Which Data SIM?

[The Simpsons]

Considering putting mifi into campervan to improve reception. Looked at the 3G 4G outdoor antenna 2x2 mimo ts9 and aircard ac790 lte 4G router. My issue though is which sim. Currently on O2 but travel in lakes and highlands and reception on O2 is poor. Any sugestions folks on data only sim would be gratefully received

 

[DBK]

Considering putting mifi into campervan to improve reception. Looked at the 3G 4G outdoor antenna 2x2 mimo ts9 and aircard ac790 lte 4G router. My issue though is which sim. Currently on O2 but travel in lakes and highlands and reception on O2 is poor. Any sugestions folks on data only sim would be gratefully received

My experience would suggest ignoring the providers' maps which claim to show coverage. Buy the cheapest PAYG cards from companies you want to try, EE, Vodafone for starters, and try them in the locations you haunt. EE is good in the UK I think but the last time I looked were not so good outside the UK on cost grounds. I am out of date no doubt so this needs checking.

 

[The Simpsons]

Thanks DBK will look into PAYG

 

[denisejoe]

I use a 3 data sim in my tablet and can get reception in most the places in the northern/central parts of France ( down as far as Bordeaux). I use the 12 Gig 12 month sim from Mymemory. Also use a 3 phone sim in a Samsung phone as a hotspot when the tablet sim doesn't work. Can't remember the last time we couldn't get anything.

 

[Gellyneck]

If you are talking "highlands" as in Scottish Highlands O2 and EE have the best coverage but both have "dead spots" in various locations.
3 is the poorest coverage with sizeable areas with no or very poor signal.
We have a mix of O2, EE and 3 in our mobiles (3 data sim in mifi) to try and maximise coverage.

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[Addie]

I'm curious as to what lead to you to Aircard ac790?

Ultimately, EE will give the best coverage in Scotland due to their tie up with the Ambulance service on which is installed the same antenna that we use. I do find Vodafone very good in the Lakes, however.

EE's always going to be the most expensive contract or PAYG - 20GB for 30 days for £25 or 30GB for 90 days for £44 with the 'free' EE PAYG SIM.

Hope that helps.

 

[The Simpsons]

Addie, it was recommended so that i can have 5 connections at any one time and the ability of the router autocharge on the battery.

 

[Addie]

Addie, it was recommended so that i can have 5 connections at any one time and the ability of the router autocharge on the battery.

Odd advice, any MiFi will support a minimum of 5 connections, usually 10 or more for current models. Almost all of them will happily run form a permanent external power source, if anything while we've never had an issue with Huawei units we did have several batteries fail when we sold Netgear 6+ years ago.

 

[Addie]

Just to update this, I had a quick Google following your post and see that you may have watched a rather misinformed review by a certain YouTuber. The 790s the product he links that is not listed on Amazon is not the European version the 100EUS and therefore is not suitable for use in Europe.

It is not an American router but branded with Telstra which is an Australian network. This means crucially that it is missing Band 20 800Mhz which for the UK and Europe is one of the most crucial bands and in the UK is used heavily by EE but also by O2, Three and Vodafone. Without this, you are missing out on a lot of rural connectivity as the lower the frequency the greater the range.

Yes, it has carrier aggregation which means it can use two bands rather than one which could result in higher speeds where both those bands are available but crucially for Scotland Band 20 is a major part of EE's rural coverage.

 

[DBK]

I think for MH use most folk will be very happy with a MiFi rather than a router. I've just bought a Teltonika 955 router for use at home with an external antenna - a Poynting 600. The reason for the router at home is it has LAN ports, which I wanted plus it is designed to be left on permanently which some MiFi have been reported to take exception to.

Before installing it at home I did a quick test of it in the MH, connecting it to the Poynting MiMo 1 antenna on the roof, doing a speed test then doing the same with a MiFi (5577). The results were more or less identical which supported what I had read, routers are not necessarily more sensitive compared to a MiFi, assuming both are using the same LTE external antenna.

Of course my test was very limited in scope but unless you need LAN ports or want to access the Internet 24/7 it suggests a MiFi should do the job at less cost and less space taken up.

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[Googlebot]

For the lay person, you can probably get cheaper than motorhome WiFi that Addie represents, but I haven’t found anything easier to fit and with such good product support.

I don’t know a lot about WiFi, what I can tell you is that the kit was easy to install and works a treat. We have 8 devices connected as a minimum and they all work with good speed in most areas we have visited in England and Wales. Certainly our kids who stream video for England have no complaints at all.

We only use Three, about £20 a month for unlimited now apparently. We pay £26 a month and it is the same as we use at home. We don’t have a landline internet at all it is so good.