Mifi help and suggestions

marc-knuckle

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Hi all, first time posting so just hoping for a bit of a stear.

I'm currently sat in a caravan on a 4 day stay in Croyde bay. Been here loads of times.

A few of years back, (went abroad last year), i decided that due to the poor internet data connection in the caravan, I'd try a Mifi device and stick a Giffgaff SIM in which uses the O2 network.

Well, it's been a success in that we have 30gb to use and we can all connect. Also that we can place it anywhere while not having to sit where the best signal is. However it isn't really a better or faster connection compared to our phones. It isn't an expensive one and doesn't have external antennas. Huawei E5783B.

We're going away again September in a caravan again so I'm wondering if i give a few requirements below if anyone can suggest some options?

1) Doesn't need fast speed. Reliable connection is the main requirement
2) Ideal minimum speed possibly 5mbps and as the Giffgaff SIM is a 5g one it just needs to have a strong signal to hopefully latch on to the closest cell tower
3) nice if it can be used while plugged into the caravan wall socket so the battery doesn't run out, the existing one doesn't work while plugged in.
4) external antenna port/s so i can get an antenna with a cable to stick it out of the window/on the roof?
5) not too expensive as it won't be used often. Not sure on budget though

Thanks guys, Marc
 
Welcome,

It won’t be any better than a phone, simply because it is in effect a mobile phone.

External Ariel’s can produce a better signal simply because the receiver is outside of the vehicle, but there’s no real guarantee this will be the case.

I have Mifi on EE with an external Ariel and my phone is on EE, sometimes (and I mean sometimes) the Mifi is faster than the phone.

EE is said to be the best network because it has better coverage nationally, but that doesn’t mean it will give you the best signal everywhere, I’m working in Earls Barton today and EE gets no signal at all unless I walk 100 meters down a hill.
 
Boris7 said:
Welcome,

It won’t be any better than a phone, simply because it is in effect a mobile phone.

External Ariel’s can produce a better signal simply because the receiver is outside of the vehicle, but there’s no real guarantee this will be the case.

I have Mifi on EE with an external Ariel and my phone is on EE, sometimes (and I mean sometimes) the Mifi is faster than the phone.

EE is said to be the best network because it has better coverage nationally, but that doesn’t mean it will give you the best signal everywhere, I’m working in Earls Barton today and EE gets no signal at all unless I walk 100 meters down a hill.
Click to expand...
Oh, i thought from some posts on here with people recommending 1 over the other and some of the high prices of some of them that it would be better with some devices. Stronger antenna etc compared to the small parts installed into the phones due to space constraints.
 
We have a Teltonika rut 950 mobile router with an external antenna mounted to the lift up TV aerial ...
Mains and 12v power adaptors came with it
Running a EE Data sim .

We now have Internet in a lot of places we never used to manage signal .

Paid about £ 80 used on ebay Plus cost of external antenna .
 
mistericeman said:
We have a Teltonika rut 950 mobile router with an external antenna mounted to the lift up TV aerial ...
Mains and 12v power adaptors came with it
Running a EE Data sim .

We now have Internet in a lot of places we never used to manage signal .

Paid about £ 80 used on ebay Plus cost of external antenna .
Click to expand...
That's what i was reading in the posts before, seeming to suggest that using the MIFI with antenna have a better signal than using the phone directly.
 
Simplest solution I found last year on a five month UK tour was just two sims in my mobile. Vodafone on contract which I have anyway and a second EE sim I just topped up when needed. Between the two we always got online with a decent speed.
 
marc-knuckle said:
That's what i was reading in the posts before, seeming to suggest that using the MIFI with antenna have a better signal than using the phone directly.
Click to expand...
Almost any device with an external antenna will be getting a better signal than a phone in what in most cases is little more than a metal box ....

I've definitely got signal now in places I didn't have before ...

Especially as my phone is on 3
And the Teltonika is on EE
 
mistericeman said:
Almost any device with an external antenna will be getting a better signal than a phone in what in most cases is little more than a metal box ....

I've definitely got signal now in places I didn't have before ...

Especially as my phone is on 3
And the Teltonika is on EE
Click to expand...
I'll take a look at that one and also see if there are some other recommendations.

I wonder why someone above believes there wouldn't be a difference or much difference? Could this be a situation of getting a poor experience from a device and presuming they're all the same?
 
marc-knuckle said:
Hi all, first time posting so just hoping for a bit of a stear.

I'm currently sat in a caravan on a 4 day stay in Croyde bay. Been here loads of times.

A few of years back, (went abroad last year), i decided that due to the poor internet data connection in the caravan, I'd try a Mifi device and stick a Giffgaff SIM in which uses the O2 network.

Well, it's been a success in that we have 30gb to use and we can all connect. Also that we can place it anywhere while not having to sit where the best signal is. However it isn't really a better or faster connection compared to our phones. It isn't an expensive one and doesn't have external antennas. Huawei E5783B.

We're going away again September in a caravan again so I'm wondering if i give a few requirements below if anyone can suggest some options?

1) Doesn't need fast speed. Reliable connection is the main requirement
2) Ideal minimum speed possibly 5mbps and as the Giffgaff SIM is a 5g one it just needs to have a strong signal to hopefully latch on to the closest cell tower
3) nice if it can be used while plugged into the caravan wall socket so the battery doesn't run out, the existing one doesn't work while plugged in.
4) external antenna port/s so i can get an antenna with a cable to stick it out of the window/on the roof?
5) not too expensive as it won't be used often. Not sure on budget though

Thanks guys, Marc
Click to expand...
Netgear Nighthawk plus external van mount antenna, absolutely no equal.....all of Europe, including Eastern Europe, inland coastal, middle of nowhere, poor 4G phone signal, no issue....yes it's expensive but it is unsurpassed
 
So I've had a few minutes to check the recommendations so far. Unfortunately as we don't own a caravan i think it would be overkill to spend too much and only use it once or twice per year.

The link above to the YouTube channel showed another option. The Huawei b535-232. Used i future probably get it for about £50 i think. Not sure what antenna to get with it if I did. Also it's only 4g i believe.

Also not sure whether to get omnidirectional or directional antenna?

If that meant I'd spend between £100-£150 overall including antenna, is there any professional type like the Teltonika and an antenna? That's better for the same money?

Again i don't need more than maybe 5-10gbps, it's more reliability, a stronger hold on the signal that's more appealing to me.

Cheers again, Marc
 
I have had a recurring issue with both my Huawei mifi routers, the batteries won’t stay charged even when permanently connected to a usb charger, damned annoying!

Probably both duff batteries but the stupid things don’t work with the batteries removed

Both my external Poynting antennas are good for perhaps one extra bar of signal on average despite some of the gushing bs people claim

But even that one bar is infinitely better than sod all inside the van!

Because of the unreliability of the Huawei devices I recently bought a ZTE MF286D which is a genuine Cat 12 router and also does LTE aggregation

The performance compared to the Huawei is staggering at times.

It does run off 12v but is very very fussy about voltage
 
Hi guys.

Still researching for now and had thought about getting the Huawei b535-232. However i will check out the ZTE above.

However I've been reading more posts that an external antenna actually reduces speeds. I find this crazy considering that even simply allowing you to have the antenna on the outside of the caravan should show an improvement as there's one less obstacle to get the signal through.
 
You will get signal loss in the cable between the router and the aerial. If this is long and/or poor quality the loss in the cable might outweigh any gain in the aerial and i guess reduce speeds.
 
The bloke on YouTube, linked above, did a test with a Binfu antenna, unbranded but bigger antenna and a Poynting and the Poynting came out worse overall and the bingfu the best.

So I've ordered the ZTE MF286D and the bingfu. Hopefully they'll be better that my small Huawei mifi.
 
I am currently testing the new Teltonika RUTX50 5G router with the PONYTING 7-in-1 Automotive antenna. So far, the results have been really good. This is a premium setup for people who need rock-solid connectivity and high Internet speeds.

I have negotiated a 10% discount from Solwise for our members (the code is in the discounts section).

Here is a link to the parts I am using:

Geeky Philip | Solwise Ltd

www.solwise.co.uk www.solwise.co.uk
 
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