Best WiFi Extender for RV?

[MichaelK]

Hey everyone... long time lurker finally created an account! I was curious what you guys think is the best wifi extender for RV's? I've been doing some research and I'm torn between a few of them. I think I've narrowed it down to these two:

rv must haves best wifi extender

and this one:

WiFi Ranger on Amazon

**edit** This one on Amazon has one great review and one lousy review, but a lot of people said it was good on another forum. So who knows??? Hopefully you guys!

There's a good discussion on Facebook about it, but figured there would be more people here who would have a good answer. So what are you guys using successfully?

[MichaelK]

Ideally, I want something that will boost the signal for a few devices on the wifi. Mainly two macbooks. Sounds like there's a lot of different opinions and options.

[holstein13]

Veebyes wrote:
There seems to be some confusion here over two very different devices. The OP is talking about a WIFI antenna signal BOOSTER, not a router that gets whatever it gets & rebroadcasts the signal, a wireless router.

Sorry Veebyes, the confusion seems to be on your side. The Amazon link the OP posted to is a signal booster with an integrated router. I have the exact combination he is asking about. It is both a signal booster and a router.

But I agree with you, that all he may need is a signal booster if he simply wants to boost one computer.

[Veebyes]

There seems to be some confusion here over two very different devices. The OP is talking about a WIFI antenna signal BOOSTER, not a router that gets whatever it gets & rebroadcasts the signal, a wireless router.

If the antenna on that device gets a lousy signal, it can't improve it.

The directional antenna focuses on the CG WIFI router & boosts that signal by wire into your laptop, or whatever it is plugged into. It works like your directional over the air TV antenna or your satelite dish. You need to know where the source of the WIFI signal is & point the little dish in that direction.

Omnidirectional external WIFI antennas work too, better than the laptop internal antenna, but nowhere near as good as a external, not necessarily outside, directional antenna.

[dverstra]

I've used the wifi ranger for 2 years. It took me a while to figure out but am very satisfied with the results.

[Homer1]

I have been advised by some pretty savvy people that there is nothing that will correct a poor signal given out by the c/g. So many variables that can/will interfere with WIFI signals. Same is true for hotel/motels, unless wired for WIFI. I have tried a couple of extenders with absolutely no success at all.

[Veebyes]

I have a Hawking dish. Works well. It will take a 1 bar signal & boost it to 4 if not full scale. You just need to know where the transmitting router is & point the dish in that direction.

[Mandalay_Parr]

MichaelK wrote:

Mandalay Parr wrote:
Check out Hawking Technology.

At my old work, Hawking had the cheapest POS hardware I'd ever seen. I don't know if they've improved, or if we just bought their low end product, but it was really bad. Their switches used to literally melt themselves overheating.

However, I'll do a quick google search and see what I can find.

My Hawking Tech has been working for years with no problems.

[Tom_M1]

I use a BearExtender USB WiFi adapter. It puts out 1200 milliwatts and works great. It can be purchased for about $45.

The Wilson amplifier mentioned is for cellphone and wireless broadband. It does not work for WiFi.

[Ivylog]

Search EBay for usb yagi antenna... Less than $45 from China. Instead of three signals I'll see 10+ with four bars.

[TCW]

A few comments that I don't think were mentioned. In general, the USB devices must be connected directly to a computer. They often cannot be used in a router so if you have more than one device you want to connect you need to turn your computer into a hotspot using Connectify or some other method.

Often just getting the antenna or device outside the RV and above the other RVs that may be blocking the signal will result in a big improvement. If you already have a repeater that has hotspot capability, try placing it outside as high up as possible. I have seen desktop routers placed in tupperware containers to protect them from the weather provide much better connections than when inside the RV.

If you use a booster/repeater, you need to realize that every hop through a repeater decreases the speed of the connection, sometimes by as much as 50% because a single radio can not transmit and receive at the same time. A two radio system like a Ubiquiti Nanstation or Bullet connected to a router/hotspot gives a two radio system that results in less speed loss.

The speed loss factor can also be important when using campground WIFI with multiple Access Points that use repeaters. The strongest signal may not be the fastest connection if there is one or more repeaters involved. Some campgrounds do have an internet connection for each Access Point or group of Access Points. So, an Access Point in a less crowded section of the campground may have faster speeds during peak use times.

[MichaelK]

ericosmith wrote:
I have an couple of inexpensive usb wifi adapters, both of them under $25 and both of them always bring in an excellent signal. IMHO it's not the strength of the wifi signal, but the total campground bandwidth that seems to be the constant issue. It's fine at 3:00 in the afternoon but at 10:00pm it stinks.

Good point, but the amplifiers do help.

[ericosmith]

I have an couple of inexpensive usb wifi adapters, both of them under $25 and both of them always bring in an excellent signal. IMHO it's not the strength of the wifi signal, but the total campground bandwidth that seems to be the constant issue. It's fine at 3:00 in the afternoon but at 10:00pm it stinks.

[MichaelK]

holstein13 wrote:
I've been using the Wifi Ranger Go2 with the Sky on the roof for almost three months now and have mixed feelings about it. Most of the parks we stayed at (over 15) have very bad wifi and there is nothing a WIFI extender can do to help the situation.

But what really annoys me is that my Go2 keeps rebooting often when there is a bad connection. I alternate between a Verizon mifi and an ATT Mifi to supplement the campground wifi and the Go2 can be a real pain in the buttocks.

At least three times now, it reset itself to default settings after rebooting and the two units weren't communicating with each other. I had to call for technical support the first time, but they don't take live calls. You have to leave a message and they get back to you. Hopefully, you'll be in your RV when they call. I wasn't.

After walking through how to reconfigure the thing with tech support, I did the next two times myself. There were times where it would reboot itself (but not reset to factory defaults) at least 5 - 10 times per day.

If I knew of a better solution, I'd jump on it immediately.

I have used the simple Alpha long range wifi adapter and it worked well for me. But now I'm fulltiming and I've got about 10 devices that need to connect so a router is a better choice for me.

Thanks for the info. I'm going to check out the wilson amplifiers recommended in the previous post and do some more research on the first one I posted. It has a lot of good reviews, but more recently the reviews have gone downhill.

[MichaelK]

Ramair wrote:
I just received my wifi booster from Wilson Amplifiers cost was 179. and it increased out wifi from almost nothing to a signal that I can Skype our grandkids from inside of our MH. We are currently at Eglin AFB Famcamp and if anyone has been here sprint is weak. I would consider looking into one of these. www.wilsonamplifiers.com so far I am very happy and they give a 30 day return no questions asked policy.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll definitely look into this one!

[holstein13]

I've been using the Wifi Ranger Go2 with the Sky on the roof for almost three months now and have mixed feelings about it. Most of the parks we stayed at (over 15) have very bad wifi and there is nothing a WIFI extender can do to help the situation.

But what really annoys me is that my Go2 keeps rebooting often when there is a bad connection. I alternate between a Verizon mifi and an ATT Mifi to supplement the campground wifi and the Go2 can be a real pain in the buttocks.

At least three times now, it reset itself to default settings after rebooting and the two units weren't communicating with each other. I had to call for technical support the first time, but they don't take live calls. You have to leave a message and they get back to you. Hopefully, you'll be in your RV when they call. I wasn't.

After walking through how to reconfigure the thing with tech support, I did the next two times myself. There were times where it would reboot itself (but not reset to factory defaults) at least 5 - 10 times per day.

If I knew of a better solution, I'd jump on it immediately.

I have used the simple Alpha long range wifi adapter and it worked well for me. But now I'm fulltiming and I've got about 10 devices that need to connect so a router is a better choice for me.