Wifi booster

[buc1980]

What I need to boost(extend) the wifi in the campground?

[wa8yxm]

I might add there was (And may still be) a "Wi-Fi" booster system for RV's that consisted of two modules. One outdoor one indoor.. Iforget the name of it and I was unable to find it with a quick google search (RV Wi Fi Boosters)

The outdoor "Wifi "modem"" device I used (Nano station) and a router with the POE adapter (power over Ethernet) built into the router was how they built it.

Again I did not find it with a more refined search. I did however find this

https://www.thervgeeks.com/how-to-boost-wifi-signal-in-rv-park/

There are also ways to make any external to your laptop wi-fi module more "Directional" and with that comes directional gain (Greater distance) Some are easy.

[time2roll]

buc1980 wrote:

Horsedoc wrote:
as in amplifier to increase a weak signal?

So forget about extender,booster just use the phone and hotspot.

Yes generally the boosters are still weak and will cut the speed in half. Best to skip it for your own connection.

Usually the camp wifi is overloaded with traffic anyway. Even if you take your laptop over near the antenna the signal will be strong but service still spotty and slow. Some places are better than others. The booster very rarely will actually improve the experience.

[wa8yxm]

I use a Ubiquiti Nanno Station mounted on a flag pole outside the RV and a Home router indoor (The nano connected like a cable modem)

Took a bit of learning. But man did it work well

https://ui.com/us/wi-fi
I don't see the nano any more on that site but they have other options.

If you desire more speed/bandwidth... Alas won't help with that the parks generally don't have enough.

[buc1980]

Horsedoc wrote:
as in amplifier to increase a weak signal?

So forget about extender,booster just use the phone and hotspot.

[ktmrfs]

pianotuna wrote:
I carry 2 cell phones with different companies.

1 is 150 gigs then throttle, the other is 100 gigs then throttle. So far, so good.

good idea to have 2 carriers. We did when GM had phone (ATT) as part of onstar and our cell phones are Verizon. There are many places in our way off places where ATT OR Verizon provided service, but not both.

But GM dropped the phone option a few years ago so, now it is Verizon only for us.

But for internet service we don't stream video, just update finances, some web searching, wifi calling, sending pictures etc. So we seldom even hit 10GB in a given month.

One of these days I may look at getting an non Verizon phone as a fallback to replace the GM phone

[pianotuna]

I carry 2 cell phones with different companies.

1 is 150 gigs then throttle, the other is 100 gigs then throttle. So far, so good.

[ktmrfs]

pianotuna wrote:

buc1980 wrote:
What I need to boost(extend) the wifi in the campground?

Hi,

A wifi amplifier--but almost all campgrounds have overloaded wifi--too many users and not enough bandwidth.

I did have a high gain antenna and a wifi device--I could get a signal from Mcdonalds (for example) up to 1 mile away.

A better bang for the buck may be to use a cell phone as a hot spot.

I agree. First I don't trust any open wifi, Next usually they are overloaded. I use either my phone as a hotspot or my dedicated hotspot.

Now in campgrounds even a hotspot may have speed problems even with a strong signal. Similar issue to campground wifi, Lot's of users accessing often one local cell tower with limited channel capacity.

Still I prefer my own hotspot, I can trust it, I know it's limitations, and we have "unlimited" data plan with it. "unlimited" like most if you go over XXX GB the throttle.

[pianotuna]

buc1980 wrote:
What I need to boost(extend) the wifi in the campground?

Hi,

A wifi amplifier--but almost all campgrounds have overloaded wifi--too many users and not enough bandwidth.

I did have a high gain antenna and a wifi device--I could get a signal from Mcdonalds (for example) up to 1 mile away.

A better bang for the buck may be to use a cell phone as a hot spot.

[Horsedoc]

as in amplifier to increase a weak signal?