Wifi only deals

[emilylizza]

Hi All

First time poster here !! I am very soon due to move into a static caravan included in my employment and I need to get internet in place,I do not want a landline just internet , so I am looking for advice on getting this sorted out for my move soon . Any deals or better connections advice will be greatly appreciated ?

Thanks in advance


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[Slattster]

Hello Emily ,
You could use your phone as a hotspot , if you’d rather not then you’d need a 4G router or a mifi device. Depends where the caravan is as to which supplier you use as some will have a  better signal than others , have a look here  https://www.signalchecker.co.uk/  . if your going to be watching Netflix , iPlayer etc your going to need an unlimited deal. 3 usually have good deals ,but worth keeping an eye for deals as they change regularly , other companies piggy back on to the main networks so find out which has the best signal for your area then google who piggybacks on to that network for possibly cheaper deals. Being in a tin van you may also need an external aerial.
As an example , equipment I use is router - Tp-link Archer MR600 with aerial Poynting 4g-xpol-a0001. If you got an aerial you will need a pole to put it on so best to find if you need this when you get there. Good luck



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[Sparkalicious]

Hi Emily,

First off, welcome to the forum.

As Slattser said your best bet is a 4G (now can be 5G but prices haven't come down yet) router with external aerial.

I am actually about 3/4 of the way through my installation. I only have the aerial to put up now. (Had the wrong connector when I was doing the install and then lock down happened  )

I went for a Huawei B311 as my main router as it accepts an external aerial.
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0825M91HD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The aerial I plumbed for was this one. No named brand but it's omnidirectional and a couple of others have used it.
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07VCJR2QY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I am going to mount it onto my TV aerial pole. In my case I have actually disconnected the TV aerial as we can stream everything we need when we are there and I have repurposed the TV aerial cable to connect straight into the back of my router. Saves having to feed through another connection.

As for data packages, I went with 3. They gave me a free sim card. My phone is using them so I know they get decent reception where I am. Also their data packages are very good with unlimited starting at £10 for the first 6 months and then £20 after or you can just go PAYG and see how you get on. But this does very much come down to what reception you will have in that area as that is the most important thing.

Where are you going to be based?

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[Scorpio]

Such a lot depends on the signal strength at the location.  We are lucky to have a strong Vodafone signal at our static, so we can use our mobile phone as a hotspot to run a laptop, iPad and stream Netflix at the same time, all on our unlimited calls and data package.  As Sparkalicious says, you may need an outside aerial, depending on the signal strength but do a bit of research.

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[Slattster]

Sparks , that aerial is fine but as it only has one connector it could slow your connection down. Unless you can see the transmitter get an omni directional aerial. Also the one I mentioned comes with 5m of cable attached , the longer the length and more connections you have the more signal loss you get , so best to try and get router as close to aerial as possible. As you state, make sure the router has detachable aerials and has the same connectors as the aerial. I also plugged my router into an extension lead and went round the van with it switched on to find the area with the highest signal strength then put the aerial there. We are in a very bad area for signal so this was all necessary.

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[fhb2]

We moved into our park home before Openreach had connected us up, so had no landline or internet. We did not have a smartphone, and only needed a short-term fix for a month, so bought a pay-as-you-go dongle thingy from O2 - simply a USB that plugged into the laptop and gave us full internet access.
It is probably the most expensive option, but surprisingly effective (bearing in mind then it was  2G connection) and was for us the most flexible, as we only paid for the time we needed it.
The above suggestions are much better ones, but IF you only need a short-term temporary fix and not one for TV etc., mine may be of use.

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[Sparkalicious]

Sparks , that aerial is fine but as it only has one connector it could slow your connection down. Unless you can see the transmitter get an omni directional aerial. Also the one I mentioned comes with 5m of cable attached , the longer the length and more connections you have the more signal loss you get , so best to try and get router as close to aerial as possible. As you state, make sure the router has detachable aerials and has the same connectors as the aerial. I also plugged my router into an extension lead and went round the van with it switched on to find the area with the highest signal strength then put the aerial there. We are in a very bad area for signal so this was all necessary.

Cheers Slattster.

According to the advert the aerial is Omni-Directional so shouldn't be a problem on that front.

Could you tell me the benefit of having 2 connectors? I only have one connection on the back of the router, not sure what I'd do with the other one.

My router is currently located just the other side of the wall from the aerial so I'm all goo on that front. Hopefully in March we'll be allowed back on site and then I can push it through it's paces. I'll keep your aerial in the back of my mind just in case it's all terrible. I'm hoping the next time I change it will be for a 5G setup but not sure when that will be.

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[DaveE]

https://grouptestwinner.com/best-4g-lte-router/
https://grouptestwinner.com/external-4g-antenna-aerial/
I found these two articles worth reading for providing basic guides to kit & the differences therein for connecting to mobile networks for internet.
I hope they help answer others question about this.

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[Slattster]

Sparks , sorry , if you’ve only one connector on the router then you have the correct aerial , read Daves 2nd link about antennas , it’s the MIMO bit , basically 2 aerials doubles the speed of the connection but your router needs to be capable of this . If your connection is slow might be something to look at.

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[Sparkalicious]

Nice, thanks.

I'm aiming to do some work down there at points so a decent connection is needed. For now I'll give mine a go and then probably upgrade to a 5G setup once there is more hardware on the market and the prices start to come down to a decent price.

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[DaveE]

The thing about 5g/4g/ 3g  is subject to personal choice. 
To my thinking each generation has been introduced from the major cities outwards with many of the sites our ‘vans are on being in those areas ( be it coastal or rural ) that are the last to see any benefit.
It isn’t that long ago that I read somewhere of a ‘van owner who deliberately switched his router from 4g to 3g and got faster upload/download speeds. The logic was that everyone around was connecting via 4g and he had 3g to himself...
It could be worth trying for some.

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[Sparkalicious]

DaveE I completely agree.

An example, with my phone. When I first got a 4G phone I was getting great speeds but then very quickly it started to grind to a halt.

I then turned off 4G and went back to 3G and got faster speeds.

This was due to the 4G network not being robust enough and as everyone got new phones and turned them on they were pre-set to 4G and nothing else. So the 3G network was freed up and the 4G network swamped.

I'm now back on 4G as the infrastructure is much better. The same, I'm sure, will happen for 5G. Only advantage now, phones tend to scan for the fastest speed available from the options it can pick up and use that (I know my iPhone does) where they didn't do that in the past. So my phone regularly swaps from 5 to 4 to 3G depending on where and current network density.

5G is probably great right now as the new phones are only just starting to roll out but it won't be long till the majority people will have a 5G device in their pocket. Then it's a waiting game for the actual network to catch up.

I won't be upgrading to 5G for a while. The price of the hardware is still to high, even though it looks like my caravan site does have signal. Worst case, I could hotspot 5G off of my phone for the time being.

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