Internet connectivity issues

[danford50]

on my motorhome when i am at the campground and the campground has internet, i can't get internet on the inside of my motorhome. What equipment do i need to get the campground internet on the inside of my motorhome?

[pasdad1]

Fiberglass and glass windows are pretty transparent to radio signals. If you can’t make a connection, I’m thinking the signal is just too weak.

[Paul P.]

In my experience, rarely does a campground have "good internet". Often a weak signal as mentioned before, but even in cases of a strong signal they usually have very limited bandwidth, so when multiple people are trying to connect it's useless. I've had the best luck using during times others aren't, i.e. early am and late at night. Every once in a while, however, there are exceptions and a CG will have pretty good service, but since we stream TV we have 40gb/mo on each of our phones and also a Travlfi hotspot that I can purchase data for as needed.

[NLOVNIT]

My guess is either you are too far from the source or the signal is weak to begin with. My Phaeton had a Winegard ConnecT. If I understand its purpose, it boosted the signal to the interior of my coach. Although, if it was a bad signal from the get go, I don't think the ConnecT did any good.

[Quantum]

Are you trying to connect via smartphone or a computer?

[Bigceasar]

Remember Internet connectivity is a two way communication. The park likely has a large powered antenna sending out their signal. Your phone or laptop has a tiny one trying to complete that connection. This is on top of the other issues already mentioned. Park internet isn’t really a good option if you need to be connected.

[Isaac-1]

If this is a case of you having a wifi connection on your tablet or computer when sitting outside the coach, and not having it when inside, this is most likely a wifi signal strength problem and can often be fixed with a simple $25-$35 wifi repeater located somewhere inside the coach where it can see out the side windows or the front windshield. Something like https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Wi-Fi...dp/B014YN7LVE/ or https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Intel...dp/B07CRR32TV/ Sure the roof mounted wifi extenders will work better, but they also cost a lot more than $35, and much of the time one of these simple extenders will work almost as well. There will also be a lot of time when no matter what you use you will not get usable internet as the problem is often not the wifi in the campground, it is their very limited internet connection to the outside world.

[danford50]

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

If this is a case of you having a wifi connection on your tablet or computer when sitting outside the coach, and not having it when inside, this is most likely a wifi signal strength problem and can often be fixed with a simple $25-$35 wifi repeater located somewhere inside the coach where it can see out the side windows or the front windshield. Something like https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Wi-Fi...dp/B014YN7LVE/ or https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Intel...dp/B07CRR32TV/ Sure the roof mounted wifi extenders will work better, but they also cost a lot more than $35, and much of the time one of these simple extenders will work almost as well. There will also be a lot of time when no matter what you use you will not get usable internet as the problem is often not the wifi in the campground, it is their very limited internet connection to the outside world.

thank Issac you answer my question. now this wifi repeater where would you install it at on the inside of the motorhome?

[docj]

Originally Posted by NLOVNIT

My guess is either you are too far from the source or the signal is weak to begin with. My Phaeton had a Winegard ConnecT. If I understand its purpose, it boosted the signal to the interior of my coach. Although, if it was a bad signal from the get go, I don't think the ConnecT did any good.

What is often overlooked is that WiFi is a 2-way communication medium. It's not enough to be able to "see" the signal from a WiFi access point. You also have to be able to send a signal back to the AP. Your devices such as phones have very low-power transmitters and may not be able to capture the "attention" of an AP.

The Winegard ConnecT that you had not only had antennas to receive the signal from the AP, it also had a larger transmitter to "talk back" to the AP.

[gladu2]

The Bearfi Extender works very well as a wifi extender at a good price. You can set it up indoors. Only requires USB power from your laptop or device, good for off grid camping. It's short coming is it only works as a wifi booster on the computer it is connected too. We seldom use ours anymore since having 3 great cellular data plans but I keep it in the RV just in case- https://www.bearifi.com/collections/...rrent-products

[Captain8]

Best solution is something like a peplink router with a wifi wan antenna mounted on the roof. You then connect the router to the CG wifi and your laptops connected to your rv wifi. Plus everything never needs to reconnect.

Just over the weekend I was able to pickup the campground next to the one we were at and couldn't see it on our phones even when walking around.

[AllegroD]

Well, the first thing to know about internet connectivity is that it REQUIRES 2 way connectivity to establish communications. That means that if the CG is strong but your laptop is weak, which most are, than you will not get a connection and it is your equipment that is failing. As others have provided, you will need something that will receive and strong enough to provide a signal back to the CG router/repeater.


Outside Our Bubble provides a good solution. Be sure to read all of the updates.


Now, having said that. some CG wifi is poor signal and maybe specifically configured. It might be configured to not allow streaming on the usual ports, in an attempt to limit users to emails and small (not a lot of graphics) web surfing.