Installing WiFi Booster and/or 4G Cell Phone Booster after purchase

[BuckandConnie]

Does anyone know if you can install either the WiFi Booster and/or the 4G Cell Phone Booster if it was not purchased during the original manufacture?

[topgun2]

Sure you can. But, it will require drilling a hole(s) through the exterior shell for the antenna - mounting and wire feed. I don't believe that either of these draw a bunch of power - so - they could probably be "tapped" into just about any existing circuit for power. You would probably also want to place a switch on the interior for that power which would mean drilling/sawing another hole on the interior shell. Also, I know that there are units/models that do not have permanently mounted antennas. Perhaps one of these would be better for your application if you don't want to drill holes.

Bill

[BuckandConnie]

hmmmm, thanks a ton!

[thirddoor]

The WeBoost comes with a DC power plug which includes a lighted switch. We have one in our TV, plugged into a DC power socket.

The Olly has LOTS of these, perhaps one of those would work?

They don't draw a lot of current, but it's constant and adds up quickly, so the switch is essential to preserve your batteries.

 

We have the factory installed unit, but plan to upgrade to a mast-mounted antenna we can set up when parked.

Will likely route through the dinette window and connect to the booster installed in the cabinet above.

 

[SeaDawg]

Last year, or maybe the year before, we bought a portable weBoost to test on our mountain property. It was simple. Plug into the 12v cigarette lighter outlet, put the antenna outside through the window. Portable means kind of "deploy every time."

 

Unfortunately. we had zero tmobile signal, anywhere, when I did scans with our tmobile devices, so I returned it. You have to have some very weak signal to boost....

Our Verizon devices already worked fine. But, we did get a boost on the Verizon.

 

That's why we carry devices from two carriers when we travel. Usually, if there's any signal at all, either tmobile or Verizon can connect.

 

Sherry

[Overland]

We installed a Cradlepoint router in our trailer.  We did drill a hole in the roof above the attic for a 5 way antenna, which was simple, but it would have been possible to connect to an antenna via the coax port on the rear of the trailer.  It's not a cell booster per se, but accomplishes the same if you have phones that feature wifi calling, like iPhones.  I used the stereo circuit to power ours, since we didn't get the factory stereo installed.

[WhatDa]

If all goes well, I may have a WiFi Ranger for sale in a month.

[topgun2]

Whatda -

 

Keep me in mind - I have recently been having problems with mine (probably due to my hitting a tree with it!).

 

Thanks,

 

Bill

[mossemi]

We installed a Cradlepoint router in our trailer. We did drill a hole in the roof above the attic for a 5 way antenna, which was simple,

but it would have been possible to connect to an antenna via the coax port on the rear of the trailer.

 

It’s not a cell booster per se, but accomplishes the same if you have phones that feature wifi calling, like iPhones. I used the stereo circuit to power ours, since we didn’t get the factory stereo installed.

 

 

I think television coax and antennas are rated at 75 OHM and wireless coax and antennas are rated at 50 OHM. If you connect a 50 OHM device to a 75 OHM device or coax, you would create an impedance mismatch which would cause signal loss. Since the idea is to boost a weak wireless signal, you would want all components balanced for the best signal improvement. That being said, the short coax length would be a benefit and possibly not create enough impedance loss to be a problem, but it is a consideration. I don’t think it would be too difficult to replace the television coax with wireless coax.

I’m not sure if your Cradlepoint is a WiFi receiver or not, it depends on the model, but I assume it is based on the 5 way antenna. The big signal boost you get with your equipment is the roof mount antenna.

If I was going to spend the money to add a wireless booster or router, I would install a wireless antenna and coax cable which I think you did from your description. Although an antenna on JD's flag pole would be an interesting test.

Mike

[mossemi]

We installed a Cradlepoint router in our trailer. We did drill a hole in the roof above the attic for a 5 way antenna, which was simple,

• but it would have been possible to connect to an antenna via the coax port on the rear of the trailer.

It’s not a cell booster per se, but accomplishes the same if you have phones that feature wifi calling, like iPhones. I used the stereo circuit to power ours, since we didn’t get the factory stereo installed.

 

 

I think television coax and antennas are rated at 75 OHM and wireless coax and antennas are rated at 50 OHM. If you connect a 50 OHM device to a 75 OHM device or coax, you would create an impedance mismatch which would cause signal loss. Since the idea is to boost a weak wireless signal, you would want all components balanced for the best signal improvement. That being said, the short coax length would be a benefit and possibly not create enough impedance loss to be a problem, but it is a consideration. I don’t think it would be too difficult to replace the television coax with wireless coax.

I’m not sure if your Cradlepoint is a WiFi receiver or not, it depends on the model, but I assume it is based on the 5 way antenna. The big signal boost you get with your equipment is the roof mount antenna.

If I was going to spend the money to add a wireless booster or router, I would install a wireless antenna and coax cable which I think you did from your description. Although an antenna on JD's flag pole would be an interesting test.

Mike

[Overland]

There are two WiFi antennas and you can use the second one to boost a WiFi signal if you wish.  It’s possible that the 4g antennas can be used the same way but I’ve never tried

 

If you were to use the coax port on the trailer, I think you’d want to run your own cable to it and then to whatever external antenna you’d want to use, 4g or WiFi, or both. Advantage being that you could place the second antenna for each on a mast.

[KountryKamper]

<p style="text-align: center;">

Does anyone know if you can install either the WiFi Booster and/or the 4G Cell Phone Booster if it was not purchased during the original manufacture?

 

 

</p>

We had Oliver service install the WiFi Ranger and Cell phone booster in our trailer after it was a year old. They did a great job and it looks better than the others I have seen that were installed during the build.

[mossemi]

The idea behind connecting multiple antennas is diversity.  One of the antennas nearly always receives a better signal than the other, so you combine the signal from both antennas, thus improving the received signal.  Any newer 4G phone has multiple receive and transmit antennas.  That is called MiMo or multiple in/multiple out.

 

Horizontal diversity is much better than vertical diversity because the higher antenna would nearly always receive a stronger signal.  That would eliminate the benefit of the second antenna as far as diversity is concerned.

 

So if your 5 way antenna supports WiFi and 4G cellular, what else does it support and how many coax connections does it have?

[ozarkhikers]

You can use a balun (balanced/unbalanced) to connect a 50 ohm device to a 75 ohm cable.

 

https://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=859955&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cse&utm_term=859955&gclid=CjwKCAjw8NfrBRA7EiwAfiVJpXNmrQbN67ya8jelBHZZClP96AlikZvsdvtH-dnJpMvp84u9OR3o2hoCFQAQAvD_BwE

[Overland]

So if your 5 way antenna supports WiFi and 4G cellular, what else does it support and how many coax connections does it have?

 

Here are the specs -

WAN:

Dual-modem capable with optional COR Extensibility Dock

Integrated LP6 Category 6 LTE Advanced LTE modem (with DC-HSPA+ failover) or LP5 Category 6 LTE Advanced LTEmodem (with DC-HSPA+ failover)

Two LAN/WAN switchable 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet ports – one default WAN (cable/DSL/T1/satellite/MetroEthernet)

WiFi as WAN, Metro WiFi; 2×2 MIMO “N” 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz; 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac wave 2 (IBR900 only)

LAN:

Dual-band, dual-concurrent WiFi; 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac wave 2 (IBR900 only)

Two LAN/WAN switchable 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet ports – one default LAN

Serial console support for Out-of-Band Management of a connected device

PORTS:

Power

2-wire GPIO

Add more GPIO ports with optional 9-wire GPIO cable or COR Extensibility Dock (see Accessories section below)

USB 2.0

Two Ethernet LAN/WAN

Two cellular antenna connectors (SMA)

One active GPS antenna connector (SMA)

Two WiFi antenna connectors (R-SMA)

15-pin dock port for COR Extensibility Dock or 9-wire GPIO cable

Here's the antenna.  Just drill straight through to the attic.  The antenna has a threaded connection, so it bolts securely to the hull.  I ran a bead of caulk around the hole and at the perimeter.

 

The only issue I've had is that since all the antennas are outside, the wifi signal is actually better outside the trailer than in.  I suspect that the reflectix insulation might be the cause of the signal loss.  But it's not terrible, and since the router also came with the typical wifi antennas, I could always replace one of the external antennas with that if I wanted.  Probably the best setup is to to that, and then place the second 4g antenna on an extendable mast.  I never connect to local wifi, so no point for me to try to boost that signal.  Maybe I should go dig one of those antennas out of the box so I don't forget.

 

 

 

Here's where it sits in the attic -

[Landrover]

Anyone  who have newer gm vehicle,  i use my onstar for personal WiFi  $20.00 a month unlimited data. And if there is no cell signal can make a call through onstar.   No holes to drill and the system is always updated. The only down fall is if parked,  the ignition key has to be on, or the trucks has to be running. We only use the WiFi for no more than a hour or two. Very little drain on the battery. Never had a bad connection anywhere.

[Overland]

I read that GM just cancelled the voice feature for 2020 models, unfortunately.  I think onstar does require a cell signal to work, but it has a better antenna so can often get a signal when your phone can't.

 

We pay $10 extra a month on our phone plan for the sim that goes into the cradlepoint, plus all the stupid fees and taxes that get tacked on, so I think it ends up around $15. But I just use the sim I already have from my iPad, so that way it actually costs us nothing.

[mossemi]

So 2 antennas support LTE, 2 support WiFi and the 5th supports GPS.  That makes sense.

 

I may be wrong, it’s happened before, but I don’t think the WiFi portion is capable of receiving a WiFi signal from another access point, I think it is an access point.  I know you said you don’t use it that way, but have you ever tried to connect to another WiFi signal?  All of that really doesn’t matter if you aren’t going to use it to connect to, let’s say a Starbucks WiFi while picking up an espresso.  I think the LTE modem is the ISP and supplies the internet connection and the WiFi is a wireless router allowing multiple devices to connect to the www.

 

I can’t see the WiFi antenna connections in your picture, I assume they are hidden by the net bookcase and transmit/receive the WiFi signal outside.  If you put 1 of the rubber antennas on the router inside, it would be on the good side of the reflectix and improve the WiFi inside the Ollie.

 

Cobra1169 could confirm the details if he was around.

 

Mike

 

 

[Overland]

The router will definitely connect to an outside WiFi signal - that's the WiFi as WAN feature in the specs.  It doesn't boost an outside signal, but rather connects to it and then shares that connection with its own local network, same as what it does with 4g.  What I don't know is whether it would act as a signal booster for 4g.  I doubt that it can.  But as I said, it essentially accomplishes the same task if you have WiFi calling on your phone.

 

I think one internal and one external WiFi antenna would work best - I just need to dig out one of those antennas to try it.  That, and getting one 4g antenna on a mast would be the bee's knees, as they say.  Of course, by the time I actually get around to designing and building a mast, it will be time for 5g and I'll need a new router.

 

My only disappointment with the router is that its administration pages don't display well on iOS devices.  That makes doing simple tasks like connecting to an outside WiFi difficult, only because it's hard to scroll the pages, press buttons, etc.  If I carried a laptop with me it wouldn't be a problem.  I guess that along with that, it's not a device that's been designed for an end user.  That's not a problem so long as you leave the stuff that you don't understand alone, but it does have pages of configurable gibberish that could be intimidating if you aren't at least a little tech savvy.  And while I've never had to call for tech support, I would guess that all of their support is geared towards professionals rather than end users.

 

Yes, the other connections are on the back side.  And there's a dock that you can buy which will give you even more connections.

[mossemi]

Thanks for clarifying the WAN feature.  It is definitely a piece of Enterprise equipment that requires a high level tech savvy and an IT department for support.

 

I can say with confidence that it cannot boost any WiFi or cellular received signal without an amplifier in front of the antenna ports.  The boost you are referring to with WIFi is the result of a better antenna located on the roof not any type of amplification.

 

Using a rubber duck WiFi antenna inside and the outside roof top would give you the best coverage both inside and outside.  As far as the cellular goes, moving one antenna 10 to 20 feet up on a mast would be detrimental to the MiMo capabilities.  You would be better off with a MiMo antenna on the mast.

 

And don’t worry about 5g, it won’t be anywhere near where you like to camp anytime soon.  If they put 5g equipment on the telephone pole outside my house, it would cover about 6 houses.  5g will be deployed at stadiums and around apartment building where there are high concentrations of users.  Although KOA's might be a target area.

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WhatDa]

https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/cradlepoint-changing-support-policy-requiring-service-contract-for-firmware-security-updates/

 

 

 

This is a little concerning if true - $180/year to keep your box updated/secure from cradlepoint.

 

 

 

I am going for the modem installed in the outside WiFi ranger unit.  Ideally it'd be category 12 LTE and all that, but it will probably be good enough.  Upside is I didn't really have to lift a finger to make it happen as Oliver installs it and does all the holes in the roof.  V3 will also support Band 71 for those T-Mobile/Millenicom users.  I also agree with overland that with a good 4G or better signal, a signal booster isn't really needed.   We went with the signal booster more for voice calls when in edge/3G land.  We don't expect to use it much, but when we do need it, it will be nice to have.  Beyond that, we have a Delorme InReach which I've used on my bike expeditions, so that at least gets short text messages out to whoever we want, wherever we want (as long as we can see the sky).

[Landrover]

What happen to a good book and checkers.

[Overland]

This is a little concerning if true – $180/year to keep your box updated/secure from cradlepoint.

 

It’s the first I’ve heard of that. My first thought is that it really sucks, but I guess most of the alternative systems that you might buy aren’t upgradable anyway, so maybe it doesn’t matter much?

 

Do WiFi Ranger or Wilson issue software updates?

[topgun2]

I know that WiFi Ranger does software updates.  About three years ago I was camped in some commercial RV park and saw a notice for a software update on my WiFi Ranger.  Without thinking I simply clicked on the update and went to bed.  The next morning my WiFi Ranger would not work.  Long story, short - when you see that message to not turn off your device while an update takes place - obey it!  During the download, the campground's wifi connection was lost which caused a total software failure in the Ranger.  Yes, I know that one would think that they would/could have prevented that, but they didn't.  The good news is that with the great help of the Service guys at Oliver, WiFi Ranger replaced the unit under warranty.

 

Bill

[WhatDa]

None of the mobile solutions are amazing.  SkyPro V3 is one of the only ones to support band 71 -- which gives T Mobile some pretty great coverage that still beats most of the public WiFi I have seen.  I think ideally I'd have a waterproof enclosure of decent up top with 1 or 2 runs of Cat 5/6 to the attic.  MIMO and everything else make the antenna count pretty high, and it'd be like 10 runs of coax if you wanted to have band diversity for wifi, 4g, and 5g (plus GPS/Glonass/etc...).  Thus I think it's good to have the modems/etc on the outside and just pipe the data into a "non-mobile" multi-wan router. That's pretty much how the WiFi ranger works, but the downside is that it still has smaller/less gain on the antennas and still the builtin LTE solution doesn't support aggregation -- which would really boost speeds if you are in an area where you have multiple bands of coverage but at more marginal levels.

 

So while I could probably do better with a weekend and the right supplies, I'll take the SkyPro V3 and run with it for now, given that I just had to swipe a card to make it happen.