Weboost RV 65 questions /advice

[StrangeDaze]

Hello all...

Question for the Weboost crowd.. We are looking at the RV 65 to use in conjunction with a verizon mobile hotspot.

First question.. this is going into a 2020 23' Globetrotter, will the RV 65 "plug and play" well with the SAT port and cable already installed in our trailer? Much of the reading I have done here suggests so, but another poster talked about needing a adapter for the cable?

Second question.. we see the biggest complaint about the weboost RV 65 is the underpowered inside antenna. I understand the the point of the underpowered antenna not interfering with the outside antenna.. but many claim you need to be within a foot or two of it, or you lose the boosted signal.

Would putting your hotspot near the antenna, and then relying on the hotspots "wifi" signal inside the trailer to give the lap top and tablets a connection?

Anyone care to chime in and give their opinion?

We spend a lot of time boondocking in the southwest... Utah coming up in May, and are hoping this will solve some issues we had last time.

[Dennis C]

I use a similar combination in my 2020 International 23 FB. I have the weBoost RV 65 antenna mounted on the roof close to the rear Fantastic Fan, and the wiring runs from the roof inside through a hole to the cabinet above the dinette. Am not using the existing SAT port. I find that the signal is slightly better inside the Airstream if I move the internal antenna down out of the cabinet and place it on the dinette. It still works if I leave it in the cabinet though. I often leave the antenna inside the cabinet near the DVD player, and I place the Verizon hotspot on the dinette table. This combination seems to work relatively well.

On another note, I HATE Verizon and their customer service. I’ve had trouble configuring the hotspot multiple times, and reaching Verizon customer support by phone is almost impossible. Their customer service is truly horrible. I only have their service because my phone is through AT&T, and adding the Verizon hotspot gave me more options in areas with a weak signal.

[StrangeDaze]

Originally Posted by Dennis C

I use a similar combination in my 2020 International 23 FB. I have the weBoost RV 65 antenna mounted on the roof close to the rear Fantastic Fan, and the wiring runs from the roof inside through a hole to the cabinet above the dinette. Am not using the existing SAT port. I find that the signal is slightly better inside the Airstream if I move the internal antenna down out of the cabinet and place it on the dinette. It still works if I leave it in the cabinet though. I often leave the antenna inside the cabinet near the DVD player, and I place the Verizon hotspot on the dinette table. This combination seems to work relatively well.

On another note, I HATE Verizon and their customer service. I’ve had trouble configuring the hotspot multiple times, and reaching Verizon customer support by phone is almost impossible. Their customer service is truly horrible. I only have their service because my phone is through AT&T, and adding the Verizon hotspot gave me more options in areas with a weak signal.

I am not a fan of verizon either.. and had thought about T Mobile.

I am curious though if any had "less" performance by using the SAT port. I dont want a hole in the roof, thus the RV 65 with the large antenna seemed like a great fit

[GetawA-S]

You will need the adapters to use the sat cable. Coax is called "F type". The smaller cable does not match up. The post on the other forum showed the same set I bought - works great.
Does the extra length and connector degrade the signal? Tough call. Our phones don't jump from 1 bar to 4 regardless. (We did see three with the Weboost on, but those indications are very slow to update and change intermittently.) The main difference was whether the Ipad could go on the internet or not. Placement of the outside antenna can be a factor. At one campground it worked on the rear of the streetside awning but not the front. (It's on a three foot mast, square tubing from the big box store that clips to the awning support.)
At the last campground I attached it to the grill table and ran the supplied lead in through the bug strip on the dinette window (and from there up to the A/V cabinet). It seems marginally better than going through the SAT cable.
I also noticed that the red powered box sometimes runs very hot. Leave it room to breathe!

[pdavey]

The weboost 65 will work fine through the Satalite port.

The best part about getting the weboost 65 is the booster. It is the most powerful consumer booster you can get.

I moved away from the directional antenna in favor of an omnidirectional antenna as I got sick of trying to point the antenna.

That said a few things to consider:
- your Airstream acts like a faraday cage so signals for the wifi hotspot wont be great

- the weboost doesn't broadcast far inside the unit so positioning the interior antenna closer to where you will use your hotspot and phones will make your experience much better.

- we put the interior antenna over the dinette table as that is where we work

- in areas where cellular signal is good the weboost will actually degrade your signal. This may be the biggest thing to consider

- you may want to invest in a cellular antenna for your hotspot, there are two mini jacks on the hotspot you can plug into a mimo antenna which will give you a much better signal than the weboost in many areas with average to good cell signal, the antenna can be placed on the outside of the airstream

For something less permanent you may want to use something like this and run the wires through your window. You can use a command strip to mount it on your Airstream.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DN3J03O...ing=UTF8&psc=1

You may not get the best signal mounting it to the side but it will be about 2-5 times better than the hotspot alone inside the Airstream.

When in bad signal areas deploy the weboost and place your wifi hot spot under the interior antenna then run all your other devices off the hotspot.

If you want something with maximum power invest in the pepwave max transit duo or regular max transit and pair it with an exterior mounted mimo antenna. I built this setup with the weboost as a backup similar to what I described above.

[pdavey]

Originally Posted by GetawA-S

You will need the adapters to use the sat cable. Coax is called "F type". The smaller cable does not match up. The post on the other forum showed the same set I bought - works great.
Does the extra length and connector degrade the signal? Tough call. Our phones don't jump from 1 bar to 4 regardless. (We did see three with the Weboost on, but those indications are very slow to update and change intermittently.) The main difference was whether the Ipad could go on the internet or not. Placement of the outside antenna can be a factor. At one campground it worked on the rear of the streetside awning but not the front. (It's on a three foot mast, square tubing from the big box store that clips to the awning support.)
At the last campground I attached it to the grill table and ran the supplied lead in through the bug strip on the dinette window (and from there up to the A/V cabinet). It seems marginally better than going through the SAT cable.
I also noticed that the red powered box sometimes runs very hot. Leave it room to breathe!

The weboost 65 does not need a different connector as it used regular coax 75 ohm cable.

The other weboost systems that use 50 ohm cable do need a different connector to use with the sat port.

[Dennis C]

I went back and looked, and I realized that I’ve got the weboost Drive X RV, not the RV 65. In any case, it works pretty well for me. Weboost recommends placing the internal antenna 4 - 10 feet from the device that needs a boosted signal.

[GetawA-S]

Pdavey,
Thanks for clarifying the cable question.

[StrangeDaze]

Originally Posted by GetawA-S

You will need the adapters to use the sat cable. Coax is called "F type". The smaller cable does not match up. The post on the other forum showed the same set I bought - works great.
Does the extra length and connector degrade the signal? Tough call. Our phones don't jump from 1 bar to 4 regardless. (We did see three with the Weboost on, but those indications are very slow to update and change intermittently.) The main difference was whether the Ipad could go on the internet or not. Placement of the outside antenna can be a factor. At one campground it worked on the rear of the streetside awning but not the front. (It's on a three foot mast, square tubing from the big box store that clips to the awning support.)
At the last campground I attached it to the grill table and ran the supplied lead in through the bug strip on the dinette window (and from there up to the A/V cabinet). It seems marginally better than going through the SAT cable.
I also noticed that the red powered box sometimes runs very hot. Leave it room to breathe!

Are you speaking specifically about the RV 65 unit? It sounds like you are talking about the other weboost units, which might not use the same coax cable, uses a different mast, and a different interior antenna. No offense as I truly appreciate the input!! But I really need to know about the specific RV 65 unit. From what I have seen, the RV 65 does not need a coax adapter.

[StrangeDaze]

Originally Posted by pdavey

The weboost 65 will work fine through the Satalite port.

The best part about getting the weboost 65 is the booster. It is the most powerful consumer booster you can get.

I moved away from the directional antenna in favor of an omnidirectional antenna as I got sick of trying to point the antenna.

That said a few things to consider:
- your Airstream acts like a faraday cage so signals for the wifi hotspot wont be great

- the weboost doesn't broadcast far inside the unit so positioning the interior antenna closer to where you will use your hotspot and phones will make your experience much better.

- we put the interior antenna over the dinette table as that is where we work

- in areas where cellular signal is good the weboost will actually degrade your signal. This may be the biggest thing to consider

- you may want to invest in a cellular antenna for your hotspot, there are two mini jacks on the hotspot you can plug into a mimo antenna which will give you a much better signal than the weboost in many areas with average to good cell signal, the antenna can be placed on the outside of the airstream

For something less permanent you may want to use something like this and run the wires through your window. You can use a command strip to mount it on your Airstream.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DN3J03O...ing=UTF8&psc=1

You may not get the best signal mounting it to the side but it will be about 2-5 times better than the hotspot alone inside the Airstream.

When in bad signal areas deploy the weboost and place your wifi hot spot under the interior antenna then run all your other devices off the hotspot.

If you want something with maximum power invest in the pepwave max transit duo or regular max transit and pair it with an exterior mounted mimo antenna. I built this setup with the weboost as a backup similar to what I described above.

thanks for the input!

I am not sure that the newer Hotspots available from verizon (Verizon Jetpack® MiFi® 8800L) and the T mobile option (T9 Mobile Hotspot and INSEEGO 5G MiFi M2000) offer plug in jack locations for a external antenna... otherwise we would do this for sure. Thoughts? What current verizon or T mobile hot spots can be used?


How much "better" is the mobile sat technologies peplink set up over a weboost? With the RV 65 I dont have any holes to drill in my unit. With the peplink, it requires mounting on roof with drilling and screws, etc..

Thanks again!!

[pdavey]

Originally Posted by StrangeDaze

thanks for the input!



I am not sure that the newer Hotspots available from verizon (Verizon Jetpack[emoji2400] MiFi[emoji2400] 8800L) and the T mobile option (T9 Mobile Hotspot and INSEEGO 5G MiFi M2000) offer plug in jack locations for a external antenna... otherwise we would do this for sure. Thoughts? What current verizon or T mobile hot spots can be used?





How much "better" is the mobile sat technologies peplink set up over a weboost? With the RV 65 I dont have any holes to drill in my unit. With the peplink, it requires mounting on roof with drilling and screws, etc..



Thanks again!!

Well the peplink is cellular also. The power gain is much more on a dedicated cellular router compared to a hot spot and a hot spot is about 7-10x better then a phones cellular antenna.

They key to both the peplink or a hot spot is the ability to have an antenna that will pull in a signal.

Real life test at the bottom of the smoke mountains with 0 signal on phones (both att and Verizon) we deployed the weboost 65 combined with out router and we're pulling in 20mbps D/L and 5mbps upload.

The mifi 8800 L does have two ports on the side you can use to connect to a mimo antenna.

https://nectmodem.com/blog/hotspot-v...et-connection/

That is a good link on the differences between a hotspot vs cellular modem.

If you already have the hotspot and plan and if potentially work pays for it you are ahead. If you are considering getting a hotspot the benefits of a cellular modem may be better especially since you can choose your own sims or even have multiple sim cards you can use.

The peplink transit duo supports up to 4 sim card with two separate cellular modems that can be used simultaneously.

The regular peplink modems can mostly support 2 sims that will choose the one that has better signal.

Being able to have a prepaid plan from two carriers or more will let you have a lot more freedom then a single carrier hotspot.

[GetawA-S]

Originally Posted by StrangeDaze

Are you speaking specifically about the RV 65 unit? It sounds like you are talking about the other weboost units, which might not use the same coax cable, uses a different mast, and a different interior antenna. No offense as I truly appreciate the input!! But I really need to know about the specific RV 65 unit. From what I have seen, the RV 65 does not need a coax adapter.

You are correct, we have the Drive Reach RV. I'm not sure how much the rest of my other comments apply, but you would want to go through the SAT port - the larger cable will not fit through the slot for the window lift arms. I would have more confidence in the heavier F style connectors (and fewer of them) to not degrade the signal.
Good luck!

[David in Lex]

We have the RV 65 and a 2020 FC RBQ. We run the cable from the outside antenna through the built-in outside satellite port. Seems to work fine.
We put the booster and the inside antenna in the upper cabinets at the front of the trailer. It took some hunting to find the satellite-labeled cable in the rats nest of wires beside the blue-ray player. I don’t remember if we needed an adaptor. Maybe a male/female one.
We haven’t tried to mount the outside antenna on trailer yet. Because the trailer surface is curved, you probably can’t use both brackets as recommended. We bungee it to a tree or pole behind the trailer. You may need an extension cable for this.
We use a hotspot on the iPad for streaming etc. Ee have an unlimited data plan with Verizon.
Bottom line: We don’t use it often because not needed but when we do it definitely helps (as long as there is at least some signal to boost). Install is pretty easy. No drilling required.

[F250e9]

Coorect, I have the 65 and no adapter needed

[DAVSCH]

Yeah, I got suckered into one of those RV WeBoosts last summer. Next to worthless! The only way to get cell signal is to lay your phone against the indoor antenna. One time outside of Jackson Hole I needed to make a call for a repair. I was standing there with the antenna smashed against the cell phone smashed to my ear. My wife was laughing at me. How much signal that thing picks up is unknown, but the output is only one bar with the phone touching the antenna, 4 inches away nothing in the way of signal. Find another product!!!! Send the flaming arrows now:

[StrangeDaze]

Originally Posted by DAVSCH

Yeah, I got suckered into one of those RV WeBoosts last summer. Next to worthless! The only way to get cell signal is to lay your phone against the indoor antenna. One time outside of Jackson Hole I needed to make a call for a repair. I was standing there with the antenna smashed against the cell phone smashed to my ear. My wife was laughing at me. How much signal that thing picks up is unknown, but the output is only one bar with the phone touching the antenna, 4 inches away nothing in the way of signal. Find another product!!!! Send the flaming arrows now:

Thanks for sharing!!

I dont doubt it... even at home, my personal smartphone on verizon gets fewer bars than the wife's iphone. I think there are several variables going into the mix, and if you have the wrong ones, you get the extra bad results like you found. "Meh" antenna in that model phone, paired with weak antenna of weboost (I've heard this complaint a lot!).

My thoughts would be to use the weboost to boost the hotspot router we got from Verizon business, a Inseego Skyus 160, which also has antennas. If it was close enough to the weboost to get the boosted LTE signal, then when in Utah it might make a difference.

We also got 2 different mino 2x2 wired antennas for the skyus 160, to help "tune" each situation, as testing online we've watched showed some of them to actually work better in some situations.

[s1000pre]

I chose the WeBoost travel RV...I didn’t want to mess around with the pole. I can typically be 5-10 feet away from the inside antenna, with the latest model. I also run it through the Sat port and C-Clamp the antenna to my awning when needed. I can typically gain one or two bars in signal strength.