Mifi advice/experience required please.

RustyRuss

RustyRuss

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Autotrail Apache 632
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Hi gang! Just bought an XTrons fold down tv for our Autotrail Apache to replace the OEM unit. going to plug a fire stick into the HDMI port And probably use the hotspot on my phone that has 25GB of data/month to watch tv and use my laptop. The other alternatives are Mifi with a Smarty unlimited data dongle, will that work if plugged into the usb port in the tv as its power source? Or will i need a separate power source? Or should I get a rechargeable battery type Mifi like the other one in the photo?

Thanks in Advance people!

Russ



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Depends on the TV, for a MiFi unit I doubt the port will be powerful enough. I’ve powered a firestick off a TV usb port but a router requires more current. I have a recharged mobile router with a 5200mah battery, it doesn’t last long, better to have a separate power bank of 20000mah plus I would suggest.
 
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RustyRuss, in our experience using a laptop on hotspot will use a lot of data, Mac or windows with full size updates to operating system (OS) etc. We used to use and iPad due to ios being a mobile os and therefore using less data. How ever if you use a Mac laptop there is a program called ‘Trip’ I think which when turned on you can limit what programs use the internet for updates etc. With regards to fire stick, I’m sure others will also advise that if you can turn the streaming quality down ie from 4k to say 720p that will also save on data.
We use a smarty data sim in a mobile mifi rechargeable and always have a spare anker battery we use for phones etc, without to much problem, you can also use prepaid 3 (Three) sims from Amazon. We had a static caravan with internet and just using Netflix, we managed to burn through 40/50gb of data in a couple of days binge watching box sets. It was a real eye opener!

Just a thought, there is a company called ‘motorhome WiFi’ which may give you some ideas to research further.
 
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I doubt that the usb on your TV would be sufficient to power both a firestick and the data dongle. Often for setup alone the firestick needs powering from a full USB socket as tv not enough.

Difference between a dongle intended for one device only and a router. Router can allow connection from multiple devices at once so better if sharing between firestick laptop and other stuff. Bit like phone can only really hotspot to one device at a time.

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We have the motorhome wifi roof antenna with ZTE 4g dongle hardwired into the van's 12V supply. We don't use smarty, we use a 3 business sim at moment as primary. £5/mo for unlimited. You can get similar deals via the company scancom on amazon for all networks.

We have had data at every single campsite and site we have visited in UK since being installed (and we are now at a total of 12) and at none have we failed to have data enough to stream TV. At same point our phones which also are 3 sims had zero signal in 2 places, and worse performance in around half of the campsites (Cromer area in North Norfolk and Bracelands campsite over at Forest of Dean were the 0 signal on phone locations where everyone was complaining about nothing working). We plan to upgrade to 5g eventually but given only 2 of 12 of the campsites we have stayed at have shown 5g signal on our phones, there doesn't appear to be much point at present).

Agree also the TV can't provide enough current for the firestick (ours needs a seperate supply).

Ref data use, We used 200Gb in our 3 week break over Christmas (where the TV was on in background a lot) so be very careful. I clocked a single (test match) game of Cricket I was watching in summer as being 20Gb alone via NowTV.
 
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That’s really useful advice, thanks very much starquake.
 
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starquake said:
We have the motorhome wifi roof antenna with ZTE 4g dongle hardwired into the van's 12V supply. We don't use smarty, we use a 3 business sim at moment as primary. £5/mo for unlimited. You can get similar deals via the company scancom on amazon for all networks.

We have had data at every single campsite and site we have visited in UK since being installed (and we are now at a total of 12) and at none have we failed to have data enough to stream TV. At same point our phones which also are 3 sims had zero signal in 2 places, and worse performance in around half of the campsites (Cromer area in North Norfolk and Bracelands campsite over at Forest of Dean were the 0 signal on phone locations where everyone was complaining about nothing working). We plan to upgrade to 5g eventually but given only 2 of 12 of the campsites we have stayed at have shown 5g signal on our phones, there doesn't appear to be much point at present).

Agree also the TV can't provide enough current for the firestick (ours needs a seperate supply).

Ref data use, We used 200Gb in our 3 week break over Christmas (where the TV was on in background a lot) so be very careful. I clocked a single (test match) game of Cricket I was watching in summer as being 20Gb alone via NowTV.
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Which ZTE 4G dongle did you get? I’m planning to get one that both our phones, my laptop and the fire stick can connect too. What’s this about a roof antenna? Also had a look at the 3 unlimited data sim, have you used it in, say, France and is it limited to 12GB when in Europe? Thanks again for your input.

Cheers!
Russ
 
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I use a Huawei 532 router with a Poynting V12 antenna and an iD SIM card that works perfectly. Very easy to fit if you are handy and a huge saving on a purpose made kit.
 
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Just wondering, how would a spare phone working as a stand alone hot spot compare to my huawei E556 mifi? It would obviously have its own sim.
Any recommendations For a data sim for streaming TV via fire stick? Or am I wasting my time?
 
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RustyRuss said:
Which ZTE 4G dongle did you get? I’m planning to get one that both our phones, my laptop and the fire stick can connect too. What’s this about a roof antenna? Also had a look at the 3 unlimited data sim, have you used it in, say, France and is it limited to 12GB when in Europe? Thanks again for your input.

Cheers!
Russ
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Not used it in France, we'll get a local sim on arrival in France. We're mostly in UK so £60/year for unlimited for UK use only is fine. I fully expect It will be limited to 12Gb abroad which should give time to get another.

This whole using one sim and roaming is in my opinion likely a far more expensive option, and my wife speaks enough French and Spanish to deal with local sims when we do roam and register them if this is required. We travel abroad a fair bit every year (usually 2-3 months) and have always purchased local sims on a pay as you go basis typically.

Ref; roof antenna and dongle have a look at https://www.motorhomewifi.com/product/5g-ready-compact-ultra/ and it usesa motorhomewifi branded version of a ZTE MF986D
-> thats the system we had installed, it WAS more expensive than buying the bits seperately to do similar, but we already had the van in for somethine else at Vanbitz and as I felt uncomfortable drilling the roof myself. Above is upgradable to 5g when "ready", and is a cat12 device so it represents a mid point of performance. But it is upgradable to 5g when it's more available. As said, pointless buying 5g now, given where most campsites are you don't get 5g signal, well unless you staying in central London.

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franknjan said:
Just wondering, how would a spare phone working as a stand alone hot spot compare to my huawei E556 mifi? It would obviously have its own sim.
Any recommendations For a data sim for streaming TV via fire stick? Or am I wasting my time?
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It'd work fine, we started using our mobile phones, and many here use similar. Just bear in mind due to size (of the antenna) a phone signal may be nil at points a roof antenna would have signal - when there is lots of signal they'll both perform the same roughly. As said, I can name 2 sites this year that would have worked not at all, and at least another 3 where the performance would have been roughly half of that which our roof antenna got, using the same mobile network, as we tested that to make sure the roof antenna was working as it should. That would have meant this year for around 70% of sites we'd have been fine.

For a data sim, many of us here use RWG (I don't, but allegedly good for use abroad), scancom (I use an EE sim from them). Look on amazon for alternatives. We are (currently) on a 2021 sim that expires 08/03/2023 for EE, for which we paid £199 for 2 years service. Our other sim is a Three sim, on a £60/year unlimited data contract. Usually buying a prepaid contract results in best prices -> in last Black Friday there was a 3 deal, for near 2 years prepaid at around £100 for a monthly data amount of around 200Gb. Scancoms prices are hard to beat and we've been using them for over 2 years now at both our house, our motoehome, our in laws static caravan.
 
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