"All I want is a cell signal to use my phone and data card while in my RV".
Several years ago we became avid RVers.
It was wonderful going away for the weekend but we wanted to stay out longer and longer especially as cold, snowy winter settled in our town.
As a business owner who relies heavily on the internet it soon became apparent that we could not rely on the RV park to have high speed internet, nor could we count on having good solid cell phone reception.
So the question became..
how could we enjoy travel and still work? We looked into satellites systems and different cell phone companies trying to find a service that would allow us to talk to our office and work on the Internet while on the road.
The satellite systems worked good when stationary, but they are very costly, the Internet is slow and they are pretty hard to set up when traveling.
For portability and cost efficiency, our choice was cellular service for phone and internet.
For locations close to major cities there was no problem but as we moved farther out into the vast country problems arose with maintain adequate cell signal reception.
When we could not rely on our phone signal we certainly could not rely on the internet data card either.
We found ourselves "camping" near major cities and having to be very selective where we stayed.
That really cut down on some beautiful areas.
Then we discovered cellular amplifiers and boosters and it changed our "RV Life".
We can now proudly say our RV has all the comforts of our office including high speed internet.
It is our rolling office with spectacular views! Cellular Amplifiers and Boosters take an already existing cell signal, even if it is just one bar, and amplifies it so that you get a more stable signal.
Not only does this help you avoid dropping your calls but it helps you save battery life since your phone is not always searching for a signal.
There are generally 3 components involved:
The more powerful the amplifier the more distance is required between the external antenna and the internal antenna so there is no oscillating interference with the signals.
There are a few things that can affect the incoming signal that you should be aware of.
Some things that can affect the signal to your cell phone are...
just about everything.
Trees (especially when wet), weather, hills, electrical power lines, clouds and the most common is the distance from the cell tower.
When we first arrive at an RV park we drive around watching the signal strength bars on our cell phone to locate the strongest signal.
That will determine where we "set up camp".
If you have at least one bar on your phone or are with-in about 50 miles of a cell tower, you can get cellular reception with the proper cell phone amplifier or booster.
Here is how we set up our diesel rig.
We installed a trucker antenna on our rear ladder.
What we like about this antenna is that it is spring mounted so it gives a bit when we hit tree limbs.
The cable that comes with the antenna is long enough to reach our rear bedroom.
We installed a SOHO amplifier in that bedroom.
In the living area we used the Wall Mount Directional antenna, which made our rig wireless.
Because we travel with 2 laptops, we also installed a Cradlepoint Wireless Mobile Router which will connect to an activated USB or ExpressCard modem.
We use a Blackberry.
We chose the CTR500 but there are several other great models to chose from.
And finally, our latest addition to our mobile office is a wireless printer which we have networked to both laptops through the Cradlepoint router.
Several years ago we became avid RVers.
It was wonderful going away for the weekend but we wanted to stay out longer and longer especially as cold, snowy winter settled in our town.
As a business owner who relies heavily on the internet it soon became apparent that we could not rely on the RV park to have high speed internet, nor could we count on having good solid cell phone reception.
So the question became..
how could we enjoy travel and still work? We looked into satellites systems and different cell phone companies trying to find a service that would allow us to talk to our office and work on the Internet while on the road.
The satellite systems worked good when stationary, but they are very costly, the Internet is slow and they are pretty hard to set up when traveling.
For portability and cost efficiency, our choice was cellular service for phone and internet.
For locations close to major cities there was no problem but as we moved farther out into the vast country problems arose with maintain adequate cell signal reception.
When we could not rely on our phone signal we certainly could not rely on the internet data card either.
We found ourselves "camping" near major cities and having to be very selective where we stayed.
That really cut down on some beautiful areas.
Then we discovered cellular amplifiers and boosters and it changed our "RV Life".
We can now proudly say our RV has all the comforts of our office including high speed internet.
It is our rolling office with spectacular views! Cellular Amplifiers and Boosters take an already existing cell signal, even if it is just one bar, and amplifies it so that you get a more stable signal.
Not only does this help you avoid dropping your calls but it helps you save battery life since your phone is not always searching for a signal.
There are generally 3 components involved:
- An external antenna which picks up the signal
- An amplifier which boosts the signal
- An inside antenna, to send the signal to your phone or data card.
The more powerful the amplifier the more distance is required between the external antenna and the internal antenna so there is no oscillating interference with the signals.
There are a few things that can affect the incoming signal that you should be aware of.
Some things that can affect the signal to your cell phone are...
just about everything.
Trees (especially when wet), weather, hills, electrical power lines, clouds and the most common is the distance from the cell tower.
When we first arrive at an RV park we drive around watching the signal strength bars on our cell phone to locate the strongest signal.
That will determine where we "set up camp".
If you have at least one bar on your phone or are with-in about 50 miles of a cell tower, you can get cellular reception with the proper cell phone amplifier or booster.
Here is how we set up our diesel rig.
We installed a trucker antenna on our rear ladder.
What we like about this antenna is that it is spring mounted so it gives a bit when we hit tree limbs.
The cable that comes with the antenna is long enough to reach our rear bedroom.
We installed a SOHO amplifier in that bedroom.
In the living area we used the Wall Mount Directional antenna, which made our rig wireless.
Because we travel with 2 laptops, we also installed a Cradlepoint Wireless Mobile Router which will connect to an activated USB or ExpressCard modem.
We use a Blackberry.
We chose the CTR500 but there are several other great models to chose from.
And finally, our latest addition to our mobile office is a wireless printer which we have networked to both laptops through the Cradlepoint router.