I have one of these and I have taken it apart and used it with an activated redpocket annual sim card providing 100gb a month using the 4g data plan. It does not amplify cell phone signals or wifi signals. It has what amounts to patch antennas in the dome that will help get a better signal. Just like stepping outside of your house with your phone. Weboost and several other manufacturers make cell phone boosters that take one or two bars and regenerate it to give of an amplified signal so you see 5 bars and your signal is better for it. Assuming that it is boosting the band that your carrier likes to use. there are only at&t, verizon, tmobile, sprint-technically tmobile now. All other carriers are what are called mvno's. They use one of the main 4 networks. Red pocket can use all of them depending on what sim you get. All 4g/5g cell phone routers have a cat rating... not like cat 5 cable but they do go from category 1 all the way up to cat 18 and beyond. My cell phone is cat 16 capable. The higher the category number the faster the device will be. The winegard device has a cat4 modem and that means a max of 150mbs down and 50mbs up. You will not get 300 to 700mbs down when using the cell data plan. For Wifi this is different and not the same thing. When using the wifi hotspot of the winegard with 4g data you will be fine. You can see its 2.4ghz ssid and a 5ghz ssid. Use the 5ghz ssid for faster speeds. (older devices cannot see 5ghz) 2.4ghz goes further due to is lower frequency but it is slower. 72mbs up to 300mbs is the maximum speed and that is pushing it. Even my modern cell phone on a 2.4ghz network connects at 72mbs most of the time. always use 5ghz for faster speed. My dsl at home is 12mbs down and 1mb up and this gives enough to work from all day remotely and do teams calls so you do not need 700mbs to watch netflix or do a zoom call. speed is over sold and over promised by the carriers. The biggest limitation on this device is the option from its web page that lets you connect to a campgrounds/rv park's wifi and that internet gets sent over the 2.4ghz ssid and the 5ghz ssid. You log in, and you get cellular or wifi as an option and choose to scan for internet and then connect to the desired ssid and then it bridges that to your weingard ssid's . wifi then becomes half duplex. Meaning you send then you receive that can slow things down. I do not see a speed reduction when i connect it to my home wifi and then connect to its ssid on 5ghz. With it being 2.4ghz only though you will not connect at super high speeds. but you do not need that much speed to do an average video stream. netflix basic can go down to 1.5mbs connections and since i have 12mbs it normally uses 5-6mbs at a time. High definition will use more. 10-25 at the most. 1) you are limited by the campgrounds transmitter as to what speed you can get from it due to distance, signal strength and being 2.4ghz. 2) no the wifi device is not upgradable in the winegard connect 2.0 system. It is built into the board. 3) the 4g modem card can be removed but i have not found anything yet on a replacement that can be used on the board. Most likely there isn't one. 4) inside the connect 2.0 you can see where they used the same boards as the version that had a tv antenna but those parts are not on the boards. just shows where they could have been. 5) IF you felt spunky the board is a router board and has a usb port and an ethernet cable. If you plug your laptop into the ethernet port you will get an ip in the 10.11.12.x range and .1 is the gateway. you will get whatever internet access you would get while on the wifi ssid's only you are connnected by an ethernet cable. You would need an ethernet cable ran from that box to your hardware inside. It is gigabit connectivity vs 10/100 and seems to work fine. You would need to make it water proof as there is an extry hole that is plugged but its not big enough to get the clear end of an rj45 cable through it. You could run a cable through and put an end on in the inside and plug it in that way and run the cable inside. I would imagine this voids your warranty. I picked mine up for sale for 45 bucks at an auction so i am not as worried about my warranty. 6) The cell card and wifi both have the small antenna connectors on the board and on the 4g modem card going to two pcb style patch antennas. My goal is to adapt those to external antennas if i need to. I will say that they are rather good at picking up signals outside. i drive around with mine for testing and i have scanned for wifi with it and cell signal. I may end up using this or something like it to replace my current dsl. 7) i have used an att sim from weingard, a redpocket sim, and a test sim from total wireless though i had no active plan. With the redpocket sim being activate i found i could get up to 80mbs or so down in the same area my phone can get 120mbs but that was it. I was at 25mbs in my testing and i found i needed to just pick att from the carrier. the other option that says att and it looks like an email address is slower for some reason. It will ask for your apn name and i picked ereseller. There was no place to add all of the other information. You cannot change ttl or band lock from this device. Its great for what it does but without a faster cat modem your not going to get 900mbs in the woods. :)
Wow awesome job. I read the whole thing and feel like I understood a lot of it. I am an amateur on the inside tech stuff but good at explaining the real life living with it stuff. Great info, thanks again for contributing.
Really appreciate the way you broke this down. Just recently purchased an RV and looking at how this all works. I'll be back for more help in the future! Thank you!
Thank you so much. I have an rv with the winegard air 360+ V2.s and I was wanting to go through this system with the same impression you had. I am insted going to just get a mobile Hotspot with great speeds and just use a standard unit that I can hard wire into as well use for wifi. Saved me a ton of headaches in the future with networking issues. Thanks a lot man I really appreciate you.
This is highly technical and professional. Though I know I will never own a RV, I did find it fun to see how you use sealant to seal the stuff on the RV and do all the installations. So now I know why a moving vehicle can have WiFi.
I like the studio background. Is that a little white hippo sculpture? I love how he's in focus whilst the drones are blurred out, hehe, taking centre stage. Has the blur been added in post-production? Nice outdoor office. I love working outside but yeah wifi reaching there can be tricky. Installing the Wineguard on the roof looks fun. Is that like CT1 you use to stick it? Nice DeWalt drill! I have one of those 😎
My room is too small to get far enough away for any depth of field so I add that post. It's a white elephant that we picked up in India. I can't remember the name of that goop but it's specialized for rubberized roof materials. I love that DeWalt drill...I've got a wicked set of tools, it's a residual benefit from racing cars professionally for so long.
Thank you for your insights. I have a new RV with the Winegard ConnecT 2.0 (Thor) and I had one before. First of all the WIFI only connecting to AT&T and Verizon is an issue. I use Tmobile and don't need another connection to pay for. My Apple IPHONE and IPADs get good enough WIFI without the amp. The other thing I was waiting to hear is how much the UHF/VHF antenna suck. ITs so bad, they hardly mention the feature of the OTA antenna, but it is horrible. I haven't tried the 360 AIR but its atleast the main feature of the base unit. So disappointed in the OTA offerings.
Funny you should mention it because I have the 360 as it came pre-installed in my RV but we almost never watch OTA anything anymore so I don't know if it's any good. Glad you enjoyed the video though! What new RV did you get?
Not that I have heard of in terms of updates. The issue seems to be mechanical...the way the amplifiers are connected reduces the speed while amplifying the signal.
To start with; I love the name of this brand, haha! Oh no, how annoying that you loose so much speed! That's not what you want. What a bummer! Good to hear that it provides a stable connection. Clear summary at the end!
I was also disappointed on the speed lost when connected to a wifi connection. I also dont know why the connection drops every now and then on a daily basis. I am starting to look for a different brand. thanks for the update
I noticed you talked about a switch and turning it on. My Winegard 360+ and Gateway LTE are installed but I do get any power. Can not figure out how to turn it on. Great video. Nice presentation.
Our RV was prewired and had a small on/off switch inside the cabinet above our TV where the antenna wires and power supply for the TV was. Hope that helps.
Hey Gwen! So cool you found us. We're having a great time...much nicer than the ice and snow we left in New York. We're very diligent about the COVID thing...masks and distancing or we'd invite you over for a drink! But...if you are cruising by and see us stop and say hi...we'll chat from 6' 1" away...LOL
Do you or can you connect the Winegard Connect 2.0 directly to your iphone's hotspot? When reading I picked up the idea that one could do this instead of purchasing another sim card....We have 40 G of hotspot and I would like to use this since we are already paying for it.
It's a mix...campgrounds with crappy WIFI I lean on my cell phone as a hotspot. More campgrounds are really upgrading their WIFI speeds and even with those being reduced from super high speed, the stability of a single point of entry (the winegard) for all my devices is easy and there is plenty of speed in those situations. Welcome to the channel!
What’s the slowest speed you’ve gotten on wifi with winegard? My RV was equipped with it (Jayco Swift), and i think it’s defective. I was expecting at least half of the speed of direct wifi (Like yours, around 60% loss of speed), but i’ve tested it at home and went from 20mbps to 0.02😂 eventually it went to 2mbps. Tried at a mcdonald’s parking lot (The advertised use case, boosting the weak signal), and still, it was very slow. 50mbps down to 5mbps.
I don't know what my worst case was but it was definately bad as you indicated. If I was buying a new system today, I don't see how you can avoid a starlink mobile system.
We don’t see any cable that comes from the Winegard to the splitter! What am I missing? Our unit came installed on our RV and I got a SIM card that we put in the unit…. Now what?
Is there a chance the wire go straight out the bottom of the Winegard through the roof? I have the wire on my roof because I decided to mount mine further forward than where the pass through in the roof is. Did it work for the prior owner or is this a new vehicle?
Thanks so much for the video.I too plan to use my Grand Design with 360+ and 4g LTE. I need it for remote work so I installed it this weekend and plan to activate the AT&T SIM card (came with unit) online. I will test this during the week at home. I attached it with positaps so I did not have to cut the loop inside the rig. BTW: the unit was pre wired and bout the modem form Winegard online. I am going to Oregon KOA on the coast in mid August. Will let you k ow how my testing goes. I found the hot spot on the phone is less stable.
Such an interesting question! I think it probably depends on your plan. I have world wide coverage with my AT & T plan and I'd assume I wouldn't (I'd definitely call first before crossing the border) but, I think that's a question for your cell provider.
You know...I don't remember exactly what it was called but for us it really required taking the sample card and physically going in to the store to get the right one. Did you try that?
I always wondered how people work remote from RVs when they travel alot with them so this was quite interesting. A shame the WIFI speed doesn't work like you would need it too! Keep up the good work :)
You're talking about "WIFI", not an internet connection using your cell phone data package. WIFI coming from most camp grounds sucks to begin with because you've got dozens of people logging into it, and that's going slow your connection down no matter what booster you have. At the time of this post, I'm using my 2dn PC to watch a movie that is logged into my Verizon jet pack and it's playing perfect. We are at home, and I have 3 bars. The Winegaurd is suppose boost THAT cell signal even more as that's it true main purpose, reason we plan to install one on our 5th wheel soon. We have a "wifi" booster antenna that we've used in the past to boost campground wifi, and it more times then not, had a weak signal also.
Your first thoughts are a little correct on older campgrounds with crappy wifi but... My real test which I showed was at home in my driveway about 20 feed from my router where I had really good GIG speed internet service which was absolutely reduced significantly and it had nothing to do with other users on the service it is the physical system they use with kills speed in it's process of amplifying the signal.
Hi, We have the 360 on our new rig. My question is , if I add the gateway to it how will it work? We don’t really use it for work but more it would be for regular internet surfing etc, and really the big thing would be if my son wants to play Fortnight, internet based games through WiFi how will this work? Thank you..
For me, the two units the 360 and the Connect T2 are two completely separate units which operate individually and do different things. I would try a couple trips with your son playing Fortnight with the local WIFI or using your phones as hotspots and see how it goes. Based on my experience, if you used the Connect T2 to a WIFI system with enough speed for Fortnight, it would probably suck up so much speed that you might not be able to play Fortnite anymore. I did do a quick google and it looks like you don't need much speed for fortnite so you would certainly be ok with your cells and most likely ok with most RV Campgrounds local WIFI. WOw...that got very long. I hope it helps.
DOUG and NIKI Thank you that is an awesome reply. Just what I was looking for. Fortnite is exactly what he plays . So if I’m Understanding you correctly I don’t need the gateway yet ? Just use my phone as a hotspot, which I will need to learn how to do , never used it like that . Just wonder how much data it would use . Thanks for your help I will look into it.
DOUG and NIKI Hi Doug. I talked to you about a week ago . Do I need the gateway in order for this to work or no gateway and use cell as the hotspot? A little confused on how this works. Thank you , Heber
@@heberclementiii6788 To be honest, I don't know what a gateway is. What I did for using my cellphone is the cell phone itself has an option to be used as a mobile hotspot. I'd simply turn that feature on and then log on to the mobile hotspot from my laptop and work and stream video that way.
@@DOUGandNIKI awww thanks guys much appreciated!! I was from ALTA actually :D Just moved abroad to the UK :D thank you for joining me ! Im excited to share this journey with my fellow Canadians!! Yay! Ive hit the bell too ;) have a great weekend!
So if I’m understanding what you are saying correctly what is even the point to getting a WiFi booster if you are not able to get the speed you want in order to do normal internet things like zoom?
It was/is a problem for me. I believe the point of it is if you are boondocking and need to grab a bad signal and you are happy to have that when you would not of had any internet...that is where this thing shines because it definitely will do that. The trade off for that is it is slow, slow, slow.
@DOUGandNIKI We just purchased a Sunset Trail also. I bought the Winegard 2.0 and will be getting a SIM card from Verizon to put in (that was a whole ordeal). My question is do you need to install the rocker switch? Or does it just stay on all the time? It says pre-wired and I am assuming that is just the power connection in the roof that you showed us. Did they run a wire to the control panel to add the rocker switch there? Thank you for your help
So cool! What model Sunset Trail did you get? Our rocker switch was pre installed right next to where the antenna wires are in the cabinet above the TV. I just had to connect the wire on the roof which went through that pre-installed rocker. I like having the rocker because it keeps me from having to undo our phones and computers hunting for the Winegard when we are at home and wasting data. I just flip the rocker off when we get home and that ends that.
I've been looking at this device to replace my hotspot using a Samsung Tab A. We are looking to get better streaming speed on Roku and smart tv. We have a T-Moblie data plan with 4g service. Would you think this would be a good upgrade from the tablet hotspot? Thanks for the great video.
It's a bit of a maybe. I can tell you for sure if you get the card for it and stream through the Winegard you get and very quick 4G connection. My problem with that is I'm used to my unlimited data plan and on devices like this the unlimited plans weren't available. With the advent of 5G, most of the time I use my cell phone as a hotspot and it's stable, fast, and unlimited but, when I'm doing business calls and I need super strong consistent speed I use the Winegard.
Anytime a WiFi connection is ‘repeated’ expect the latency to double and the speed to be cut in half. How is the performance of the cellular side? It ‘should’ be equal to a jet pack or their cellular hotspot connection.
I didn't see the same degradation of speed but it's much more expensive with no difference speed wise than using my cell phone as a hotspot so in practicality, if I was going to use cell service, I used my cell phone as a hotspot.
@@DOUGandNIKI ok. I’m trying to figure out if reception is better then a hotspot or cellphone. I run a hotspot with a Wilson cellular amplifier now and it works ok, just trying to find a better solution.
@@Ozziffied So where I travel there are very few places where I get a weak cell phone connection. I did play with it a little bit and my gut impression is that the cell reception on this device was outstanding. I think that would be it's biggest strength...if I was somewhere on the edge of service, I think the Winegard would provide the strongest and most stable connection. Better than my cell phone. That isn't scientifically tested...but my impression.
@@DOUGandNIKI That is my exact hope! We do a lot of 'horse camping' so we don't always have a great signal. Now to decide between the AIR 360+ and the Connect 2.0+.
@@Ozziffied I haven't tried the 360+ but I can say the Connect is a very solid quality product. We have links to them on Amazon if your interested. Let me know which one you go with and how it works!
@@DOUGandNIKI was curious of that. I am in the process of finding something for our rv at our seasonal site. An rv permanent setup like the winegards or a nighthawk modem and mimo antenna that can be moved.
It's not an amplifier, it's a repeater. Data comes in, and then goes out, hence the speed reduction of about half. But the wifi will reach further than connecting direct because the MIMO antenna array has phased directional gain, and it's up higher on your roof. If you want it to be faster and you can use a wired Ethernet connection, there's an internal Ethernet RJ45 socket, so you can run a wired connection instead of using the Connect 2.0 as a wifi repeater. Youll need a small torx bit to open up the dome. Be careful when you open it, the internal antenna cables don't have much slack. I ran the Ethernet cable through the wire gland where the power wire came in, and drilled a new hole for the power cable. The reason for that; Ethernet cables have four twisted pairs inside and aren't as compressible as the power cable, so they need the gland more than the power cable. Then drill a new hole in a corner, slightly smaller than the power cable, so its jacket will seal well, and maybe put a little sealant on it. You'll need to crimp a new RJ45 on your Cat 5 cable after running it through the gland.
Interesting concept your hack there but way outside the realm of normal users and "reasonable" for me to start running network cables from the roof of my RV and somehow rewiring my RV so I can connect via a wired connection. To me, that seems like #1 a giant project that I don't want to do and #2 counter to the whole concept of this device....as marketed. I'm sure it will work and work really well but so not what I want to do or more importantly expected to need to do to use this effectively.
I only have a basic understanding of the 360+ but it's my understanding that you need to add a router to use it plus the antenna are not as strong in terms of pulling in and amplifying signals.
I just bought an RV with the Winegard 360+ already installed, which they offer the Gateway. I need high speed internet because I work from home my RV and I will be living in an RV Park so I am trying to figure out my best option, mobile hotspot through Verizon or ATT or should I go satellite? I will not be moving around and mainly using it for work, and zoom meetings, plus using my Firestick to stream movies. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I have an unlimited plan with ATT and never had an issue with the speed using my phone as a mobile hotspot. I didn't explore the speed via Satellite but my fingers are crossed for SpaceX's Starlink Service. It sounds like it would be perfect for our needs! Let me know what you decide to go with and how it works out.
@@DOUGandNIKI when you say you took the sim card to ATT was that from the Gateway or from something else. I have the unlimited plan with ATT but then get a notice that I have used over 2 gb and my speed is supposed to slow down and that is without using the hotspot. I may go with the mifi and then do more research into the satellite. From what I read startup for satellite is costly and plans are higher.
@@vickydunham746 I have the Connect T2 which is a little different than the 360+ but I looked at the instructions for the 360+. That seems to have a more conventional SIM card than the Connect T2. I think the process is the same though, you have to buy a data plan from At & T for a new device. They no longer offer unlimited on new devices. I did find their plan to still be significantly more cost effective than Winegards plan. I have heard that AT & T throttles your unlimited at some point but I do believe even throttled back it is plenty of data for streaming. I haven't had an issue.
I'm a Chromcast guy so I've never tried the fire stick. I have a basic understanding and I'm still sorting out the data usage myself. So far I believe 20Gig would be sufficient but I think it will depend a good bit on the quality of video you are streaming. If you want to be able to stream in 4K obviously that is a whole different story but at 1080 or 720 I think you'd be ok but obviously it depends wildly on your usage. Are you leaning more heavily on the 4G as opposed to Wifi? We don't do boondocking so I've always had access to Wifi wherever we've camped. I'd only switch to 4G if it was too slow.
I have heard about the slower WiFi speed, but didn't think it was less than half !!!. I would think that multiple antennas would have a better connection and that would mean faster WiFi. Thanks for the info.
That's what I thought but I guess that's why I'm not an electrical engineer. It does do an amazing job at pulling in a weak signal if that is your prevailing issue. Welcome to the channel!
@@DOUGandNIKI I have a newer rubber roof as well. I read some things online and it looks like I found the right kind of sealant. It is called Dicor lap sealant. Does that sound right?
Thanks Doug for the video. I liked the speed test comparing the direct to WiFi hotspot and the amplified WiFi through your Winegard. Did you do a speed test using LTE? Did you check your signal strength and signal to noise ratio? Does the Winegard even give you those stats? Do you know how far you were from the cell tower? I too will be working from my RV using the Winegard 360+ with the LTE gateway, which I think are similar components to what you have and am curious about some specific performance details. Thanks for putting this video together.
I did do speed tests using the LTE and they were all similar to my using my cellphone as an LTE hotspot, they were pretty identical speed wise. Fortunately/unfortunately for your question, I live and have been traveling in the Northeast of the USA. At this point it is pretty hard to not find a strong cell signal so I'm not really sure how well it boosted or picked up those signals.
Would a booster help for Wi-Fi. I’m looking to stream because my husband is a paraplegic and when he’s down he watches TV. We will also be boondocking. We’ve used MiFi in the past and it was good unless your a ways from towers. That’s why I thought booster.
So if I get this amplifier and connect it ill get better signal, if i buy a booster to pair it with the amplifier I should get faster speeds? Is that right?
@@DOUGandNIKI none in particular just wondering if the pairing will do the job. Im thinking of just getting one of the mobilemusthave.com bundles instead if buying the winegard isnt going to give me signal and the speed I need.
@@brandonmatthews4112 So...my experience has been at RV campgrounds is that the speed of their modem/service is the limiting factor and nothing we do on our end makes it faster. If there was a way to do that...I'd be in on it in a second! If you hear of anything good let me know!
@@DOUGandNIKI from what ive been researching from the link i left is basically overpowered hotspotting through your cellphone provider. Thats the only thing ive come up with, havent tried it yet but their 30minute video breakdown of the system packages makes sense so far. Still researching but they seem like the best bet to go with from reading and listening so far.
Ok, finally some good info on setting up my Winegard. It's been incredibly difficult. One question of clarification. If I get you right, you are saying to take the sim card out of my phone, walk into the phone company (Verison or Att, etc), show them what I have and say, I need another one of these. But will that new card be formatted so that if I put it in my winegard I'll have the 4G connection? Not sure I really get that part. Thanks, I loved that you say here's the "dirty little secret." It seems sneaky that Winegard lets us think its a wifi booster in every way when in fact it sure doesn't seem to be if I follow your experience. Man, it's been way more of a chore to get this working - the system came installed on my 2022 RV - when I thought it was a simple operation.
I'm glad I was helpful! Yeah..it doesn't work some ways they seem to say but other things they promote it really works perfectly. In terms of the SIM card...take the SIM card that comes with it down to your local store. That way you know it's the right size for the Winegard unit. Mine was already in the Winegard unit so I took it out of the rooftop device and brought that to the store.
Just bought a TT and it has a Winegard Wifi extender installed. However I don't have the owners manual. Where is the SIM card located and how can I tell what Model I have?
If you have the 360+ you might have a opening on the ceiling to install a router. If you dont, you can take the top off the 360+ and install the router in there. You will need a router and the SIM card goes in the router.
I guess it really depends on what your needs are. If you needed a strong signal and you don't need speed...aka..doing basic emails...I think this is a very good answer.
hmm... I was lucky that my trailer was pre-wired so power was never going to be an issue. I do have a switch inside my cabinet which turns it on or off. You may have a hidden switch also. Let us know what you find.
Thanks for the video. I have us cellular so having an extra option to get a different signal Is a plus. So say if I had a at &t phone and it only had 1 bar of 4g. Would this boost the speed and reliability you think?
@@nathanboone2995 If you have one bar I think it would definitely improve the stability of the signal but I'm not sure if that would increase the speed or just relieve the annoying bad connection factor.
@@DOUGandNIKI Ironically, you were the only video I could find that showed the what is under that prewire cover. I couldn't determine if I'd need to install the on/off switch that comes in the package. I see now I won't Thanks for that! Enjoyed your video.
@@onecullen That's so great to hear! Good luck with it. If you get a chance and you belong to any facebook or reddit groups where the video might be helpful...please share, it really helps our channel.
hmmm...don't totally quote me but I have a 15 Gig plan and I've never had usage issues yet. It was disappointing that we couldn't get the same Unlimited plan that we have for our phones but apparently AT & T killed that. We'll be doing a Live Stream from the side of I95 Sunday at 1PM EST and we'll see how it goes. Haven't tried that yet...
@@DOUGandNIKI I'm buying a 2016 Forest River Spartan Toy Hauler. My first RV. I just found your channel and looking forward to learning more from you guys. thanks again..
I just bought a new motorhome and this is on it. I'm very confused on what this thing does. Why not just use your cell phone that already has a data plan. And whats the point of this thing having TV antenna signal. Who still uses VHF or UHV.
I would be surprised if this was pre-installed...most units have the AIR360 installed which is a TV antenna only and I'm with you on that...almost never used it on mine. If you have a good 5g cell signal and no limits on data then that will work better as a hotspot. But, if you need to pull in a signal or you want to use the local WIFI instead of your cell phone, this system is what's better for that. I'd say this is more leaning towards those who are boondocking and don't always have reliable access to a quality cell signal.
@@DOUGandNIKI thanks that cleared it up for me. Unfortunately this thing will be totally useless for me. We do 99% dry camping. I was hoping it was a satellite dish for TV. Thanks again
This is a nice video. I'm wondering why you didn't consider replacing the existing Winegard 360 with the Winegard 360 Plus and their Gateway product? That would have had one less box on the roof. It would have, however, meant getting all that goo off the existing Winegard. :)
Actually, our RV came with the 360 pre installed so I use that for over the air TV when cable isn't available. You are so right, I will do anything to avoid removing that goo! Thanks for checking our channel out. If you can help us out and share a link on Facebook or Reddit wherever you are doing your research...that is a huge help for us. Thanks in advance .
@@DOUGandNIKI I just bought a 2021 Springdale 26 foot travel trailer and she came stock with it. Now I have a significantly better understanding of what it does! 🤓👍
Stable connection great, speed loss not good. Okay so the reason not to go for your phone is because this is more stable than your phone. But still most of the time it seems your phone is the better option.
@@DOUGandNIKI ok so like on average how far can I roam away from it before I notice I may not be connected? Like the Verizon hotspot my cell has to be about 10 to 15 feet away before I drop the signal. The weboost is like 4 feet away. So how does the winegard do on that aspect?
@@barnhartmd051977 Will crush that... I did a zoom call from our "front yard" a good 20 feet from the trailer because I wanted the beach in the background without an issue.
Thanks for the heads up on the speed issues. Though your low number of 20mbs/sec seems fast enough for most uses. Obviously it will be a pain if you need to DL large files.
Yeah... it's survivable the only disappointment was how much slower it was than if I just connected directly without using the Winegard. For me, I haven't yet found that situation where the local WIFI signal was so week that I was happy to cut the speed in half and get a stronger connection with Winegard. I haven't found that sweet spot. I have used the 4G while on the road and it's rock solid but uses a lot of data so it's expensive.
@@DOUGandNIKI so I have a new unit. And I'm up on the roof. I don't see the connection like you show on the video. My RV does have that connect ready sticker. Any idea where else to look? It has an Air 360+. Also, this unit seems to have an Ethernet Port inside. I assume that may connect directly to a switch or router for faster speeds I may try connecting up to it later abd see.
@@Weaseldog2001 hmm....going to have to do some googling. Ours had a plate on the roof that had the wiring under it. I made like 1000 phone calls because it wasn't marked and creaped me out to pull that plate off of the roof.
@@DOUGandNIKI if that turns out to be a valid ethernet port, I'll let you know. I suspect it is. Just undocumented. I'm a software engineer by trade, and having a gigabit router installed would be a bonus for me when I'm away and working. From the RV.
The one area I disagree on is... if you were boon docking and there was a really weak signal off in the distance, this thing would pump it up and make it a strong signal. Probably a slow one but a nice solid WIFI connection.
It's not the device that sucks up the wifi speed. It's just physics. The longer a waveform travels the lower the waveform frequencies are going to be. Hence why 5G mMwave is super fast but not very good distance and low band 4G/5G has long areas of coverage but not super high speeds.
I think what you are saying is true but not applicable here. If you look at my speed test...in my driveway at home you can see that when I connected my laptop directly to my home wifi the speed was more than twice as fast as when I connected the Windgard to that same wifi and then connected my laptop to the Windgard. The Windgard definitely decreased the speed by about 60%. That is what inspired me to call Windgard who confirmed that is normal with their system. Is that more clear?
@@DOUGandNIKI when you did this test, was the Windguard close to the home wifi router (like inside the house) or was it far away (like outside the house)?
Could of at least showed us where the stupid card is on these systems. All well and good for newbies that have all the manuals and directions......try buying a camper with this and no instructions what so ever. Haven’t the slightest clue where the card is or what it even does.
Jay, where the card is, is an easy one. When you look at it, it's all round, except one little rectangle door, it's right behind that door. Are you sure you RV came with this not the 360? That seems to be the standard pre installed option.
You do realize that when you piggyback off a wifi signal you will ALWAYS be at the mercy of the quality of their internet speed and how congested the wifi area is. Just because you have an Uber antenna, ain't going to give you gigabit internet speed!
Thankfully...we've been to a number of campgrounds who have finally woken up and put in really good WIFI systems so the speed loss doesn't impact good performance.
I bought the 2021 Thor Challenger. It has ConnecT 2.0 which is probably ok as a WIFI Booster. But no RV Site is going to have a high Bandwidth WIFI. Even if you boost the signal strength, you just have better connection. Not high bandwidth. It's like getting closer to space heater that is turned way down. Doesn't really help. I only wanted OTH last week to watch the Superbowl. But my wife likes to wake up watching the weather and local broadcast news. So Bad Antenna for OTA, great WIFI Booster - but who cares, and limited Cell Hotspot value, since I use Tmobile. It's basically a black bulge on my roof.
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I have one of these and I have taken it apart and used it with an activated redpocket annual sim card providing 100gb a month using the 4g data plan.
It does not amplify cell phone signals or wifi signals. It has what amounts to patch antennas in the dome that will help get a better signal. Just like stepping outside of your house with your phone. Weboost and several other manufacturers make cell phone boosters that take one or two bars and regenerate it to give of an amplified signal so you see 5 bars and your signal is better for it. Assuming that it is boosting the band that your carrier likes to use. there are only at&t, verizon, tmobile, sprint-technically tmobile now. All other carriers are what are called mvno's. They use one of the main 4 networks.
Red pocket can use all of them depending on what sim you get.
All 4g/5g cell phone routers have a cat rating... not like cat 5 cable but they do go from category 1 all the way up to cat 18 and beyond. My cell phone is cat 16 capable. The higher the category number the faster the device will be. The winegard device has a cat4 modem and that means a max of 150mbs down and 50mbs up. You will not get 300 to 700mbs down when using the cell data plan.
For Wifi this is different and not the same thing. When using the wifi hotspot of the winegard with 4g data you will be fine.
You can see its 2.4ghz ssid and a 5ghz ssid. Use the 5ghz ssid for faster speeds. (older devices cannot see 5ghz)
2.4ghz goes further due to is lower frequency but it is slower. 72mbs up to 300mbs is the maximum speed and that is pushing it. Even my modern cell phone on a 2.4ghz network connects at 72mbs most of the time. always use 5ghz for faster speed. My dsl at home is 12mbs down and 1mb up and this gives enough to work from all day remotely and do teams calls so you do not need 700mbs to watch netflix or do a zoom call. speed is over sold and over promised by the carriers.
The biggest limitation on this device is the option from its web page that lets you connect to a campgrounds/rv park's wifi and that internet gets sent over the 2.4ghz ssid and the 5ghz ssid.
You log in, and you get cellular or wifi as an option and choose to scan for internet and then connect to the desired ssid and then it bridges that to your weingard ssid's .
wifi then becomes half duplex. Meaning you send then you receive that can slow things down.
I do not see a speed reduction when i connect it to my home wifi and then connect to its ssid on 5ghz.
With it being 2.4ghz only though you will not connect at super high speeds.
but you do not need that much speed to do an average video stream.
netflix basic can go down to 1.5mbs connections and since i have 12mbs it normally uses 5-6mbs at a time.
High definition will use more. 10-25 at the most.
1) you are limited by the campgrounds transmitter as to what speed you can get from it due to distance, signal strength and being 2.4ghz.
2) no the wifi device is not upgradable in the winegard connect 2.0 system. It is built into the board.
3) the 4g modem card can be removed but i have not found anything yet on a replacement that can be used on the board. Most likely there isn't one.
4) inside the connect 2.0 you can see where they used the same boards as the version that had a tv antenna but those parts are not on the boards. just shows where they could have been.
5) IF you felt spunky the board is a router board and has a usb port and an ethernet cable. If you plug your laptop into the ethernet port you will get an ip in the 10.11.12.x range and .1 is the gateway. you will get whatever internet access you would get while on the wifi ssid's only you are connnected by an ethernet cable.
You would need an ethernet cable ran from that box to your hardware inside. It is gigabit connectivity vs 10/100 and seems to work fine. You would need to make it water proof as there is an extry hole that is plugged but its not big enough to get the clear end of an rj45 cable through it. You could run a cable through and put an end on in the inside and plug it in that way and run the cable inside. I would imagine this voids your warranty. I picked mine up for sale for 45 bucks at an auction so i am not as worried about my warranty.
6) The cell card and wifi both have the small antenna connectors on the board and on the 4g modem card going to two pcb style patch antennas.
My goal is to adapt those to external antennas if i need to. I will say that they are rather good at picking up signals outside.
i drive around with mine for testing and i have scanned for wifi with it and cell signal. I may end up using this or something like it to replace my current dsl.
7) i have used an att sim from weingard, a redpocket sim, and a test sim from total wireless though i had no active plan.
With the redpocket sim being activate i found i could get up to 80mbs or so down in the same area my phone can get 120mbs but that was it. I was at 25mbs in my testing and i found i needed to just pick att from the carrier. the other option that says att and it looks like an email address is slower for some reason. It will ask for your apn name and i picked ereseller. There was no place to add all of the other information. You cannot change ttl or band lock from this device.
Its great for what it does but without a faster cat modem your not going to get 900mbs in the woods. :)
Wow awesome job. I read the whole thing and feel like I understood a lot of it. I am an amateur on the inside tech stuff but good at explaining the real life living with it stuff. Great info, thanks again for contributing.
Really appreciate the way you broke this down. Just recently purchased an RV and looking at how this all works. I'll be back for more help in the future! Thank you!
That's great to hear! Subscribe ;) and feel free to ask if you have any questions.
Thank you so much. I have an rv with the winegard air 360+ V2.s and I was wanting to go through this system with the same impression you had. I am insted going to just get a mobile Hotspot with great speeds and just use a standard unit that I can hard wire into as well use for wifi. Saved me a ton of headaches in the future with networking issues. Thanks a lot man I really appreciate you.
You earned a sub great video
That's great to hear and we're thrilled to have you as a new Subscriber 😀
This is highly technical and professional. Though I know I will never own a RV, I did find it fun to see how you use sealant to seal the stuff on the RV and do all the installations. So now I know why a moving vehicle can have WiFi.
Never say never...
I like the studio background. Is that a little white hippo sculpture? I love how he's in focus whilst the drones are blurred out, hehe, taking centre stage. Has the blur been added in post-production? Nice outdoor office. I love working outside but yeah wifi reaching there can be tricky. Installing the Wineguard on the roof looks fun. Is that like CT1 you use to stick it? Nice DeWalt drill! I have one of those 😎
My room is too small to get far enough away for any depth of field so I add that post. It's a white elephant that we picked up in India. I can't remember the name of that goop but it's specialized for rubberized roof materials. I love that DeWalt drill...I've got a wicked set of tools, it's a residual benefit from racing cars professionally for so long.
Oh no! So glad I watched this. We just upgraded our phones to use them as mobile hot spots. We wondered if we’d do better with the Wineguard.
Yeah it's one of those weird thing...I love the product but for my real world applications its not really what I was looking for or needed.
Thank you for your insights. I have a new RV with the Winegard ConnecT 2.0 (Thor) and I had one before. First of all the WIFI only connecting to AT&T and Verizon is an issue. I use Tmobile and don't need another connection to pay for. My Apple IPHONE and IPADs get good enough WIFI without the amp. The other thing I was waiting to hear is how much the UHF/VHF antenna suck. ITs so bad, they hardly mention the feature of the OTA antenna, but it is horrible. I haven't tried the 360 AIR but its atleast the main feature of the base unit. So disappointed in the OTA offerings.
Funny you should mention it because I have the 360 as it came pre-installed in my RV but we almost never watch OTA anything anymore so I don't know if it's any good. Glad you enjoyed the video though! What new RV did you get?
I'am Your Newest Subscriber Great Videos
Thanks so much! Welcome to the channel. Where are you from?
Any new firmware upgrades that help the wifi? 4g is what we’ll use the most with, most wifi at campsites stink anyway.
Not that I have heard of in terms of updates. The issue seems to be mechanical...the way the amplifiers are connected reduces the speed while amplifying the signal.
To start with; I love the name of this brand, haha! Oh no, how annoying that you loose so much speed! That's not what you want. What a bummer! Good to hear that it provides a stable connection. Clear summary at the end!
Thanks!
Really love the idea of having high speed internet on the road. Cool of you to show the whole process and walking us through the entire process.
Thanks
Why couldn't you have installed the WInegard on top of the prewired section on your roof?
There wasn't enough room there without it jammed up against the TV antenna.
I was also disappointed on the speed lost when connected to a wifi connection. I also dont know why the connection drops every now and then on a daily basis. I am starting to look for a different brand. thanks for the update
Come back and let us know if you change brands and what the result is.
I noticed you talked about a switch and turning it on. My Winegard 360+ and Gateway LTE are installed but I do get any power. Can not figure out how to turn it on. Great video. Nice presentation.
Our RV was prewired and had a small on/off switch inside the cabinet above our TV where the antenna wires and power supply for the TV was. Hope that helps.
Good to know. Glad to see you in the same park we are in, Bay Bayou RV Resort. Hope you are enjoying it as much as we are!!
Hey Gwen! So cool you found us. We're having a great time...much nicer than the ice and snow we left in New York. We're very diligent about the COVID thing...masks and distancing or we'd invite you over for a drink! But...if you are cruising by and see us stop and say hi...we'll chat from 6' 1" away...LOL
Do you or can you connect the Winegard Connect 2.0 directly to your iphone's hotspot? When reading I picked up the idea that one could do this instead of purchasing another sim card....We have 40 G of hotspot and I would like to use this since we are already paying for it.
If you are going to do that then there is no need for the Winegard, you can just connect to the cell phone hotspot.
So Doug what WAS your solution to being able to zoom, screen share and work? Thanks for the gret detailed video!
It's a mix...campgrounds with crappy WIFI I lean on my cell phone as a hotspot. More campgrounds are really upgrading their WIFI speeds and even with those being reduced from super high speed, the stability of a single point of entry (the winegard) for all my devices is easy and there is plenty of speed in those situations. Welcome to the channel!
@@DOUGandNIKID
Thanks for the information about the winegard SIM card. You are so right about the att people being confused.
I'm glad it was helpful! What kind of rig did you put it on?
@@DOUGandNIKI It actually came on our 2021 Thor Chateau Class C.
@@dlsimes Oh man...you are going to love that! Is this your first RV or are you a verteran?
@@DOUGandNIKI This is my first Class C. I have owned fifth wheels, travel trailers and truck campers in the past. Thanks!
@@dlsimes Sounds cool...stay in touch and enjoy it!
What’s the slowest speed you’ve gotten on wifi with winegard? My RV was equipped with it (Jayco Swift), and i think it’s defective. I was expecting at least half of the speed of direct wifi (Like yours, around 60% loss of speed), but i’ve tested it at home and went from 20mbps to 0.02😂 eventually it went to 2mbps. Tried at a mcdonald’s parking lot (The advertised use case, boosting the weak signal), and still, it was very slow. 50mbps down to 5mbps.
I don't know what my worst case was but it was definately bad as you indicated. If I was buying a new system today, I don't see how you can avoid a starlink mobile system.
We don’t see any cable that comes from the Winegard to the splitter! What am I missing? Our unit came installed on our RV and I got a SIM card that we put in the unit…. Now what?
Is there a chance the wire go straight out the bottom of the Winegard through the roof? I have the wire on my roof because I decided to mount mine further forward than where the pass through in the roof is. Did it work for the prior owner or is this a new vehicle?
Thanks so much for the video.I too plan to use my Grand Design with 360+ and 4g LTE. I need it for remote work so I installed it this weekend and plan to activate the AT&T SIM card (came with unit) online. I will test this during the week at home. I attached it with positaps so I did not have to cut the loop inside the rig. BTW: the unit was pre wired and bout the modem form Winegard online. I am going to Oregon KOA on the coast in mid August. Will let you k ow how my testing goes. I found the hot spot on the phone is less stable.
So cool... we're excited to hear about how it goes. Fingers crossed it's a big success!
Does this unit work in canada and usa . Do I need to purchase different sim cards for the usa
Such an interesting question! I think it probably depends on your plan. I have world wide coverage with my AT & T plan and I'd assume I wouldn't (I'd definitely call first before crossing the border) but, I think that's a question for your cell provider.
Did you have to cut a hole in the insulation also?
For our situation...no. Our camper came "pre wired" so after I cut through the roofing material the wires were right there.
Would love to know what the correct SIM card is for AT&T we have tried 2 and lost an entire day of 3 trying to get this set up and going
You know...I don't remember exactly what it was called but for us it really required taking the sample card and physically going in to the store to get the right one. Did you try that?
I always wondered how people work remote from RVs when they travel alot with them so this was quite interesting. A shame the WIFI speed doesn't work like you would need it too! Keep up the good work :)
Thanks so much. I'm lucky that I have a job that as long as I have that good connection and a fairly quiet place to work, I'm good!
You're talking about "WIFI", not an internet connection using your cell phone data package. WIFI coming from most camp grounds sucks to begin with because you've got dozens of people logging into it, and that's going slow your connection down no matter what booster you have. At the time of this post, I'm using my 2dn PC to watch a movie that is logged into my Verizon jet pack and it's playing perfect. We are at home, and I have 3 bars. The Winegaurd is suppose boost THAT cell signal even more as that's it true main purpose, reason we plan to install one on our 5th wheel soon. We have a "wifi" booster antenna that we've used in the past to boost campground wifi, and it more times then not, had a weak signal also.
Your first thoughts are a little correct on older campgrounds with crappy wifi but... My real test which I showed was at home in my driveway about 20 feed from my router where I had really good GIG speed internet service which was absolutely reduced significantly and it had nothing to do with other users on the service it is the physical system they use with kills speed in it's process of amplifying the signal.
Would this device work if you were in a remote area and there was no wifi or cell phone connection for miles?
Hi,
We have the 360 on our new rig. My question is , if I add the gateway to it how will it work? We don’t really use it for work but more it would be for regular internet surfing etc, and really the big thing would be if my son wants to play Fortnight, internet based games through WiFi how will this work?
Thank you..
For me, the two units the 360 and the Connect T2 are two completely separate units which operate individually and do different things. I would try a couple trips with your son playing Fortnight with the local WIFI or using your phones as hotspots and see how it goes. Based on my experience, if you used the Connect T2 to a WIFI system with enough speed for Fortnight, it would probably suck up so much speed that you might not be able to play Fortnite anymore. I did do a quick google and it looks like you don't need much speed for fortnite so you would certainly be ok with your cells and most likely ok with most RV Campgrounds local WIFI. WOw...that got very long. I hope it helps.
DOUG and NIKI Thank you that is an awesome reply. Just what I was looking for. Fortnite is exactly what he plays . So if I’m
Understanding you correctly I don’t need the gateway yet ? Just use my phone as a hotspot, which I will need to learn how to do , never used it like that . Just wonder how much data it would use . Thanks for your help I will look into it.
@@heberclementiii6788 I'd start there. You'll have to watch that data. We have unlimited plans so it's easy for us that way.
DOUG and NIKI Hi Doug. I talked to you about a week ago . Do I need the gateway in order for this to work or no gateway and use cell as the hotspot? A little confused on how this works. Thank you , Heber
@@heberclementiii6788 To be honest, I don't know what a gateway is. What I did for using my cellphone is the cell phone itself has an option to be used as a mobile hotspot. I'd simply turn that feature on and then log on to the mobile hotspot from my laptop and work and stream video that way.
Hi Doug and Niki!! Happy to join you both on this journey :D Im a newbie to YT and red button hit :D Have a wonderful weekend ahead!!
We're Sub #789 for you! Where in Canada are you from? I had to take the dog out and think I missed your reply. Niki is from Winnipeg
@@DOUGandNIKI awww thanks guys much appreciated!! I was from ALTA actually :D Just moved abroad to the UK :D thank you for joining me ! Im excited to share this journey with my fellow Canadians!! Yay! Ive hit the bell too ;) have a great weekend!
Do you have a link to that white roof sealant glue you are using?
I didn't include it because the sealant varies based on the kind of roof you have. If you know what material your roof is, I'll find a link for you.
So if I’m understanding what you are saying correctly what is even the point to getting a WiFi booster if you are not able to get the speed you want in order to do normal internet things like zoom?
It was/is a problem for me. I believe the point of it is if you are boondocking and need to grab a bad signal and you are happy to have that when you would not of had any internet...that is where this thing shines because it definitely will do that. The trade off for that is it is slow, slow, slow.
@DOUGandNIKI We just purchased a Sunset Trail also. I bought the Winegard 2.0 and will be getting a SIM card from Verizon to put in (that was a whole ordeal). My question is do you need to install the rocker switch? Or does it just stay on all the time? It says pre-wired and I am assuming that is just the power connection in the roof that you showed us. Did they run a wire to the control panel to add the rocker switch there? Thank you for your help
So cool! What model Sunset Trail did you get? Our rocker switch was pre installed right next to where the antenna wires are in the cabinet above the TV. I just had to connect the wire on the roof which went through that pre-installed rocker. I like having the rocker because it keeps me from having to undo our phones and computers hunting for the Winegard when we are at home and wasting data. I just flip the rocker off when we get home and that ends that.
Think I can take this sim card into Verizon and get their service on it or do you think I will have to buy one of their sim cards?
As long as you have the right sized card (I'm sure Verizon does) you should be able to buy the service directly from Verizon.
@@DOUGandNIKI right, but think they can re-use the card that came with unit or do I need to buy a new one? Sounds like they reused yours at AT&T.
I've been looking at this device to replace my hotspot using a Samsung Tab A. We are looking to get better streaming speed on Roku and smart tv. We have a T-Moblie data plan with 4g service. Would you think this would be a good upgrade from the tablet hotspot? Thanks for the great video.
It's a bit of a maybe. I can tell you for sure if you get the card for it and stream through the Winegard you get and very quick 4G connection. My problem with that is I'm used to my unlimited data plan and on devices like this the unlimited plans weren't available. With the advent of 5G, most of the time I use my cell phone as a hotspot and it's stable, fast, and unlimited but, when I'm doing business calls and I need super strong consistent speed I use the Winegard.
Anytime a WiFi connection is ‘repeated’ expect the latency to double and the speed to be cut in half. How is the performance of the cellular side? It ‘should’ be equal to a jet pack or their cellular hotspot connection.
I didn't see the same degradation of speed but it's much more expensive with no difference speed wise than using my cell phone as a hotspot so in practicality, if I was going to use cell service, I used my cell phone as a hotspot.
@@DOUGandNIKI ok. I’m trying to figure out if reception is better then a hotspot or cellphone. I run a hotspot with a Wilson cellular amplifier now and it works ok, just trying to find a better solution.
@@Ozziffied So where I travel there are very few places where I get a weak cell phone connection. I did play with it a little bit and my gut impression is that the cell reception on this device was outstanding. I think that would be it's biggest strength...if I was somewhere on the edge of service, I think the Winegard would provide the strongest and most stable connection. Better than my cell phone. That isn't scientifically tested...but my impression.
@@DOUGandNIKI That is my exact hope! We do a lot of 'horse camping' so we don't always have a great signal. Now to decide between the AIR 360+ and the Connect 2.0+.
@@Ozziffied I haven't tried the 360+ but I can say the Connect is a very solid quality product. We have links to them on Amazon if your interested. Let me know which one you go with and how it works!
The 360+ has the wifi and lte antennas built in. Why not use it?
If you needed more WIFI range it's my understanding that the Connect T2 is significantly better.
@@DOUGandNIKI was curious of that. I am in the process of finding something for our rv at our seasonal site. An rv permanent setup like the winegards or a nighthawk modem and mimo antenna that can be moved.
@@toddeckley8880 I'm waiting for my Starlink! I think it will be the answer that ends all of this crap :)
@@DOUGandNIKI Unfortunately you have to stay in one location for Starlink to work. At least for now!!
have a 2021 (bought in 2020) cougar travel trailer and this antenna worked ok , now a year later , less channels. Contacted winegard to no reply .
That sucks! Sorry to hear about your issues. Welcome to the channel.
Thanks for the video
Can you explain how it is used for T.V. Purposes?
This is for WIFI not TV. I use it to stream TV. The Winegard 360 or 360+ are for TV. I'd recommend skipping it and going with the streaming.
The TV feature is fun. It’s cool to scan the channels and see what you get at the various places you visit.
It's not an amplifier, it's a repeater. Data comes in, and then goes out, hence the speed reduction of about half. But the wifi will reach further than connecting direct because the MIMO antenna array has phased directional gain, and it's up higher on your roof.
If you want it to be faster and you can use a wired Ethernet connection, there's an internal Ethernet RJ45 socket, so you can run a wired connection instead of using the Connect 2.0 as a wifi repeater. Youll need a small torx bit to open up the dome. Be careful when you open it, the internal antenna cables don't have much slack. I ran the Ethernet cable through the wire gland where the power wire came in, and drilled a new hole for the power cable. The reason for that; Ethernet cables have four twisted pairs inside and aren't as compressible as the power cable, so they need the gland more than the power cable. Then drill a new hole in a corner, slightly smaller than the power cable, so its jacket will seal well, and maybe put a little sealant on it. You'll need to crimp a new RJ45 on your Cat 5 cable after running it through the gland.
Interesting concept your hack there but way outside the realm of normal users and "reasonable" for me to start running network cables from the roof of my RV and somehow rewiring my RV so I can connect via a wired connection. To me, that seems like #1 a giant project that I don't want to do and #2 counter to the whole concept of this device....as marketed. I'm sure it will work and work really well but so not what I want to do or more importantly expected to need to do to use this effectively.
The 360 plus has 4G LTE antennas and amplifiers also. Not sure why you didn't just use it.
I only have a basic understanding of the 360+ but it's my understanding that you need to add a router to use it plus the antenna are not as strong in terms of pulling in and amplifying signals.
@@DOUGandNIKI you do have to add a gateway but it's cheaper than the 2.0 and you already had the 360+.
@@Traylors_outside I had a 360, not a 360+.
I just bought an RV with the Winegard 360+ already installed, which they offer the Gateway. I need high speed internet because I work from home my RV and I will be living in an RV Park so I am trying to figure out my best option, mobile hotspot through Verizon or ATT or should I go satellite? I will not be moving around and mainly using it for work, and zoom meetings, plus using my Firestick to stream movies. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I have an unlimited plan with ATT and never had an issue with the speed using my phone as a mobile hotspot. I didn't explore the speed via Satellite but my fingers are crossed for SpaceX's Starlink Service. It sounds like it would be perfect for our needs! Let me know what you decide to go with and how it works out.
@@DOUGandNIKI when you say you took the sim card to ATT was that from the Gateway or from something else. I have the unlimited plan with ATT but then get a notice that I have used over 2 gb and my speed is supposed to slow down and that is without using the hotspot.
I may go with the mifi and then do more research into the satellite. From what I read startup for satellite is costly and plans are higher.
@@vickydunham746 I have the Connect T2 which is a little different than the 360+ but I looked at the instructions for the 360+. That seems to have a more conventional SIM card than the Connect T2. I think the process is the same though, you have to buy a data plan from At & T for a new device. They no longer offer unlimited on new devices. I did find their plan to still be significantly more cost effective than Winegards plan. I have heard that AT & T throttles your unlimited at some point but I do believe even throttled back it is plenty of data for streaming. I haven't had an issue.
Came over from Weekend RVing was curious about this :)thanks for sharing
So cool... Welcome to the channel!
How does this work with a fire stick. Like watching movies and worry it eats a lot of data. So is winegard 20g enough. I'm living in my rv full time.
I'm a Chromcast guy so I've never tried the fire stick. I have a basic understanding and I'm still sorting out the data usage myself. So far I believe 20Gig would be sufficient but I think it will depend a good bit on the quality of video you are streaming. If you want to be able to stream in 4K obviously that is a whole different story but at 1080 or 720 I think you'd be ok but obviously it depends wildly on your usage. Are you leaning more heavily on the 4G as opposed to Wifi? We don't do boondocking so I've always had access to Wifi wherever we've camped. I'd only switch to 4G if it was too slow.
I have heard about the slower WiFi speed, but didn't think it was less than half !!!. I would think that multiple antennas would have a better connection and that would mean faster WiFi. Thanks for the info.
That's what I thought but I guess that's why I'm not an electrical engineer. It does do an amazing job at pulling in a weak signal if that is your prevailing issue. Welcome to the channel!
Wouldn't the Wineguard 360+ have been a better choice, ie swap your 360 with a 360+? Why did you go with this unit?
We really wanted the ultra strong and stable 4G connection as close to all times as possible. The Wifi at most RV Campgrounds is generally terrible.
What did you use for the sealant around the mount and the screws to seal it?
Our RV has one of those newer rubber roofs the dealer had recommended a product, I would have to look it up. Do you have the Sam kind of roof?
@@DOUGandNIKI I have a newer rubber roof as well. I read some things online and it looks like I found the right kind of sealant. It is called Dicor lap sealant. Does that sound right?
By the way, great video. Helped a ton.
@@scottmayfield951 Thanks so much...that's great to hear.
@@scottmayfield951 Yes!
Thanks Doug for the video. I liked the speed test comparing the direct to WiFi hotspot and the amplified WiFi through your Winegard. Did you do a speed test using LTE? Did you check your signal strength and signal to noise ratio? Does the Winegard even give you those stats? Do you know how far you were from the cell tower? I too will be working from my RV using the Winegard 360+ with the LTE gateway, which I think are similar components to what you have and am curious about some specific performance details. Thanks for putting this video together.
I did do speed tests using the LTE and they were all similar to my using my cellphone as an LTE hotspot, they were pretty identical speed wise. Fortunately/unfortunately for your question, I live and have been traveling in the Northeast of the USA. At this point it is pretty hard to not find a strong cell signal so I'm not really sure how well it boosted or picked up those signals.
Would a booster help for Wi-Fi. I’m looking to stream because my husband is a paraplegic and when he’s down he watches TV. We will also be boondocking. We’ve used MiFi in the past and it was good unless your a ways from towers. That’s why I thought booster.
So if I get this amplifier and connect it ill get better signal, if i buy a booster to pair it with the amplifier I should get faster speeds? Is that right?
What booster are you looking at?
@@DOUGandNIKI none in particular just wondering if the pairing will do the job. Im thinking of just getting one of the mobilemusthave.com bundles instead if buying the winegard isnt going to give me signal and the speed I need.
@@brandonmatthews4112 So...my experience has been at RV campgrounds is that the speed of their modem/service is the limiting factor and nothing we do on our end makes it faster. If there was a way to do that...I'd be in on it in a second! If you hear of anything good let me know!
@@DOUGandNIKI from what ive been researching from the link i left is basically overpowered hotspotting through your cellphone provider. Thats the only thing ive come up with, havent tried it yet but their 30minute video breakdown of the system packages makes sense so far. Still researching but they seem like the best bet to go with from reading and listening so far.
@@brandonmatthews4112 Let us know what you find if you try it out.
Where is the IMEI number at??? I brought that into the ATT store and they could not get me a SIM card because there was no IMEI .... can anyone help?
Did you reach out to Winegard? They were pretty helpful with mine.
Ok, finally some good info on setting up my Winegard. It's been incredibly difficult. One question of clarification. If I get you right, you are saying to take the sim card out of my phone, walk into the phone company (Verison or Att, etc), show them what I have and say, I need another one of these.
But will that new card be formatted so that if I put it in my winegard I'll have the 4G connection? Not sure I really get that part. Thanks, I loved that you say here's the "dirty little secret." It seems sneaky that Winegard lets us think its a wifi booster in every way when in fact it sure doesn't seem to be if I follow your experience. Man, it's been way more of a chore to get this working - the system came installed on my 2022 RV - when I thought it was a simple operation.
I'm glad I was helpful! Yeah..it doesn't work some ways they seem to say but other things they promote it really works perfectly. In terms of the SIM card...take the SIM card that comes with it down to your local store. That way you know it's the right size for the Winegard unit. Mine was already in the Winegard unit so I took it out of the rooftop device and brought that to the store.
Thanks a lot. Will try it.
@@gregormson Let us know how it goes.
Just bought a TT and it has a Winegard Wifi extender installed. However I don't have the owners manual. Where is the SIM card located and how can I tell what Model I have?
Hard to tell but all of the manuals are available on their site as pdf's. Should be pretty hard to get a feel for the right one based on the pictures.
If you have the 360+ you might have a opening on the ceiling to install a router. If you dont, you can take the top off the 360+ and install the router in there. You will need a router and the SIM card goes in the router.
I really thought this would be a better solution to purchasing a WIFi Ranger that’s expensive
I guess it really depends on what your needs are. If you needed a strong signal and you don't need speed...aka..doing basic emails...I think this is a very good answer.
After installation my wineguard worked fine. One morning it just quite working. No power.
Is there some secret to restart the system?
hmm... I was lucky that my trailer was pre-wired so power was never going to be an issue. I do have a switch inside my cabinet which turns it on or off. You may have a hidden switch also. Let us know what you find.
Thanks for the video. I have us cellular so having an extra option to get a different signal Is a plus. So say if I had a at &t phone and it only had 1 bar of 4g. Would this boost the speed and reliability you think?
If I used the 4g option? Basically just using it's data so I get better signal then my 1 bar 4g? Or would it perform the same?
@@nathanboone2995 If you have one bar I think it would definitely improve the stability of the signal but I'm not sure if that would increase the speed or just relieve the annoying bad connection factor.
Great info. I didn't know about the ON/OFF button. We just bought an RV with Wingard already installed with it.
Glad it was helpful! Enjoy!
It would've been cool if you showed the wiring. That's where I'm having an issue. Glad for the other information you provided though.
I showed all the wiring for our rig, it came "pre-wired". I'm glad the balance was helpful. What kind of a rig are you installing yours on?
@@DOUGandNIKI Ironically, you were the only video I could find that showed the what is under that prewire cover. I couldn't determine if I'd need to install the on/off switch that comes in the package. I see now I won't Thanks for that! Enjoyed your video.
@@onecullen That's so great to hear! Good luck with it. If you get a chance and you belong to any facebook or reddit groups where the video might be helpful...please share, it really helps our channel.
How much data do you end up using if you're on Zoom calls all day? Glad to hear the 4G works great, but how much data are we talking in a given month?
hmmm...don't totally quote me but I have a 15 Gig plan and I've never had usage issues yet. It was disappointing that we couldn't get the same Unlimited plan that we have for our phones but apparently AT & T killed that. We'll be doing a Live Stream from the side of I95 Sunday at 1PM EST and we'll see how it goes. Haven't tried that yet...
This was a wonderful review thank you very much
Thanks so much Tony!
Great video! well done.... thanks for giving us the heads up on this device both good and bad.
Thanks so much Larry. What kind of rig are you looking to put this on?
@@DOUGandNIKI
I'm buying a 2016 Forest River Spartan Toy Hauler. My first RV. I just found your channel and looking forward to learning more from you guys. thanks again..
@@larryhollinger1891 Very cool...you'll love it. Feel free to ask anything, there is a lot to get to know but none of it is science. Good luck!
If this is not for tv then why pay 70 bucks a month? Better us the Wally?
I just bought a new motorhome and this is on it. I'm very confused on what this thing does. Why not just use your cell phone that already has a data plan. And whats the point of this thing having TV antenna signal. Who still uses VHF or UHV.
I would be surprised if this was pre-installed...most units have the AIR360 installed which is a TV antenna only and I'm with you on that...almost never used it on mine. If you have a good 5g cell signal and no limits on data then that will work better as a hotspot. But, if you need to pull in a signal or you want to use the local WIFI instead of your cell phone, this system is what's better for that. I'd say this is more leaning towards those who are boondocking and don't always have reliable access to a quality cell signal.
@@DOUGandNIKI thanks that cleared it up for me. Unfortunately this thing will be totally useless for me. We do 99% dry camping. I was hoping it was a satellite dish for TV. Thanks again
@@woodwalker777 Time to get yourself a StarLink! Enjoy your camping.
This is a nice video. I'm wondering why you didn't consider replacing the existing Winegard 360 with the Winegard 360 Plus and their Gateway product? That would have had one less box on the roof. It would have, however, meant getting all that goo off the existing Winegard. :)
Actually, our RV came with the 360 pre installed so I use that for over the air TV when cable isn't available. You are so right, I will do anything to avoid removing that goo! Thanks for checking our channel out. If you can help us out and share a link on Facebook or Reddit wherever you are doing your research...that is a huge help for us. Thanks in advance .
Yes this is helpful.
Glad to hear!
Great video man. Thanks a ton
Thanks so much! Are you looking to add one to your rig?
@@DOUGandNIKI I just bought a 2021 Springdale 26 foot travel trailer and she came stock with it. Now I have a significantly better understanding of what it does! 🤓👍
@@celestialyidum Awesome! Have fun with it and let us know if you find any great places we should check out as you adventure around.
Stable connection great, speed loss not good. Okay so the reason not to go for your phone is because this is more stable than your phone. But still most of the time it seems your phone is the better option.
So far that has been the answer. I would have preferred if this system made WIFI at campsites better so that could be my choice, not worse.
On the 4g does it provide a good signal to your phone or laptop and what is the range for personal devices?
It pulls it's own 4g signal and they you connect your phone ore laptop to it via wifi.
@@DOUGandNIKI ok so like on average how far can I roam away from it before I notice I may not be connected? Like the Verizon hotspot my cell has to be about 10 to 15 feet away before I drop the signal. The weboost is like 4 feet away. So how does the winegard do on that aspect?
@@barnhartmd051977 Will crush that... I did a zoom call from our "front yard" a good 20 feet from the trailer because I wanted the beach in the background without an issue.
Thanks for the heads up on the speed issues.
Though your low number of 20mbs/sec seems fast enough for most uses.
Obviously it will be a pain if you need to DL large files.
Yeah... it's survivable the only disappointment was how much slower it was than if I just connected directly without using the Winegard. For me, I haven't yet found that situation where the local WIFI signal was so week that I was happy to cut the speed in half and get a stronger connection with Winegard. I haven't found that sweet spot. I have used the 4G while on the road and it's rock solid but uses a lot of data so it's expensive.
@@DOUGandNIKI so I have a new unit. And I'm up on the roof. I don't see the connection like you show on the video. My RV does have that connect ready sticker. Any idea where else to look?
It has an Air 360+.
Also, this unit seems to have an Ethernet Port inside. I assume that may connect directly to a switch or router for faster speeds I may try connecting up to it later abd see.
@@Weaseldog2001 hmm....going to have to do some googling. Ours had a plate on the roof that had the wiring under it. I made like 1000 phone calls because it wasn't marked and creaped me out to pull that plate off of the roof.
@@DOUGandNIKI I've sent an email to the dealer.
If I get a good answer, I'll post it here.
@@DOUGandNIKI if that turns out to be a valid ethernet port, I'll let you know.
I suspect it is. Just undocumented.
I'm a software engineer by trade, and having a gigabit router installed would be a bonus for me when I'm away and working. From the RV.
Want the same Winegard system which we have? Support the channel and check it out here on Amazon: amzn.to/2R1W5au
I dont think these WiFi boosters work unless used inside a house .
The one area I disagree on is... if you were boon docking and there was a really weak signal off in the distance, this thing would pump it up and make it a strong signal. Probably a slow one but a nice solid WIFI connection.
It's not the device that sucks up the wifi speed. It's just physics. The longer a waveform travels the lower the waveform frequencies are going to be. Hence why 5G mMwave is super fast but not very good distance and low band 4G/5G has long areas of coverage but not super high speeds.
I think what you are saying is true but not applicable here. If you look at my speed test...in my driveway at home you can see that when I connected my laptop directly to my home wifi the speed was more than twice as fast as when I connected the Windgard to that same wifi and then connected my laptop to the Windgard. The Windgard definitely decreased the speed by about 60%. That is what inspired me to call Windgard who confirmed that is normal with their system. Is that more clear?
@@DOUGandNIKI when you did this test, was the Windguard close to the home wifi router (like inside the house) or was it far away (like outside the house)?
@@flowersunshine3490 Right next to the house. The same distance from the router as my laptop was when I connected it directly.
Could of at least showed us where the stupid card is on these systems. All well and good for newbies that have all the manuals and directions......try buying a camper with this and no instructions what so ever. Haven’t the slightest clue where the card is or what it even does.
Jay, where the card is, is an easy one. When you look at it, it's all round, except one little rectangle door, it's right behind that door. Are you sure you RV came with this not the 360? That seems to be the standard pre installed option.
You do realize that when you piggyback off a wifi signal you will ALWAYS be at the mercy of the quality of their internet speed and how congested the wifi area is. Just because you have an Uber antenna, ain't going to give you gigabit internet speed!
Thankfully...we've been to a number of campgrounds who have finally woken up and put in really good WIFI systems so the speed loss doesn't impact good performance.
I bought the 2021 Thor Challenger. It has ConnecT 2.0 which is probably ok as a WIFI Booster. But no RV Site is going to have a high Bandwidth WIFI. Even if you boost the signal strength, you just have better connection. Not high bandwidth. It's like getting closer to space heater that is turned way down. Doesn't really help. I only wanted OTH last week to watch the Superbowl. But my wife likes to wake up watching the weather and local broadcast news. So Bad Antenna for OTA, great WIFI Booster - but who cares, and limited Cell Hotspot value, since I use Tmobile. It's basically a black bulge on my roof.
Your missing one possible use... If your in a jam for a Halloween costume it should make a great Darth Vader helmet!