Community Forums

G-Man51 · 09-23-2013, 09:18 PM

We are currently running the Bitstorm Bad Boy WiFi antenna. This system was designed for boats but works great for RVs. We have the antenna attached to the TV air antenna and deploys at a height of around 17' and stows flat with the antenna down. I am not sure how you would pick up band width with an on board system, but we can pickup WiFi signals much better. i just checked by having the antenna down, park WiFi signal was 2 bars. deployed the antenna and picked up to 4 bars. We were in a park a few weeks ago and could not pickup anything on the lap top. Deployed antenna and picked up 2 open WIFi sites. I have the Bitstorm Bad Boy Unleashed. This is the antenna connected to a secure wireless router that allows multiple devices to connect. We also have Verizon hot spot with 12 GB plan. You still have to manage you data use carefully. I think a lot of these systems are similar and use a lot of the same hardware. You may want to check out Bitstorm - Home

brobox · 09-23-2013, 09:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swenster

So far it is not adding g's of use to my plan. Hope it stays that way. I had a teather program once that didn't use any data from the plan. I was hoping this was like that.

If you are careful how you use your data, it will creep by on you data usage. Watch a lot of videos and youtube and it will use data in a hurry. Foxfi is a great app.

hdgoldie · 09-23-2013, 09:54 PM

Unfortunately Foxfi won't run on an iPhone - and I can't tether it without jacking the system (which VZ CS actually told me to do...and sent the link for the YouTube instructions). Looked like it would need to be redone after any Apple update so I never attempted to do it. Now, if we update our phones, we lose grandpa anyway. I tried to get around that one. No sale. Upgrade a phone or a hot spot and grandpa is gone. We all live in the cloud - and all the companies are out for their piece of the pie.

papaw1 · 09-23-2013, 10:32 PM

G-man51, does the antenna deploy at 17 inches or feet?

brobox · 09-24-2013, 05:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hdgoldie

Unfortunately Foxfi won't run on an iPhone - and I can't tether it without jacking the system (which VZ CS actually told me to do...and sent the link for the YouTube instructions). Looked like it would need to be redone after any Apple update so I never attempted to do it. Now, if we update our phones, we lose grandpa anyway. I tried to get around that one. No sale. Upgrade a phone or a hot spot and grandpa is gone. We all live in the cloud - and all the companies are out for their piece of the pie.

The only reason I chose an Android over the iphone was because of Foxfi. I bought a smartphone just for wi-fi and Foxfi was the least expensive. Now that I have a smartphone....why didn't I do it sooner!?

The only way to keep Grandpa is pay full price for the phone. Any "discounted" phone after the two year contract kills the Grandpa data. Basically, If you pay retail for a phone you are buying your Grandpa contract, but people are doing it.

G-Man51 · 09-24-2013, 07:58 AM

I am about 17 ft above ground. Antenna is about 1' above air antenna. WIFI works line of sight so higher is better.

G-Man51 · 09-24-2013, 08:01 AM

Looks like I need to check out Foxfi. Thanks for the info.

docj · 09-24-2013, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saltydog44

That is what happened to us - upgraded to a new 4G Phone and lose grampa. Argued and talked to VZ Customer NO Service. Didn't matter if it was a phone or a MiFi.

But maybe I'm just a wuss.

This was answered later in the thread, but you could have kept your grandfathered plan if you had paid the full cost of your new phone rather than the subsidized price Verizon advertises. For example, a new Galaxy S4 is $199 through Verizon or $600 retail on Amazon. If you had paid the $600 you could have retained your plan.

Unless you are a heavy data user this might not make economic sense, but for full-timers such as us with data usage of ~35-40 GB/mo it is worth doing.

Saltydog44 · 09-24-2013, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobox

The only reason I chose an Android over the iphone was because of Foxfi. I bought a smartphone just for wi-fi and Foxfi was the least expensive. Now that I have a smartphone....why didn't I do it sooner!?

The only way to keep Grandpa is pay full price for the phone. Any "discounted" phone after the two year contract kills the Grandpa data. Basically, If you pay retail for a phone you are buying your Grandpa contract, but people are doing it.

We didn't know that buying to save grampa was an option. Might have done it to save hassle.

Flora · 09-24-2013, 08:51 AM

We must be grandfathered into our Sprint account as our terms have not changed in years. I don't remember if we've paid full price for our upgrade phones (every 2 years) or not, but will find out soon since DH is due for one in Oct. I would also pay to keep this plan, but don't tell them!

On another note, I had to make an appointment to speak with a WFR support tech, and it is at 4 this afternoon. Will report back what he says. Have a list of questions!

brobox · 09-24-2013, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saltydog44

We didn't know that buying to save grampa was an option. Might have done it to save hassle.

I frequent the Tech forum on one of the other RV forums and one of the Droid forums. They kind of keep me up to date on the new rules for Verizon and apps. Speaking of new apps have you seen RV Parky...awesome RV Park app and it "free".

C&SL · 09-24-2013, 04:19 PM

Well Foxfi won't run on the new Droid MAXX smart phone.

Have unlimited data plane so have to pay for tethering on till other options come available or Foxfi is updated.

Flora · 09-24-2013, 04:41 PM

I just finished a conversation with a very nice tech named Christian at WiFi Ranger. Here is the gist of it:

The Sky will take any open wifi signal it can find, including your own cellphone hotspot, and allow you to create a secure network within your RV that will allow all your electronics to access it easily. He mentioned pulling in a signal as far as 2 miles away under ideal conditions. I asked about using too much bandwidth as mentioned in an earlier response and he said that it wasn't the bandwidth but the MB/sec that was affected. The more people logged onto the wifi signal, the slower it gets, so streaming wouldn't affect that, but may make it impossible to stream because it was too slow. I can't dispute that...I'm learning this myself. Anyway, he said the Sky has a companion product called the go2 which creates a LAN with ports to plug into. Christian said that a wired connection is always faster than wifi, so to stream a movie, it would be better if the smart tv was plugged into one of the ports. Also, I asked about a product I found today called the Sleek (by Wilson) that is a cell phone signal booster. Christian said that that could work in conjunction with the Sky in an area where a cell signal is very weak.

I think that what our plan of action is going to be is to try using just my cellphone FoxFi as my hotspot to see how it streams Netflix to our tv. If that is successful with no additional data charges, then we may get the Sleek to get the cell signal in weak areas. Then, if needed, we'll get the Sky. Can't try all this until we get our rig out of the body shop, and that may be a couple more weeks!!!

ImagineIF · 09-24-2013, 05:07 PM

Flora,

The bottleneck is typically the shared internet connection into the park. So, you didn't ask the right question to get the answer youwere probably seeking. Look at it this way. The CG installs a fast reliable Wi-Fi system. That would be the equivalent of a 6 lane highway. Then the CGs internet connection is 1.5Mb/s DSL line. Tht would be the single lane dirt road. So, your Wi-Fi link is strong and fast, but you are slowed down over the dirt road to get to where ever you are going.