iBoost & effect on other users (1 Viewer)

[GAVLAD]

I've been to two places recently where the iboost has picked up a signal but not good enough for a connection. Have had to move that close that I can pick it up on my phone without even using iboost. So for me I'm not so convinced it's as good as I thought. Hit n miss I think.

This is really interesting as I'm debating between iboost or mifi

 

[Eamless]

That is a good point, everyone who is struggling with site wifi, if you have a smartphone, switch off the wifi and go to 4G, and check out the download speed on 4G, then compare with site WiFi, you'll be surprised. 20mb download is not unheard of with 4G!

Absolutely you will find you find it rare to get above 3mb on any 'free' insecure connection at a campsite, cafe, whatever. There are no free lunches in this world. I have a far superior I boost system, US speced, unlocked thing than you get from motorhome wifi and it is still just an aerial. It ain't gonna make it faster or quicker. It makes a slow insecure connection available from a slightly further distance. It won't give you advantage over a weaker signal. All an iBoost does is the same as moving your TV aerial from inside your house to outside. No more.

 

[sdc77]

I don't think anyone is arguing the speed.
But a lot of people just do some basic browsing and email checking. For these people an iboost or similar is ideal and once purchased allows them easy access to free (or paid) wifi on all their devices in their van.
Repeatedly telling everyone what an iboost (or similar) is doesn't mean it doesn't work.
But if people want fast Internet grab a 4g mifi and a 3 sim and crack on. There are other network provider solutions but three works for us.

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[Don Quixote]

I think the easiest way to explain bandwidth distributed around a LAN, imagine it isn't a mysterious internet thingy, but a hose connected to a tap. A finite amount of water comes out of the tap. from that tap you connect it to a junction which serves 10 hoses, the pressure is severely reduced amongst those 10 hoses. From one of those 10 hoses you connect another 10 hose adaptor, I think you can see where I am going with this....

That's what the video link I posted shows!

 

[2657]

All the networks that my 3 sim connected to in France and Spain were throttled, no streaming of TV or radio but ok for general use.

 

[mariner]

I have been told, by a camper who shares his time between Portugal and Spain that a couple of sites in Portugal have asked him to stop using an iBoost or they will block his IP.

They claim it has a detrimental effect on other users.

At the moment his iBoost is hard wired to my 4g system which doesn't seem to affect my speeds, but I must remember to unplug him to see if it makes a lot of difference.

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[mitzimad]

i cant see how an i boost can suck the signal out of the air ,it may get the signal at a greater distance and it may boost it once it has the signal but it can only get whats provided by the site wifi base so i think the answer to the question is no
ten people can read a book and another with magnifiying specs could read it from further away but the book remains readable to all

 

[Jim]

I have been told, by a camper who shares his time between Portugal and Spain that a couple of sites in Portugal have asked him to stop using an iBoost or they will block his IP.

I'd be interested in knowing the name of those sites.

 

[irnbru]

How would the site know an iboost was being used. It only shows as one connection?

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[Jim]

How would the site know an iboost was being used. It only shows as one connection?

On a large site over Christmas in Spain, most every camper had an aerial similar/same to the iboost.

 

[Munchie]

I think these are pay for wi fi sites.
A direct connection is one computer but with an i boost you can connect several for a single payment.

 

[mariner]

I think these are pay for wi fi sites.
A direct connection is one computer but with an i boost you can connect several for a single payment.

This could be the reason, but I will endeavour to find out the name of these sites.

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[Jim]

I think these are pay for wi fi sites.
A direct connection is one computer but with an i boost you can connect several for a single payment.

Yes, plenty of sites sell a connection for one machine only and a router can share that connection with others. But then so can many phones and most computers. Still only one machine connected, and they still only have the same bandwidth.

 

[mariner]

How would the site know an iboost was being used. It only shows as one connection?

I have an iBoost connected to my 4g. When I log into my router, it comes up with the name iBoost........ and also the MAC number and IP address!

I can also disconnect and even ban it, should I choose to do so!

So if I can do that I'm sure a site operator can do so with ease.

 

[hilldweller]

We've got a 3 MiFi and not finding the coverage in Spain all that great.
Karen

Found connection terrible in Benidorm, not signal strength, just overloaded. So bought a Mundo SIM in the market, €15 for 3G, and really good service. Must be 3 finding the cheapest, nastiest partners in Benidorm.

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[Addie]

In other words do the 50 haves get 90 'units' leaving the poor old have-nots to tear their hair out while the signal drops in and out but mainly out?

To put it simply, if someone has an iBoost or not their effect on the network as a whole is the same. If the campsite is running at 100% of capacity then everyone - iBoost customer or not - is receiving the same amount of available bandwidth (internet connection). Even the most basic of routers will be load balancing between all users.

WiFi is not like 'smoke' - antennas to nor 'draw' the signal away from those without a booster. If you experience a weak signal (dropping in and out) this is not a capacity issue, this is a local connection issue because there is a interruption or poor signal to the local transmitter.

It is here where the iBoost helps. If two people are sat in identical vans next to each other, one with an iBoost and one with an iPad on its own the camper with the iPad may get 5MBps but the camper with the iBoost might get 10MBps. Is this because the iBoost camper is stealing the bandwidth from the iPad customer? No - it's because the 'bottleneck' is between the users device and the network which in this case the iBoost is helping to overcome.

It is not the device that they are using, but how they are using the internet which has the greatest impact.

If you are looking to stream TV on the internet, you could be using the same amount of internet as 10+ people browsing the web. Therefore doing data intensive tasks are far more likely to give your fellow campers a poorer connection than having an iBoost. If you've ever called me to buy an iBoost for TV Sophie and I would have told you this.

You could argue that to some degree that if a WiFi signal extends 100 meters and therefore covers 100 pitches, that if 20 people with boosters 200 meters away are using a connection not intended for them. But in the vast majority of cases we are helping sites to overcome poor coverage because installing WiFi onto sites is an impossible task - especially when you need to get it into GRP boxes with foil lined window blinds!

We work with many large sites and organisations in the UK and in Spain and if it was the case that our devices 'stole' capacity from others then we wouldn't be able to sell them.

There is no 'standard' to campsite networks, almost everyone is setup differently and my word have we seen some shockers. My advice on the few networks we have got involved in specifying that if bandwidth is an issue allocate every user a daily allowance. If the network is slow, restrict everyone to say 1GB of data per day. If they want to sit all day browsing, that should be fine. If someone wants to watch 1-2 hours of TV - that should be fine too. After it's used up, it gives the capacity to others to use it.

I hope that answers some of your questions.

 

[Moodybrook]

browse and plan tomorrow night's stop.

Download Camper Contact, bite the bullet and part with £4.60 for the full version. Then download the OFFLINE maps relative to where you are likely to be touring.
You can then browse the aires and campsites offline, pick one out, then put the coordinates into your cheapy Chinese satnav then you are ready for the off and arrival at the entrance to the chosen destination is assured.
No need for the frustration of dodgy internet connections

 

[PeteH]

It is not the device that they are using, but how they are using the internet which has the greatest impact.

So why, when I have my laptop on and can access the signal, does my wife`s I-Pad NOT?


Pete

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[Addie]

So why, when I have my laptop on and can access the signal, does my wife`s I-Pad NOT? Pete

Not all devices are equal.

An iPad is a portable device and compromises have to be made to keep the size and weight down.

Almost always, a laptop will have a far better WiFi chipset and antenna (typically all around the screen) then an iPad will.

 

[Lenny HB]

That wouldn't explain how we could get on via our phones wifi and not via iboost.

The iboost router's IP address was probably in the same range as the sites router you were trying to connect to, for a router to work the WAN & LAN addresses have to be in a different IP range, the trick is to change the LAN address of the router, then it will work.

 

[PeteH]

Not all devices are equal.

An iPad is a portable device and compromises have to be made to keep the size and weight down.

Almost always, a laptop will have a far better WiFi chipset and antenna (typically all around the screen) then an iPad will.

Hmm. Did wonder. In the USA, I had a USB boost aerial for the Laptop. which brings in a signal when on sites, especially big spread out ones. Twin antenna, But the I-Pad is Cr**!!, at the best of times.

Pete

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[irnbru]

I think part of my problem might be I'm not quite understanding the bandwidth numbers. How far or close you have to be to get the reading in the 70s and what influences them. I will email Adam, hopefully and learn something.

 

[irnbru]

The iboost router's IP address was probably in the same range as the sites router you were trying to connect to, for a router to work the WAN & LAN addresses have to be in a different IP range, the trick is to change the LAN address of the router, then it will work.

Not really got a clue with all this but it says not to change settings so I won't for fear of buggering it up.

 

[sdc77]

The iboost router's IP address was probably in the same range as the sites router you were trying to connect to, for a router to work the WAN & LAN addresses have to be in a different IP range, the trick is to change the LAN address of the router, then it will work.

The wan address will be provided by the sites router. The lan addresses will be private ips assigned by the router

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[Eamless]

We have found recently that some campsites have switched to using 5Gig networks. They will then sell you or rent you a 5Gig aerial. On these sites your boost will not work as they are set to connect to signals in the 2.4G range.
We have found the kindle to connect the best at connecting to a distant signal followed by Moto E phone, Laptop, iphone 5s and then iPad which is completley hopeless.

We have a Huawei E5372 mifi connected to an external aerial. The beauty of this little baby is allows you to connect to Wifi as well as cellular and support up to 9 devices.
We also have a Ubquiti nanostation Loco M2. This is the piece of kit regularly used by campsites, marinas, airports to 'broadcast' the WiFi signal. It also acts as an aerial, an advantage of the nano is you can set it to USA in country settings and boost it up to 22db. My only problem with any boost system is you are connecting to usually slow, non secure networks and you should never use them to carry out anything personal or financial. Also once out of the campsite usually means you have to get a coffee to get a password so you could just spend the £5 on some data and use fast cellular.
For those that like to connect to WiFi you might want to use an app called WiFi Map which has a database of site passwords. It works by people adding entries when they know passwords. It works far better in some countries than others.
If you are in Greece then the password s for cafe, bars etc is usually the 10 digit phone number of the place which is always on the menu.
lastly the only way a boost system will give you better speed is due to data loss correction. But again the boost is only one link in a chain and a high-spec Mac or PC will always page refresh web pages far faster than an old one boost or no boost. My iPad 2 is dog slow whatever I'm connected to

 

[Don Quixote]

We have found recently that some campsites have switched to using 5Gig networks. They will then sell you or rent you a 5Gig aerial. On these sites your boost will not work as they are set to connect to signals in the 2.4G range.
We have found the kindle to connect the best at connecting to a distant signal followed by Moto E phone, Laptop, iphone 5s and then iPad which is completley hopeless.

We have a Huawei E5372 mifi connected to an external aerial. The beauty of this little baby is allows you to connect to Wifi as well as cellular and support up to 9 devices.
We also have a Ubquiti nanostation Loco M2. This is the piece of kit regularly used by campsites, marinas, airports to 'broadcast' the WiFi signal. It also acts as an aerial, an advantage of the nano is you can set it to USA in country settings and boost it up to 22db. My only problem with any boost system is you are connecting to usually slow, non secure networks and you should never use them to carry out anything personal or financial. Also once out of the campsite usually means you have to get a coffee to get a password so you could just spend the £5 on some data and use fast cellular.
For those that like to connect to WiFi you might want to use an app called WiFi Map which has a database of site passwords. It works by people adding entries when they know passwords. It works far better in some countries than others.
If you are in Greece then the password s for cafe, bars etc is usually the 10 digit phone number of the place which is always on the menu.
lastly the only way a boost system will give you better speed is due to data loss correction. But again the boost is only one link in a chain and a high-spec Mac or PC will always page refresh web pages far faster than an old one boost or no boost. My iPad 2 is dog slow whatever I'm connected to

The iBoost system is using the Ubquiti nanostation Loco M2 which is only on the band 2.4Ghz, there is a Ubiquiti Nanostation NSM5 which is 5Ghz, but it is larger than the M2 and as very few free wifi sites offer 5Ghz it's a lot of money to spend.

 

[irnbru]

Getting too technical now guys....dummies terms please.

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[reckless]

Download Camper Contact, bite the bullet and part with £4.60 for the full version. Then download the OFFLINE maps relative to where you are likely to be touring.
You can then browse the aires and campsites offline, pick one out, then put the coordinates into your cheapy Chinese satnav then you are ready for the off and arrival at the entrance to the chosen destination is assured.
No need for the frustration of dodgy internet connections

We've got this @Moodybrook but have found other apps/websites sometimes feature places not in their database so may need to research a bit more. Or even want to research the general area.

 

[Lenny HB]

The wan address will be provided by the sites router. The lan addresses will be private ips assigned by the router

Small clarification the LAN address is can be whatever the user sets it too.
An example of the problem that occurs:- I have an Alfa router the default LAN is 192.168.2.0, if you try to log on to a French FON connection it will connect but will not transfer data due to the FON default being 192.168.2.80 the WAN is in the same range as the LAN (192.168.2.xxx) if you change the LAN to a diffent range say 192.168.1.1 it will work.

We have found recently that some campsites have switched to using 5Gig networks. They will then sell you or rent you a 5Gig aerial. On these sites your boost will not work as they are set to connect to signals in the 2.4G range.
We have found the kindle to connect the best at connecting to a distant signal followed by Moto E phone, Laptop, iphone 5s and then iPad which is completley hopeless.

Why anyone would want to use 5G for a long connection is ridiculous as the range is so much shorter especially if using a domestic router. I have disabled 5G on my home router after doing a few tests, my laptop in the lounge about 30' from the router with 3 brick walls in line using 2.4G I get 20mb/s if I connect with 5G which should be much faster I get 10mb/s.

If you are in Greece then the password s for cafe, bars etc is usually the 10 digit phone number of the place which is always on the menu.

I connected to loads of cafes in Greece never found one that did that, but tanken on board worth a punt when wilding.][/QUOTE]

 

[sdc77]

Actually.. those ips are reserved private ips.. as I said.. and they are assigned by the router. You just tell the router to use dhcp and some parameters. .or you do things manually on Macs..
In either case you use private ips

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