Wifi Question

[NewSurfer]

Hi all! Just wondering if anyone up in Canada has a good solution for getting WiFi on the road? Would just some kind of antenna work or do you need a WiFi extender? Would like to access Netflix and Prime Video. Thanks in advance!

[Gompka]

Originally Posted by NewSurfer

Hi all! Just wondering if anyone up in Canada has a good solution for getting WiFi on the road? Would just some kind of antenna work or do you need a WiFi extender? Would like to access Netflix and Prime Video. Thanks in advance!

You will always need an extender with a phone or a tablet because there is no way to enhance the wifi signal on your phone or tablet. If you are using a laptop you can probably get away with usb wifi adapter that allows you to connect an external antenna.

Walmart




Something as simple as this could also work well if you are using a laptop.

Amazon

[honda03842]

We travel in Canada for two months a year. Our approach is to have a Tmobile phone plan. When we travel in Canada our plan allows unlimited Phone, Text and Internet in Canada. We rarely watch Netflix but are subscribers.

We find local wi-fi, i.e. that available in campgrounds, is generally overloaded and too low for most anything.

[John in Santa Cruz]

wifi will only work within a few 100 yards of a open wifi access point, a range extender antenna can maybe double or triple the distance max. its not like cellular, something that works over wide areas.

IMHO, the best wifi antennas are the square 'patch' antennas... a yagi antenna like in the first picture is extremely directional and hard to point. the patch antennas are much more forgiving. they still need to be aimed, but only in the general direction of the wireless access point (base station)

typical patch antennas:
https://www.landandseawifi.com/produ...-patch-antenna
https://www.amazon.com/Wasooo%C2%AE-.../dp/B00O9VG7FS

to use this with a phone/tablet, you'd also need a wifi repeater, something like this (no personal experience with these)
https://www.amazon.com/AllPro-Wi-Fi-.../dp/B00LGZN47E
(but use the above patch antenna instead of the stick supplied with that kit)

lots of complications, you can't use TV grade coax for wifi antennas, the signal loss would negate any gains, you need special low loss microwave coax. wifi antennas use da bunch of different connector types, such as RP-SNA, N-type, etc, you need to be sure both the antenna and whatever you're connecting it to use the same sorts of connectors (or get a suitable 'pig-tail' to connect from one to the other).

[Boler77]

Originally Posted by honda03842

We travel in Canada for two months a year. Our approach is to have a Tmobile phone plan. When we travel in Canada our plan allows unlimited Phone, Text and Internet in Canada. We rarely watch Netflix but are subscribers.

We find local wi-fi, i.e. that available in campgrounds, is generally overloaded and too low for most anything.

as just returning from an across tour of Canada, I would fully agree with the wifi in campgrounds suck. I use the Campgrond Pro with a yagi 25 dbi antennia and if you connect you are lucky. Most campgrounds here have very limited range and once people are connected the system stayes locked on, so very limited people get to use it. I was at one that limited the connection to 2 hours every 12 hours, which made things better and they had good range as well as good speed up to 150 MGB/sec. But when your time was up you got kicked off and others had a chance. They could handle up to 50 connections at a time. wait 12 hours and resign in. I only found a few that were worth even trying to connect to. For most places Netflix is out of the question, you need 5 MGB/sec for HD and most places don't provide that. Best to download what is available if using Netflix and go for a hike and enjoy nature.

[Jon Vermilye]

As others have mentioned, just being able to pull in a distant WiFi signal doesn't mean you can do much with it. Most campground WiFi systems limit the use of streamed video, either because they are too slow, or they lock down the usual video ports on their router.

If you want a good range extender for WiFi, the best I've found is a Ubiquiti NanoStation, combined with one of their Air Gateways. Using the pair, I was able to reliably connect to a Loves WiFi network (a clear line of sight) a bit more than one mile from my trailer.

Here is a YouTube video showing how to set up the system.

Again, this won't help if the network you are connecting to is overloaded, restricts streaming, or just has a slow connection to the internet, but it will improve the reach of your system.

[Byron Kinnaman]

one of joys of camping (Scamping, etc.) is to unplug. That is to turn the phone off. Find or travel places where there isn't internet. Just plain disappear from society for awhile. Relax and enjoy the scenery and the wild life.

[Jon Vermilye]

Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman

one of joys of camping (Scamping, etc.) is to unplug. That is to turn the phone off. Find or travel places where there isn't internet. Just plain disappear from society for awhile. Relax and enjoy the scenery and the wild life.

Some of us live in our trailer for 8 - 10 months straight, others full time. I'm not ready to disappear form society for the better part of a year.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Jon Vermilye

Some of us live in our trailer for 8 - 10 months straight, others full time. I'm not ready to disappear form society for the better part of a year.

How is world did you manage to live 20 to 25 years ago?

[Jon Vermilye]

Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman

How is world did you manage to live 20 to 25 years ago?

Quite well. That was then, this is now. I have no desire to be tied to one place to be able to manage bills, correspond with friends, etc. I'm not saying it is wrong to get away from the world for short periods of time, but I wouldn't want to live that way all the time.

[steve dunham]

We mainly stay / camp at State Parks because they appeal to us far more than KOAs . When I go to trip advisor or other similar sites and look at the Park reviews I am amazed
There are people rating the park 1 out of 5 stars because the Internet signal / WIFI did not allow them to stream Netflix movies .
If the only reason you go camping is to sit in your trailer and watch movies or surf the Internet then I would rather stay home
We went camping for 4 days last week with 4 of our grandkids , there was no phone service , no internet , no WIFI , no TV , no nothing . We had a great time

[Byron Kinnaman]

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

We went camping for 4 days last week with 4 of our grandkids , there was no phone service , no internet , no WIFI , no TV , no nothing . We had a great time

Maybe some of us don't want to go camping with your grandkids.

[honda03842]

We left Florida in mid April and are yet to turn on our TV. Actually we rarely take it with us on our trips to Canada. However not having TV or radio does not mean that I want to be disconnected from the advantages of 2018.

We love the Internet. We read a lot, more than a dozen books while in NL. The ability to down load books of interest, to search and read topics (actually in love with YouTube and instructional videos on all kinds of topics.

As well though we travel for extended periods we still carry life responsibilities, family and organizations that we belong to.... None are over whelming however they are responsibilities. The Internet allows us to be part of multiple worlds and get an abundance of interesting information.

Speaking of downloaded books, we are reading Gut by Enders. A wonderfully informative fun book about our gut from top to bottom (literally). You finish the book and just yearn to know more about all kinds of topics. What a marvelous age we live in where we can be nowhere yet at the sametime literally everywhere.

[WizWid]

Someone asks a simple question and instead of answering it - or ignoring it - we get multiple posts telling him his camping style is all wrong.

That is not very helpful.

FWIW we are in Thunder Bay tonight catching up on uploading photos etc, at the Fort William campground. 1000+ photos just uploaded in about 2 hours to both Carbonite and Flickr. - All while the better half is streaming Netflix while I prepare supper.

We are on the road for multiple weeks at a time and use Skype to keep in touch with sick siblings and elderly parents - in foreign countries.
So we are interested in the answer to this too - not being told how to run our lives.

Respectfully,
Jim

[Daniel A.]

I've never been one to use open networks be it camping or hotels.
My solution was to get a Bell MiFi device it serves my needs well.



Camping off grid which is what I do mostly I still have internet if I want it.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

We mainly stay / camp at State Parks because they appeal to us far more than KOAs . When I go to trip advisor or other similar sites and look at the Park reviews I am amazed
There are people rating the park 1 out of 5 stars because the Internet signal / WIFI did not allow them to stream Netflix movies .
If the only reason you go camping is to sit in your trailer and watch movies or surf the Internet then I would rather stay home
We went camping for 4 days last week with 4 of our grandkids , there was no phone service , no internet , no WIFI , no TV , no nothing . We had a great time

++1 ^^


i will say on my recent 3 week trip, I relied on my cellphone (google pixel with verizon) for internet, and was generally quite happy. i had a non-cellular tablet and my wife had her laptop, and both were able to use my cellular to wifi hotspot when i had a reasonable signal, if not in camp, then when we drove into town. I had no trouble staying in touch with my email lists etc, although I did a minimum of web forum browsing, by choice.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

++1 ^^


i will say on my recent 3 week trip, I relied on my cellphone (google pixel with verizon) for internet, and was generally quite happy. i had a non-cellular tablet and my wife had her laptop, and both were able to use my cellular to wifi hotspot when i had a reasonable signal, if not in camp, then when we drove into town. I had no trouble staying in touch with my email lists etc, although I did a minimum of web forum browsing, by choice.

To be fair we only have a cell phone and it only works about a third of the time due to poor / no service . No tablet , No computers , No WiFi boosters , No net flicks , No cable TV
( On a good day we get 9 channels ) , No Sirius radio , No blue tooth , no online banking and No MP3 player
We are by some people’s standards electronically challenged
It’s not a matter of money , it’s that we don’t feel the need to be constantly connected
Like Byron I would rather be connected to nature

[k corbin]

Originally Posted by NewSurfer

Hi all! Just wondering if anyone up in Canada has a good solution for getting WiFi on the road? Would just some kind of antenna work or do you need a WiFi extender? Would like to access Netflix and Prime Video. Thanks in advance!

A little clarification needed. Are you trying to connect to a cell service provider with your own personal phone account or are you trying to pick up WIFI signals broadcast at RV parks and other local businesses that are providing the service via their own business account? I am asking because the equipment needed does differ depending on which type of signal you are trying to amplify.


If you are going to try to stream Netflix and prime video then you will be wanting to have an unlimited data personal account from a cellular provider. You will also need equipment that is certified to work with the devices that company is going to authorize for use on your account. So where you need to start is by getting setup with your service provider.

[David B.]

Originally Posted by honda03842

We travel in Canada for two months a year. Our approach is to have a Tmobile phone plan. When we travel in Canada our plan allows unlimited Phone, Text and Internet in Canada. We rarely watch Netflix but are subscribers.

We find local wi-fi, i.e. that available in campgrounds, is generally overloaded and too low for most anything.

Larry, we are traveling with another friend who just pruchased a Tmobile plan while traveling through Canada. This plan was for older folks which gives two lines with unlimited data for $55.00/month. This friend streams Netflicks for hours without buffering throughout Canada and now in Alaska. Our Verzion drops to 3G in Canada, so it was difficult to do much at that time, but here in Alaska we are back to 4G.
Dave & Paula