Internet connection for laptop in van

Hi. Yes, I am sad, but have to work when I am away in my Cali. Can anybody tell me the best device to use to connect my laptop to the internet please. Thanks

Do you want to connect to wifi hotspots or use a mobile internet dongle?

For wifi I would recommend a Solwise Rocket potentially with the little router.

The other option is a mobile internet hotspot, I find plusnet are the cheapest for internet data at the moment. Three is my current mobile internet sim.

Prefer Mobile internet dongle- did have O2 but it was useless!!!

I have an iPhone with a pay as you go deal with EE.

This arrangement allows 'tethering'

Either I connect the iPhone directly to the laptop and get onto internet with USB or set up a wifi hotspot.

(I used to have a dongle / MIFI thing but no need now as iPhone does the job)

Works well inside the van.


I am sure android phones do the same, but I think some 'contracts' don't allow tethering.

EE very good though.

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I've also recently bought one of these to charge the laptop (13" MacBook Pro)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077ZRBPNB/?tag=eliteelect-21

think there are other options available for charging other laptops

I used to have a standalone mobile wifi device but found it was cheaper to just turn my phone into a mobile hotspot and use my phones data.

Both my personal phone (Huawei) and work phone (Samsung) allow me to do it without issue

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We use a Huawei 5577 mifi with a Giffgaff sim card https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B011YM0OXU/?tag=eliteelect-21 It will boost a 3g signal to 4g, also you can use it to boost any present wifi signals

Ours came with a router in the glove box and a receiver on the top. It seems to pick up a stronger mobile signal than my phone.
Great for remote working and can join conference calls. It's not quite strong enough to host a conference call yet.

We are 4G wireless at home, just pop it into the van when we go camping, literally seamless

What's wrong with a phone tethering?

Prev had a Netgear mobile hotspot(AC81...). Changed back to phone hotspot. Works for us.
I like the solution of @WelshGas with the external antenna he used on his trip up North

Sp0_0k said:

What's wrong with a phone tethering?

Click to expand...

Nothing, but some phone contracts don’t allow it.
I just use a 4g MiFi with a 24GB data card, permanently on when travelling. No fussing around.
However I have come across sites, no mobile or very poor signal, but the site does have WiFi over landline and my second system uses an amplifier aerial to connect to the site WiFi and a router to generate my own hotspot. Works very well.

I would also look at motor home wif who specialise in mobile connectivity for you van

https://www.motorhomewifi.com/

We have used two options:

1. iPhone personal WiFi hotspot - go to Settings->Personal Hotspot, switch it on and set a password. You can then connect to the hotspot with your computer. We use EE, and it's possible that other providers do not support this. For us this works well and is easy to set up. Good results, even at speed on French and UK motorways, for browsing, email and Skype audio calls. You should switch the hotspot off when you are done, as it uses some battery power to keep it on.

2. Huawei E5785 mobile travel hotspot, with 3 sim, all from Amazon. Slightly more involved to set up, but then you can plug this into the USB socket in the glove box and just leave it there. You need to press a button on the front for a couple of seconds to wake it up, but after that connecting to it is simple.

After connecting the first time, as long as you don't clear the settings on your computer, your computer will probably reconnect automatically to either option.

One word of warning - if you connect an iPhone or iPad to a mobile hotspot over WiFi, they may try to automatically download an update for their operating software. They can't tell the difference between mobile WiFi and your home broadband WiFi. This can be a problem, because updates can be >8 GB in size and if you have a SIM with, say, 12 GB available it will soon be used up.

As long as your SIM provider allows it, and especially if you have unlimited data, the personal hotspot from a phone is probably cheapest and simplest.

We have an EE mifi box allowing up to 10 connections and 60gb per month allowance. Works well home & abroad and takes up no space.

Hi. Try Motorhomewifi.com. Their pack 2 will be ideal for your requirements. They also provide an accessory for fitting the aerial to the ridged Cally Roof.

I purchased their pack 2 at the Birmingham Motorhome Show this year to fit to our Motorhome.. ( yes I have a Cally, I bought it new nine years ago and will never part with it .. we love it )

The unit can boost the signal by up to 5 times and you can connect multiple devices.
Mine is now installed on the Motorhome and works brilliantly. I’m considering fitting one to our beloved Cally.

Generally use a Mifi plugged into kitchen 12v so on all the time for work as I find phone hotspot connection drops in and out requiring you to turn hotspot off then on again whereas the Mifi works like your home router and connects instantly and also boosts signal, the range is good as I take laptop on to sites and it still connects some 100 metres away. I split my data with Three so think I pay 9 quid each a month for Mifi and phone data, 8 GB each. I've tried various things for work and play and so far this is best for me.

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If using a tethered 4G connection (phone or mifi box) be aware that your computer will think it's connected to a regular wifi service so will start doing all its usual background stuff - synching, software updates etc - as soon as it's connected. That will chew through your data allowance at a rate of knots, if you have one, or at least will slow everything down.

(MCCP described the same problem above, for iOS devices, but it's the same with a Windows machine).

But in Windows 10 settings you can switch a specified connection to behave as a "metered connection" which limits most of the background chatter. See:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4028458/windows-metered-connections-in-windows-10