Shark-fin antenna for Van Wi-Fi

Starsky

Starsky

New Member
Hi Folks,
I'm looking to work remotely from the van more often.
Need enough signal strength to run Teams / Skype etc from rural locations.
Keep coming beck to the 4G Shark Fin antenna.
Does anyone have any experience of using this for wifi / work etc please?
I know there's additional performance benefits with:
- the best router
- a network sim with the best coverage (EE seems likely best for UK?)

I'd go for a bigger 5G antenna but have a pop-top so thinking the shark fin is most practical.
Just want fit for purpose!

Thanks in advance for your experience / advice.
Cheers,
J
 
I can't help you but I'm interested in knowing the answer.

At work, we have are asked to work remotely but this doesn't mean working from home. I would like to travel more in my van and work from it during the day. My works mobile phone has unlimited data so I would like to use that as a hotspot for my laptop and not pay a monthly fee for another sim.
 
Starsky said:
Hi Folks,
I'm looking to work remotely from the van more often.
Need enough signal strength to run Teams / Skype etc from rural locations.
Keep coming beck to the 4G Shark Fin antenna.
Does anyone have any experience of using this for wifi / work etc please?
I know there's additional performance benefits with:
- the best router
- a network sim with the best coverage (EE seems likely best for UK?)

I'd go for a bigger 5G antenna but have a pop-top so thinking the shark fin is most practical.
Just want fit for purpose!

Thanks in advance for your experience / advice.
Cheers,
J
Click to expand...
Hi Starsky - what did you end up doing in the end, did you get to a good solution? I’m looking to start doing the same thing from my van and looking for any lessons learned from others.

Cheers
 
Interested in this also, hope to increase the DAB signal too, stopping it dropping out all the time.
 
On caravanning trips I took a 4/5G home router… plug in and off you go… as long as there’s signal…worked most of the time except the Lake District
 
Hi folk. I do a lot of "working from home" in my campervan and this is what I've eventually gone for:
https://www.t6forum.com/threads/3g-4g-gsm-signal-booster-anyone-installed-one-or-have-any-experience.37806/#post-515227
As you say @thuderace916 the issue is "as long as theres signal". I use my phone as a wifi hotspot and get to the internet via 3G or 4G. But when the signal is weak then it doesn't matter how much data allowance we have, we can't work with a poor signal.
The reason I've gone for this particular solution is because this box has an external antenna which takes in three different bands: GSM (calls and text), 3G (data) and 4G (data) it then boosts and cleans the signal of each and re-broadcasts them via a second antenna within the vehicle, like a repeater. The key thing to understand is that 3G is different from 4G and also different from calls because they're all on different frequencies, as is 5G and DAB too. So it's unlikely that something that improves a 4G signal will also improve DAB.
The issue with something like a 4G shark fin, is that if the 4G signal isn't great then you're dead in the water. That's why I went for a multi-band solution if 4G is not an option I can still use 3G. I've already been in this situation where the 4G was no good but the 3G was strong enough once boosted and so I set my phone to only use 3G and was up and running.
BTW. I spent a year living and working full-time in a motorhome over lockdown #1 and that was done using just my mobile as a hotspot, so I know it is possible. It worked out that I was getting through about 25Gb a month, but I was careful not to do too much netflix/prime or music streaming so as not to blow the data budget. One hint, get a free Signal Detecting app and wherever you are pitched up check the signal in different parts of your van. You'd may be surprised how much variation in signal strength you find just moving from say the left to the right side of your van. It depends on where the nearest broadcasting towers are and what obsticles are nearby.

Anyway I hope this all helps.
 
TWB-Mark said:
Hi folk. I do a lot of "working from home" in my campervan and this is what I've eventually gone for:
3G, 4G, GSM Signal Booster? Anyone installed one or have any experience
As you say @thuderace916 the issue is "as long as theres signal". I use my phone as a wifi hotspot and get to the internet via 3G or 4G. But when the signal is weak then it doesn't matter how much data allowance we have, we can't work with a poor signal.
The reason I've gone for this particular solution is because this box has an external antenna which takes in three different bands: GSM (calls and text), 3G (data) and 4G (data) it then boosts and cleans the signal of each and re-broadcasts them via a second antenna within the vehicle, like a repeater. The key thing to understand is that 3G is different from 4G and also different from calls because they're all on different frequencies, as is 5G and DAB too. So it's unlikely that something that improves a 4G signal will also improve DAB.
The issue with something like a 4G shark fin, is that if the 4G signal isn't great then you're dead in the water. That's why I went for a multi-band solution if 4G is not an option I can still use 3G. I've already been in this situation where the 4G was no good but the 3G was strong enough once boosted and so I set my phone to only use 3G and was up and running.
BTW. I spent a year living and working full-time in a motorhome over lockdown #1 and that was done using just my mobile as a hotspot, so I know it is possible. It worked out that I was getting through about 25Gb a month, but I was careful not to do too much netflix/prime or music streaming so as not to blow the data budget. One hint, get a free Signal Detecting app and wherever you are pitched up check the signal in different parts of your van. You'd may be surprised how much variation in signal strength you find just moving from say the left to the right side of your van. It depends on where the nearest broadcasting towers are and what obsticles are nearby.

Anyway I hope this all helps.
Click to expand...
Interesting write up, thanks.

As a first step up from pure hot spotting from my phone (which I found unreliable and I needed to make calls from it as well as provide laptop internet) I went for one of these mobile routers (3,4 but not 5g) - link below, though appear unavailable now a few weeks later. Got to say I’ve been pretty impressed. I worked for a test day with dog from a remote car park with a nice view and good dog walks, held Teams meetings etc. all day. I left it on the dash and was getting higher mbps than I sometimes get at home on broadband when there’s 2 of us working online at the same time.

I’m not particularly technical but if I have this right, the mobile router might improve upon a mobile phone’s ability to find and hold a decent connection. And the device you have looks like it improves/boosts the signal itself. So presumably the 2 together, the Mifi receiving a strong signal from the booster, would be a strong combination? Can they benefit each other?

Have a smarty 50gb sim at £10 which I’m only going to scratch the surface of.

ZTE MF971R, LTE CAT6/4G Low Cost, Super-Fast Portable Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot, Unlocked Travel Wi-Fi, 300Mbps, 2000mAh Battery,Dual Band, with FREE SMARTY SIM Card and 2-Year Warranty - Black https://amzn.eu/d/gnSLxqx
 
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4WheelsFromCanvas said:
Interesting write up, thanks.

As a first step up from pure hot spotting from my phone (which I found unreliable and I needed to make calls from it as well as provide laptop internet) I went for one of these mobile routers (3,4 but not 5g). Got to say I’ve been pretty impressed. I worked for a test day with dog from a remote car park with a nice view and good dog walks, held Teams meetings etc. all day. I left it on the dash and was getting higher mbps than I sometimes get at home on broadband when there’s 2 of us working online at the same time.

I’m not particularly technical but if I have this right, the mobile router might improve upon a mobile phone’s ability to find and hold a decent connection. And the device you have looks like it improves/boosts the signal itself. So presumably the 2 together, the Mifi receiving a strong signal from the booster, would be a strong combination? Can they benefit each other?

Have a smarty 50gb sim at £10 which I’m only going to scratch the surface of.

ZTE MF971R, LTE CAT6/4G Low Cost, Super-Fast Portable Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot, Unlocked Travel Wi-Fi, 300Mbps, 2000mAh Battery,Dual Band, with FREE SMARTY SIM Card and 2-Year Warranty - Black https://amzn.eu/d/gnSLxqx
Click to expand...
Please could you tell me how low long does that Smarty sim last for? Thanks. Im ideally looking for one with no time limit as I would like to Wifi the van but only very low use.
 
Skyliner33 said:
Please could you tell me how low long does that Smarty sim last for? Thanks. Im ideally looking for one with no time limit as I would like to Wifi the van but only very low use.
Click to expand...
Yes - good question. Unfortunately it’s pay as you go, but monthly. That to me isn’t pay as you go - it’s just monthly but no minimum contract! I really wanted a sim I could top up when I run low with no time limit like you but I’m not sure they exist anymore. Certainly I couldn’t find one and would welcome any pointers from anyone.

Otherwise it is a waste for just sporadic use in the van. And painful to cancel and then reconnect if there will be known complete months with no use.

Either that, or I just need to work from the van more to make more use of mifi - but I need to sort some form of loo as I had some comedy toilet-based drama last time that I don’t need to detail on here!!
 
4WheelsFromCanvas said:
Ah, thank you - so they DO still exist. Need to look into this and how much the top up cost per Gb is.
Click to expand...
Don’t top up just throw it away and buy another one,

This one is even better value https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M3VJ2B2/

£1.45 for 1Gb of data if you use per month over the 24 months or £2.90 for 2Gb over 12 months etc

I use it in my MiFi hotspot in the van for the CCTV camera
 
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4WheelsFromCanvas said:
I’m not particularly technical but if I have this right, the mobile router might improve upon a mobile phone’s ability to find and hold a decent connection. And the device you have looks like it improves/boosts the signal itself. So presumably the 2 together, the Mifi receiving a strong signal from the booster, would be a strong combination? Can they benefit each other?
Click to expand...
I think in theory you are correct. The internal antenna simply broadcasts a cleaned and boosted GSM/3G/4G signal inside the vehicle. Therefore anything that can receive that signal, such as your mobile router, will benefit. According to the literature I've read you can have about 100 devices simultaneously benefitting / using the internal "broadcast" antenna. What I have found is that the internal antenna is (deliberately ^ ) not very powerful so you'd want to place your mifi / dongle / phone / router close to it.

^ The internal antenna is deliberately not very powerful to avoid creating a feedback loop. If it was too powerful the external "receiving" antenna would pick up the signal from it and boost it, effectively creating a feedback loop, like a microphone picking up the speakers at a concert and screeching. These devices are intended for cars and so they encourage you to place the internal broadcast antenna low down, like under the seat, to make it as far from the external receiving antenna.. In my case the external one is on the front edge of my pop top so that when it pops the antenna is even higher (better reception). The internal one is right at the back of my van several meters away and alongside where I usually sit to do work. Therefore my phone can rest next to it.

Hope this helps.
PS. I've got to be honest these things are pricey so I took a bit of a gamble but so far it has done what it should and personally its important for me to be online so its a trade off. The more I can guarantee a good connection the more freedom I have. :) I would start with getting a mobile router as they probably have a bigger internal antenna than a mobile phone. I'm not sure how the MiFi are setup but if they've got an external antenna to pick up the 3/4/5G signal then there may be a problem because as I've explained the antenna which broadcasts the boosted signal is supposed to be inside the vehicle... I guess you could route it outside ? hmmm or put the mifi antenna inside ?... But personally I'd say, see how you get on with a dedicated 3/4/5G router and IF there's still a problem, that's where the booster might help.
 
Looking to get the best 5G/4G wifi internet installed in van with external antenna, something like:

www.advanced-incar.co.uk

Campervan 4G / 5G WiFi System – SharkFin Antenna

Campervan 4G / 5G WiFi System with a SharkFin Antenna nowadays is a must! This 4G or 5G Wifi System features a Huawei Router and an OEM Style
www.advanced-incar.co.uk www.advanced-incar.co.uk

Any other recommendations?

I also have a standard Leisure battery, would this need to be upgraded for decent use?
 
I use a Teltonika RUT360, more expensive than other solutions but very robust and supports the latest security protocols. It’s 4G but 5G coverage is still pretty poor so not an issue, coverage by your selected provider will always be your greatest issue. I’m currently using VOXI 25GB pay monthly SIM for £12 a month, with unlimited social media and video streaming included, and have a GIFFGAFF SIM on standby if needed, so major networks covered. I get by with the internal aerials, but have a Teltonika roof dome aerial which I’ve not bothered to install, as never had any issues.
 
laidbackian said:
I use a Teltonika RUT360, more expensive than other solutions but very robust and supports the latest security protocols.
Click to expand...

+1 for Teltonika, industrial grade and very feature rich. Maybe not the easiest setup but not overly complex either if you have setup few different routers.
 
secretK9agent said:
I also have a standard Leisure battery, would this need to be upgraded for decent use?
Click to expand...
If you're using it while in the van, ie it's on with the ignition or you turn it on when camping, you're probably fine.

If you are thinking of using it for connectivity to monitor the van while it's parked then you should consider the drain. It all depends on how much the router draws, how often you'd drive the van and what non engine recharging you have such as solar.
 
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