Well - it's now official - we are full timers. Moved into the coach and left for Herkimer , New York for the summer. Tracy is working with the owner of the KOA and a few other business and I'm Captain on a big tour boat on the Erie Canal. Got a call yesterday and it looks like we will be in the Port Canaveral FL area for the winter as I think I have another Captain job there.
Now for the help needed ...... we have both of our tower computers with us in the coach. Never needed to check before, but it appears neither one has wireless capability built in. That is first issue.
Bigger thing is that we have a Verizon Jetpack MIFI for our internet service. The cell signal is really poor at the site, one to two bars and will switch between 3G and LTE. What do I need to buy to hook the two computers to the MIFI along with a wireless printer and also have a better cell signal for both the MIFI and also our cell phones ?
I'm looking at the Wilson WeBoost system, looks like that may do all but the wireless for the computers, but I'm not sure and it's expensive $$$
Can some of you more knowl dgeable tech people lead me please ?
Congratulations, Vaughan & Tracy. I know from experience it's a big step. Hope you enjoy it at least 1/2 as much as we are.
Here are my thoughts:
1) At some point you will want to scrap the towers for one or two laptops which come WiFi ready and take up much less space. In the mean time you will need one or two USB wireless adapters to plug in the towers - that will make them wifi. Go to Best Buy and ask an associate. They are typically $25-35(?).
2) I have no experience with the WeBoost system, but 3G and LTE should be fine for internet connectivity. We have 2 bars in West Yellowstone and we can stream movies. You should be ok and not need any signal boost with the Mifi.
Thanks Paul
We'll probably k EPA the towers for awhile. Tracy likes to sew and do some other things so we had a custom desk with a flip top for added space built and pull d the couch out that was seldom us d. I've got both towers behind the desk with a KVM switch.
Vaughan,
For my older tower at home I purchased a D-Link dual band card. Took a couple minutes to install, removed the cover and secured it into an empty slot, then followed the instructions to set it up. Paid <$50 CAN.
Like Paul, don't have any experience with the Wilson extender.
I just helped our friend hook up a older Dell desktop (with no wifi capability) to go wireless with a USB adapter. The computer still works well but she has only wireless access to the net at her new apartment.
Any of the ones at Best Buy (links below) would work:
Thanks ! Have a BestBuy about 2 miles away. Solved that part. Now to give Eric at TechnoRV a call about the signal part of it.
One of my older tower's does not have internal WIfi. I use a Netgear USB wifi "stick". It is essentially an auto setup and only requiring the wifi source password. It works fine with my Verizon jet pack, home wifi or from one of our smart phone hot spots. My newer tower, with Internal 2G and 5G wifi is doing most of the heavy lifting. Just hard to part with the older tower. At home I have a Netgear Night Hawk AC1900 wifi range extender that works with the wifi server and is super for coverage through the the home on 2G and 5G. Boosting cell phone tower signals with a repeater can be an issue by regulators. There is lots of info via Google that one can dive into on this issue. The short story or concern is that the repeater can cause interference with other cell phones or towers. A check with Verizon could be a first step before taking on a Wilson repeater. Wilson is a great technology provider and could also address the carrier concerns, if any.
We also use the Verizon MiFi as our only Internet source... except the periodic campground WiFi. We are looking at upgrading to the Weboost 4G-X RV about $500. From my initial research it falls within the boost restrictions. Just need to decide if it is worth the money.
Another thing about Verizon I have a 35 gig data plan with carry over. I called and talked to them about the unlimited plan and it drops to 3G after the first 10 gig have been used. Like others have said should work fine as log as you are not in HD streaming mode.
Will be interesting to see just what we get with the unlimited plan. Have a friend who is a Verizon tech and told me that they only switch to 3G if the tower is loaded. After usage drops it will switch back to 4g. Typical Verizon , can't get two straight answers in a row ......
Talked to Eric at TechnoRV. Think we will try the WeBoost xRV. Just have to dig up some $$$
That is a chunk of $$ however if I was to go full time I certainly would consider it if our phone hot spots were not doing the job. Wilson has produced high quality 2-way antennas for years. Their weBoost line is most likely of high quality also.
You might wait to see if you really have a problem before spending the $$$.
We had a large Verizon data plan because we continued to run out of data and every month and it slowed to a snail's pace. Changed to the unlimited plan, saved over $100/mo, and have had no issues with speed. We got a text the first month that said we were approaching our 10g limit and we continued to use it but did not notice any difference at all. So far we are very happy with the Unlimited plan.
I switched everything to the unlimited. Data usage is not an issue. Problem is very bad cell signal here in the valley where we are. Talked to Eric at TechnoRV today and think I'm going to go with the WeBoost. He uses it in his own rig and said he has seen 1-2 bars and 3G turn into 3-4 bars and 4g with the system turned on. Have to do some more checking but believe there is also a setting in the iPhone to route calls through the wifi when in bad cell service.area. More checking to do. Right now there is only one spot in the whole coach where you might get through a whole phone call .....
Vaughan,
I think that would count as boondocking for me!
I've heard nothing bad about the WeBoost.
The Verizon rep told us the Unlimited Plan actually limits each devise to 10GB. Is that not what they told you?
