iBoost System from Motorhome WIFI for Ipad

[Lochburn]

Looking to buy myself a Wifi booster for x-mas to get better connection at club sites as well as connect to the over 3.5 million hotspots that BT Fon and BT wifi have around the country.

 

Any of you have experience with the system ???

 

Cheers

 

 

[sshortcircuit]

The boosters I am aware of require a USB port, which the iPad does not have. Interesting to see what else can be used

[takeaflight]

I bellive that http://www.motorhomewifi.com/ as something for the iPad.

 

Roy

 

[Lochburn]

They have a new one for Ipad and other tablets as well.

 

[sshortcircuit]

My iPad is WiFi only and therefore unable to take a SIM. Apart from that, how does a change in SIM act as a booster?

 

As far as hotspots there are some near where I live but not particularly keen to stand out in this weather however if a booster was available???

[Lochburn]

Have a look at this link... This is a booster for WIFI and has nothing to do with a SIM.. or 3G

 

http://www.motorhomewifi.com/blog/iboost_launc/

 

[sshortcircuit]

Thanks for the Info however £159.99. I use my phone to create a hotspot although not directional and not in France

[Lochburn]

For £ 59.90 you can buy an antenna only, provided you are happy to connect to a laptop via USB and not a Ipad/tablet.. The advantage with the iBoost system ( £ 159) is that you can use several Ipads/laptops at the same time , thus no arguments with the wife.

 

[Paul M Who]

I just bought a BearExtender Mini from Moving WiFi. It is designed to work with all Macs and can be used as an Air Port for other WiFi devices in Hot-Spot mode. I bought it to use with my MacBook but it can also share the signal with an iPad. I added the larger aerial to increase the signal strength.

 

£42.00 + £9.00 for the aerial & extension cable

 

 

http://store.bearextender.com/

http://movingwifi.com/bearextender/bearextender-mini

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sambukashot]

My set up costs a lot less using a wireless router to create a hotspot in the motorhome for the ipad and laptop to connect to the internet, it works great and cost £54 for the router and around £20 for the external antenna, read all about it here  Just scroll to the bottom of the page for details and photos

[sshortcircuit]

sambukashot - 2012-12-18 5:18 PM

 

My set up costs a lot less using a wireless router to create a hotspot in the motorhome for the ipad and laptop to connect to the internet, it works great and cost £54 for the router and around £20 for the external antenna, read all about it here  Just scroll to the bottom of the page for details and photos

 

Thanks for this link Sam, you have just solved my Christmas present problem. With the standard aerial what range have you found and would it be worth going for the directional aerial?

 

Edit Is it possible to power direct from LB rather than through inverter?

[sambukashot]

Hi Stalwart,The wireless router comes with a mains adaptor, Solwise sold me the 12 volt adaptor as a extra, only about £5 if i remember so i run mine off the lesuire batteries all the time, it only takes a small current.

As for the antenna i have both a mag mount 9db antenna (which i normaly use, its always on the roof) and a 13db small yagi with a suction mount, i use the 9db antenna to see what signals are available first and if i get any open (or ones i can unlock) that are about 3 bars or more i will stick with the 9db antenna, if the access point i need is below 3 bars i will use the yagi to get around 4/5 bars it just depends how much work  need to do o the computer that day!

Hope this helps

 

[sshortcircuit]

Getting bit confused with the aerials. Can I assume the mag mount is the Rocket aerial at £21.29 and I am lost with the yagi although could this be the directional aerial at £40.27 which has a suction fitting.

 

Thanks again for your help

 

"ones I can unlock" ?????

[sambukashot]

The 9db antenna consists of 2 parts:

The mag mount base here: http://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-indoorantenna-omni-base.htm

The 9db antenna here: http://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-indoorantenna-omni-9otc.htm

The Yagi i got from Amazon here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/TurboTenna-NextG-USB-Yagi-Antenna-2200mW/dp/B003X8DOBS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1355861765&sr=8-2

The Yagi antenna has the wifi adaptor attached to it with velcro which i have detached, i simply plug this directly into the wireless router then using a reverse sma cable to connect the yagi and wifi adapter together, the reason is because the wifi adapter is not weather proof so i keep the adaptor inside the motorhome...

At the moment im in France and the laptop can pick up only 2 access points whilst the 9db antenna found 23 access points so its well worth the effort to get the extra bit of kit if you really want wifi on the move.

As for opening wifi access points i am talking about secured locked connections which will need a password to gain access but this is a whole different story!

[Lochburn]

I guess you need a USB port for this system, which the Ipad don't have..

The iBoost system does not require a USB thus the price..

[sshortcircuit]

Yagi aerial with USB booster at £63 came today. I am impressed as I now have 12 other WiFi signals. A few are secured and I still have to work out how to get into the unsecured although a number are BT hotspots. Will need to borrow a email address and password to give it a try. Will go for the repeater to allow iPad and whatever to connect at another say £60 so well under the £159 with a far more sensitive aerial. May take a trip ot tomorrow just to see what I can pick up

[sambukashot]

Lochburn - 2012-12-22 1:19 PMI guess you need a USB port for this system, which the Ipad don't have.. The iBoost system does not require a USB thus the price..

If you just want to boost the wifi signals to your pc then the wifi adaptor and antenna works great, if you add the wireless adaptor you do not need a usb port to connect, the usb port is for the external wifi adaptor which pulls in the signal to the wireless router which it then repeats using it own antenna, you can connect to the wireless router by just opening your web browser on the ipad once connected you can do all the settings in the routers control panel from your web browser :)

 

[sambukashot]

Hi Stalwart,

Glad yourhappy with the yagi antenna, i have tried most wifi antennas on the marketincluding the popular ones advertised as motorhome friendly and they do notcome close to the yagi or a 9db omnidirectional, as with all antennas try themon the roof for greater signal strength or point them through glass where everpossible

[sambukashot]

Here is a snapshot of the wifi connections from my wifi adaptor & antenna compared to the built in windows wifi. I am on a campsite in Spain at the moment where everyone is complaining about the poor reception, apart from me :)

http://www.camperstops.co.uk/images/network.jpg

[Addie]

Hi Keith,

 

You might find this application helpful when fine tuning your Yagi antenna, if you don't use it already. The beam provided by this type of antenna is incredibly narrow which can make getting the best signal in some situations difficult since the signal has a tendency to move around outside of the antennas narrow field of vision. http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/

 

If you (or anyone) would like a copy of the 4 page instruction booklet we supply to our customers, please drop me an e-mail via our website.

 

If you wanted to further improve your 'Omni' setup, I'd recommend losing the magmount and the antenna cable (since this is where the loss occurs) and instead extend the USB cable to a weatherproof box outside. You can measure any improvement using inSSIDer.

 

sshortcircuit - 2012-12-22 4:52 PM

 

so well under the £159 with a far more sensitive aerial.

 

The TurboTenna Yagi isn't "more sensitive" then the iBoost's directional panel antenna (the antenna's ability to pick up a weak signal) but there is no denying that on paper it has a greater output. In order to comply with UK OFCOM legislation we supply our antennas in a detuned state which the user can alter at their discretion in the web based interface. There is no way we could (claim to) sell an antenna with a power rating of 2.2W and a claimed gain figure of 18dBi!

 

That being said, while I know from having bench tested it that it isn't 18dBi, that doesn't really matter since if it does the job and you're pleased with it!

 

The iBoost has some neet features, like a LED signal strength meter on the back of the unit, weathproof housing and a software interface we have heavily customised to make control and navigation using an iPad much easier. The USB router (which we also stock) isn't quite as nice to use and navigate by comparison - but it does the job.

 

At the end of the day there certainly is no "right and wrong" way to increase a WiFi signal, since you are connecting to remote network hardware over which you have no control and often no knowledge of the components used. There are likely to be situations where some WiFi antennas work better than others and in an ideal world you would have a few differing types to suit the situation.

 

Part of the fun (for me, at least!) is in the experimentation.

 

Adam

http://www.motorhomewifi.com

http://www.europebycamper.com

 

[sshortcircuit]

Thanks Alan for providing all this useful info. First I will make it clear that I do not have sufficient knowledge but as you say the fun is in the experimenting. Regarding my comment about the performance of the Yagi this was due to my ignorance and I should not have made that suggestion.

 

I have downloaded your program and after a bit head scratching have got it working and am impressed although a lot does not mean much to me but I will experiment.

 

Regarding extending the antenna cable it makes a lot of sense to extend the USB cable to suitable waterproof enclosure to reduce losses.

 

Have yet to purchase the repeater but it would appear you only sell a complete kit.

 

Edit From what I have found it would look that I will be moving to BT to make use of their expanding hotspots which include France and surprisingly will be less than I currently pay per month

[sambukashot]

Hi Adam,

I have used the ”inssider” program before but it does not give me anymore information that I can get from the software provided from Ralink that comes with the Yagi antenna which works perfectly when it’s job is just to sniff out a good strong wifi connection.

I did try the directional flat panel but it was not as good as the Yagi I’m afraid, I only have to point the yagi in a rough direction to get a good signal, the Turbo Tenna Yagi antenna is only small in length so it’s really not as directional dependent as say a longer in length fixed yagi antenna that you would install in a permanent fixed position like at home to a wall.

The wifi adaptors advertised on the internet will boast 2000mw of power but the bottom line is a USB port will only supply 500mw so even with a USB power splitting cable the max you can provide the adaptor is 1000mw I only use one USB port to power the Yagi and that works fine for me. I never read too much into the technical specifications that manufactures post with their products they either work well or they don’t and I have purchased a lot off these products over time and I only use what I need to get the job done and that is to provide a stable internet connection whilst in my motorhome on the road, I live fulltime in my motorhome and having internet is very important to me.

I have experimented with the signal loss you mentioned Adam on many occasions and in conclusion…

Here is the connection using the 9db omnidirectional antenna with the wifi adaptor inside the motorhome and a 3 meter coaxial cable to connect

http://www.camperstops.co.uk/images/vpark-in.jpg

Here is the connection using the 9db omnidirectional antenna with the wifi adaptor outside the motorhome and using a 3 meter USB cable to connect

http://www.camperstops.co.uk/images/vpark-out.jpg

Here is the connection using the Yagi antenna with the wifi adaptor inside the motorhome and a 3 meter coaxial cable to connect

http://www.camperstops.co.uk/images/Yagi-out.jpg

In conclusion, the signal strength will fluctuate using all the above methods which is also due to external conditions like trees, buildings and the weather but as long as I am getting a good signal and connection i can surf the web happily :)

This is what works well for me;

I have my mag mounted 9db omnidirectional antenna permanently on the roof which is connected to my wireless repeater that is permanently connected and powered from the leisure battery, whenever I park up I simply connect to the wireless repeater using my laptop or ipad through the internet browser and do a quick scan of wifi that’s available if I see an open connection with a half decent signal strength I will just connect and start surfing, this works great most of the time but let’s say I am wildparking for a few days and I find an open signal with only 2 bars I will need a better signal strength so then I simply plug in the Yagi and point it to that signal source to boost the signal to say 4 bars and away I go, this method works for me but for most people using a windows or mac laptop can get away with just an external USB antenna or a 3G dongle or even tethering their mobile to start surfing.

P.S. I use a mag mount antenna because I do not have anywhere to fix a marine type weather proof USB wifi pole antenna on my motorhome which would be my preferred choice!

Sorry for the long winded reply but as Adam correctly points out there are no right or wrong way to do this only many variations which make the whole connection process seem complicated!

[Lochburn]

The iBoost system should cover my needs so will go for it.,.,

[Patricia]

Not entirely on thread but I have a Hawking Wireless Dish Adapter which I found to be quite good. However, I now find that it will not work with Windows 7! Anyone found a way around this problem please?

[sshortcircuit]

Clutching at straws here but may help. I was about to give up with the iBoost as I could not do site surveys to set it up. As a last chance I changed from chrome to firefox and bingo. I do not have the technical abilities to explain why but it worked. Hopefully somebody more expert will come along and help. If you do fix please let us no how.