will be in touch ASAP to diagnose and/or replace your router.

Joel

[rvten]

Just updated my WFR. It was working. Turned it off and now NaDa.
Has power. Boots up I get five GNR lights than gone. Ant light comes on than us gone.
Have GNR lights next to power conn.
VZ air card powered up.

Sent an e mail with my iPhone to WFR. See what results I get.
Something like this happened before. The WFR bricked. They replaced it.
Using iPhone as a Hit Spot right now
.

[camper_david]

My wife works on the Internet as well and we are full timers (relatively new ones). I am using a pep wave balance 30 router, which does pretty much anything that I want, though it is expensive. What I like is that it will take a USB modem as well as wifi as wan and load balances everything. I have a passive external antenna on an extendable flagpole for better reception plugged into the modem. This modem does not have wifi in it, so I am using two wifi access points plugged into the LAN side (one for 2.4, one for 5 ghz connections).

I bought most of my stuff through 3gstore.com, and they were very helpful. I also have the printer and a home server on the network, so it is pretty busy on the two bands. We are with Verizon right now, but I bought a refurbished modem to avoid a new two year contract. This setup is working very well for us so far, and we homeschool and work through it.

[joebedford]

I have a WiFi Ranger with Boost. Works well, but it's picky. Less so with latest firmware ... it's less trouble than trying to hook everything to a MiFi.

Can't speak to Cradlepoint.

[Bill_Satellite]

I was under the impression that cradlepoint would not connect to MiFi units, in fact that's what they told me when I called them. Are they connecting wirelessly or are your MiFi's tethered? Which MiFi units are you using? Also are you able to use park internet with your cradlepoint?

Yes, the WiFi Ranger, Cradlepoint, Asus, Pepwave (likely others) can connect to the parks WiFi using what is called WiFi as WAN. If you are looking at a router you want to be sure that this is an option. Not all routers will do this including some of the Cradlepoint routers.

All routers should be able to connect to a MiFi device wireless since that's nothing more than a wireless broadcast. As long as you know the passcode you are in. The issue is wanting to connect a MiFi to the router via USB cable so first the MiFi has to have a USB port and the router has to be able to support it.
Cradlepoint only lists one Verizon MiFi that is compatible via USB and that is the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200.

[Bill_Satellite]

I only got "off the train" about 2 weeks ago!

[gscudder]

quote I have followed essentially the same path that Bill has. Had the original Wifi Ranger, tried the Sky and finally the GO. While the concept is fantastic and the CS folks at WFR are terrific to deal with, the product is just not ready for primetime, IMO. I found myself having to continually futz with the units to keep my connection in place. They would lock up, reboot on their own, lose connectivity requiruing a restart. At one point they would not work with iOS devices, certain modems, blah, blah, blah....

My wife would call me almost daily with problems in the RV while I was away at work. Rarely did a day go by where I didn't have to play with the WFR to keep connectivity going.

So, I too now have a Cradlepoint, but I chose the MBR1400 model. More expensive that Bill's MBR95, but offers load balancing which I use all the time because I have 2 Mifi units (one verizon and one AT&T). The MBR1400 does a terrific job of balancing usage between the two!

I have my WFR GO in a box in the closet and continue to monitor their progress. Maybe if they ever offer a firmware release that makes the product ready for every day use, I'll put it back in service and give it a go, but for now, I'm so much happier with the Cradlepoint!!!! end quote


I was under the impression that cradlepoint would not connect to MiFi units, in fact that's what they told me when I called them. Are they connecting wirelessly or are your MiFi's tethered? Which MiFi units are you using? Also are you able to use park internet with your cradlepoint?

[docj]

paulcardoza wrote:
I have followed essentially the same path that Bill has. Had the original Wifi Ranger, tried the Sky and finally the GO. While the concept is fantastic and the CS folks at WFR are terrific to deal with, the product is just not ready for primetime, IMO. I found myself having to continually futz with the units to keep my connection in place. They would lock up, reboot on their own, lose connectivity requiruing a restart. At one point they would not work with iOS devices, certain modems, blah, blah, blah....

I bought my first WiFi Ranger router three years ago and I will agree with Paul that there were many nights when I went to sleep frustrated because I couldn't get it to work no matter what I tried. However, I will argue that those nights were fairly far in the past and that Paul's summary compresses three years of product development experiences without differentiating between the past and present.

Some WFR customers, like Bill and Paul, chose to "get off the train" during that process and I can't fault them for that. However, I know from my own personal experience that WFR products today are much different and far better than those that were marketed several years ago.

To avoid having this post deleted because the moderators consider it marketing, I will simply note that the control panel on my WiFi Ranger is currently showing that it has been operational for 18 days since its last reboot. It has been connected to my Verizon phone's hotspot for that entire period, except when the phone has needed to be rebooted. The Ranger was connected to the hotspot when I went to bed last night and it was connected and ready for use this morning. I can't ask a router to do any more than that.

[paulcardoza]

I have followed essentially the same path that Bill has. Had the original Wifi Ranger, tried the Sky and finally the GO. While the concept is fantastic and the CS folks at WFR are terrific to deal with, the product is just not ready for primetime, IMO. I found myself having to continually futz with the units to keep my connection in place. They would lock up, reboot on their own, lose connectivity requiruing a restart. At one point they would not work with iOS devices, certain modems, blah, blah, blah....

My wife would call me almost daily with problems in the RV while I was away at work. Rarely did a day go by where I didn't have to play with the WFR to keep connectivity going.

So, I too now have a Cradlepoint, but I chose the MBR1400 model. More expensive that Bill's MBR95, but offers load balancing which I use all the time because I have 2 Mifi units (one verizon and one AT&T). The MBR1400 does a terrific job of balancing usage between the two!

I have my WFR GO in a box in the closet and continue to monitor their progress. Maybe if they ever offer a firmware release that makes the product ready for every day use, I'll put it back in service and give it a go, but for now, I'm so much happier with the Cradlepoint!!!!

Bill.Satellite wrote:
I wish I could answer this but the WiFi Ranger folks have issued an injunction preventing me from given any details. I was a beta tester for the company from their infancy but now that I have a Cradlepoint I don't know why other than they provided all of my equipment at no charge.

[Bill_Satellite]

I was a beta tester for the company from their infancy but now that I have a Cradlepoint. I don't know why other than they provided all of my equipment at no charge.

[gscudder]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
I used the WiFi Ranger (actually the original Ranger, Ranger and Boost, the Ranger Go and the Go and Mobile and most recently the Ranger X) for over 3 years as the product evolved. I believe it continues to evolve but I no longer use the Ranger products and recently purchased a Cradlepoint MBR95. I have not had a single issue with the Cradlepoint and setting up WiFi as WAN to save my the use of my cellular data is simple and the connection remains solid. I don't think the Cradlepoint as quite the range that the Ranger X does but I think it's better than the range of the Go router.
I believe that both operate better with a stand alone USB WiFi device vs. a MiFi type device but if you have a MiFi air card you most likely do not need either device as the MiFi is it's own full blown router.
If you have a MiFi air card you might look at a stand alone WiFi antenna for those times when good, free open WiFi services are available.

Is there a particular reason that you switched from WiFi Ranger to the cradlepoint? Ive considered using just my MiFi card but I need a router so that I can connect a VOIP phone.

[Bill_Satellite]

I forgot to mention that there is a Pepwave air card router as well. I did not hear about it until after I bought my Cradlepoint but I have heard good things about it as well.
Lots of choices out there.

[docj]

Bill.Satellite wrote:

I believe that both operate better with a stand alone USB WiFi device vs. a MiFi type device but if you have a MiFi air card you most likely do not need either device as the MiFi is it's own full blown router.

The drawback to using a MiFi as the only router in an RV is that if you are at a park that actually has decent wifi (and these really do exist) then each device in your RV has to be separately connected to the park's wifi. You may be surprised how many devices that includes.

We currently carry two laptops, an iPad, a tablet, a Roku, a printer and a DirecTV DVR all of which are require internet access. I find it a lot easier to use a single router with WiFi as WAN capability than to connect each of these devices one at a time every time we go to a new park. I find that we use park wifi more often since it's easy to change back to our phone's hotspot if the wifi slows down; all it takes is a single keystroke to transfer all the devices on our network from one internet source to another.

[rvten]

I use a WFR with my VZ air card.
Works very well. Also conn. to park WiFi and boost the signal.

[Bill_Satellite]

Wayne,
Does the Asus do WiFi as WAN and if so, have you tried it?