Fiat ducato campervan Wi-Fi system

[ducato discoveries]

Afternoon all,

I've spent the last week reading countless threads and watching multiple videos on what's the best solution for Wi-Fi inside my van and I'm still scratching my head.

I'm looking for an affordable set up that will last the test of time. I am soon to embark on a 6 month trip around Scotland and Europe and i will be using an EE sim card as well as potentially a poppit sim.

I have roof space to mount an external antenna and my router will be going in one of the over head cabinets, there will be a 12v power supply there as well so not a problem.

So down to the questions.... what's the best aerial if I need one? what's the best router? Am i better off with just a portable hotspot device that I leave in the window? What's everyone else running in their van / motorhome?

Any answers would be much appreciated and if you could add links to any answers this would also be greatly appreciated.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend fellow adventurers

 

[Deadloss]

I think this is one of those questions where you'll get at least as many opinions as there are available options! Personally, I'm running a MotorhomeWiFi 5G setup and have no complaints.

 

[Jabstatt]

Make up and install your own system and get great gear and don’t pay high installation costs.
Use the best poynting external you can find and one of the RUT series of routers, ideally dual sim to make life easy.
Mount the router in an easily accessible location. Don’t shorten the antenna leads.
Get a 5g compatible antenna to future proof the installation.

It’s an hours job at most.
Using a portable router inside just doesn’t get you the best signal strength.


Safe travels.

Tony

 

[Just smiffy]

I have a Tesco £20 a month clubcard unlimited everything contract I have been getting 5g everywhere and tether everything to my phone, even been streaming to with it….

 

[Googlebot]

I also endorse the RUT stuff, excellent!

I am with Tesco on the phone and SIM in the RUT. It hasn’t been all that great for signal, EE was far better, but Tesco is much cheaper.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Just smiffy]

I have a Tesco £20 a month clubcard unlimited everything contract I have been getting 5g everywhere and tether everything to my phone, even been streaming to with it….

What I forgot to say is the 5g was in Europe (O2) England was 4g at best….

 

[Kannon Fodda]

Welcome to the Fun

If you are travelling into remote areas there may be limited, if any, mobile data coverage. So however good your installation, if out of range of your chosen network mast, you may get nowt.

In some places I find my mifi, on three, gets nothing, but the mobile phone on Tesco (02) is OK. Other places it's reverse. Some places neither work. Often the phone for tethering data isn't good as inside the PVC the Faraday cage effect takes place but sticking phone in rooflight favoured by some, is no good as I want to use the phone.

In poor reception areas roof aerial must perform better than a router that is inside without an external aerial.

4g routers will suffice if there is a moderate signal but look for something Cat 16, Cat 20 as it will perform better for aggregation of signal. Many like the ZTE MU5001, although not confident that this uses its external aerial connection on 4g, only 5g mobile. A 5g router with cat 16+ 4g lte will future proof.

If fitting external aerial I suggest going for 4x4 mimo type such as Panorama. Even if not all leads used now, fit once and allows router change in future for not much more cost and less aggro of removing old mastic fittings on roof later.

You may pay premium for packages made up by some compared to separates from places such as Solwise. Don't forget to buy roof cable glands.