Mifi equipment choices

[Durham's dad]

Hi
I've been looking at mifi as an alternative to sattelite and have seen some threads on here but am confused about what equipment to use. I looked at the motorhome mifi site and their stuff looks good but seems expensive. As I've got a PVC I'm limited as to where I could roof mount an ariel and am not sure about having a hole drilled in the roof anyway.
Has anyone put their own set up together, found an alternative to a fixed roof aerial such as a magnetic set up, only used as and when required, or even successfully used an internal booster Ariel? Or may be have not required anything more than a wifi booster. It'd be used for Tv watching as the fixed omnidirectional Ariel I've got for that isn't that great.
I've got a Roku streaming stick, recently acquired, which seems seems to work really well allowing viewing of all the main catchup sites, IPlayer etc, and loads of other stuff including Netflix. All this provided of course if wifi is available or a decent mobile signal.

 

[596]

I use this, it has fantastic battery life if you want to use it off grid, you can link loads of devices to it, this is the latest version there are cheaper earlier version but this has a great range, have used it around the world with a 3 mobile SIM. Note on this model you can't attach an aerial, some of the cheaper ones you can but I have never needed an aerial.

Amazon product ASIN B074XKDB4G

 

[Lenny HB]

Mifi certainly the Huawei ones are better at picking up data signals than a phone, so depending on where you camp you may not need an aerial.

I don't see the problem with drilling a hole in the roof, if you do want good reception in remote areas a rooftop aerial is the way to go. I fitted the Poynting MIMO 1-1 about £125 you will need connection leads about £25.
Works well we are often in areas where our phones can't get a signal but the MiFi with the aerial pulls in a either a 3G or 4G signal.

https://www.solwise.co.uk/4g-wifi-antenna-omni-a-mimo-1-1.html

This was my fitting.

Lenny's Modding the new Gin Palace

Blimey its turned into a "Toilet Thread":eek:

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

 

[Waveski]

Hi. Lenny HB has it sorted.
If it helps, here is my experience of using my van both in UK and France. In most places I can stream using the phone as a hotspot. Where phone signals are poor then a mifi will usually pull in a much improved signal. If that is not enough then I have a Ponting Puck aerial with a magnetic base which I put on the roof of the PVC. The Ponting Puck gives a marginal improvement. I think it’s potential performance is somewhat diminished because it has long connector leads to the mifi. In fact the mifi works better without the aerial connected in most reasonable reception areas. I find I very rarely need to use my aerial but it can make that critical improvement. I would consider a fitted Mimo aerial with short lead to be better solution.
As a reminder; use a appropriate UK sim in Europe to ensure you can stream all your UK tv programs.

 

[Lenny HB]

The Ponting Puck gives a marginal improvement. I think it’s potential performance is somewhat diminished because it has long connector leads to the mifi.

You need to keep the leads down to under a meter, I have seen some Puck's sold with 5 m cables that will wipe out any signal gain.
I use the more expensive Mi-Mo, very impressed at how well it can pull in a signal and what is most noticeable is even in good signal areas it doubles the data upload speed which is important to me.

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[Googlebot]

This is the motorhome WiFi setup I installed for the same reason. Have been very impressed with it. Really easy to fit and self sealing to the roof so no worries about water ingress.

We have found the aluminium walls inhibit signal much more than our GRP walled caravan did. This has made the external aerial essential.

We haven’t been without a signal in the few months it has been installed and though pricey, works a treat.

 

[Ditcha]

Looks like you have some serious thermal transfer to the aluminum fittings unless I am seeing things is that condensation?

 

[Googlebot]

Looks like you have some serious thermal transfer to the aluminum fittings unless I am seeing things is that condensation?

It is condensation, always happens in the mornings. Has been the same with every aerial I have ever used that goes through the roof. I was checking it every time it rained initially and thankfully, it is just condensation.

 

[Reallyretired]

I just tether to my phone, no problems in western europe, but possible a PVC will screen out more of the signal.

 

[Lenny HB]

I just tether to my phone, no problems in western europe, but possible a PVC will screen out more of the signal.

I take it you don't camp in remote areas. Our last trip across northern Spain and north & central Portugal about 40% of the places we stopped the Mifi with the external aerial pulled in a data signal when the phones wouldn't.

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[swiftsteve]

I've got the same as Googlebot. I have a firestick with iptv. I get around 12-15mbs which is enough to watch sd channels and stream films or catch up. I'm on vodafone unlimited data. I've not had to resort to using the tv aerial yet, but of course it depends on your location.

 

[Ernesto]

I use this, it has fantastic battery life if you want to use it off grid, you can link loads of devices to it, this is the latest version there are cheaper earlier version but this has a great range, have used it around the world with a 3 mobile SIM. Note on this model you can't attach an aerial, some of the cheaper ones you can but I have never needed an aerial.

Amazon product ASIN B074XKDB4G

I use this too - never found a need to cut the roof. Used all over France this year, across the UK as well and never had problem streaming using Vodafone 100Gb plan

 

[Stonemags76]

Just stuck my MiFi to the window with blu tac - works very well, so no Aeriel needed so far!?

 

[pandas]

Mifi certainly the Huawei ones are better at picking up data signals than a phone, so depending on where you camp you may not need an aerial.

I don't see the problem with drilling a hole in the roof, if you do want good reception in remote areas a rooftop aerial is the way to go. I fitted the Poynting MIMO 1-1 about £125 you will need connection leads about £25.
Works well we are often in areas where our phones can't get a signal but the MiFi with the aerial pulls in a either a 3G or 4G signal.

https://www.solwise.co.uk/4g-wifi-antenna-omni-a-mimo-1-1.html

This was my fitting.

Lenny's Modding the new Gin Palace

Blimey its turned into a "Toilet Thread":eek:

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

I wasn't brave enough to drill a hole so I just velcro'd the MIFI unit to the side of the skylight aperture and it seemed to work a treat for me. No need for power supply either. I haven't used the MIFI for ages as I haven't found many places in Europe where I don't get that good a signal but yes the MIFI unit will help get a stronger signal than the just the phone.

 

[DBK]

It is condensation, always happens in the mornings. Has been the same with every aerial I have ever used that goes through the roof. I was checking it every time it rained initially and thankfully, it is just condensation.

I solved this with the cap off an aerosol can lined with foam. With suitable cut-outs for the cables it fits over the bottom of the antenna. No more condensation.

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[Lenny HB]

I haven't found many places in Europe where I don't get that good a signal but yes the MIFI unit will help get a stronger signal than the just the phone.

Our last 6½ week trip down to Portugal 75% of the time we wouldn't have had data without the MiFi & roof aerial. Just depends where you go, if always near towns or popular destinations probably not a problem.

 

[gerry mcg]

I solved this with the cap off an aerosol can lined with foam. With suitable cut-outs for the cables it fits over the bottom of the antenna. No more condensation.

would some electrical tape / foam backed tape to cover the bare metal do enough to stop the condensation?

 

[DBK]

would some electrical tape / foam backed tape to cover the bare metal do enough to stop the condensation?

I'm sure that would work, I don't think you would need a lot either if it had a layer of foam. Try a couple of layers and see how it gets on. Good idea.