sambukashot Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Paul what wifi antenna set up are you using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 sambukashot - 2013-06-10 5:28 PM Paul what wifi antenna set up are you using? a rubbish one by the sounds of it :-D Like SS ours works very well and certainly not a waste of money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barryd999 Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 I have two wifi antennas and they have been and absolute godsend. Without them I couldnt have done the long trips we do as its been essential for me to get online from time to time. They do work but you have to get a good one then you have to put in the work to find the best signal and place to mount the antenna. I rarely have to go looking for a McDonalds as I usually get online where I am parked. Or if I know I have to connect Ill park up in a busy street in a built up area and often find something there. Its paid for itself 100 fold, easily. I think though that wifi will improve once the rest of Europe takes on the BT Openzone or FON network. This is how I see it developing. If all the big providers such as SFR and BT worked together and automatically opted their customers into FON then we are laughing as chances are your the only one sharing that connection (I think its limited to 5 anyway). All the BT Openzone connections I have used have been pretty good. I also use SFR a lot in France and its equally good. this is the way to go I reckon. Once we have this network in place all you will need is a decent antenna and your away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul M Who Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 sambukashot - 2013-06-10 5:28 PM Paul what wifi antenna set up are you using? I have a roof mounted TP-Link ariel connected to a BearExtender WiFi adapter plugged into a MacBook. I don't have a problem getting a strong signal. The problem is not the signal strength it's the bandwidth of any given WiFi network. If the bandwidth isn't large enough to cope with the demand on the system then the upload and download speeds are significantly reduced. This is the problem at most of the campgrounds we have stayed at. If you want to sit in the hot sun in a van with your window unzipped and your Yagi hanging out so you can leech free McD Wifi then be my guest. Id rather pay a Euro for a hot or cold drink and sit in cool comfort and get full strength signal a few feet from the source. Some people will spend a fortune to save a cent. My point is it doesn't matter how good your WiFi boosters is, if the bandwidth is rubbish it don't matter a toss. There are plenty of camping grounds with great signal strength but poor bandwidth and we are travelling in the low season when most of the places we have stayed still have large areas of their campsite closed off until July and August. The easiest way to get great WiFi is to take a Tablet with you and find the nearest McD or Starbucks or local bar/cafe/restaurant that has a WiFi Zone sticker in the window (sometimes even in a campground) and sample some of the local atmosphere and get you WiFi there. Unless your going to park up outside every McD on the way or trawl the local area looking for open networks to leech from then my point holds. The campsites with free WiFi are few and the ones that charge have securely locked networks that require an access user name and password. The larger campgrounds have a dozen or more WiFi repeaters around the site so signal strength is not an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshortcircuit Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Like yourself Paul I use my iPad for SatNav and use NavFree which is a totally free program for Uk, France, Spain etc. Can I ask what program you use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshortcircuit Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 "If you want to sit in the hot sun in a van with your window unzipped and your Yagi hanging out so you can leech free McD Wifi then be my guest. Id rather pay a Euro for a hot or cold drink and sit in cool comfort and get full strength signal a few feet from the source. Some people will spend a fortune to save a cent. " Sitting on the west sands at St Andrews with an ice cold beer and no nutters about picking up WiFi 1 1/2 miles away with equipment costing less than £30 is what its all about, but then its everybody to their own Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sambukashot Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Thanks for the explaination Paul,It was just in your original statement Anyone who seriously thinks they can sit outside a McD and use a WiFi extender/router to pull in a clean strong signal from across the carpark is dreaming.I found this to be totally incorrect, i can pull in signals from 10 miles away (clear line of sight) reduced greatly to 1 mile in a built up area, never had a problem with Mcd's or anywhere i am parked near the wifi access point.But as you do point out it is really down to the amount of traffic using that access point at the same time as other users that will slow down internet speed, (and other variations) little to do with the wifi antenna and adaptor set up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWO Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Sitting in the sun( at last) at Les Ondines at Souillac on the Dordogne. Wifi Free, well part of the E12 a night fee. Just downloaded a dozen more episodes of Desert Island Discs to give us a bit more radio at a resonable speed as well HWO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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