How to get good WI-FI at Truckstops!

Discussion in 'Trucking Electronics, Gadgets and Software Forum' started by dannythetrucker, Jun 30, 2011.

  1. dannythetrucker

    dannythetrucker Road Train Member

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    I came up with a way to dramatically improve wi-fi reception at truckstops or anywhere else for that matter. y'all can thank me later !

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P19DIzlU9lA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P19DIzlU9lA[/ame]
     
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  3. Timin770

    Timin770 Road Train Member

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    Danny, you are correct about the ALFA adapter. It is one smokin' adapter and will pull in twice as many access points as any adapter I have ever seen. I've had mine for a couple of years and it is my understanding that they have released even more powerful versions since I bought mine.
     
    dannythetrucker Thanks this.
  4. dannythetrucker

    dannythetrucker Road Train Member

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    It's great man ! I don't think I've parked once since I got it and not been able to get full signal strength. I should note that the actual speed still varies, depending on the quality of service available and I'm sure number of other truckers connected. The newer Alfa with larger antenna and boasting twice the power was not rated as highly on amazon. Many customers lamented that it did not perform up to par with the one shown in my vid. I also saw a different sort of Wi-Fi antenna the other day. It is built for permanent outside installation and looks similar to a mirror mount sattelite radio antenna. It was being marketed for boaters(marine) and RV use. It would be nice to have a permanent mounted one and just plug in the usb or even leave it hooked to my laptop, but this thing was $137 + shipping so I think I'll get along with the Alfa for awhile.
     
  5. Yup

    Yup Medium Load Member

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    Tethering to [rooted]Droid phones is working really well,the days of full signal
    and 237kbps are a thing of the past
     
  6. scarface2200

    scarface2200 Light Load Member

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    I am not atrucker yet about to get my cdl and go over the road and reserching wifi on the road I found that Sprint has phones now that ucan use as a wifi hotspot for around $100 a month with unlimited data sounds good to me.
     
  7. groundpounder

    groundpounder Road Train Member

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    I found in my travels that the Sprint coverage really sucked, I ran mostly NY to TX and back every week.....YMMV
     
  8. fairshake

    fairshake Road Train Member

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    They are worth it, wifi is directional. Having an external wifi adapter and a long cord to move around and outside your truck can do amazing things. If you have ever played the game called Pong, wifi angles are like the bars you bounce the wifi ball off of, they can be direct straight paths or bounced off of other objects. Verizon's 4g is really fast in the supported city, hopefully Michael C. Ruppert is incorrect and cell/wifi service wont be degraded and decrease in maintenance.
     
  9. dannythetrucker

    dannythetrucker Road Train Member

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    There may have been a misunderstanding here. I was speaking of using the usb adapter to get wi-fi provided by the truckstops.

    Cellular internet is a whole nother ball of wax. I'm glad some of you are having luck with that, for me tethering to my US Cellular Blackberry is hellish. Dreadfully slow in most places.
     
  10. Dieselboss

    Dieselboss Technology Contributor

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    Welcome to thread-drift Danny.

    You are correct in your original post though. There are many USB wireless adapters out now (most are under $40) that increase the signal when you are trying to connect to WiFi. If a driver does not use an aircard (or even if he or she does have an aircard but still occasionally use WiFi hotspots) I recommend such devices to extend the range (and sometimes the speed) of the WiFi connection.

    When I tested them I was able to extend the distance at which I could pick up a usable signal by a rather remarkable amount.

    The downfall of "clogged" WiFi (too many users on at once) or simply a crap connection to the internet feed by the provider (i.e. Pilot, Petro, or whoever) cannot be overcome by any such devices, but I would wholeheartedly agree with you that a WiFi extender/adapter is a worthwhile and inexpensive addition for those who are keeping score at home.
     
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