Internet connection dunes and other remote areas

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Markcsand

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Last season we struggled to get connection in places we used to get good signal, buttercup and Gordon’s used to be good, now not so much. What works to increase signal? Lot of talk on you tube about boosters, do they work?

 
I bought the Webost RV set up https://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/weboost-destination-rv-signal-booster-kit-470159/ I have only tried it once and it didn't work. We were in a remote area with zero signal so I didn't really expect it to work. I plan to try it out in G this season. One of the comments I read last year was that on busy weekends the cell towers are simply overloaded with people. The idea with the booster is to hit on a tower outside of the immediate area and have better speeds because fewer people are on it. It seemed like there was a significant drop off in internet speed last season. My T-Mobile phone wouldn't connect at all and my AT&T was really slow. 

 
Markcsand said:
Last season we struggled to get connection in places we used to get good signal, buttercup and Gordon’s used to be good, now not so much. What works to increase signal? Lot of talk on you tube about boosters, do they work?
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Boosters work in a specific set of circumstances. If there is a weak signal, the booster can bring it in stronger. If there's no signal, it can't boost nothing. If the signal is strong enough, it doesn't make any difference, or may cancel the signal.

Which way to go depends on how much you need internet and how much you want to pay. There are 3 SIM booster/routers that can accept SIM cards from all 3 major cell carriers and will automatically switch to the strongest signal carrier at the time. Those aren't cheap and you have to pay for data plans on all 3 carriers. Keep in mind, on a busy weekend, everyone and his brother is uploading videos of his idiot friend crashing spectacularly, so you'll get a better signal than they will, but you won't get any more of the congested bandwidth unless the signal is too weak for them but your booster is getting a good signal.

The final solution I know of is Starlink satellite service. It's fast, low latency and uses satellite, so you'll get plenty of bandwidth, like live streaming 4K video kinda bandwidth. Currently, the dish (Dishy McFlatface) and router costs Elon Musk $1,000 to build and he sells it for $500. They say he's working on Version 2 which will cost him $500 to build and sell for $300 retail. Monthly cost is $99/mo. You have to go online and let them know where you're located in order to catch the satellite. They claim service is available globally as of Aug. 2021, but it will be another yr before they have even more satellites up and better service. I've signed up, but they're not delivering to anyone this far south yet. The trick to getting one now is to order one online, but give them an address way up in Wisconsin, or ID near the Canadian border. Once they tell you your order is successful, then change it to your real address and they'll mail it there.

 
Pennywise said:
I bought the Webost RV set up https://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/weboost-destination-rv-signal-booster-kit-470159/ I have only tried it once and it didn't work. We were in a remote area with zero signal so I didn't really expect it to work. I plan to try it out in G this season. One of the comments I read last year was that on busy weekends the cell towers are simply overloaded with people. The idea with the booster is to hit on a tower outside of the immediate area and have better speeds because fewer people are on it. It seemed like there was a significant drop off in internet speed last season. My T-Mobile phone wouldn't connect at all and my AT&T was really slow. 
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We sell and install the weboost.  Rv65 that you have is really the strongest unless you go to a small house. They work really good put that pole up to 22 ft and download a cell signal finder. Open signal is a good one to find out where to point that antenna. We also now install with fixed antennas that work most of the time but sometimes you have to bust out that directional. I find boosting the cellular signal the best way because you can get a 5G router,your cell phone ,tablet and it boost it all. The indoor antenna that comes with the rv65 is the only one to use. If you use a weboost and it doesn't come with that antenna you want to buy that one for the inside. You guys can call me with questions on satellite or cell boosters for internet for anything with RVs. 602-570-3474

 
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Squatcher said:
We sell and install the weboost.  Rv65 that you have is really the strongest unless you go to a small house. They work really good put that pole up to 22 ft and download a cell signal finder. Open signal is a good one to find out where to point that antenna. We also now install with fixed antennas that work most of the time but sometimes you have to bust out that directional. I find boosting the cellular signal the best way because you can get a 5G router,your cell phone ,tablet and it boost it all. The indoor antenna that comes with the rv65 is the only one to use. If you use a weboost and it doesn't come with that antenna you want to buy that one for the inside. You guys can call me with questions on satellite or cell boosters for internet for anything with RVs. 602-570-3474
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I have been considering one as well - I normally get 1 bar and calls  and even text often fails. I will call you when I decide - thanks for posting

I cannot figure out which cell service is best in Glamis - I am considering buying a few Burners to test which is best any given day at any given pad 

 
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Fullthrottleguy said:
I have been considering one as well - I normally get 1 bar and calls  and even text often fails. I will call you when I decide - thanks for posting

I cannot figure out which cell service is best in Glamis - I am considering buying a few Burners to test which is best any given day at any given pad 
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When I checked it out a few yrs back, it seemed like 2 carriers worked well on Gecko, but one of those had no signal in the washes and vice versa. Things may have changed recently with 5G rolling out. Last season I tried my T-mobile phone and got almost no signal in the washes, but a couple of months ago found out that I have to reboot the phone for it to pick up the local cell towers in a new area. If I had rebooted it, it might have worked a lot better, but then it was a quiet weekend and everyone suffers on a big weekend. 

 
Lord of the Dunes said:
When I checked it out a few yrs back, it seemed like 2 carriers worked well on Gecko, but one of those had no signal in the washes and vice versa. Things may have changed recently with 5G rolling out. Last season I tried my T-mobile phone and got almost no signal in the washes, but a couple of months ago found out that I have to reboot the phone for it to pick up the local cell towers in a new area. If I had rebooted it, it might have worked a lot better, but then it was a quiet weekend and everyone suffers on a big weekend. 
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My T-Mobile kicks butt in the watches. It's so-so on gecko but with my booster I generally have service and internet

 
Anyone interested in a booster send me a PM or give me a call. We'll be installing them out there in the dunes. First trip will be October 11th for a week

 
Squatcher said:
My T-Mobile kicks butt in the watches. It's so-so on gecko but with my booster I generally have service and internet
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That's great! I switched to T-Mobile about a yr ago because they had 5G and their map showed coverage throughout the dunes, all the way to Buttercup. I'm glad to hear it was just my phone not picking up the cell towers in a new area!

 
I thought this kind of interesting.

ATT

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T-Mobile

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Verizon says 100% 5G coverage.

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whats a Geck0?  us wash dwellers that are next to the cell tower get great signal...  LOL.

Seriously, we camp in wash10 & except for when its AH's & EB's, I dont have any issues.  And even then, once all of the rug rats are in bed & all of the mama's are too shitfaced to operate a phone, its fine.  LOL.  FWIW, Im with ATT now & same with Verizon a few years ago. 

 
Lord of the Dunes said:
People are going to get different results based on how many people are out there that weekend. On a big weekend, I bet everyone gets lousy service and slow speeds.
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I read that Dumont has there own cell tower for ATT and Verizon now - how did they rate that???

 
Fullthrottleguy said:
I read that Dumont has there own cell tower for ATT and Verizon now - how did they rate that???
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Glamis has 2 cell phone towers. One is behind the GBS, the other one is on Ogilby rd, near Gordon's Well. I don't know which one has which carrier, but I'm guessing each one has at least 2 carriers.

That's one of my complaints about how stupid our gov't officials are. They thought it would be better to have 3 different cell systems, but it means we have to have 3x more towers to cover the same area. The EU decided on only GSM to service all countries on the entire continent. They also prohibited the cell carriers from charging for incoming calls. This cut the billable minutes in half. They also forced the carriers to bill by the second, not round up to the next whole minute. Our gov't let them rip us off on both of those counts. The average European gets excellent coverage for an average of $30/mo. The average American is probably paying more like $70 or 80/mo.

 
Do the dedicated hot spot devices that you can purchase from the carriers work any better then phones as hot spots

 
r3meyer said:
Yes and no.  They have 4 antennas in them so they send and receive better.  However if there is no capacity left on the tower its not going to be any better.
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Exactly if the tower is operating at 99% capacity they start slowing down everybody. Only thing to do is to reach out to one of the other towers in the area.  For that you need a booster, The tower at Olgilby isn't the only other one out there. There are a few over towards the river and the gold rock RV park that are out of range for a regular cell phone. Also on the Gecko side there are a bunch out towards Holtville, none of these towers are going to be able to be seen by your cell phone.  But you throw up a booster and now you will see them and can use that tower because it has very few people trying to use it compared to the Stores tower that is running at 90%+ capacity  on every big weekend. 

 
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