Wi-Fi Extender for Parking at Home Use

[Emh142]

I have the 34 trailer parked out back a hundred feet or so from my Spectrum router in the house. Is there a simple plug in solution that anyone would suggest to get me enough boost to connect to the house from the trailer. I can pick up a marginal connection about half way there, but just can't see the router from inside the trailer. Brand and model would be helpful. Just a plug in at this time and if it will work in a RV Park fine, but I'm not interested in that right now. Thanks in advance. DH>

[DKB_SATX]

Rather than putting something "in the middle" where you have an iffy signal, putting a directional external antenna near the trailer may get you want you need (you'd still need a receiver in the trailer that can deal with an external antenna, so you might need a cheap/dumb access point/repeater device on the trailer end. If you signal is really iffy you might need a directional antenna on both ends, which starts to add up. For 100 ft the generic flat-plate directional antennas will probably be fine, but there are yagi antennas sized for 2.4ghz that aren't too expensive ($40ish.) You'll definitely get better behavior at longer ranges with 2.4ghz than with 5 ghz.

[Mollysdad]

I use a simple NetGear N-300.
My "smart" TV was buffering because the built in Wi-Fi receiver doesn't have much of an antenna. Without going off into the weeds, a device needs two way communication. As the router sends a packet, the device has to give it the okay. That's why a better antenna on my router didn't help.
I plugged this into the wall right behind the TV. It's ID is the same as your router +EXT, and the password is the same. It solved the problem for me. It was about $35 at the time.

[wulfraat]

I use a pepwave surf soho router with 3x3 MIMO antenna mounted in the front window of the airstream for catching wifi and re-distributing the in trailer via private WAN. Works great.

[pdavey]

Originally Posted by wulfraat

I use a pepwave surf soho router with 3x3 MIMO antenna mounted in the front window of the airstream for catching wifi and re-distributing the in trailer via private WAN. Works great.

I use a similar set up and grab the wifi from my house using a Mikrotik Groove and that feeds into the WAN port in the Airstream.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D9QTJCH...YMK9VSBXPE3740

I then use my Airstream private network to connect my devices.

I use the AS as an office almost every work day.

My house network uses Google Nest/Home mesh system.

The Mikrotik is mounted to an antenna I can deploy on top of the Airstream for best line of site.

On average I pull around 120 Mbps download and 30 Mbps upload about 50 yards from the house.

[kidjedi]

I went to Goodwill and bought a wireless router for $5. I ran an ethernet cable from my main router to the "new" router in the direction of the trailer and thus got signal source 50ft. closer to the trailer (and past some walls that were blocking wireless). Works great. Similarly, in the Landyacht, I placed another $5 Goodwill router (powered by vehicle's 12v). It can act as a wireless repeater to boost signal, or, when I'm at family's parked in the driveway, I sometime run a cable from their router to mine for super strong signal.

[Motown]

I have a couple of N-300's. These little guys work well, but make sure you set it up to use one band to talk to your home router and the other band to talk to your Airstream. If you extend both bands you'll cut your performance by 50-75%.

[JRF0st3r]

This is from our thread, "Jim + Jane's '67 Safari" under the Model Specific Section, 1966 - 68 Safari. We did add the second repeater in our barn, about halfway to the trailer and now it works pretty good.

Here’s one more small improvement to our ’67 Airstream Safari. “Maggie” serves as part of our Guest Cottage when parked and these days guests expect to have WiFi. Our home has good signal served by fiber-optic but its router is 210 feet from the Guest Cottage.

Our Guest Cottage not only shelters the Airstream but provides a full bathroom, sheltered lounge / dining, generous deck with pergola to shield sun and a storeroom. First we thought of various solutions for extending the range or burying cable but then wife Jane suggested an antenna such as used on boats so that it might also improve WiFi reception at RV parks.

Following recommendations from yachtsman brother-in-law, we bought a Wave WiFi Rogue Pro antenna and a Calissa Offshore Tackle Marine mount with adjustable base. An old Netgear router was found. Also a MSRM repeater was installed in the carport 45 feet from the main router. There are many antenna options but the mount needs to be one that allows cable to be installed with connectors already on both ends and adjustable in both directions. Don’t ask me why I know that.

The antenna, which must be vertical in use and horizontal when traveling, was mounted next to the refrigerator vent so I could reach it from a stepladder and so it enters the trailer in an upper cabinet. AC electrical outlets were added so all could be contained in one space, out of sight.

At this point network speed is 10 MBS which should be OK for basic functions. We will try adding a second repeater at the barn halfway between. Parked where it is, the tip of the antenna has its path to the house obstructed by roof structure so perhaps this will be faster at a future location.

Jim

[gcapiel]

I have a Nest/Google Wifi Access Point near the window on my Caravel
to prevent the aluminum trailer body from weakening the signal. I then have another access point on the wall closest and in view of the window. I find I get more throughput doing that versus using the pepwave included with Airstream Connect.