Dmsscs: It costs money to run water lines, but would you stay at a park that wanted you to use water from your neighbor's site even though the park advertised full hookups? Or would you be happy at a park that advertised cable TV but only offered it at a few sites? This whole issue of making excuses for not providing what is advertised by a park is ridiculous. Parks are in business to make money for sure but if they don't deliver what they advertise, then they should be out of business.
How many try to hook up an external antenna to their WIFI? I have a cell phone with a jack for one and when driving we seem to get one more "bar" by using one on the roof of our truck. My notebook has built in wifi, but I think I have seen some wifi cards with the ability for an external antenna. TigerDirect.com sells an antenna "to optimize antenna placement for wireless PCI cards." # U13-4166 I think I have seen an ad somewhere for a PC Card or USB adaptor that allowed you to use an external antenna.
Here is something else I found. But you still have to have an external antenna jack to connect it to. I also found one review on it where the person using it could hit 8 to 10 networks from his beach house. He was thrilled. I assume he is using it to hit open wifi networks. :::::::::::::::::::: TRENDnet's TEW-OA14DK Outdoor Directional Antenna provides long distance point-to-point connection for your wireless network. As an optional antenna for your IEEE 802.11b, 802.11b+, and 802.11g 2.4GHz wireless network equipment. You can install it outdoors for connecting to networks up to 5 miles (8 Km) away, or install it in the building to blast through obstructions. Designed for wireless access point w/bridge, router with detachable antennas, & PCI adapters with detachable antennas, you can simply mount the antenna indoor on the ceiling, wall, or outdoor tower. Unleash the power of your wireless products with TRENDnet's TEW-OA14DK antenna. Comes with the TEW-2000F N-Type Male to Reverse SMA Female 6 ft. (2M) connector cable and Bracket Kit. Will work with any brand with a Male Reverse SMA connector. Specifications Frequency Range: 2400 MHz ~ 2500MHz Gain: 14.0 dBi VSWR: 1.4 : 1 Max. Polarization: Vertical linear 3dB beamwidth / H-plane: 30° 3dB beamwidth / E-plane: 30° Front to Back Ratio: 15 dB Down tilt: 0° Power Handling: 50 W (cw) Impedance: 50 Ohms Connector Lead Cable: RG-58/u, 27cm (10.6”) Connector Type: N-Type, female Survival Wind Speed: 180 Km/h (112 Miles/h) Temperature: -30 °C ~ 80 °C (-22 °F ~ 176 °F) Humidity: 100% @ 25 °C (77 °F) Lightning Protection: DC ground Radome Color: Gray-white Radome Material: ABS/UV resistant,Fire retardant Housing Material: Galvanized Steel,Fire retardant Weight: 0.825 Kg (1.82 lb) Dimensions: Height: 240mm Width: 240mm Depth: 69.5mm Warranty: Three year limited manufacturer warranty
TENDnet sound like a heck of a piece of equipment. You detailed it nicely except for probable price. What say ye??
Discontinued per co’s web site. Closest item is 8dBi Outdoor Omni-Directional Antenna TEW-AO080 At a list of $49.95 http://www.trendnet.com/products/TEW-AO08O.htm I think the price of the TRENDnet's TEW-OA14DK was $79.95. at www.Tigerdirect.com I bought a desktop computer from them years ago (as in 300 mhz) and had no complaints. They still send me an occasional catalog. They may still have some in stock. We spend 80 to 90 days a year on the road and I could see some value in having something that would both give me a longer range assuming I could get the system to work. At two CG’s in Texas, we had good strength but ½ the notebooks could not connect even though we had a good signal. None of us could play with our settings enough to make them work and the CG operator didn’t know anything, plus the connection was free, so no one to ask questions of.
Beastmaster; actually I stayed at a $100 a night park in the Keys that was supposed to give me 30 amp service, and cable. When we got there, they let the tent site next to us plug into our 30 amp plug and we had to buy an adapter to be able to use the 50 amp plug that was left, even tho we paid for a 30 amp outlet and the site next door wasn't supposed to have power at all. To make matters worse, they unplugged our cable to put a splitter on so the tent site could use the cable, too. It rendered our cable useless because the splitter was so taut that it couldn't keep a good connection. When we went to the office, they simply said, sorry, maintenance went home. Obviously we will never go there again, but yes, I would share water if I had to. I kinda lost sight of what I wanted to say here. Water goes in when they build a camp ground, so those lines are in, the power lines are in and most parks that have sewers put them in when they were built. Internet is all new, these guys would have to dig up the whole place to get it in. If their provider is telling them they will have throughout the park, then the problem lies with the providers. A park may advertise thinking it is going to work, then in use they find out it doesn't work so good. Trailer life is already in print, what can they do now? I agree that it shouldn't be advertised as free if they are charging for it. At a park in Miami they said it was free, when I tried to get on the was a $4.95 charge by the provider, seems the park and the provider were two different things. It didn't matter much, I was never able to make the connection anyway. I think as the technology is perfected we will all be getting better connection, in the meanwhile i think I will get one of those antennas so I won't have to rely on how far a parks system can go. I have a fresh water tank, large holding tanks and a blue boy why not an anntena?!
I agree they shouldn't advertise as free if there is a fee. Most parks that have water, electric, sewage, phone, cable, and even 50 amp don't advertise them as free. Those sites generally cost much more than a no-hookups site. Maybe they could have the site numbers that actually get the wi-fi listed on the map - like they do cable, sewage, etc. :lol:
I think I posted this wifi antenna here before but if not here is one that really works great, is very small, needs no card and just plugs into your usb port on the back of your laptop. When I first got mine I fired up my laptop at home using the built-in wifi and received no networks (I don't use wireless in my house) then I installed the Linksys antenna and had 4 networks from neighboring houses and was able to connect to the internet from any of them. You can get varying prices all over the internet usually around $50. Here is Linksys info -- http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c...FVisitorWrapper I also use a Canary to check for open wireless networks while traveling as it is much faster to find a good wifi hotspot that firing up the laptop. They also run $50-60. Here is their link -- http://www.canarywireless.com/
Hello....I had sime problems wiath Wi-Fi in some Parks...Your internal card is only good for about 400 ft....I purchased a Hawkings Technology PC Card wath Hi-Gain Antennia # HWC54D....Circuit City.com.....$59.99 ..Free Shipping...Improves Sianil by 300%...I now have very few problems...We are at a park that has 1 outside antenna for the entire park...I am about 1500 ft. from antennia and get ia Good rated signal....I talked to a Hots/Spotz Tecniacial support...That was his adviceiand it works for me.....The card inside your computer is a 1db. gain ...My Hawkings is a 6db. gaian....Big differance....Do a Google.....Jim A.
Thanks to every one for the information on external antennas for wifi. Think I will try at least one of those mentioned. Have made notes on the information offered.
I'm responding from Lake Fairfax Park in Northern VA. They have WiFi service through Linkspot, who apparently provide services to a number of campgrounds countrywide. I too have problems with the staff not knowing enough to help campers. They have 3 locations throughout the park with the transmitters/receivers/repeaters and they do have a pretty good signal and speed (11Mbps). The way Linkspot works is they give you a box containing a CD, a USB device and an instruction booklet from the company. You download the drivers and Linkspot software and the instructions tell you to connect with the USB device plugged into your computer. At this point, it takes you to their site where you pay for the service (Hourly, Daily, Weekly or Monthly). The difficulty then begins. What they don't tell you is that if your laptop has a wireless card already, you no longer need to keep the USB device plugged in and you can then just connect to the internet. IF you try to connect with the USB device, you get little or no connectivity. I lost 3 days of work (yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be RV'ing and not working but that's not reality for me) because I was trying to connect with that darned USB device plugged in. SOMEBODY on the provider side needs to know the questions to ask and correct answers.
QUOTE(FordTruck @ Sep 9 2006, 10:30 PM) [snapback]5046[/snapback] I'm responding from Lake Fairfax Park in Northern VA. They have WiFi service through Linkspot, who apparently provide services to a number of campgrounds countrywide. I too have problems with the staff not knowing enough to help campers. They have 3 locations throughout the park with the transmitters/receivers/repeaters and they do have a pretty good signal and speed (11Mbps). The way Linkspot works is they give you a box containing a CD, a USB device and an instruction booklet from the company. You download the drivers and Linkspot software and the instructions tell you to connect with the USB device plugged into your computer. At this point, it takes you to their site where you pay for the service (Hourly, Daily, Weekly or Monthly). The difficulty then begins. What they don't tell you is that if your laptop has a wireless card already, you no longer need to keep the USB device plugged in and you can then just connect to the internet. IF you try to connect with the USB device, you get little or no connectivity. I lost 3 days of work (yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be RV'ing and not working but that's not reality for me) because I was trying to connect with that darned USB device plugged in. SOMEBODY on the provider side needs to know the questions to ask and correct answers.
Just a couple of thoughts. First, if you're piggy-backing on your neighbor's signal without thier permission, you're stealing from them. It drives down their speed and gives you access without your paying for it. That's stealing. Second, I, like Beastmaster, run on a Datastorm dish on my roof connected to an internal wireless router. However, it's been working so badly lately that we must have wifi for me to do my job. Until Hughes or Morosat gets this thing fixed, we're in it with you. BUT my point is that if a campground is providing WIFI based on a dish in any way like ours, then they are susceptible to the same kinds of trouble we're having. How can we hold them accountable for that when we have been trying to get help for weeks without success? W
