Wifi Booster

[beatrix1]

Has anyone tried the Wirie or Wirie AP wifi signal booster? Since I work while on the road, Internet access is a must. I can tether to my ATT and Verizon phones (I have data with both), however the speed and data limits are prohibitive. I have to pay $10 per gig in excess of my plan and my unlimited Verizon plan gets throttled when doing just about anything other than email. I have been looking at the WirieAP which can help boost signal strength to wifi hotspots. Most of the places I stay have decent wifi and speed, just weak signals anywhere except by the office. Would like to hear how it, or maybe others work, before I drop almost $400 for one. Thanks!

[Air Cruiser]

I have not heard of a Wirie or Wirie AP. We are rural here, and had a Verizon hotspot for a few years now, I guess. It just wasn't as fast here as it was hyped up to be, so we went for a Jetpack (Verizon). Even at that, sometimes the Jetpack would seem as though it was just spinning. We ended up putting a special antenna on the roof for it and it seems to help, but there still seems to be some days it has difficulty.

All of this may be of no help to you, but I thought I'd offer it up. I think I'll google Wirie to see what I can find out about them.

Deb

[moosetags]

We have been using Wave RV wifi signal booster for about 5 years now. It can really pull in a weak signal. It is a separate wifi card that plugs into my notebook with a USB cable. I believe the manufacturer is Radio Labs.

Brian

[timmaah]

We use a wifi booster but not the one in question. It does help, but it is rare we come across a usable wifi signal outside of a private park with wifi.

Get yourself a millenicom 20gig account. It is on the Verizon network and has worked very very well for us.

[Protagonist]

I gave up on using campground WiFi because it's always so bloody slow even on the incredibly rare occasion I get a strong connection. Most campground WiFi is also unsecured, which means there are things I can't do with it.

I'd rather use my own secured WiFi, so I don't have to share bandwidth with three dozen other campers and have a password-protected link for online banking and such. To that end I recently bought a Wilson cradle booster for my Verizon Jetpack. Even when I don't need the booster, I still use the external antenna plugged directly into the Jetpack, and even that helps immensely, giving me an extra bar or two.

For beatrix1, a question… Are you self-employed or working for someone else? If working for someone else, ask your employer to provide a wireless broadband account that you can use solely for work, that is paid by the company. That way you won't have overlimit charges on your personal account.

If you're self-employed, it may still be worthwhile to have a separate wireless broadband account for work anyway. The charges for it might be deductable as a business expense. Or billable to your clients. Or both. And again you can avoid overlimit charges on your personal account.

[Jim Lee]

My wife sent me this link because our wi-fi in the silver corridor is always leaving us desiring more.

This is so far over my head that I am just pasting the link: Mobile Internet Geekery & Gadgetry – How We Stay Online While RVing | Technomadia

[Skater]

We have a Wifi Ranger. I like it, and it works well, powering the signal through the aluminum shells that would otherwise be mostly blocked. But plenty of campgrounds don't have Wifi at all, so in those cases it won't do any good. We use it a couple times a year, and we're glad we have it when we do.

[lsbrodsky]

I also have a Ranger. For example, in my driveway, it picks up 12 networks, when my laptop alone can only see 3. It has worked very well for us so far.
Larry

[louaxtjr]

Another satisfied WiFiRanger user here. For those instances when there is wifi available, the Ranger does a great job of automatically connecting to the fastest connection and making the signal available within the metal trailer. I have also had fantastic service from the company on the one occasion when support was needed.

That said, I would recommend a Millenicom or Verizon solution for areas where wifi is not available or useable.

[beatrix1]

Will check out the WiFiRanger. I prefer to keep a wireless network at the trailer as use a combination of devices (laptop, iPhone, Android, iPad). I do have my cellular hot spots (both ATT and Verizon) but I just use too much bandwidth (40 gig+) in a month so I use those for areas where no alternative exists. Not to mention using the connection for Hulu and AppleTV.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by beatrix1

Not to mention using the connection for Hulu and AppleTV.

No wonder you use 40GB a month! I wouldn't download or stream video in a campground. If you're paying for your own bandwidth, downloading movies in camp is a waste of your time and money. If you're using a campground's WiFi, streaming or downloading a 2GB movie is a terrible way to hog communal bandwidth that is already too limited for the number of people using it.

I'll take DVDs with me to watch if there's no television reception and I don't feel like being outside. At $10 per GB overlimit charges, you can buy many DVDs for less than you spend to download them! I have a few movies on my tablet, but I downloaded them at home— on my unlimited Cox plan— to watch on the road.

[beatrix1]

Quick note to clarify - I don't use 40 gig while on the road, but I do keep an almost constant VPN connection to my clients most of the time, have to update client Web sites and hit Hulu or iTunes to catch up on the occasional show.