Newbie needs advice on best option for extending Wifi range

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M

Megaballs

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Joined
Jul 6, 2016
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5
Hey fellow RV'ers!
So I am a bit new to the trailer life and will be moving to a camp ground full time, Im told they have terrible wifi... So any ideas or recommendations on range extenders vs. hotspot type plans. I am on a very tight budget and hate to spend more then I will really need so my first choice would be to just get a good wifi range extender, although I am not very familiar with how they work exactly, the campground says they will be getting faster internet in a couple months but I imagine it still wont be great unless im close to the main office which I will not be. I use my computer for everything, lots of streaming movies and TV so I want something with good strong speeds but dont want to be paying some cell phone company overages and 100's a month to continue my normal activities. Thanks guys and gals.
 
If the campground has good wifi closer to the office but you are stuck out in the fringes, then I'd suggest trying a home built antenna. There are lots of instructions on the net for making directional antenna from $0 on up.

The basic "can-tenna" and the Pringles antenna are a couple of examples. And mounting them on a stick above the RV roof will also help get past the ground clutter between you and the router.
 
All the high tech equipment in the world won't help you if you have low band width. You mentioned in your post that you spend a lot of time on line for various reasons. Streaming any kind of video is intensely band width excessive. Most, if not all campgrounds limit the type of surfing you can do on their WiFi. Someone has to pay for the data used, and generally they want it to be the RVer. 

Best check with the campground owner before getting your hopes too high about using their free WiFi for streaming. There are lots of ways to improve your ability to receive existing WiFi signal, but that won't help you if the signal is throttled. 
 
I second Sarges recommendation. I have never stayed at a rv park where streaming movies or similar activities were possible, let alone allowed. I'd look for a cable connection instead of wifi!

Ernie
 
SargeW said:
There are lots of ways to improve your ability to receive existing WiFi signal, but that won't help you if the signal is throttled.
Click to expand...

This is the key first thing you should check out.  Take you laptop over to the office or wherever the wifi signal is broadcast from. Does the download speed increase?  You may need to check this at different times of the day.  If being near the wifi doesn't help then an amplifier/repeater won't help you.

If you do decide you are interested in a repeater/amplifier there are several companies that make such devices.  What you are looking for is known as a router that can provide "WiFi As WAN" capability which means that it can receive WiFi and rebroadcast it on your private network the same way most routers can take cable, DSL or other internet connections and put them on the network.
 
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