Caravan WIFI
Need caravan WIFi but don’t have a phone line? Find out how to get a fast internet connection in your caravan at a competitive price without a Landline.
As the internet continues to integrate further into our daily lives, the significance of Caravan WIFI has grown immensely. There could be various motives bringing you here—perhaps your existing onsite WIFI lacks performance, or you might lack an internet connection entirely. Regardless of the scenario, there’s promising news. Caravan WIFI has seen a surge in availability and affordability across the UK in recent times.
Within this blog, we will outline the process of establishing a WIFI connection for your caravan. We’ll detail the necessary purchases, guide you through the setup procedure, and provide an overview of the costs associated with purchasing a caravan WIFI router.
PLUG & Play WIFI for Caravans: If you would like to skip these steps and let Caravan Things take care of it all for you with one of our Plug & Play kits. Static Caravan Pug and play kit
It has become a necessity to be connected to the internet these days. The problem is this usually requires a phone line. Some Caravan sites get around this issue by providing onsite WIFI, however this can be slow and unreliable. Basically the more people that connect to the onsite WIFI the slower your caravan WIFI becomes.
There’s also those who have no Caravan WIFI connection at all and are finding it an ever growing problem.
The solution to this comes from the utilization of the 4G network. The 4G network is the same network your mobile phone utilizes to connect to the internet. However, we are able to overcome issues you may have with signal strength in your area by utilizing made for purpose 4G routers and if required external antenna kits.
4G caravan WIFI Network
You may be thinking that 4G internet for your caravan wont work for you. Maybe you have poor signal on your mobile phone? or lack of signal all together?
If your mobile phone has a poor signal this can be due to many reasons. Most of the UK now has 4G coverage provided to it by at least one service provider. In many cases you can ensure signal strength for your Caravan WIFI simply by selecting the correct network.
If you want to understand the best network service provider at your location then full signal surveys are available. We would recommend a Full signal survey provided by our friends at OffGridWIFI.co.uk. They provide you a full signal survey on all networks, including mast locations.
Full 4G/5G signal strength and mast locations check
lack of signal can be caused by interference. Caravan Site interference can a be caused by surrounding buildings and the close proximity of other caravans. Added to this, 4G signal doesn’t tend to pass through caravans too well. This is mainly due to the material they are constructed from (including foil insulation).
Site WIFI Interference
Other issues such as onsite WIFI and interference from electrical devices, surrounding vegetation/trees and the general landscape can also play a big part in signal strength.
Download speeds and service reliability are directly related to how strong a signal you receive. Therefore selecting the network with strongest signal in your area is the most important first step in receiving fast and reliable Caravan WIFI.
4G Caravan WIFI Network Service providers
There are 4 main network service providers in the UK. These are Vodafone, EE, Three & O2. There are also providers that piggy back onto the main service providers network, These include the likes of GIFFGAFF & SKYMOBILE.
4G Signal Strength
For the more technically inclined the best way to choose the correct service provider is to run Signal checks. There are many ways to do this. You can visit each service providers website , or even contact them individually via phone and ask them to run signal checks at your location. They should be also able to a suggest your expected data speeds and signal strength.
Another method would be to ask friends and neighbours in your area about their mobile phone signal experience . It is likely they have varying levels of experience with differing suppliers. Choose the best amongst them. But do note that some of the issues they face may be hardware related rather than the signal itself.
4G Internet Cost
Another important factor in selecting the best service provider is cost. If you intend to go with a SIM only contract then each service provider is relatively equal in terms of what they cost. For example on a unlimited Data package the price range between the major Suppliers is from £32-£35 a month.
If like many of our readers you don’t use your Caravan all year round, the last thing you want is to be stuck to a contract and paying each month even when you aren’t there. Fortunately caravan-Things has found as solution to this.
GIFFGAFF Non-Contract Network
GIFFGAFF offer a pay as you go deals that with unlimited data for the same price as a contract. They offer this in bundles known as “GOODYBAGS”.
When you purchase a “GOODYBAG” you receive a set amount of data that will last 1 month, exactly like a contract deal. However there is no requirement to top up each month. Therefore if you only stay at your caravan 50% of the year, you will only pay for that time.
How much data you need for caravan WIFI is completely dependant on your expected usage.
If you intend to stream videos using the likes of NETLFIX or AMAZON Prime you will likely require Unlimited data costing approximately £35 per month.
If using your caravan WIFI for general web surfing, reading the news etc… Then you may only require as little as 10GB of data and expect to pay as little as £10 a month.
For more information on caravan internet service providers take a look at our other Blogs below
4G Caravan Router
Once you have selected your network the next step is to choose your 4G router.
4G routers are similar to that of the router you have at home but they don’t require a landline. Instead 4G routers allow you to insert the sim card provided by your network supplier and use the same network you mobile phone utilizes.
When picking your 4G router for your Caravan WIFI there are some basic features we would suggest you look for.
4G ROUTER CAT
First we would recommend at least a CAT4 router. these routers are capable of 150Mbps which is more than adequate for Caravan WIFI. The higher the category number of the router the faster and more capable the router tends to be. You will find information on what category the router is in its normal description.
Tourer or static caravan WIFI
Touring caravan WIFI
If you are looking for WIFI for your Touring caravan you may want a router with its own battery source that can be charged and used when not hooked up to the grid. These routers tend not to have antennas so you may find it more difficult to receive a strong signal. However, there are variants available that have antenna ports which allow you to connect an external antenna to help boost signal.
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Motorhome WiFi kit£290.00 -
Touring Caravan WIFI kit with antenna£340.00
As static caravans tend to have a 240V power available. You can take advantage of the same 4G routers you could use at any normal home. These offer the benefit of having substantial antennas that will increase signal strength significantly. Many of these routers also tend to have removable antennas which allows you to quickly upgrade to a 4G external antenna
Caravan 4G antennas
If you are in a poor signal area or you want to get the best speeds and most reliable caravan WIFI possible then external antennas offer you a solution.
Many 4G routers allow you to remove their standard antennas and connect an external antenna instead. Your caravans WIFI will improve quite substantially with the use of an external antenna for two reasons.
Caravan WIFI interference
The first reason being that the caravans structure can block a significant amount of signal and add interference. Installing an external antenna means the signal does not have to pass through the caravan structure and is not subject to internal interference caused by other electrical devices and the routers own WIFI transmission.
External antenna signal boost
The second reason an external antenna will increase your broadband speed is because its so much larger and more sensitive than the standard antenna. In fact using such an antenna internally would still significantly increase you signal.
There are many antenna types to choose from. Our favourite due to its great results on previous projects is the Poynting XPOL 2 5G ready antenna.
POIYNTING 4G antenna for caravans
The Poynting XPOL 1 V2 is ideal for caravan WIFI as it can be both pole mounted and suction cup mounted.
The antenna can be pole mounted on a new antenna mast or share your existing TV aerial mast making it ideal for static caravans.
The antenna can also be mounted temporarily on a flat surface using its suction cups. This makes it also ideal for Touring caravans and Campers.
The antenna is omni directional so does not require accurate location or pointing at the nearest mast, although doing so will increase signal strength. This antenna is compatible with both the Suggested routers above.
These antennas are more than worth the outlay and this particular model is also 5G ready meaning it will be suitable for routers years from now.
For more on Caravan WIFI check out some of our other posts. Or contact us for further guidance
PLUG AND PLAY Caravan WIFI
If you would like to skip all the above described steps, take a look at our PLUG AND PLAY KITS
