I'm hoping we have some knowledgeable people on here who know all about boosting wifi and what equipment you need.
I want to be able to pick up a weak site wifi signal and boost it so I can get on the internet on my laptop while staying in the caravan. The mobile signal is extremely poor and even with a 4g booster the signal is poor, so using my mobile phone as a hotspot doesn't work very well and keeps dropping out.
The site does have wifi but the signal is only good when standing outside reception. I have seen different makes of signal boosters that people use such as Kuma HEREor Solwise HERE. Then I found THIS. Which is considerably cheaper. But seems to do the same thing. I know you usually get what you pay for but is that the case here? I also found another Wavelink one that was slightly more expensive but does show it being used in a caravan. HERE Presumably on repeater mode?
Can anyone advise on what is needed to solve my problem?
Thanks. I've looked at a lot and most seem to go for the more expensive options. I'm not doubting they work, but will a cheaper option work without too much degradation? Or are they just upping the price when they mention Motorhomes or Caravans?
How do I compare specifications? dB gain? Amplification of signal? Only the Kuma mentions that in the specification "...High power amplifiers provide significantly increased output power, up to 5x transmission power...". Yet the unit looks like the £55 version.
I had the Alfa networks kit (your 2nd link, marketed here as Solwise). It was very fussy - needed different firmware versions depending on the WAN adapter - was rather slow, and died extremely young.
We currently use a Teltonika TCR100, which is a bit fiddly to set up but you can fail over / load balance between local wifi and 4G. I usually put a pre-pay SIM in it depending on which network has the best coverage wherever we're staying. NB these SIMs usually need activating in an actual phone first. You can fit any antennae you want to it, but the ones it came with have been fine for us (we're tent campers).
Thanks for your input Tim. I already have a 4g booster and a Yagi antenna, which works for the phone a little. Enough to get emails and a 1 or 2 bar phone signal. I have Vodaphone and they are the only network in the area, but without the booster we get one bar or nothing. So a mobile hotspot 4g option doesn't work.
I noticed that your unit also picks up the wifi signal. What antenna do you have, and does it move between mobile wifi and site wifi automatically? Do you need a sim in the unit?
Yes it does switch automatically between WiFi and 3G / 4G, but it only has internal antennae for Wifi:
2 x SMA for LTE, 2 x Internal for 2.4 GHz WiFi, 1 x Internal for 5 GHz WiFi.
You can connect external WiFi antennae (RP-SMA) to this one. There are usually good options at wifi-antennas.co.uk, but then the prices start to mount up . . .
Thanks. I do have a Yagi antenna for my mobile booster as well as as an omni, but as said earlier it only had marginal improvement for the mobile signal. So now trying to boost the site wifi.
Your question was about the best equipment to boost signal wifi. If there is no signal, you cannot boost it. If it is weak signal then the Avtex unit is the probably the best, but you pay for the best and I have only read good reports on the https://www.avtex.co.uk/router
Thanks iank01. I am not trying to boost the mobile signal, but the site wifi signal. I already have a phone signal booster system, which works after a fashion but even boosted is a slow signal. So now looking at the wifi signal methods.
Quote: Originally posted by boblynn on 01/1/2023
Thanks iank01. I am not trying to boost the mobile signal, but the site wifi signal. I already have a phone signal booster system, which works after a fashion but even boosted is a slow signal. So now looking at the wifi signal methods.
If the site's wifi is slow, nothing what you do will increase the speed.
This works very well for us. It’s not cheap, but it certainly works. On sites which charge per device, you only need one subscription and family devices connect through the router. It needs set up for each site you go to. Takes a few minutes to set up, but it’s a good system. The website owners are super helpful if you have any problems. Good luck
Quote: Originally posted by iank01 on 01/1/2023
If the site's wifi is slow, nothing what you do will increase the speed.
It's not the site that is slow, ie bandwidth, but the way the signal is transmitted. The site antenna is facing away from the van causing a weak signal. A weak signal can be amplified or boosted.
I’m not techy, sorry, so I haven’t understood some of this…. But I’ve been on a site with a strong free Wi-Fi signal from the office that reached us on the other side of the site. Worked beautifully until a MH pitched beside us, with its own system (their name came up on the “chose available networks” list). This blocked the site’s Wi-Fi line-of-sight signal to us so we couldn’t log into the site network any more. We had to walk over to the office to pick up emails, or turn off our Wi-Fi & use the data allowance on our mobile signal. Resumed when that MH moved on. Worked fine when the next MH came as it didn’t have its own competing Wi-Fi.
Would a booster have overcome that temporary problem, if we’d had one?
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Topic: Best equipment to boost site wifi?
via mobile 30/12/2022 at 5:56pm
