How to get good wifi in our motorhome ?

[Fatmrsgeorge]

We like to watch TV and films. How do we get good or at least not terrible wifi ? Please bear in mind that if you talk about the matter anti matter reactor valve , that I'm not as smart as Scotty from Star Trek.
Just want something easy. Ta

 

[Gaston aires]

If you want to stream you need lots of data. You will need unlimited. I use a Huawei dongle but it’s dependent on the signal in the area. The best is Starlink but it’s expensive.
Phil

 

[Kannon Fodda]

By wifi it is assumed you wish to stream to your tv using mobile phone type data. You presumably have a smart tv or firestick type device in your motorhome that decides the WiFi.

The issue is thus getting good reception of your mobile data signal.

In built up areas not a problem, usually, as you are normally in a good phone reception. But rural areas typical of many campsites, if not wildcamping, is often problematic.

First your chosen phone provider needs to have a mast in range. The main providers EE, Three, O2, Vodafone have different coverage that may not overlap. 4g often is further coverage than 5g that claims faster but doesn't travel as far from mast.

If on edge of range then roof based aerial and a decent WiFi router offers best potential coverage. Many cheaper 4g routers are only cat 4 or cat 6 which limits their signal aggregation and thus very slow if not useless. Ideally get router that is cat 16 or 20 for better aggregation and wider reception in the marginal areas. 5g abilities useful but not yet essential for the rural areas.

 

[Jon Stewart]

Many cheaper 4g routers are only cat 4 or cat 6 which limits their signal aggregation and thus very slow if not useless. Ideally get router that is cat 16 or 20 for better aggregation and wider reception in the marginal areas. 5g abilities useful but not yet essential for the rural areas.

A very simple explanation of 'aggregation' is that the device can make multiple simultaneous connections to one or more masts at the same time.

This significantly speeds up streaming speed.

 

[MisterB]

By far the simplest method is if you can get a decent signal on your phone, you can usually get enough 'signal' to be able to watch TV through the internet. You would need to set your phone as a hotspot to allow you to connect through your phone

The next simplest option is to use a dongle or mifi device, which is simply something you put a data SIM into and it connects to the internet via the data SIM. There are many different types and prices. Again though, you are dependant on being able to get a 'signal' via whichever provider you sign up with for your data SIM and then you 'connect' your TV device to the single or mifi.

For both the above you will pay whatever your provider charges you for amount of data you use or have access to.

The method a few if us now use is via Starlink, easy to set up BUT not cheap and certainly more expensive than phone hotspot or dongle/Mifi.

Remember you do need something that can act as the link between whatever is providing your signal to whatever you want to watch on, most people use a fire stick or Roku ...

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[Fatmrsgeorge]

Just found out the cost of Starlink. Yikes ! Looks like a dongle and booster aerial will be the way to go. Router research now underway. Thanks for the easy explanations !

 

[Mart 63]

I use a Netgear nighthawk with a small Android box, connected with an ethernet cable. No buffering on movies or live football.

 

[Brains]

Apparently the new iPhone 16's come with a free two subscription to Starlink.
You can't use it for phone calls, but you apparently can use it for streaming, whatsapp, texts etc.

Might be worth taking a look, and use the iPhone connected to a decent external aerial as the wifi module

 

[TerryReis]

Just a point about starlink. While the monthly charges are high, you can turn it off and not be charged when you are not using it.

 

[starquake]

A very simple explanation of 'aggregation' is that the device can make multiple simultaneous connections to one or more masts at the same time.

This significantly speeds up streaming speed.

On multiple frequencies at same time too. A cat4 device can only every use one frequency at same time as it literally has one radio. Cat6 is an improvement as it allows one radio to transmit whilst the other is receiving in itself (which massively improves performance as a standard cat4 device is like old school radio with over and out when you think about it).

Avoid cat4 (and cat6 for most part) and you'll be fine as even a cat12 device can manage up to 3 frequencies at same time.

In our roughly 130 days in the van this year, entirely in UK, mostly in rural campsites, not once have we failed to get enough signal for netflix/live sport on nowtv/sky with a roof antenna + cat12 device (up till Sept), and cat20 5g device from Sept to date. Worth also noting when you get 5g on a 5g capacble (not 5g wifi, this is a common thing they are sold on without supporting actual 5g) device even on 2 bar (or 1 bar) signal as we had over this Christmas it will often provide a similar experience to fibre at home, often with more bandwidth than starlink. I am quite positive as 5g is rolled out more in UK it will make decent performance for us in vans.

Only downside is on 1-2 bar 5g, the device I have (a zte mu5001) absolutely sucked power this winter, using up to 15W (just over 1.2A on the leisure battery). We actually turned the 5g off (and stuck to 4g) when we ran low on the leisure battery when offgrid for 3 nights. 4g uses a lot less power, around 4-5W max.

Starlink is indeed great and consistently works if you can see the sky -> however 5g contracts with unlimited data are not as expensive to point a month of starlink service costs more than a year of 5g (UK) only unlimited coverage on Three. Starlink is great, but it's not for us personally with our use of van, but it is something we are installing for a family member to use in summer, when their local cell towers are congested (who reside in an area with a large amount of transient holidaymakers in school holidays in summer). They will activate it for the 2 months a year their local cell tower has been unusable (due to large amount of tourists) last 3 years.

Using a roof antenna significantly will improve performance with the right device on certain frequencies compared with a phone. At momenet we keep 2 routers in the van a ZTE MU5001 5g one (about £160 from ebay) and a 986D (cheaper on ebay) cat12 4g one. The reason is with the roof antenna on certain frequencies the 986D will work slightly better (we switch em over). In 2 bar or better signal the roof antenna in general adds a few Mbit/sec when compred to not having it. The MU5001 benefits most on the 5g bands from this. (phone didn't get 5g, mu5001 on the roof antenna DID).

Netgear, Huawei, ZTE and Teltonika all produce decent devices for use in vans. I would personally avoid tplink's as they tend to be expensive and often cat4 for same price you can get cat20 from others.

5g on 2100mhz (which is deployed by Three), which is their old (3g) frequencies is a gamechanger where it exists (and will need a roof antenna in many cases). As it's still a reasonably low frequency (most 5g deployed is n78 3500mhz) it can travel to rural places if a cell tower is upgraded. As Three turn off 3g this year, I suspect they'l make more use of this than putting 4g on 2100mhz. We got > starlink speeds on 2100mhz in (very rural) Heysham/Morcambe coastal area over Christmas (250-300Mbit down and about 40 up).

So in summary Starlink will work everywhere, but may not be as fast or as cheap as 5g where that exists. And it does exist in SOME rural sites.

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[pandas]

This is going to be one of those posts that will make my head hurt with loads of technical helpful suggestions.
We have for years had a Hew (cannot spell it) mifi unit bluetoothed linked to a fire stick that is connected to the back of our smart tv. Most of the time great reception for streaming even in Northern Norway and Southern Italy. Use a mifi unit as it seems a better than my iPhone. Use a smarty sim so I can switch it on only for the month or so we use it. Works for us. Quite simple, and a low cost solution. (Mifi unit about £130 or I think). Fare usage in the eu 30gb I think which is more than enough for us.

 

[Jo May]

Don't shout - another angle here.
We don't watch TV but we do enjoy movies. However we do without both when away in the van. Instead, we read, write, walk, cycle, even talk!
Ours is a PVC so space is limited so I've replaced the TV with a microwave which produces (marginally) more appetizing stuff.

So, how about weening yourself off TV and build up a bank of movies (or series) on USBs (or whatever) downloaded from your preferred movies supplier.

I'll just add that, we used to be boaters and our favourite thing, that left us the best memories, was mooching along the bank, meeting folk, sharing a glass and making new friends. It did change somewhat over the 12 years we boated as people, for whatever reason, became more insular. Not just us, other people we know have noticed this too. With our camping we have noticed that we barely see some folk with whom we share a site, apart from loo duties. It's park up, TV on and that's it.
Horses for courses of course.

 

[frwjd]

We had a Motorhomewifi system fitted and have very rarely been without wifi wherever we've been from Lapland to Turkey.

 

[headlight]

We like to watch TV and films. How do we get good or at least not terrible wifi ? Please bear in mind that if you talk about the matter anti matter reactor valve , that I'm not as smart as Scotty from Star Trek.
Just want something easy. Ta

I have an unlimited data sim for my phone, £13.99 a month.
I use my phone as a mobile WiFi hot-spot and stream to my TV via a Fire Stick.
I can watch all the same channels in the van that I watch at home.
So far, 3 years now, it has worked perfectly wherever we have been in the UK.

 

[Gaston aires]

Don't shout - another angle here.
We don't watch TV but we do enjoy movies. However we do without both when away in the van. Instead, we read, write, walk, cycle, even talk!
Ours is a PVC so space is limited so I've replaced the TV with a microwave which produces (marginally) more appetizing stuff.

So, how about weening yourself off TV and build up a bank of movies (or series) on USBs (or whatever) downloaded from your preferred movies supplier.

I'll just add that, we used to be boaters and our favourite thing, that left us the best memories, was mooching along the bank, meeting folk, sharing a glass and making new friends. It did change somewhat over the 12 years we boated as people, for whatever reason, became more insular. Not just us, other people we know have noticed this too. With our camping we have noticed that we barely see some folk with whom we share a site, apart from loo duties. It's park up, TV on and that's it.
Horses for courses of course.

We do much the same. Our last DVD binge was Boston legal, funny take on American law starring William Shatner (who I met at a barbecue some years ago).
Phil

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[Gellyneck]

William Shatner (who I met at a barbecue some years ago).

So he was successful in his quest then! "to seek out new life and new civilizations"

 

[B+W vanman]

So he was successful in his quest then! "to seek out new life and new civilizations"

I think he’d be fine as long as you didn’t let him sing……….

 

[Fatmrsgeorge]

On multiple frequencies at same time too. A cat4 device can only every use one frequency at same time as it literally has one radio. Cat6 is an improvement as it allows one radio to transmit whilst the other is receiving in itself (which massively improves performance as a standard cat4 device is like old school radio with over and out when you think about it).

Avoid cat4 (and cat6 for most part) and you'll be fine as even a cat12 device can manage up to 3 frequencies at same time.

In our roughly 130 days in the van this year, entirely in UK, mostly in rural campsites, not once have we failed to get enough signal for netflix/live sport on nowtv/sky with a roof antenna + cat12 device (up till Sept), and cat20 5g device from Sept to date. Worth also noting when you get 5g on a 5g capacble (not 5g wifi, this is a common thing they are sold on without supporting actual 5g) device even on 2 bar (or 1 bar) signal as we had over this Christmas it will often provide a similar experience to fibre at home, often with more bandwidth than starlink. I am quite positive as 5g is rolled out more in UK it will make decent performance for us in vans.

Only downside is on 1-2 bar 5g, the device I have (a zte mu5001) absolutely sucked power this winter, using up to 15W (just over 1.2A on the leisure battery). We actually turned the 5g off (and stuck to 4g) when we ran low on the leisure battery when offgrid for 3 nights. 4g uses a lot less power, around 4-5W max.

Starlink is indeed great and consistently works if you can see the sky -> however 5g contracts with unlimited data are not as expensive to point a month of starlink service costs more than a year of 5g (UK) only unlimited coverage on Three. Starlink is great, but it's not for us personally with our use of van, but it is something we are installing for a family member to use in summer, when their local cell towers are congested (who reside in an area with a large amount of transient holidaymakers in school holidays in summer). They will activate it for the 2 months a year their local cell tower has been unusable (due to large amount of tourists) last 3 years.

Using a roof antenna significantly will improve performance with the right device on certain frequencies compared with a phone. At momenet we keep 2 routers in the van a ZTE MU5001 5g one (about £160 from ebay) and a 986D (cheaper on ebay) cat12 4g one. The reason is with the roof antenna on certain frequencies the 986D will work slightly better (we switch em over). In 2 bar or better signal the roof antenna in general adds a few Mbit/sec when compred to not having it. The MU5001 benefits most on the 5g bands from this. (phone didn't get 5g, mu5001 on the roof antenna DID).

Netgear, Huawei, ZTE and Teltonika all produce decent devices for use in vans. I would personally avoid tplink's as they tend to be expensive and often cat4 for same price you can get cat20 from others.

5g on 2100mhz (which is deployed by Three), which is their old (3g) frequencies is a gamechanger where it exists (and will need a roof antenna in many cases). As it's still a reasonably low frequency (most 5g deployed is n78 3500mhz) it can travel to rural places if a cell tower is upgraded. As Three turn off 3g this year, I suspect they'l make more use of this than putting 4g on 2100mhz. We got > starlink speeds on 2100mhz in (very rural) Heysham/Morcambe coastal area over Christmas (250-300Mbit down and about 40 up).

So in summary Starlink will work everywhere, but may not be as fast or as cheap as 5g where that exists. And it does exist in SOME rural sites.

Thanks so much for this. Really helpful when deciding what to go for.

 

[starquake]

Thanks so much for this. Really helpful when deciding what to go for.

As long as you know there will be some notspots if you go 4/5g you good. They are rare, but do exist. We keep an EE and Three sim in the van for that reason.

Sims are cheap as chips on amazon these days when you prepay for a non-roaming sim, work out at under £80 a year for unlimtied data on Three, and about £120 a year at moment for EE (both unlimited sim type deals). Given our touring is majority UK due to limited leave this is what works best for us.

Should say many topics on here about use when roaming, but something you should be aware if you can can setup 3 pieces of information in the router (APN and username and passwrod) you can use cheap French and Spanish sims, which work out at 15-20 euro for 250-500Gb depending on the deal. For us, when we rarely do cross borders, it's cheaper than having an all year roaming deal.

 

[Fatmrsgeorge]

Don't shout - another angle here.
We don't watch TV but we do enjoy movies. However we do without both when away in the van. Instead, we read, write, walk, cycle, even talk!
Ours is a PVC so space is limited so I've replaced the TV with a microwave which produces (marginally) more appetizing stuff.

So, how about weening yourself off TV and build up a bank of movies (or series) on USBs (or whatever) downloaded from your preferred movies supplier.

I'll just add that, we used to be boaters and our favourite thing, that left us the best memories, was mooching along the bank, meeting folk, sharing a glass and making new friends. It did change somewhat over the 12 years we boated as people, for whatever reason, became more insular. Not just us, other people we know have noticed this too. With our camping we have noticed that we barely see some folk with whom we share a site, apart from loo duties. It's park up, TV on and that's it.
Horses for courses of course.

Aye. We noticed less interactions after the pandemic. And now folk seem to struggle to be social. I also read, craft, cook, write, draw and duolingo in the van but like to have my tv option too.in the summer we are mostly sitting outside the van planning what we will do tomorrow. Aided of course by multiple pints of guinness. Ah. Van life. Ye canny beat it !

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[Jo May]

We do much the same. Our last DVD binge was Boston legal, funny take on American law starring William Shatner (who I met at a barbecue some years ago).
Phil

Yes, we saw BL too, really good. Then Son's of Anarchy. Then Dexter! All had multiple series.

 

[CA]

I personally don’t think a roof antenna is needed for a C or A class; all metal panel van maybe. The companies that install the roof antenna packages with router sell you a fairly cheap router in their packages. Much better off buying a top end router like the Netgear M6 (or lower M1/M2 etc. if you only want 4g). Have used a M6 all across the UK and Europe with no additional antenna (A Class van…) and have had a decent download and upload almost everywhere.

 

[Burge]

I have an unlimited data sim for my phone, £13.99 a month.
I use my phone as a mobile WiFi hot-spot and stream to my TV via a Fire Stick.
I can watch all the same channels in the van that I watch at home.
So far, 3 years now, it has worked perfectly wherever we have been in the UK.

On what Network....which is best N/Work for UK Coverage ??

 

[starquake]

I personally don’t think a roof antenna is needed for a C or A class; all metal panel van maybe. The companies that install the roof antenna packages with router sell you a fairly cheap router in their packages. Much better off buying a top end router like the Netgear M6 (or lower M1/M2 etc. if you only want 4g). Have used a M6 all across the UK and Europe with no additional antenna (A Class van…) and have had a decent download and upload almost everywhere.

It depends, the signal and speed gain on 5g is significant. This christmas phone wouldn't stick on 5g (under 25Mbit when it worked!), where the roof antenna was a constientnly 250Mbit. Remember 5g is basically higher frequency so attenuates more even by a C class. We have a coachbuilt motorhome with 5g ZTE device and band n78 does not pass well through the walls of our motorhome.

Consistently you do get more speed with a roof antenna. We've tested same sim in devices with one (and one we can disconnect too). Some devices it doesn't matter much (the mu5001 has a very good antenna for 4g and arguably you don't get a huge improvment on 4g with it (you get a minor improvement) but for 5g, it's noticable.

The netgear does have a decent antenna indeed so it's one I agree with you that isn't essential outside a PVC (especially on lower 4g frequencies) However for 5g on band n78 it'll add 500-1Gbit in speed in some locations, on band n1, it won't add as much.

I would also reccomend not getting a packaged antenna, just buy a Panorama or Poynting (and not the small one, as that is hardly any improvement at all). Don't buy a package as the router as said isn't as good as what you can get independantly (nor the antenna as the Poynting 7 mimo on is excellent).

Should also say with 5g if your wifi side of the device isn't setup right, this will limit your performance too (you must be using 5g wifi too to get the most of 5g signal, as 2.4ghz wifi is slower than the cell tower). Annoyingly most vendors auto modes are rubbish, I would reccomend setting to 20/40mhz signal spacing and channel 149 or 151/152 if you have a choice rather than leaving auto on (the reason for this is that any other channek number other than the congested 40-44 band on 5ghz is subject to radar interference, so a radar signal can knock out your 5ghz wifi). Using 80mhz signal spacing on 5ghz is un-necessary and won't improve perofrmance in most cases.

 

[Manic]

I’ve just posted a Huawei router in classifieds

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[headlight]

On what Network....which is best N/Work for UK Coverage ??

It's on 3 but it's an old sim deal.

 

[Jabstatt]

EE by a mile IMHO!

I have a Poynting external antenna and Rutger? Router.
Two sim slots and brilliant

Tony

 

[Burge]

I’ve just posted a Huawei router in classifieds

I just bought one an e1500 or something like that ,not sure which Sim to get as going to the Lakes in a couple of weeks

 

[stevewagner]

I fitted a Poynting antenna and a Huwaei router. I have an iD mobile sim with 250gb a month for £12:50 (currently with unlimited roaming in Europe). Has worked very well here and Europe.

 

[CA]

It depends, the signal and speed gain on 5g is significant. This christmas phone wouldn't stick on 5g (under 25Mbit when it worked!), where the roof antenna was a constientnly 250Mbit. Remember 5g is basically higher frequency so attenuates more even by a C class. We have a coachbuilt motorhome with 5g ZTE device and band n78 does not pass well through the walls of our motorhome.

Consistently you do get more speed with a roof antenna. We've tested same sim in devices with one (and one we can disconnect too). Some devices it doesn't matter much (the mu5001 has a very good antenna for 4g and arguably you don't get a huge improvment on 4g with it (you get a minor improvement) but for 5g, it's noticable.

The netgear does have a decent antenna indeed so it's one I agree with you that isn't essential outside a PVC (especially on lower 4g frequencies) However for 5g on band n78 it'll add 500-1Gbit in speed in some locations, on band n1, it won't add as much.

I would also reccomend not getting a packaged antenna, just buy a Panorama or Poynting (and not the small one, as that is hardly any improvement at all). Don't buy a package as the router as said isn't as good as what you can get independantly (nor the antenna as the Poynting 7 mimo on is excellent).

Should also say with 5g if your wifi side of the device isn't setup right, this will limit your performance too (you must be using 5g wifi too to get the most of 5g signal, as 2.4ghz wifi is slower than the cell tower). Annoyingly most vendors auto modes are rubbish, I would reccomend setting to 20/40mhz signal spacing and channel 149 or 151/152 if you have a choice rather than leaving auto on (the reason for this is that any other channek number other than the congested 40-44 band on 5ghz is subject to radar interference, so a radar signal can knock out your 5ghz wifi). Using 80mhz signal spacing on 5ghz is un-necessary and won't improve perofrmance in most cases.

In truth I do not know enough to agree or disagree on this - only real world experience is my friend has a MotorhomeWifi package 5g setup (full install with antenna). We have often park next to each other somewhere, and then test our download and upload speeds. Every time my Netgear m6 pro is faster; and often significantly. We both have Three unlimited sims. My van is an A class. His a panel van. But he has the antenna, I do not.

However, in my own house I can walk from the front to back and get a speed of 100Mbps difference - so even moving the router (or in his case his whole van) 10 feet could provide different speeds. I have on occasion just moved my router from the back to the front of the van and gotten different speeds. Again, other peoples mileage may vary.....

I don't have anything else to back this up however - just my own real world experience. The cost of a Netgear is slightly more than the whole router, antenna, and installation provided by MotorhomeWifi. So surely their router is not worth as much (did read they use a £60 router - but cannot find the link again)....and that is the crucial bit in my mind.