USB Wifi Antenna for free internet on the road.

[Ned]

I went back to repeat the login process & capture the screens so that I could intelligently describe the problem to the Pepwave support folks.  & wouldn't you know it, it works now!

Sometimes you just have to have patience

 

[Pierat]

We now sometimes have a little trouble connecting one of our iMacs (a 21" from 2009) to campground wifi, so I got out the Alfa AWUS036HR that I bought a couple of years ago but didn't use. I now find that it does not work with Mac OS X Lion or Mountain Lion (there is a $35 new version of the Alfa antenna but it has experimental drivers that some can't get to work). I'd rather not spring for the $100 alternatives. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Ned]

If that's the AWUS036NHR, there are Mac drivers for up to 10.8 32/64 bit on the Alfa web site.

 

[Pierat]

Unfortunately, it isn't the "N" but the obsolete, previous model.

 

[Ned]

Well, the AWUS036HR isn't obsolete, as it does support 802.11b and g, more than fast enough for any public WiFi internet.  But if you can't get drivers for your OS, then it's obsolete for you, unfortunately.

 

[mickey53usa]

Old post, but interesting topic - Especially since I am about ready to get some sort of range extender, repeater or antenna. Recently at a campground that had free WiFi - signal strength was marginal so connection was marginal. The Wireless phone signal (I use Sprint) was not much better so using my phone as a hotspot did not work well either. I am looking at the Netgear WN2000RPT or a ZyXel WAP3205 - See here for comparison http://wi-fi-booster-review.toptenreviews.com/. Since all of our travelling computing is done with wireless devices, I figured an extender or repeater would work best - I did see a post here that the WN2000RPT worked well for one user. My concern is that all the information I read talks about extending or repeating your home network WiFi signal and not the "commercial" signal you might get at a campground. And yes, I understand they are "all the same" 802.11 A/B/G/N.

Michael

 

[dverstra]

I am in the process of adding a Wifi Ranger Go and Mobile to our coach. The Mobile will be mounted on the batwing antenna to improve reception. This unit should give me a secure wireless network. It will allow me to pick different signals to connect to and set up my preferences for the connections. If I elect to use my cellphone's Hotspot, I think that it should be somewhat secure? I will have a wireless printer attached to the network for printing and faxing.

 

[Ned]

Be sure to use the highest encryption allowed by your hotspot, usually WPA2, and you'll be as secure as possible.  Of course, when connecting to public WiFi it should always be treated as an insecure network, especially if unencrypted.

 

[jackrobnett]

If you have an Android smart phone just use the PDA.net app and USB cable it to your computer. It is fee and works everywhere there is cell service.

 

[Ned]

PDAnet is fine if you have just the one computer, but if you want to connect a LAN with multiple devices then you need to use a hotspot feature on the phone and a device like the WiFi Ranger or Pepwave Surf Mini.

 

[Jeff]

Ned:

PDANET works well with Connectifyme running on the computer as a hotspot for any other devices you want to connect. Before I activated the hotspot on my Droid this winter we used Connectifyme and PDANET as a replacement for Motosat when we got the new Tradewinds.

With a good campground signal I could use the USB Supper WIFI an tenna as the source Connectifyme as the rebroadcast for Ipad, Sue's TOuchpad, Directv, etc.

 

[Ned]

Jeff, that's another way to do it, but it requires the computer with ConnectifyMe to be running all the time that the other devices need network access.

 

[docj]

PDAnet is fine if you have just the one computer, but if you want to connect a LAN with multiple devices then you need to use a hotspot feature on the phone and a device like the WiFi Ranger or Pepwave Surf Mini.

The next firmware update of WiFiRanger routers will support tethering for Android phones so you can have the best of both worlds, a tether rather than a hotspot and the ability to provide internet access to all the devices in your RV.

 

[dverstra]

WifiRangerGo and WifiRanger Mobile are installed and ready to go. Here are a couple of pics of the install. I hesitated a little before drilling the top of the motorhome to pass the wire through. We'll see how well it picks up the campground signals. I do see more available connections in my neighborhood after the install. I'm just beginning to see the possibilities with the router

 

[docj]

WifiRangerGo and WifiRanger Mobile are installed and ready to go. Here are a couple of pics of the install. I hesitated a little before drilling the top of the motorhome to pass the wire through. We'll see how well it picks up the campground signals. I do see more available connections in my neighborhood after the install. I'm just beginning to see the possibilities with the router

Sounds like you are off to a good start.  The key thing to keep in mind, however, is that no device can make a poor campground wifi system into a good one.  The WiFiRanger may make it possible for you to connect to any access point you wish and it will reduce or eliminate re-transmitted packets, but if the system is overloaded by too many users there is nothing that can be done.  Even though we would like to sell as many systems as possible, it is important that people have realistic expectations about how much performance improvement they will see.

 

[dverstra]

We just returned from a trip and the WifiRanger performed as advertised. One of the campgrounds had a weak signal that an ipad would not pickup. We turned the Ranger on and easily connected to a stronger signal.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

We've had excellent results with the SuperUSB Wifi device, which I got from one of our site sponsors, rvledbulbs.com. It pulls in the signal in most any terrain and at great distances.

 

[docj]

We just returned from a trip and the WifiRanger performed as advertised. One of the campgrounds had a weak signal that an ipad would not pickup. We turned the Ranger on and easily connected to a stronger signal.

If you have more devices than just an iPad in your RV you might consider leaving the Ranger on all the time so everything can remain connected to it.  That way when you want to connect to a campground wifi there is only one device that has to connect rather than all of them.  We travel with two laptops, an iPad, an Android tablet, a Roku and a wireless printer.  It would be a real nuisance to have to individually switch all of those to a new wifi and then to cellular again when we started to travel.

 

[dverstra]

Docj
I guess that I should have mentioned the other ipad and the Laptop and
wireless printer that were on the same wireless network with the first ipad. 8)