WiFi Router

[KeyTam Cougar364]

Has anyone purchased the Wineguard GW-100 Gateway 4G WiFi Router to upgrade their Air 360+ Antenna? Looking to upgrade poor WiFi and limit the buffering constantly. Thanks

[WearyTraveler]

I have it. It’s only 4g so it’s older tech. I’ve had trouble getting the cellular networking to connect and when it does, it’s slow and spotty.
So, it’ll allow you to get cellular network if you have got 4g coverage. It won’t speed it up though.
If will also allow you to connect to the RV park’s Wi-Fi if they use a login / password. If it’s a splash page, you’re SOL. If the park’s Wi-Fi is slow, this won’t make it any faster - it’ll just extend their slow Wi-Fi.
The benefit of this setup though, is that you can configure all your smart TVs (and Wyze cams) to use your router rather than reconfiguring them at every new campground.

[KeyTam Cougar364]

Originally Posted by WearyTraveler

I have it. It’s only 4g so it’s older tech. I’ve had trouble getting the cellular networking to connect and when it does, it’s slow and spotty.
So, it’ll allow you to get cellular network if you have got 4g coverage. It won’t speed it up though.
If will also allow you to connect to the RV park’s Wi-Fi if they use a login / password. If it’s a splash page, you’re SOL. If the park’s Wi-Fi is slow, this won’t make it any faster - it’ll just extend their slow Wi-Fi.
The benefit of this setup though, is that you can configure all your smart TVs (and Wyze cams) to use your router rather than reconfiguring them at every new campground.

Thank you very much for the info, helped a lot.

[jxnbbl]

Originally Posted by KeyTam Cougar364

Has anyone purchased the Wineguard GW-100 Gateway 4G WiFi Router to upgrade their Air 360+ Antenna? Looking to upgrade poor WiFi and limit the buffering constantly. Thanks

I've have it and have had the opposite experience than WearyTraveler. I use it to work when traveling. What I have found is that when my laptop sitting at our table can connect, the gateway with the roof antenna provides a stronger/more reliable signal to the campground signal. Or a restaurant, winery, or... (we use harvest host too)... When I am at a place that does not have wifi, a non-existent signal at my site or limited/throttled bandwidth (sometimes crappy due to the many people streaming today) I use the 4G wireless network. We have used this reliably as long as you have cell service for working as well as streaming our home TV services to the camper TV.

It will not "boost signals" but I've found that since the signal is received at the roof it is better than host spotting a phone in the camper and provides an internal network to connect devices

[Balvar24]

Is there a way to utilize the external Wifi antenna and connected to a router of my choosing as a repeater? I'm not really interested in buying the proprietary Wineguard stuff.

[jsb5717]

Originally Posted by Balvar24

Is there a way to utilize the external Wifi antenna and connected to a router of my choosing as a repeater? I'm not really interested in buying the proprietary Wineguard stuff.

Yes, I have the 360+ and, with the necessary cable adapters, I use my own Wifi signal booster and 4G hotspot. The 360+ has basic antennas for TV, Wifi and 4G. Any appropriate receivers will use those signals.

The hard part was figuring out the various connectors needed and available to get from their wiring to my products. Attached is a chart of how I did it. It works. The numbers show the different connectors I used to get from one to the other. With different types of connectors and cables with both male and female ends it was a little complex. I did my best to shortcut the number of connectors needed. Maybe you will have more luck. But, this works and provides signal as well as flexibility in the devices you choose to use.

[jxnbbl]

Originally Posted by Balvar24

Is there a way to utilize the external Wifi antenna and connected to a router of my choosing as a repeater? I'm not really interested in buying the proprietary Wineguard stuff.

jsp5717 implemented what I investigated and gave up. Mainly due to the lack of ability to easily hide all the componentry and the total price tag wasn't much different since I was starting from nothing. I'm sure his setup is technically/more powerful if you want to start streaming to devices outside the trailer in the 'outside living spaces'.

[KeyTam Cougar364]

Thanks for the info

[KeyTam Cougar364]

Thank you, good explainations.

[Javi]

Originally Posted by Balvar24

Is there a way to utilize the external Wifi antenna and connected to a router of my choosing as a repeater? I'm not really interested in buying the proprietary Wineguard stuff.

I have the Winegard Gateway and it works perfectly fine for what it is designed to do. It will not make crappy wifi into good wifi or fringe 4G into 5G but it will and can pick up a weak signal better than just a cell phone antenna.

I can upload and download files for work on my laptop and the DW can play on social media 24/7 or I can stream a Trump rally or a football game if I want

[Balvar24]

Originally Posted by jsb5717

Yes, I have the 360+ and, with the necessary cable adapters, I use my own Wifi signal booster and 4G hotspot. The 360+ has basic antennas for TV, Wifi and 4G. Any appropriate receivers will use those signals.

The hard part was figuring out the various connectors needed and available to get from their wiring to my products. Attached is a chart of how I did it. It works. The numbers show the different connectors I used to get from one to the other. With different types of connectors and cables with both male and female ends it was a little complex. I did my best to shortcut the number of connectors needed. Maybe you will have more luck. But, this works and provides signal as well as flexibility in the devices you choose to use.

Just the info I needed. Thanks.

[Crossfired]

Originally Posted by jsb5717

Yes, I have the 360+ and, with the necessary cable adapters, I use my own Wifi signal booster and 4G hotspot. The 360+ has basic antennas for TV, Wifi and 4G. Any appropriate receivers will use those signals.

The hard part was figuring out the various connectors needed and available to get from their wiring to my products. Attached is a chart of how I did it. It works. The numbers show the different connectors I used to get from one to the other. With different types of connectors and cables with both male and female ends it was a little complex. I did my best to shortcut the number of connectors needed. Maybe you will have more luck. But, this works and provides signal as well as flexibility in the devices you choose to use.

New 2022 Crossfire 1900RD owner here. I pulled down the Wingard ceiling cover about 3 weeks ago assuming the antenna wires would be there but was surprised to only find what I think is a 12vdc power loop. It has the Keystone Unified Wiring mark "2" on it as you may see in the photo. But there are no other wires present. Over by the TV/Radio cabinet there are only coaxial connectors as shown. The Winegard dome is sealed up top so I cannot easily open that. Should I open up that ceiling hole a bit more and look in there? I'm stumped.

[jxnbbl]

I went through this same thing this fall. My post starts with the link below. I took down a speaker and used a scope to find the cable. My problem ended up that the cable was too short to make the hole of the cover. So I created a new ceiling hole and used the existing to house the power switch to the gateway.

The cable will be there but they screwed up at assembly… this was not my experience with our first trailer in 2020 as the cable and power wires were zip tied to the cover as expected

https://www.keystoneforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=415703&postcount=5

[jsb5717]

Originally Posted by Crossfired

New 2022 Crossfire 1900RD owner here. I pulled down the Wingard ceiling cover about 3 weeks ago assuming the antenna wires would be there but was surprised to only find what I think is a 12vdc power loop. It has the Keystone Unified Wiring mark "2" on it as you may see in the photo. But there are no other wires present. Over by the TV/Radio cabinet there are only coaxial connectors as shown. The Winegard dome is sealed up top so I cannot easily open that. Should I open up that ceiling hole a bit more and look in there? I'm stumped.

It doesn’t appear that you have the same Winegard dome that I do. Mine is the 360+ which has 3 different antennas in it. Do you have to documentation for the unit you’ve got?

[Crossfired]

Originally Posted by jxnbbl

I went through this same thing this fall. My post starts with the link below. I took down a speaker and used a scope to find the cable. My problem ended up that the cable was too short to make the hole of the cover. So I created a new ceiling hole and used the existing to house the power switch to the gateway.

The cable will be there but they screwed up at assembly… this was not my experience with our first trailer in 2020 as the cable and power wires were zip tied to the cover as expected

https://www.keystoneforums.com/forum...03&postcount=5

Ah. Ok. That makes sense. I have a cheap borescope somewhere. I need to find it and take a look up there.

Originally Posted by jsb5717

It doesn’t appear that you have the same Winegard dome that I do. Mine is the 360+ which has 3 different antennas in it. Do you have to documentation for the unit you’ve got?

The manual that came with the RV says "Winegard Air 360+ v.2.s Model AR-360K"

I'm gonna take a quick look for the wires and see if they are somewhere in there. If I can't find them I may just go with a Poynting 5-in-1 like I have on my boat. It works very well.

Thanks fellas!

[jsb5717]

Originally Posted by Crossfired

Ah. Ok. That makes sense. I have a cheap borescope somewhere. I need to find it and take a look up there.


The manual that came with the RV says "Winegard Air 360+ v.2.s Model AR-360K"

I'm gonna take a quick look for the wires and see if they are somewhere in there. If I can't find them I may just go with a Poynting 5-in-1 like I have on my boat. It works very well.

Thanks fellas!

The boroscope is a good idea. If it's a 360+ then it has to have the wires. The model I have is the AR-360B (pic below), which has screws around the base to pull open the cover. I can't find a model AR-360K anywhere.

[WearyTraveler]

I am planning to buy a cheap 5G capable cell phone. My att unlimited plan allows my cell phones to act as hot spots, so adding a cheap 5G phone and always leaving it in the TT and configuring my wingard to use it as the route out (Wi-Fi - not wingard’s cellular) will allow me to stream / surf anywhere I get a 4g or 5G signal. I currently have an att sim in the wingard, but those sims / devices limit me to 15 gig per billing cycle (by att) and are limited (by the wingard) to 4g.
If I’m in an area with no cell service, I can always configure the wingard to extend the park’s Wi-Fi.

As mentioned above, the wingard will likely get a better connection to the park’s Wi-Fi, it most likely has a better antenna than your phone. But it won’t improve a park’s crappy Wi-Fi, it’ll just get you to the bottleneck quicker.

[BruceinDFW]

I am an IT guy and needed a reliable, fast and high usage Internet option for our Montana 3811MS. After trying the Togo unit for a year - and until AT&T removed the unlimited usage option with a low price - I switched to the Peplink Max Transit Cat18 modem and Parsec 7-in-1 Husky antenna with the 800GB data plan - all from mobilemusthave.com. They have many options for various budgets, and you can use your own data plans - IF they are the right type of plan for the device. I discovered that there are very few plans that work with the Cat12 and Cat18 modems. Most carriers have limited connectivity of those devices to very few select data only plans. If you are using a Cat6 modem, you will have more data plan options - and some of the tablet and/or phone data plans might work. Some carriers look at the MAC address of the modem and will limit connection based on the modem manufacturer. I really like the solution I installed. I used it for five months straight in 2021 - either by connecting to nearby good WiFi signals or using the LTE. The LTE 4G speeds on the T-Mobile network (the plan that I have) were very good in the areas where I used it. We also had our phone Verizon hotspots that we could enable and connect the Peplink to if there was no T-Mobile coverage.

[Jbro]

Originally Posted by WearyTraveler

I have it. It’s only 4g so it’s older tech. I’ve had trouble getting the cellular networking to connect and when it does, it’s slow and spotty.
So, it’ll allow you to get cellular network if you have got 4g coverage. It won’t speed it up though.
If will also allow you to connect to the RV park’s Wi-Fi if they use a login / password. If it’s a splash page, you’re SOL. If the park’s Wi-Fi is slow, this won’t make it any faster - it’ll just extend their slow Wi-Fi.
The benefit of this setup though, is that you can configure all your smart TVs (and Wyze cams) to use your router rather than reconfiguring them at every new campground.

I have a new RV with Wineguard AIR 360 installed and it's prewired for the Gateway router. Can you confirm that if the campground's WIFI is not set up with a login/password, I cannot connect to it with the Gateway to relay the signal inside my RV?

Is my only option in that case to purchase a data plan?

[jxnbbl]

You can connect to it even when there is a login at the campground wifi. The one thing it won't do is improve the campground's wifi but I've found it is reliable and a better connection to that wifi than 'direct connecting' through my laptop.

When you search connect to the wifi via the phone app, you have to be connected to the winegard network. During this connection process you will lose the connection...but if you reestablish the connection through your phone/laptop to the winegard network that you've configured and there is a campground login, you will end up seeing that on your connected device - log in and you have a connection for as long as they don't 'recycle sessions'.