Winegard GW1000 Hotspot, and router

[Javi]

Well it's installed and except for having to fish for the wiring it wasn't that bad.

SIMM from AT&T worked well after I activated it on the AT&T website.

Setup and renaming the device and the network name was a little tedious but manageable as was installing a passworded guest network.

All in all, took about two hours from start to finish including setting up the DW's phone on the guest network.

We're at a park with no wifi and almost no 4G but with the GW1000 I'm getting 144 MBPS connection speed.

Works for me... 😁

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by Javi

Well it's installed and except for having to fish for the wiring it wasn't that bad.

SIMM from AT&T worked well after I activated it on the AT&T website.

Setup and renaming the device and the network name was a little tedious but manageable as was installing a passworded guest network.

All in all, took about two hours from start to finish including setting up the DW's phone on the guest network.

We're at a park with no wifi and almost no 4G but with the GW1000 I'm getting 144 MBPS connection speed.

Works for me... 😁

Good to know it works!

[Bill-2020]

Thats good news Javi - clean install too.

[chuckster57]

You did good my friend...very good.

[RickV]

What is the advantage of using this instead of just Hot Spotting my phone? I can see that it helps in areas where 4g signal is weak to help boost it but other then that I don't see any real advantage. Am I missing something?

[jxnbbl]

I installed one last year and it is great. Full network capability around my trailer. The best part is the reliable signal/connection you get with the antenna. I'm work with software and can completely do my job with this. I can not say the same for my phone. The other part of this is that it is your private network for the trailer. So you authenticate all your devices to it. (chromecast, ipad, computer, phones, etc)


When a site has wifi you connect to that. When it does not, you connect to your 4g service. Automatically all devices have connectivity.

[Javi]

Originally Posted by RickV

What is the advantage of using this instead of just Hot Spotting my phone? I can see that it helps in areas where 4g signal is weak to help boost it but other then that I don't see any real advantage. Am I missing something?

With the exception of one campground we visit on a regular basis the phone service is minimal and the Wi-Fi is nonexistent so having a hotspot in my phone is worthless.

In my case the Winegard took me from not being able to send or receive email to getting an unexpected email and enabling me to sign into the network at the office to approve an ECN on a $2M project.

I seriously doubt that we will ever use it to its fullest by streaming TV content or video conferencing or anything along those lines but the fact that it paid for itself in the first 24 hours is priceless.

But more importantly it allowed the DW to continue her reign as social media queen, and keep up with what the grandkids are doing

[RickV]

Originally Posted by Javi

With the exception of one campground we visit on a regular basis the phone service is minimal and the Wi-Fi is nonexistent so having a hotspot in my phone is worthless.

In my case the Winegard took me from not being able to send or receive email to getting an unexpected email and enabling me to sign into the network at the office to approve an ECN on a $2M project.

I seriously doubt that we will ever use it to its fullest by streaming TV content or video conferencing or anything along those lines but the fact that it paid for itself in the first 24 hours is priceless.

But more importantly it allowed the DW to continue her reign as social media queen, and keep up with what the grandkids are doing

I can understand that and definitely wasn't busting on it. With us it tends to be the other way around we have Verizon which seems to work everywhere we go. As a matter of fact I can only remember one time where we couldn't get signal that was in Palo Duro Canyon a few years ago and our traveling companions had AT&T which didn't work at a lot of places but did there so we just used their Hotspotted Phone.

[Brantel]

Originally Posted by RickV

What is the advantage of using this instead of just Hot Spotting my phone? I can see that it helps in areas where 4g signal is weak to help boost it but other then that I don't see any real advantage. Am I missing something?

It has two internal and one external WIFI antennas and an external 4G antenna. This really helps pull in weak signals. It can serve as a extender/booster for campground WIFI. You can set all your devices to connect to it's WIFI and forget them. Any changes you need to make, you make in once place and everything else just works. You can have multiple devices connected vs just one on your phone hotspot. That is a few of the big ones.

[Brantel]

I also installed one this weekend and it works as advertised in our driveway. We added it to our Verizon account for $12.50 a month for their biggest connected device "Unlimited but really Limited " plan. We have a discount thru work and other options on our plan give us 50% off the normal price. I activated the line as an Ipad and moved the sim card after the line was up and running. No issues.

We are going to keep the ATT sim card that it comes with and if we ever get in a place where there is no Verizon but there is ATT signal, we can activate one of the no contract Winegard Freedom Go plans to get us by.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by Javi

Well it's installed and except for having to fish for the wiring it wasn't that bad.

SIMM from AT&T worked well after I activated it on the AT&T website.

Setup and renaming the device and the network name was a little tedious but manageable as was installing a passworded guest network.

All in all, took about two hours from start to finish including setting up the DW's phone on the guest network.

We're at a park with no wifi and almost no 4G but with the GW1000 I'm getting 144 MBPS connection speed.

Works for me... 😁

How much un-throttled 4G data do you get using the AT&T sim card?

[Brantel]

Originally Posted by wiredgeorge

How much un-throttled 4G data do you get using the AT&T sim card?

That's the big rub these days, these carriers are really putting the clamps on data usage. Many of the workarounds are disappearing rapidly. My Verizon connected device plan is marketed as Unlimited but really only allows for 30Gb for the data on the GW-1000 as they classify data used by it as "hotspot data". Once the limit is reached, they throttle to 600kbps max.

If the GW-1000 had a user settable TTL setting, one could use a sim that is activated as a phone and possibly get around this issue but many are claiming that the carriers have caught onto that work around. Mute point since the GW-1000 does not currently have a user definable TTL setting.

[Javi]

Originally Posted by wiredgeorge

How much un-throttled 4G data do you get using the AT&T sim card?

15Gig with the plan I have...

[behrmr]

Originally Posted by RickV

What is the advantage of using this instead of just Hot Spotting my phone? I can see that it helps in areas where 4g signal is weak to help boost it but other then that I don't see any real advantage. Am I missing something?

The antennae sit on the roof and aren't imbedded inside a phone in my pocket or shielded from signal sitting inside the RV.

I get a much better signal than I do on my phone with this setup. And if you have any networked devices in your RV they will stay connected to the RV's local network full-time.

Plus you can connect your winegard router to the camp's wifi and it will firewall your devices. E.g. when your TV is connected to your Winegard router, no random people in the campground can screen cast to your TV.

[Javi]

Originally Posted by behrmr

The antennae sit on the roof and aren't imbedded inside a phone in my pocket or shielded from signal sitting inside the RV.

I get a much better signal than I do on my phone with this setup. And if you have any networked devices in your RV they will stay connected to the RV's local network full-time.

Plus you can connect your winegard router to the camp's wifi and it will firewall your devices. E.g. when your TV is connected to your Winegard router, no random people in the campground can screen cast to your TV.

After I installed it we were sitting out at the fire ring enjoying the cool night air and I checked the speed and at 40 yards from the trailer I was still getting 120 MBPS.

Now all I need to get is the correct adapter to plug my new S21 Ultra into my HDMI port on the TV so the DW can watch season 8 of Blue Bloods.. her current bingeing target..

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by Javi

After I installed it we were sitting out at the fire ring enjoying the cool night air and I checked the speed and at 40 yards from the trailer I was still getting 120 MBPS.

Now all I need to get is the correct adapter to plug my new S21 Ultra into my HDMI port on the TV so the DW can watch season 8 of Blue Bloods.. her current bingeing target..

Here ya go... https://www.amazon.com/CableCreation...66602480&psc=1

[Brantel]

Request:

I reached out to Winegard support and they confirmed as expected that there is no user definable TTL setting on the GW-1000 and that my request for this feature would be passed along to the engineers for consideration.

May I ask each owner of the GW-1000 to take the time to do the same? The more users asking for it, the more likely it will happen.

[Cascadia]

Originally Posted by Javi

After I installed it we were sitting out at the fire ring enjoying the cool night air and I checked the speed and at 40 yards from the trailer I was still getting 120 MBPS.

Now all I need to get is the correct adapter to plug my new S21 Ultra into my HDMI port on the TV so the DW can watch season 8 of Blue Bloods.. her current bingeing target..

I use the "smartview" on my s20 to stream onto our Samsung 4k UHD tv. Have you tried that? Beautiful picture every time. We used to connect an adapter to the TV but it isn't necessary anymore. We each have unlimited data on our AT&T account and we each have 30g of hotspot. Using the hotspot to watch a movie eats it up fast. We use our hotspot for our laptops and smartview for streaming Netflix, HBO, Prime etc. Works perfectly even when it's storming. We don't always get the best cell reception for calls but streaming tv never fails.