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5G/4G antenna for remote locations?

I’ve yet to get my wah way and Kuma Caravan Motorhome 4G Unlocked Internet Mobile Hotspot WiFi Kit + Antenna working yet (SIM card issue and rubbish Vodafone customer service) but you have inspired me! The very long snakey aerial is plumbed into the pop top with the wah way on the back of a front seat base.

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I work from my van instead of "work from home" and do zoom calls all day long. I needed something fast, stable and reliable. I researched this extensively and ended up with this unit:


Not cheap, but I don't have any issues whatsoever and always get superb reception and bandwidth. I previously had a Netgear m5 5200 5G router and it was pathetic compared to this modified one from FTS Hennig. Using a 12v cable it pulls 2A/24 watts peak. I've got 4 wifi dashcams, and I recently setup a homekit setup with 2 homepod mini's to use for music or home theater as well. Never skips a beat and super fast wifi 6 with 5G speeds far above OEM internals with their antenna's!
 
I work from my van instead of "work from home" and do zoom calls all day long. I needed something fast, stable and reliable. I researched this extensively and ended up with this unit:


Not cheap, but I don't have any issues whatsoever and always get superb reception and bandwidth. I previously had a Netgear m5 5200 5G router and it was pathetic compared to this modified one from FTS Hennig. Using a 12v cable it pulls 2A/24 watts peak. I've got 4 wifi dashcams, and I recently setup a homekit setup with 2 homepod mini's to use for music or home theater as well. Never skips a beat and super fast wifi 6 with 5G speeds far above OEM internals with their antenna's!
Be good if you can share some more details of you setup, sounds awesome.
 
Be good if you can share some more details of you setup, sounds awesome.
Really not much to it. I bought the unit I posted with the external antennas (note, these are external to the router, not mounted externally to the van). I then bought their 12v 2A cable and had a 12v socket installed inside a cabinet and fixed the router with heavy duty velcro.
 
Really not much to it. I bought the unit I posted with the external antennas (note, these are external to the router, not mounted externally to the van). I then bought their 12v 2A cable and had a 12v socket installed inside a cabinet and fixed the router with heavy duty velcro.
Ah good, and just connect HomeKit to the wifi…what cameras did you get?
 
Be good if you can share some more details of you setup, sounds awesome.
Interesting article. Main thing I take from it is what I thought anyway - don’t bother because 9/10 your phone will work fine. It seems a lot of money and faff to me for very small incremental, if any, real gains. There was a mention in there of a faraday effect from a phone antenea due to a metal van. While I’m not convinced of this, I do find just putting the phone in the pop top gets a better signal most of the time, which could be due to it being higher, could be due to less metal.
 
Interesting article. Main thing I take from it is what I thought anyway - don’t bother because 9/10 your phone will work fine. It seems a lot of money and faff to me for very small incremental, if any, real gains. There was a mention in there of a faraday effect from a phone antenea due to a metal van. While I’m not convinced of this, I do find just putting the phone in the pop top gets a better signal most of the time, which could be due to it being higher, could be due to less metal.
We currently have a ZTE 5G mifi. Gets up to 200 down and 30 up which is more than enough for work zoom/webex/teams calls and picks up a decent signal when my phone cannot.

On an unlimited data contract. It wil
Also accept 2 antennae to improve reception. At present not plumbed in as such, as I also use if if I’m on a train, but it is pretty good.

Still always keen to understand alternatives.

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Ah good, and just connect HomeKit to the wifi…what cameras did you get?
I bought Garmin mini 2's for the sides and rear and a Garmin 67w for the front. Note, those are not homekit cameras but wifi enabled so you can check on the van remotely. I use HomeKit for the sound setup with 2 homepod mini's in stereo setup and also an Eve Room so I can monitor the temps of the van from anywhere using Apple Home app on my phone.
 
We currently have a ZTE 5G mifi. Gets up to 200 down and 30 up which is more than enough for work zoom/webex/teams calls and picks up a decent signal when my phone cannot.

On an unlimited data contract. It wil
Also accept 2 antennae to improve reception. At present not plumbed in as such, as I also use if if I’m on a train, but it is pretty good.

Still always keen to understand alternatives.

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Typically when you connect the 2 external antenna's it will drop down to 4G/4G+, at least on the Netgear 5200 M5 models. Why? The internal antenna's for 5G are MIMO and would require 4 externals. Would be interesting to check this on yours.
 
Interesting article. Main thing I take from it is what I thought anyway - don’t bother because 9/10 your phone will work fine. It seems a lot of money and faff to me for very small incremental, if any, real gains. There was a mention in there of a faraday effect from a phone antenea due to a metal van. While I’m not convinced of this, I do find just putting the phone in the pop top gets a better signal most of the time, which could be due to it being higher, could be due to less metal.
Use cases vary for everyone. I absolutely love checking on my van remotely by connecting to my wifi cameras and also the Eve Room to check temps. I always park outside due to having a 2.8 meter van with a high roof. It's also much more convenient to have a fixed wifi hotspot in the van if you work for hours and hours inside or near the van. Using a phone as a hotspot is fine for the quick fix, but not much more in my case.
 
I’ve yet to get my wah way and Kuma Caravan Motorhome 4G Unlocked Internet Mobile Hotspot WiFi Kit + Antenna working yet (SIM card issue and rubbish Vodafone customer service) but you have inspired me! The very long snakey aerial is plumbed into the pop top with the wah way on the back of a front seat base.

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Been using this Kuma caravan set up a bit recently, really good on the move and even in remote valleys in Wales it’s picking up 4g when my phone struggles
 
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