iboost or other....? (1 Viewer)

[Camping Gaza]

I am a radio amateur and during my formative years I had a passion for antenna design

Good to know Grommet. So am I, so that's handy to know! Love a bit of Lambda with mint sauce on a Sunday!

Of course you can add gain to an antenna, as you said Yagi design, Parabolic dishes etc. But I thought that explanation would have been unnecessary for the vast majority of readers here regarding the internet! Anyway you would look darn silly with one of these on your roof!...

 

[Gromett]

Anyway you would look darn silly with one of these on your roof!...

And it wouldn't work for wifi or 3g/4g

 

[wanderer]

We use the campsite the campsite WIFI at present to connect to one device at a time and we have iffy reception at times .I have noticed that other campers with I Boost get a better signal even if they are using multiple devices , is it just because of siting or is my signal being reduced . A further point i disconnect when not in use but i presume iphones and such are left connected all the time does this make any difference

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[Khizzie]

I find a mifi almost universally useful, working almost everywhere but having a WiFi booster will come in handy at times. We go to a site in Cornwall a few times a year. It has poor broadband but they have free WiFi at reception. With my booster I could pick this up from some distance away.

I have WiFi aerial that plugs into my mifi which boosts the signal another bar or two , and so far has worked almost everywhere in UK and all of northern and southern France last September using 3 data sim. What I like about the mifi is NO cables.. Whereas with the iboost there are cables everywhere. Not decrying the iboost but I really couldn't get on with it . Roy

 

[Welsh girl]

The iboost is quite handy but I agree about the wires in the van draped everywhere. Andy has helped me a lot in the past with the iboost seemingly not working. User error big time. I'd only gone and plugged the cable into the wrong socket which is why I couldn't get it to work..Doh.

 

[TJBi]

Yes I was told the same that a lot of their tech support is because people lose passwords. So they've hard coded the password and the SSID Router Name. They say this saves them a lot of support calls. I suppose it suits the vast majority of their customers. But IMO there should be a better way of servicing those that lose their passwords. I can live without being able to change the SSID (which I assume they hard code just to advertise the name iBoost) that is just mildly annoying, but denied the basic security option of being able to change the password is not really on.

I don't know whether they've changed things with the more recent iBoosts, but I'm pretty sure that I can change mine. I don't have the unit in front of me, but I seem to recall that I can log in in admin mode (using, if I remember correctly, a different IP address and no doubt a different userID and password to connect to the iBoost) and change both SSID and password (plus other parameters). The only thing that stops me doing it is that I've programmed so many devices to connect using the existing SSID and password and it would be a pain to change it on some of the less user-friendly ones.

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[TJBi]

thinking of getting an iboost, has anyone got good or bad things to say about them or recommend somthing better/cheaper...?

For use on a site and connecting iPads and phones...

The iBoost is an excellent bit of kit and the tech support is good. One important thing to consider is the type of aerial. I think that there are now 3 options: omnidirectional, standalone directional, "fitted" roof-mounted directional that takes the place of a rotatable terrestrial TV aerial. I would not go for the latter. MHW suggest that the extra height achievable may be useful in achieving a connection, but there have been numerous occasions when I have been glad of the ability to locate my aerial at different points on the motorhome (forward, aft, roof, front wing, on the side beneath a low window...) in order to achieve line of sight; this has sometimes involved placing it low down in order for the signal to travel beneath trees.

 

[Whitebirdyman]

A bit of an old thread I know, but I was looking to buy an iBoost at the Norfolk show but they do not have any, hence my advert for one 2nd hand in the classifieds.

A company called "wifi on board" are at the show and do have a product that looks to do the same job, I wondered if someone on Fun had any experience of this device?

www.wifionboard.co.uk

 

[Khizzie]

Sold my iboost ,found it not as good as thought . Probably just me as the funster I sold it to was delighted with it ...so sticking with mifi on 3 .not had a problem using 3 anywhere in the UK. .

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[Whitebirdyman]

Sold my iboost ,found it not as good as thought . Probably just me as the funster I sold it to was delighted with it ...so sticking with mifi on 3 .not had a problem using 3 anywhere in the UK. .

Thanks. I have a mifi and use that a lot (using it now at the Norfolk show) and agree it is an excellent option, but just looking to cover situations when there is free wifi but not a strong signal.

 

[BreweryDave]

If you go back to post 25, that's what I have. Using it now. Excellent and more powerful than iboost. Handy when there's free but weak wifi around. Good customer service too.

 

[Whitebirdyman]

If you go back to post 25, that's what I have. Using it now. Excellent and more powerful than iboost. Handy when there's free but weak wifi around. Good customer service too.

I did click that link earlier when I saw your post but they were not selling from that site so I wondered where you bought yours?

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[Khizzie]

Thanks. I have a mifi and use that a lot (using it now at the Norfolk show) and agree it is an excellent option, but just looking to cover situations when there is free wifi but not a strong signal.

Forgot to say also used mifi in France for a month last year and this year with no issues. Roy.

 

[Pausim]

Solwise. I use one of these:
https://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-usb-usbwifirpt-3000.html
Together with one of these:
https://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-usb-odupanel-12db.html
Very effective and less than £100
You can also use the usb antenna direct to a windows laptop and share the wifi using Connectify software to connect phones and pads.

 

[Whitebirdyman]

Solwise. I use one of these:
https://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-usb-usbwifirpt-3000.html
Together with one of these:
https://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-usb-odupanel-12db.html
Very effective and less than £100
You can also use the usb antenna direct to a windows laptop and share the wifi using Connectify software to connect phones and pads.

That looks a good option.

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[Whitebirdyman]

Forgot to say also used mifi in France for a month last year and this year with no issues. Roy.

Mine has worked great but was wondering about getting a mimo antenna for marginal areas.

 

[Khizzie]

Mine has worked great but was wondering about getting a mimo antenna for marginal areas.

I do use an aerial that I got from china ,doesn't gain very much but does help in weak areas.know nothing about the mimo. ,it might be worth a punt .

 

[BreweryDave]

I did click that link earlier when I saw your post but they were not selling from that site so I wondered where you bought yours?

Amazon!

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[Whitebirdyman]

Solwise. I use one of these:
https://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-usb-usbwifirpt-3000.html
Together with one of these:
https://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-usb-odupanel-12db.html
Very effective and less than £100
You can also use the usb antenna direct to a windows laptop and share the wifi using Connectify software to connect phones and pads.

Thanks for the heads-up on this, I decided to go with Solwise in the end rather than waiting for iBoosts to come back in stock or going 2nd hand.

I have only tested it at home so far but it is working great and was extremely easy to set up and it pulls in wifi from a number of locations in the neighbourhood that I had not seen before. Hopefully it is going to be as good at pulling in campsite wifi - currently I am just using a small Omni-directional antenna but there is an option to connect in a more powerful directional one if this is not man enough.

Also, I have the option to set the ssid and password, I know I could forget what I have set, but there is a reset button on the router which will take it back to the factory settings, so not too worried about that.