Wifi booster

[Fisher2]

we will be picking up our Elite II at the end of Oct. One of the options we are curious about is the wifi booster. We only use wifi for browsing, email and downloading podcasts(can be slow sometimes). We will be heading for Alaska in June next year for 3 months. Do you have any thoughts on the usefulness of this equipment vs cost?

[topgun2]

Fisher - Bottom line is that I'm glad I got this.  Not only does it help in campgrounds, but, when I'm on the road I can write emails and wait to send them the next day while stopping in a burger joint parking lot - you don't need to go into these places - just stop in the lot.  For those that have a smart phone and don't mind using data I understand that the phone booster is handy.   I  can't comment as to the usefulness in Alaska though since I've never been there.  Hope this helps you.

 

Bill

[Mainiac]

We have the WiFi and cell booster. We been in some out of the way places where (if you are lucky) they only have limited WiFi at the office. With the booster, we have been able to connect at our site. The cell booster has added a couple of bars, if you are by the antenna pickup spot, usually at the dinnette. We can keep in touch with home and the weather this way, as usually no television.

 

Best wireless device we like is the wireless camera. We can pass someone on a rainy day and know when it is safe to pull back in. We can watch someone tailgating, if we turn it on. It has helped us turn around too, when we might have ventured onto a washed out path, at the end of a former road

[Spike]

We too are glad we have the WiFi and cell-phone boosters. They work. We are also glad to have the rear-view camera. All three are good investments.

[topgun2]

A thing about the WiFi booster that you should know is that it does not increase the available band width - only the campground or supplier of the WiFi signal can do that.  So, if you want to download something big - a bunch of pictures or a movie - you will have a stronger connection to the source but it will still take forever to do your download.  In popular large campgrounds from about 4 pm to 11 pm it seems that people want to download movies and/or there are simply too many people trying to use the available band width at the same time.

 

Bill

[Fisher2]

Thanks Bill, just the feedback I was hoping for.

 

Bruce

[Fisher2]

Thanks for the booster feedback, and the bu camera tips.

 

Bruce

[Fisher2]

Thanks again, Bill. Just enough info so I can understand.

 

Bruce

[Fisher2]

Bill,

 

i notice your tow vehicle is our dream truck. Do you find the FX4 capabilities important for your travel adventures? We thought Max Towing was overkill to pull the Ollie?

 

Bruce

[topgun2]

Bruce - sent pm so as to not change the thread.

 

Bill

[KarenLukens]

Having the wifi booster really depends on how you're going to use your trailer. If you're going to be in campgrounds all of the time and don't have unlimited data on your phone, then wifi can be a good thing. We didn't get it ourselves because we mostly boondock. Plus we've always had better service with our cell phone with unlimited data. Like Bill said, wifi can really get bogged down with everyone connected to it at once, and this is where it will come in handy because you can actually get a lot better wifi connection with the booster.

 

For us, we stick with the 4g unlimited because we are rarely in campgrounds and simply prefer our own connection. So we did get the cell phone booster but we've only needed it a handful of times. It will pull you up to 3 bars from no service sometimes, and that's why we bought it. But we don't use it at the Dinette, we use it in the bed mostly with our heads at the back window, so be sure to have them put the boosters into your trailer where you will get the most use out of them. My list of projects includes moving the booster to the rear of the trailer now, where it will be used daily. Plus it's really limited on how close you need to have your phone to it, to get a signal, pretty much 18" or closer, so you will be holding the phone up to it to make it useful. If we are in a place with no service, right now we hot spot a tablet right under the booster and use our other tablets to connect to it from back at the bed, which is a pain mostly because our best tablet is now dedicated to the front of the trailer, where we are always together in the back. We turned our Dinette into a full time sofa because we usually cook and eat outside, so the tablet can't just sit on the table and the sofa cushions are too far away for it to work from the sofa, so...

 

In other words, correct placement of the Boosters in the trailer is the key :)

 

Reed

[DavidS]

If you have both the wifi and cellular boosters, here is a nice trick when there is no external wifi available.

 

Turn on the cellular booster, and then boot up your hotspot or jetpack, placing it on the dinette for maximal signal boost. Then have your wifi booster log into your hotspot. Now have your devices connect to the wifi booster. They should now have good signal throughout the trailer as well as outside.

 

David

[Fisher2]

David, you are obviously of a younger generation that is not overwhelmed by all this technology. Thanks for the tips.

 

Bruce

[Fisher2]

Karen, you are the best "replier". Thanks for all your input.

 

Bruce

[Overland]

Second what Dave said.  Another bit of advice I'd add is for you and your spouse to have your cell phones on different carriers to maximize your coverage.

 

 

 

We decided to opt out of Oliver's install and if we decide we need it, we'll install out own.  It's not too difficult and there are better antennas you can get to avoid the problems Karen and Reed have.

[DavidS]

David, you are obviously of a younger generation that is not overwhelmed by all this technology. Thanks for the tips. Bruce

Younger generation? Hardly. I turn 65 in two weeks. Becoming part of the Medicare generation.

 

David

[Fisher2]

Can you clarify your comment about a better antenna ? Great idea about having different cellular providers, but that assumes we both have cell phones. The old fart doesn't have one. Do you have any thoughts on which one is better in Alaska?

 

Bruce

[DavidS]

Bruce, For info on the cellular boosters, I would check out Technomadia's page http://www.technomadia.com/2014/08/how-we-keep-online-illustrated-tour-of-our-rv-mobile-internet-setup/

 

Section 3 on the page is Cellular Boosters & Antennas. BTW, Technomadia are former Oliver owners.

[SeaDawg]

Second what Dave said. Another bit of advice I’d add is for you and your spouse to have your cell phones on different carriers to maximize your coverage.

 

 

 

We decided to opt out of Oliver’s install and if we decide we need it, we’ll install out own. It’s not too difficult and there are better antennas you can get to avoid the problems Karen and Reed have.

 

Great advice. With one phone and tablet on T-Mobile, one phone and tablet on Verizon, we've found we have signal pretty much anywhere there is signal.

In many spots in the wilds of canda and Alaska, it simply doesn't exist. If you must always be connected, get a satellite phone with a contract that allows interruptions.

We don't have a cell phone booster. We have felt that a few nights at a time without signal is a good thing, not a negative...

Sherry

 

 

[KWRJRPE]

DavidS

 

You continue to impress with your wise advice. I just signed-up for a December start-to-build date with an April 2019 delivery, so in the process of deciding upgrades and options. The cell booster and Wifi booster are on my list, and I intend to deploy a Verizon Jetpack the way you described. However, I am confused about the cell phone booster placement issue. I assumed a cell phone signal booster placed anywhere in the relatively small Oliver would have enough range to send a boosted cell phone signal through the entire inside area of the Oliver (and hopefully outside too). Is it true the cell phone has to be within 18 inches of the cell phone booster to receive a boosted signal? I may have misread the discussion, certainly this cell phone booster has a better range than 18 inches. Even though I can place my Verizon Jetpack within 18 inches of the cell phone booster to take advantage of a stronger Verizon signal for my Wifi devices, if the Verizon signal is weak will I need to position my phone calls within 18 inches from the signal booster?

[John E Davies]

 Is it true the cell phone has to be within 18 inches of the cell phone booster to receive a boosted signal? I may have misread the discussion, certainly this cell phone booster has a better range than 18 inches. Even though I can place my Verizon Jetpack within 18 inches of the cell phone booster to take advantage of a stronger Verizon signal for my Wifi devices, if the Verizon signal is weak will I need to position my phone calls within 18 inches from the signal booster?

With my factory installation and a “barely there” Verizon signal, I do have to put my phone pretty much directly under the inside  transmitting antenna. With my wife’s Jetpack, we just set it on the table and it works fine throughout the cabin. We haven’t tried using the Booster outside at all.

 

I haven’t tried David’s trick of turning the phone to Airport Mode briefly to get it to hookup to the Booster rather than a distant antenna. I was initially not thrilled with the performance of the system, but it has brought in a 2 bar connection when my phone showed No Service, so it does indeed work, and I would not be without it for remote travel.

 

The Wifi Booster is of no use to me all and I left it off the build sheet. I used the money saved to buy an inReach for emergency communications.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[DavidS]

Is it true the cell phone has to be within 18 inches of the cell phone booster to receive a boosted signal?

I think that 18 inch comment is hyperbole, based on frustration about the booster signal not extending to the back of the trailer. WeBoost, manufacturer of the cell phone booster, says it has a range of 30 feet, with disclaimers about obstacles limiting signal range. My experience is that the booster works well when seated at the dinette, and that appears to be the experience of most posters, like John's comment above. Will it work outside? I don't know. An experiment can be done: Set a phone up in Field Test mode (link in Sherry's post) and test the signal at various distances from the dinette, including outside the trailer. Unfortunately Field Test mode no longer works on my current iPhone, so I cannot do this test.

 

One suggestion for people with the WiFi Booster. Set your phone to use calling over WiFi. I think most phones and providers can do this. I do this at work where the cell signal is very bad, but the WiFi is dynamite. The WiFi Booster has a range of 1000 feet (with disclaimers about obstacles), so you can be a distance away from the trailer and still get a WiFi signal and hence calling over WiFi.

[SeaDawg]

We still use wifi calling in some places. My Verizon phone, for example, won't work in many places. But, if I wifi call from a restaurant or information center, anywhere in the world, I can use something like justalk app and not only talk to my daughter, but see her smiling face. For free. If I have enough wifi signal ...

 

A caveat is, some phones, especially budget priced smart phones, don't accommodate wifi calling. I tried to set it up on a cousin's phone for her. Not possible. The phone and carrier have to support it.

Sherry

 

[ksquail]

I paid extra to have it installed with the new camper.  I'm convinced it wasn't worth the money.

 

 

 

 

[Overland]

I’ll chime back in with a plug for the Cradlepoint router as an alternative to both the Wi-Fi ranger and the Wilson WeBoost. The cradlepoint is essentially a Wi-Fi ranger and Jetpack on steroids, giving you the possibility of having two cellular connections (two carriers), two Wi-Fi antennas, and two external cellular antennas, along with wired Ethernet. For us it’s been a great solution. We have a dedicated Wi-Fi network for the trailer with excellent signal inside and out (more than strong enough to use from the truck while traveling), provided by great 4g service thanks to the external antenna. So we have internet and Wi-Fi calling without the need for an external Wi-Fi or boosted cell signal, though it can use an external Wi-Fi for internet if you want. Right now we just have AT&T unlimited service but could add second sim from another provider and the router will switch automatically as needed. There’s also an expansion tray available that I believe will allow you to use two connections simultaneously for a faster connection.

 

The system was recommended to me by another Oliver owner with knowledge of the field that far outstrips my own. I went with his advice on trust but we’re finding that it’s an extremely powerful device that becomes more and more useable the more we learn about its capabilities. I highly recommend it, with the caveat that it isn’t a consumer product and therefore isn’t as user friendly I imagine as other devices. That said, it worked fine for us out of the box with minimal setup.

 

One of my summer projects (hopefully) is to make an antenna mast for a Wilson directional antenna that will plug directly into the second antenna connection on the cradlepoint. That way we’ll have our permanent antenna on the roof and a more powerful antenna that we can put out for long stays or emergencies.