Wifi booster

[KWRJRPE]

These forum discussions regarding wifiranger and weboost cell phone amplifier are great! I have decided to add both to my April2019 Oliver ELII upgrade list. Seem appropriate for me, at least.

 

If you are interested in getting this technology for your Oliver, I suggest you check out the WifiRanger website training videos for a super explanation and easy to understand review of the Wifiranger SkyPro. Really cool technology and appears to be very user-friendly software. Sold me. And, the presenter on these videos is excellent (even I can follow him).

 

https://wifiranger.com/support

[SeaDawg]

Overland , I'd love to hear a little more about your cradle point. And, which antenna you use?

The Wilson booster product is very easy, out of the box. How technical is the cradlepoint? Which of the mobile products did you install?

Sherry

[Overland]

The model I have is the IBR900.  I have their 5 in 1 antenna, which has 2 cell antennas, 2 wifi and a GPS antenna.  The router itself comes with antennas, and in retrospect, I probably should have tried using them first before paying extra for an external antenna.  And, even with an external antenna, it probably would have been wiser to get their 3 in 1, which just has 1 each of the cell and wifi antennas, and use the included antennas for the other two.  In fact, I might try unhooking one of the external wifi antennas and use the included one instead, just because it probably makes more sense to have one inside the trailer.  Not that we've had any connection problems.

 

Here's where I've mounted the router and antenna:

 

 

Mounting the antenna was scary since I had to drill through the roof, but actually very easy to do.  I think it was a ½" hole through which you stick the cables and a threaded rod and then secure it from inside the attic.  I think the bottom of the antenna had 3M tape also.  Easy.  I caulked it both at the hole and the perimeter, and I think it will be fine.

 

Since I don't have a stereo, I used that circuit to power the router.

 

In addition to wifi, it has two ethernet ports on the back, which came in handy for me as I could connect it directly to my Victron control panel for a full time internet connection.  I added an ethernet switch to the other port just because I had one lying around so why not.  I don't know what I'd use it for though.

 

I'd say that the initial setup is actually pretty easy.  Just insert your sim, plug it in and then connect to it via your phone or tablet.  Then it asks you to change the wifi name and password and maybe a few other things and then you're good to go.  Like a cable router that you might have at home, you can connect to the Cradlepoint in your browser by entering its IP address and it gives you an administrator page through which you can adjust any settings:

 

 

What makes it less user friendly is doing things like connecting to an outside wifi for internet, which isn't intuitive in the least.  So unintuitive, in fact, that I actually had no idea that it was even a feature until I ran across "WiFi as WAN" in the manual and wondered what on earth that meant.

[SeaDawg]

Thanks for the info.

Using an outside wifi is useless to us, most of the time. We almost never camp in places with wifi. We do take our phones to wifi at info centers, etc.

Thanks for the photos and the additional information.

I believe your system is more complicated, but more productive for boondocking.

 

Just a small question, how tall is the antenna? The supplied antenna from bestbuy was maybe 3 or 3.5 inches, for the Wilson.

 

Thanks.

Sherry

 

[SeaDawg]

So, are both the items in the middle photo antennas? The mini dome, and the item forward?

Sherry

[Overland]

The dome is the antenna. It’s about 5” in diameter I guess. I noticed that they have a different version now on their website that’s a bit lower profile. The 4 small antennae that come with the router are maybe 4” or 5” tall. I’d have to find the box to be sure.

 

The thing forward of the dome, or actually rearward, is our rear view camera. It’s a wired system from RVS. We really like it.

 

We haven’t used the outside Wi-Fi feature yet, possibly because I just figured out it existed last week. I connected it to our Wi-Fi here at home just to see how it works. Like you I’m not sure how much we’ll use it on the road.

[ScubaRx]

The item forward is a rear view camera.

 

This is the same system we installed about a year ago but I put it into the truck instead of the trailer so we could use it all the time instead of just when camping.  The transmission range is on the order of hundreds of feet instead of 18 inches so it is available inside the trailer as long as the truck is close by.  The system is powered by the truck so I installed a timed switch to cut power to the wi-fi several hours after the ignition switch is turned off.  It is reactivated each time the truck is cranked.

[DavidS]

Some comments about the WeBoost cellular booster and the WiFi Ranger. We are camped at Paradise campground (NFS) on the McKenzie River in the Oregon Cascades. Our Verizon phones have zero to one bar, and my Jetpack has zero to one bar. With the cellular booster they have three bars. My WiFi Ranger is connected to the Jetpack. I can now sit by the river and get, quite honestly, mediocre connectivity. Without the WiFi Ranger I would have mediocre connectivity, but only at the dinette. I like the combined power of the WeBoost cellular booster and the WiFi Ranger.

 

We do not choose our campsites based on cell signals. This area is gorgeous. We had a great hike this morning and saw a bunch of waterfalls.

[Jamesgina]

WiFi booster is the only useless option in our Oliver. Not worth boosting most campground WiFi. Love our Oliver but could have done without that option.

[Jim_Oker]

On 7/31/2018 at 2:04 PM, Overland said:

The thing forward of the dome, or actually rearward, is our rear view camera. It’s a wired system from RVS. We really like it.

I got an RVS wired camera installed 0n/in  our camper van about five years ago and it's been great. It stays fairly clean, being up  near the  top of the rear side (we have a raised fiberglass top) and yet is easy to reach  and wipe with a  cloth when  it does get dirty or fogged, the image is great quality and it gives a pretty  decent image even at night. And they used a standard video connection (unlike some other rear view  camera  vendors) so you  can use their screens if you  want or you  can, as we did,  feet it into a stereo/amp unit that has a big screen and have it set up to automatically flip to this video  feed when the  vehicle is  in reverse, and also manually turn to this video at other times. They do of  course  also make wireless systems. They are the choice used for a lot of fleet vehicles for  a reason I  think.