Wi Fi Extenders?

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Ned said:
Before buying anything on Amazon, read the reviews.  There is a reason that Netgear device is selling at 80% off.
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It's selling for 80% off because it is factory refurbished. Regardless, the overwhelming majority of reviews are positive, with a 4 star average. As with many tech products there will be negative reviews due to not understanding the product, such as--in this case--not realizing it will create a separate WiFi network name. This might be desirable if using as a home repeater, but is not desirable when using it in multiple campground locations (i.e., I don't care what the SSID at an RV park is, I want the repeater to be the one my devices are used to connecting to).



Michael
 
Tinmania said:
This might be desirable if using as a home repeater, but is not desirable when using it in multiple campground locations (i.e., I don't care what the SSID at an RV park is, I want the repeater to be the one my devices are used to connecting to).
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I do not understand your objection. It works perfectly for me in multiple campground locations. You can choose the name of the SSID your repeater uses to rebroadcast so it is the same every time.
 
Trailer traveler said:
Repeating the wifi signal does decrease the band width by as much as half. Therefore an external wifi adapter with a good antena, sensative receiver and powerful transmitter connected directly to the computer will generally out perform one of the range extenders/repeaters that create a hotspot to connect multiple devices. If the campground wifi system uses repeaters, connecting to the closest Access Point to the original source will often give the fastest speed even if it is not the strongest signal your equipment can see.
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Doesn't matter when used for campground or RV park Internet. The speed of the WiFi connection will still be many times the speed of the Internet speed you get from a campground or RV park.

To be clear: "Bandwidth" in this case is the speed of the wifi connection, which is maxed at 450 mbps for 802.11n. But even if you connect at 1/4 of that speed it will still far surpass the speed of the campground or RV park internet (where I would be thrilled to get even 5 mbps sustained).



Mike
 
SeilerBird said:
I do not understand your objection. It works perfectly for me in multiple campground locations. You can choose the name of the SSID your repeater uses to rebroadcast so it is the same every time.
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I wasn't objecting. I was saying that having the same name as the host Wifi is desirable if used at home. In that case, say your Wifi SSID is "JOESWIFI" you would want to be able to grab your laptop, go downstairs--where the repeater is needed--and not have to manually connect to "JOESWIFI2" (the repeater's SSID). Some people, using the repeater in a home, complained about needing to use a different SSID.

But at a campground it is definitely not desirable to use the same SSID.

Hope this was clearer.



Mike
 
That's what I do with my equip... It is always in the RV and when I'm going to different campgrounds, I open my laptop, then on any of my browsers, I just type 192,128,XXX, X and then see the campground's WI-FI that I connect to by entering its required password.
Once that is done, any of my equip connects to my "router" via my password and connects to that campground's WI-FI !
 
Tinmania said:
I wasn't objecting. I was saying that having the same name as the host Wifi is desirable if used at home. In that case, say your Wifi SSID is "JOESWIFI" you would want to be able to grab your laptop, go downstairs--where the repeater is needed--and not have to manually connect to "JOESWIFI2" (the repeater's SSID). Some people, using the repeater in a home, complained about needing to use a different SSID.

But at a campground it is definitely not desirable to use the same SSID.

Hope this was clearer.
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No I am more confused than ever. In every campground you go to you simply use the same name for the repeater SSID. So you always connect to the same one no matter where you are. An RV is very small, you would not be hooking up to the campground Wifi in one part of the RV and to the repeater in another part of the RV.
 
SeilerBird said:
No I am more confused than ever. In every campground you go to you simply use the same name for the repeater SSID. So you always connect to the same one no matter where you are. An RV is very small, you would not be hooking up to the campground Wifi in one part of the RV and to the repeater in another part of the RV.
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Forget about at a campground.... that is where this repeater works great. You always the same SSID. Everything is fine.

But some people buy this repeater to use in a sticks-and-bricks house, where their wifi may not reach the whole house. They will never take the repeater anywhere--it was purchased for the house to extend wifi where there current wifi router does not reach. In that case they would rather not have a second SSID. In that scenario if they move from an area where they need to use the repeater they have to manually change wifi networks on their phone/laptop/whatever to the repeater SSID from their original wifi router SSID. This is because most device will cling to a dwindling wifi signal to the bitter end, before switching to a different SSID with a better signal.




Mike
 
Tinmania said:
But some people buy this repeater to use in a sticks-and-bricks house, where their wifi may not reach the whole house. They will never take the repeater anywhere--it was purchased for the house to extend wifi where there current wifi router does not reach. In that case they would rather not have a second SSID. In that scenario if they move from an area where they need to use the repeater they have to manually change wifi networks on their phone/laptop/whatever to the repeater SSID from their original wifi router SSID. This is because most device will cling to a dwindling wifi signal to the bitter end, before switching to a different SSID with a better signal.
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I guess if you live in a gigantic mansion then you might have to take five seconds to change from one Wifi signal to another. It still beats the heck out of getting a lousy signal. But for most normal houses you should be able to set it up to get a great signal everywhere in the house.
 
SeilerBird said:
I guess if you live in a gigantic mansion then you might have to take five seconds to change from one Wifi signal to another. It still beats the heck out of getting a lousy signal. But for most normal houses you should be able to set it up to get a great signal everywhere in the house.
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I'm in far from a mansion, Tom, but to get a signal throughout my house (including the basement, garage and rear deck) I need (and use successfully) an extender. Obstacles (all metals, some other materials too) to RF, especially at the microwave freqs used in WiFi, are abundant. It might not be quite as bad if I were able to have the main router/WiFi unit in the center of the house and mounted high, but that's not practical.

I don't use the same SSID, intentionally, but the "extender" (repeater) is needed for a signal everywhere I want it.
 
And that leads us back to Gary's assertion that a high gain antenna hooked up to a USB wireless adapter might be a better answer.  Even if you use the laptop as a repeater.

Another idea is to use a Windsurfer cardboard and aluminum foil reflector to make the antenna more directional.

I tried using a repeater in a place that has both low signal and small bandwidth.  It failed to improve the data transfer rate by enough to measure.  That was with a wireless router with a repeater program flashed into it's memory.

I solved the problem of coverage at home by installing an Amped High Power wireless router.  It supports ten different SSIDs on both 2.4 and 5 Ghz bands and gives me speeds of 70-100Mbps in places where I used to only get 2-5.  It's one of these http://www.ampedwireless.com/products/rta15.html.  I got it Costco but they no longer carry this model.  Amazon & eBay will.
 
Larry N. said:
I'm in far from a mansion, Tom, but to get a signal throughout my house (including the basement, garage and rear deck) I need (and use successfully) an extender. Obstacles (all metals, some other materials too) to RF, especially at the microwave freqs used in WiFi, are abundant. It might not be quite as bad if I were able to have the main router/WiFi unit in the center of the house and mounted high, but that's not practical.

I don't use the same SSID, intentionally, but the "extender" (repeater) is needed for a signal everywhere I want it.
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That is exactly what I was saying Larry. A repeater should work for just about everyone unless you live in a very large house.
 
Gary RV Roamer said:
The primary advantage of having one of those extender boxes in your rig is the more powerful radio receiver/transmitter it has. The usual wifi in a laptop or desktop wifi adapter is maybe ok on reception but weak in transmission power, so fails trying to maintain contact the the wifi base station.  You can get the same effect using a more powerful wifi adapter & antenna, e.g. something like the SuperUSB Wifi or Wifi Ranger. As Ned said, the rest depends on the bandwidth of the campground's internet connection and it is often limited. Often it does not even handle routine web browsing for a dozen people, let alone somebody streaming a movie or browsing YouTube. Few parks buy extra internet access bandwidth - they just piggy-back the park wifi onto the businesses own internet connection, or maybe provide one additional single user internet access port for the park's customers. Onc ein awhile you find one with good internet (I'm in one right now), but they are the exception rather than the rule.
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Whats the good park your in Gary? I'm looking for decent stops on my mosey to Florida in late November..
 
I don't know all the technical terms, but I know this one, the Super USB Wifi Antenna 3, gets me from zero or one bar to five bars and usable WiFi in campgrounds:  http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/super-usb-wifi-antenna-3/76530 

I got horribly frustrated before I got mine.  No setup at all.  Just stick it on a window with the suction cup that comes with it or hang it from a knob near a window, then plug the USB cable into your laptop, and it works!  Am using it right now.  If I unplug it, my "free" campground WiFi drops to nothing.

Admittedly, it does not speed up the available signal so my connection is slow, but at least it is a connection.  I also have used it in parking lots outside of shopping centers to snag free signals.  Most big stores like Macys and Sears offer free wireless you can get from the parking lot.  Ditto for accessing McDonald's signals from the parking lot while sitting in my rig instead of sitting inside McDonalds.

I work online and most of the time use a mobile hotspot, but there are places my hotspot cannot get a signal or times of the month when I am out of Gigs, so I use the antenna. Love it, and I can stop yelling at campgrounds that promise free wifi and then don't deliver. 

FYI, most campgrounds do not allow video streaming or big downloads anyway.
 
That is the real WI-FI extender purpose... and from there, if you do want to use it with all of your laptops or smartphone you need a "kind of rooter" to plug your wi-fi extender to it and to share it with all of your devices.
 
SeilerBird said:
That is exactly what I was saying Larry. A repeater should work for just about everyone unless you live in a very large house.
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Then I misunderstood you, Tom -- sorry. I thought you were saying you didn't need a repeater except for a gigantic mansion.
 
Larry N. said:
Then I misunderstood you, Tom -- sorry. I thought you were saying you didn't need a repeater except for a gigantic mansion.
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Larry - No harm no foul. What I was trying to comment on was the poster made it sound like it was a really big deal to switch between the original signal and the repeater signal as they moved around the house. It just isn't a big deal. It only takes a few seconds on any of my devices.
 
Tinmania said:
That Netgear extender linked to above only cost $18 (think it is $19 now). So far hasn't failed picking up anything nearby... more than my laptop or phones can see. It has even picked up free wifi from libraries and whatnot that are, naturally, not inside the campground. Apparently it has a decent antenna. From its management page I can see signal strength from networks it can pickup. That is what I go by, obviously, and not the signal strength my phone or laptop get from the extender.

If I am really in a fringe area, I just plug it in outside for even better range. For me at that price it was a no-brainer. If I was fulltiming I might want something more robust.

Mike
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Nothing much to setup on Connectify.  Install, select router or extender mode and it does the rest. When we get to a new campground, I connect the laptop to the wifi, start Connectify and all my devices connect to the laptop automatically.  The key is having a good signal to the laptop via my laptop's external antenna.
 
SeilerBird said:
Larry - No harm no foul. What I was trying to comment on was the poster made it sound like it was a really big deal to switch between the original signal and the repeater signal as they moved around the house. It just isn't a big deal. It only takes a few seconds on any of my devices.
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I was not complaining about it or saying it was a big deal. I merely pointed out why some of the reviews on Amazon were negative. I specifically said it was a case of not understanding the product. Even with that it has an average of 4 stars.



Mike
 
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