Boosting wifi signal in campground

[texhater42]

We are staying in this campground for an extended period of time. They do have wifi, which is awesome...when we get signal. There have got to be products out there to help with signal. Any thoughts or current configs anyone has would be appreciated. I talked to a feller at best buy about a signal booster, but he said I'd have to have admin rights to network and blah blah...

[chuckster57]

We have installed several WiFi rangers on different kinds of units.

Best part is the ranger has a built in firewall.

https://wifiranger.com

I will probably install one of these on my fiver.

[mfifield01]

I've been using the Ubiquiti NanoStationlocoM2 for a while. It works out well. I ran Cat 6 cable outside and connect it inside to an old wireless router.

[Desert185]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

We have installed several WiFi rangers on different kinds of units.

Best part is the ranger has a built in firewall.

https://wifiranger.com

I will probably install one of these on my fiver.

Which one in the product line seems to be the most popular?

[BirchyBoy]

I bought a TP-Link access point for $39.99. It acts as a range extender. A quick login to the interface let's me pick up the signal from the campground and lock onto it. All of my tech then connects to the TP-Link, along with some other happy campers around me.

It doesn't matter what you use, nothing will make the campground's connection any faster than it is. Even with a strong signal, 100 campers over a slow line makes for a slow night of browsing

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by Desert185

Which one in the product line seems to be the most popular?

I have installed two that mount to the roof and three that attach to the TV antenna. I can't say one is better. The roof mounted ones have the antenna tip that is higher than a low profile A/C so signal loss is minimal. In both applications, the coax has to enter the coach somewhere. We use the same hole that the antenna coax uses, on the class C's I have done, we have come down the refer vent because the tv antenna was a solid base. The coax from the ranger antenna is plenty long enough to give you choices on location.

[texhater42]

Originally Posted by BirchyBoy

I bought a TP-Link access point for $39.99. It acts as a range extender. A quick login to the interface let's me pick up the signal from the campground and lock onto it. All of my tech then connects to the TP-Link, along with some other happy campers around me.

It doesn't matter what you use, nothing will make the campground's connection any faster than it is. Even with a strong signal, 100 campers over a slow line makes for a slow night of browsing

Faster no...but I hopefully won't be getting kicked off every 5 mins because I'm so far away. Haven't done a speed test yet because I'm constantly losing signal, but when I am able to connect, it's fast enough to stream Kodi.

[Idwitheld]

Subscribing...

Did speed test last week.

2.1k upload.
Yes that is a "K"

And im 60 feed from the antenna

[slow]

Does anyone have any experience with the Camp Pro WIFI Kit? https://www.amazon.com/Alfa-WiFi-Cam.../dp/B01GJ2RFKK

Good price but is it good value?

[MattHelm21]

This year, I decided to look for the same solution. The WiFi ranger seems to be the best solution out there if you are looking to put a roof mount solution in your rig. What you may not know is that these units are two parts. The antenna booster, and the router/firewall. You can do what I did which is to delay purchase of the antenna booster until you decide if you need it or not. It is the most expensive component. They will sell the router only and installation is plug and play. I went with the wifiranger core which is the 10/100 Ethernet/WiFi firewall router. They do have a Gigabit Ethernet model if you have wired devices that need that kind of speed while you are on the road.

Out of the box, the router will connect to most any available WiFi network as long as you have the password. If you are familiar with making a mobile hotspot out of your mobile phone, it can connect to that. It will even connect to many USB Aircards using a cellular network. It will remember these networks and auto connect based on preferences you configure. The best part, is that your laptop(s), phone(s), tablets(s) and other WiFi devices only need to store one network and when you get to your campsite, you make the one connection in the router and it all gets online. The router even provides and can connect to 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz radios.

Of course, like was mentioned above, you won't get any speed faster than you would otherwise get when directly connected. But it is possible the router can be better positioned to get a better signal than your phone or laptop. From the router to your devices, the signal should be nearly perfect.

[chuckster57]

We have installed the WiFi ranger on a number of units and everyone has loved it. This week we are removing it from a trade-in and installing on their new unit.

[MattHelm21]

Does anyone have any experience with the Camp Pro WIFI Kit? https://www.amazon.com/Alfa-WiFi-Cam.../dp/B01GJ2RFKK

Good price but is it good value?

Oops. Reading through the older posts I just realized I wasn't answering your question. After reading the reviews on amazon, I would have to recommend to buy at your own risk. Multiple reviews say it doesn't come with instructions and one review indicates that he had a hardware failure after a year and was unable to contact the selller for replacement parts. This is personal opinion so take it for what it's worth but I'd be against putting a hole in the roof if I wasn't sure I could get some kind of support if there was a problem.

Functionally, the unit appears comparable and if it performs as the WiFi Ranger does then it is a great price but its a risk.

[slow]

Originally Posted by MattHelm21

Oops. Reading through the older posts I just realized I wasn't answering your question. After reading the reviews on amazon, I would have to recommend to buy at your own risk. Multiple reviews say it doesn't come with instructions and one review indicates that he had a hardware failure after a year and was unable to contact the selller for replacement parts. This is personal opinion so take it for what it's worth but I'd be against putting a hole in the roof if I wasn't sure I could get some kind of support if there was a problem.

Functionally, the unit appears comparable and if it performs as the WiFi Ranger does then it is a great price but its a risk.

I agree with your assessment. I concluded that if one was to go the Camp Pro route it would be best to pay an extra $50 or so and purchase from technorv.com. Even with their price being higher than other sources, it is still 1/4 the price of the WIFI Ranger Elite. Technorv's reviews suggest superior customer support, but those reviews are on their website so they need to taken with a grain of salt: system.http://www.technorv.com/RV_WiFi_Boosters_s/85.htm
There seems to be some happy Forrest River customers as well.

As for the mounting onto a batwing and the hole in the roof, both require the hole and mount in a similar fashion. The WIFI Ranger Elite's shape seems well thought out for batwing mounting and uses stainless steel camps where as the Camp Pro uses nylon tie wraps. As for the hole, my layout makes it relatively easy to place the hole next to the batwing with a short run between roof trusses to where the router would be mounted. I am comfortable making a custom roof hole cap for the cable access point that would swim in dicor. But the suction cup mount from Technorv may be another option to avoid the hole drilling.

Still have three feet of snow on the ground with spring a few months away, so hopefully others will chime in while I contemplate the purchase.

[hankaye]

Howdy All;

I've mentioned this before and will again, this is what I've had the best
success with. I full-time and it's about 100 yds to the Park's broadcast
point. http://www.jefatech.com/product/RV-K...RVs---USB.html
This set-up allows me to tune in by channels as most of the upgrade unites
will. That helps as you eliminate the useless "chatter" that clogs your
receptor. What I also found out is that you won't be able to "improve" the
strength of the that has to happen at the broadcast end. I also found
out that generally speaking WiFi coverage is measured in square feet of
coverage rather then distance the signal will travel.
Good luck, have fun and don't let the lack of signal ruin your "Camping"
experience.

hankaye

[chuckster57]

In some applications we were able to route the WiFi cable through the same hole for the bat wing antenna. In others we used the refer vent. Additional hole in roof isn't a given.

[slow]

Hankaye,

Thanks for the insights.

chuckster,

Good point about the roof entry point options that may already be available.

[MattHelm21]

One last note about router performance alone with the WiFi Ranger Core and no roof antenna. The unit is in the rig behind the television right now and powered up. It is connected with full signal strength to the WiFi network in my house which is probably about 50 yards with the signal passing through the houses external wall caddy corner through the two car garage, through another wall, then through a dining room, kitchen, and finally den(wall, and another wall) in the back of the house. In the house I have a Cisco Aironet access point that is pretty high end but on the old side. My intention as you can tell is to not spring for the roof antenna and if possible, tether my cell phone as the data source if the CG has no WiFi or too poor of a signal.

I have been in one CG that has poor WiFi bandwidth and no cell service so it isn't a perfect solution. Good luck.

[hankaye]

Howdy All;

I routed my antenna cable through the electric cable "mouse hole" in the
rear wall then used a drill to "create" the remaining wiring run. The antenna was attached to 2 4' lengths of 1.5" PVC pipe with slip union then to the
ladder with zip-ties so it could be easily taken down for travel.
Easy-peezy.

hankaye

[flybouy]

I also have a Jeffa-Teck system, )the Long Range WiFi Repeater Kit for RVs
Part Number / SKU: RV-KIT-REPEATER http://www.jefatech.com/product/RV-KIT-REPEATER) and am very satisfied with it. I have a flagpole mounted on the trailer tongue a frame with pvc pipe. The antenna is mounted to the top of the collapsible 16' pole. When traveling the flagpole and antenna fit in the front pass thru and I bundle the coax with a velcro strap and store it in the pvc pipe.
Reminder - this works as any booster works to increase the signal. Nothing will increase the throughput or speed. The old GIGO computer rule applies - "Garbage In Garbage Out".

[slow]

Originally Posted by MattHelm21

..................After reading the reviews on amazon, I would have to recommend to buy at your own risk. Multiple reviews say it doesn't come with instructions and one review indicates that he had a hardware failure after a year and was unable to contact the selller for replacement parts. This is personal opinion so take it for what it's worth but I'd be against putting a hole in the roof if I wasn't sure I could get some kind of support if there was a problem..........

Given the low price, I took the plunge with the Alfa Wi-Fi product, but I did not go with the Camp Pro.

I ended up buying all the components found in the Camp Pro kit with the exception of the antenna. Rather than the 9dBi antenna in the Camp Pro kit, I went with an 8 dBi antenna that has a metal collar at the base for more secure mounting.

I purchased all the components from the NA distributor, Rokland. I was very happy with the pre-purchase support and the instructions that came with the R36 router. (If the instructions had included screen shots, the install would be even easier!) The price was also very attractive at less than $120.

The S/W setup on the router went very smoothly as did setting up all our Apple devices to connect. I am not tech savvy but had no issues. I also found it easy to "control" the router from any of the Apple devices once the initial setup was complete with a PC and LAN cable. It did take some thought to "extrapolate" the instructions from the initial setup using a PC, to controlling the R36 router to permit scanning for signals only with the Apple devices as you would in a campground situation. I took photos of each screen while setting everything up to complement the supplied instructions, just in case I forget the procedures. I also included instructions for changing the password for the R36 router. If anyone wants a copy of these "enhanced" instructions with pictures, PM me with your email address and I will send you a copy.

These are the components I purchased from Rokland:





I also purchased a Winegard CE1000 wire cover from Amazon.com in case I decide to drill a hole for the cable in the roof.

It will be a couple of months before the snow is all gone and the TT is out of storage. I will post pictures of the install on to my batwing antenna when I get it all done.


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