Wi-Fi "Boosters"?

Hi:  We are fairly new to RVing, but are thinking of buying an RV in the future.  We took a rented Class A on a trip last week, and stayed in an RV park that had free WiFi.  I had to work on my computer in the RV one morning, and although I easily got onto the wifi internet, I had a terrible time getting my email to send, etc.  I asked the office if there was a limited or weak WiFI signal, and he said no, but that a lot of the people in the RV park have "Boosters" that take up a lot of the WiFi bandwidth. 
What does this mean?  What are these "Boosters"?, do most experienced RVers have them, where do you buy them, and about how much do they usually cost?
It will be very important to me to be able to effectively get onto the internet, and be able to use email/online computer communications when traveling in our RV (for my business purposes).

Also, what do most people use to get local TV when on an RV trip?  When I am in a hotel in a new area, I find it nice to be able to watch local news, stations etc.  I would like to also be able to do that in the RV.  (E.g., watch the local morning news while getting ready.)

Thanks very much!

sbkcal said:

Hi:  We are fairly new to RVing, but are thinking of buying an RV in the future.  We took a rented Class A on a trip last week, and stayed in an RV park that had free WiFi.  I had to work on my computer in the RV one morning, and although I easily got onto the wifi internet, I had a terrible time getting my email to send, etc.  I asked the office if there was a limited or weak WiFI signal, and he said no, but that a lot of the people in the RV park have "Boosters" that take up a lot of the WiFi bandwidth. 
What does this mean?  What are these "Boosters"?, do most experienced RVers have them, where do you buy them, and about how much do they usually cost?
It will be very important to me to be able to effectively get onto the internet, and be able to use email/online computer communications when traveling in our RV (for my business purposes).

Also, what do most people use to get local TV when on an RV trip?  When I am in a hotel in a new area, I find it nice to be able to watch local news, stations etc.  I would like to also be able to do that in the RV.  (E.g., watch the local morning news while getting ready.)

Thanks very much!

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boosters don't take up wiFi bandwidth that iam aware of  But everyone trying to get on/use the system at the same time does especially as most parks have limited bandwidth especially if its free.Boosters will boost the signal and bring it in from a further distance at a better signal but if its busy(many users) there is no booster in the world that iam aware of that will increase the speed and bandwidth.techies may explain things better but that's the way I understand things
Good example was I was in berrago springs Rv resort(nice place) but overpriced.Free wifi with  great signal and no to limited service at certain times of the day.

Boosters are just amplifiers and can have an effect on the bandwidth.  The stronger the signal, the less retries are needed, so they can actually use less bandwidth than an unamplified signal.  But that's not what's causing your problem.  The problem is the park's internet connection is shared among all the users, and if one or a few are using a disproportionate amount of bandwidth, everyone suffers.  Nothing you can do to fix it but wait for a less congested time.

For local TV, use your antenna and TV just as at home, but you'll need to do a scan for the local channels whenever you move.

We use Millenicom 20G plan for our WiFi and recently we moved to a camp ground in NE Iowa that is down in a valley when we first arrived we had NO signal and the best Cell Carrier coverage in the area was Verizon.  We went into the store and bought a Wilson Cradle that our HotSpot sits in and walla - alakazam!!!  We now have a good strong 4G signal.

Definitely worth the money + we use it in the truck as we go down the road so we can use the Kindle Fire or Computer as aids for trip planning on the go.

For TV you might want to look at a Dish Tailgater if you really want watch TV and get the local channels where you are camping.

Thanks all.  We have XFinity service for our home wifi so maybe I can sometimes use one of their hotspots.  However, the Xfinity "hotspots" are scattered and limited, so it sounds like I may need to subscribe to some sort of mobile wifi service, so I am not dependent on the RV parks' "free" wifi.  (Also, I know there are security issues with the free/public wifi.) Also, in addition, maybe I should get a "booster" or amplifier.

Is the Millicom a wifi service like Xfinity?

Is the Wilson cradle an amplifier? 

What do those types of services usually cost? 

Millenicom is a reseller of cellular data services and is not WiFi.  The Wilson Cradle is a cellular amplifier and won't help you with WiFi.  You can see all the Millenicom plans with pricing at their web site.  Of course, you can also buy cellular data devices from the cellular carriers themselves.  Check the web sites for Verizon Wireless, Spring, AT&T and T-Mobile for their offerings.

sbkcal said:

Thanks all.  We have XFinity service for our home wifi so maybe I can sometimes use one of their hotspots.  However, the Xfinity "hotspots" are scattered and limited, so it sounds like I may need to subscribe to some sort of mobile wifi service, so I am not dependent on the RV parks' "free" wifi.  (Also, I know there are security issues with the free/public wifi.) Also, in addition, maybe I should get a "booster" or amplifier.

Is the Millicom a wifi service like Xfinity?

Is the Wilson cradle an amplifier? 

What do those types of services usually cost?

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your best and safest bet that I know of for internet in your RV is get the Jetpack and subscription from verizon

Ned said:

Millenicom is a reseller of cellular data services and is not WiFi.  The Wilson Cradle is a cellular amplifier and won't help you with WiFi.  You can see all the Millenicom plans with pricing at their web site.  Of course, you can also buy cellular data devices from the cellular carriers themselves.  Check the web sites for Verizon Wireless, Spring, AT&T and T-Mobile for their offerings.

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My mistake. 

Anyway the systwm works well everywhere we have gone so far.  Also every parks wifi that we tried to access has been ust like th OP's experience, that is why we went with Millenicom...

Thanks for all the info.  I think cellular data plans can work well (if the cell coverage is good, or can be made good via a cell booster).  I have that for my iPad and my iPhone, when I cannot get any Wifi service.  However, the cell plans I know of use "minutes" for when they connect you to the internet, etc., and that can get very costly (in my experience). 
When the time comes, I think we will shop around for a good private/subscription Wifi service, maybe like the Jetpack one that was suggested.  It sounds like you cannot count on the free wifi in the RV parks when you need to be sure to have reliable coverage.  I expected the free wifi to be like what we have gotten in hotels in the past -- but I don't think the RV parks get the same type of bandwidth/coverage for their Wifi systems, and I think it is more complicated when you have RV's/guest who have different types of hardware devices (such as amplifiers) effecting the system usage.

My husband is better at this tech stuff than me, so he'll have to help when we get serious about RVing more regularly.  Right now, I've got a system that works "in my little world" in my home, office and via my cell phone and iPad (when I can pop into a Starbucks or other places to work briefly when I am away from my home and office).

RV's/guest who have different types of hardware devices (such as amplifiers) effecting the system usage.


these things as far as i know do not effect the so called system. wifi is wifi and bandwidth is bandwidth and  what effects park wifi with crappy bandwidth is over useage .In other words non sufficient band width for # of users is the root of the evil .Boosters etc have no bearing on your computer as far as what other have and or are using as \I understand things when accessing wifi  ???

Ok, thanks -- this stuff gets confusing to me.  Makes me feel dumb. 
I appreciate all the help and insights!

Millbicom is not by the minute.  It is by Volume of Data.  20G of data for $90.  it is the best value for the money. 

They use the Verizon cell system.  Best part.  No contract.  I believe their Hot Spot plan is a Jet Pak.

http://millenicom.com/plans/#hotspot-plan

Well, there are several different bandwidths involved in a typical installation.  There is the internet connection from the park's router to their ISP that has a specified bandwidth, and there is the connection from the access point(s) to the users that is also limited, and both are shared by all the connected users.  Either, or both, can be overused by just a few users doing high bandwidth tasks, like streaming video or large file transfers.  There are ways to limit the individual user's bandwidth, but most RV parks don't have that sophisticated of equipment.

It's not rocket science, but it's still complicated.  There is no simple solution for the user.

However, the cell plans I know of use "minutes" for when they connect you to the internet, etc., and that can get very costly (in my experience).

Click to expand...

"Minutes" are for voice only. Internet data traffic is measured and sold in Megabytes (MB) or Gigabytes (GB) and is separate from the voice minutes and also from text messages.  How expensive it is depends on what plan you choose. In large amounts, it runs about $8-$10 per GB per month, but for low volume plans you may pay about the same for only 100 MB.

back on the original topic for a second.....
Maybe these "others" have set up wifi repeaters
It is my understanding that these do split the available bandwidth and slow things down a bit..... but I'm no expert.
I did have repeaters set up in my house for a few years.  Better signal strengths, but slow down was not significant enough to notice, but then I'm not sharing the signal across many users as would be an RV park.....

If you set up a wireless booster - one that sends and receives data over the airwaves to your computer instead of being connected via a wire - you double the amount of spectrum you're using.

Instead of sending a packet from the park's access point directly to your computer, the packet goes to the repeater, then it's re-transmitted to your computer.  This doubles the amount of occupied airtime compared to sending it direct.

Further slowdowns can happen if all of the computers on the system can't "see" each other.  If they can't monitor all of the channel usage more than one may try to send a packet at the same time, this creates a packet collision and they become useless.  Then both machines have to resend the same packet again, repeating until one or the other gets through.

The size of the pipe connecting the park's wifi to the Internet is often the limiting factor in how much data is sent out to the system's users.  But throw several wireless repeaters and blind transmitters into the mix and you can slow down the wireless transmission enough to make a difference.

Right on, Lou.  That's the other bandwidth limitation I was referring to.