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New WiFiRanger initiatives and end of support for some older models


docj

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WiFiRanger has just announced a new initiative that is designed to make RV park wifi a better option for many of us. Technomadia has an excellent summary of the initiative here: https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/wifiranger-announces-passport-for-guaranteed-fast-wi-fi/ It is a good summary and there's no reason for me to summarize it again here.

 

The purpose of this post is bring to people's attention a section of the associated WiFiRanger press release in which WFR makes existing customers aware of the fact that the next major firmware update will not include support for the older WiFiRanger Go, Home, Pro and Mobile routers. These older units can barely handle the current software and planned expansions of capability are out of the question.

 

This should come as no surprise to anyone since these units are ~5 years old or more and that's several lifetimes in the consumer electronics marketplace but I know that a number of you still rely on them. You will be able to continue to use the 7.0 software for as long as you wish but no future updates are likely to occur other than as bug fixes.

 

Anyone with specific questions is welcome to PM them to me.

 

Joel (AKA docj)

Sandie & Joel

2000 40' Beaver Patriot Thunder Princeton--425 HP/1550 ft-lbs CAT C-12
2014 Honda CR-V AWD EX-L with ReadyBrute tow bar/brake system
WiFiRanger Ambassador
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Hi Doc, belated Happy New Years to you (And all!)!

 

So, we've found that in the last 18 months or so, we've used the WiFiRanger GO2 with rooftop Mobile, two times. (Needing a parks WiFi for internet. Majority of the time, we run with my Verizon S6 in HotSpot mode. Or for while in Canada, we used the Milenicom HotSpot with their new 20GB plan under T-Mobile. I will add while in Canada, that we found the VPN Tunnel tip you gave us in Canada, to work well for us, with some hit to speed.)

 

I've been thinking of upgrading to a GO3, once they've been out for awhile. But had planned to retain the Mobile, as frankly it still seems to due a more then adequate job of pulling in a signal that the GO2 will not. And this is without even changing over to the WFR RV Antenna I bought, while they were available, with higher DB.

 

What do you think will happen with non support? Will the Mobile have no chance of working with a GO3? Or is it just a 'not guaranteed' to do so situation?

 

For now, with our current traveling routes, hard to justify dropping probably $500 or so to replace everything... Suppose I could just cruise along without updating software, until things just 'break'.

 

But if you were looking to replace all of this at one time, what would your choice pieces be?

 

TIA, and best,

Smitty

Be safe, have fun,

Smitty

04 CC Allure "RooII" - Our "E" ride for life!

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I am all for people paying to get a better wifi connection. Not so jazzed about the vendor lock-in and forced upgrades. Perhaps it's time for a grassroots movement for folks with mobile internet to share it with nearby campers. Easy enough to do with a .5A minirouter. Use their connection, invite them over for beer or a hot meal.

 

I also am of the opinion that it is easier to conserve data rather than find a faster connection. But good luck convincing folks they should stream Netflix over a shared campground wifi. Tragedy of the [wireless] commons.

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What do you think will happen with non support? Will the Mobile have no chance of working with a GO3? Or is it just a 'not guaranteed' to do so situation?

 

 

 

I have a Mobile and am NOT using it with my GoAC. The AC unit is so much faster than the Mobile that it seems silly to bog it down just to use an outdated piece of hardware. Right now I am just using my GoAC inside the MH and, for my present circumstance, it is just fine. The Mobile should be able to utilize the current hardware and should like to the GoAC but I don't see any reason to do it.

 

At present, if I wanted to upgrade my Mobile, I would put a Sky2 on the roof. It doesn't have 5GHz capability, but it is a faster device than the Mobile. Most CG's don't have 5GHz wifi yet and, therefore, there's little that will be lost.

Sandie & Joel

2000 40' Beaver Patriot Thunder Princeton--425 HP/1550 ft-lbs CAT C-12
2014 Honda CR-V AWD EX-L with ReadyBrute tow bar/brake system
WiFiRanger Ambassador
Follow our adventures on Facebook at Weiss Travels

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Like Joel, I also recommend going to a sky2 if you feel you need a rooftop unit. For the same reasons. I also run a Go AC and find little use for rooftop. But sometimes it IS required...3 times last year.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
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My Sky2 mini will work with it. But the price is not in place yet for the faster hook up.

Anything over $5 for 24 hours or overnight stay that would be equal to $150 a month would be too much.

 

And make my Hotspot data cheaper to use for my average use of 205-409MB a day.

 

Did I say I love my Sky2 for overnight Free campground WiFi. :)

But not many of the Passport America Pop & Mom campgrounds I stay at have that terrible Tengo service. ;)

 

I wounder why WiFiRanger picked the name of "Passport" for the new service. It sounds similar to another one I use. :o

 

 

"In a nutshell, we’ve aligned with hundreds of parks across the country to:

Eliminate the login/timeout hassles.
Prefer WiFiRanger traffic for higher performance.
To ultimately fund specific Wi-Fi access points for streaming and WFR Passport only subscribers."

May take them a while to get Thousands campgrounds aligned up. Hundreds will make it a very big hit & miss to stay at. :(

Full Time since Oct. 1999
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Thanks for the input.... Oh, and I had brainwave skip, it was the GoAC, not the GO3 that I was thinking of changing out on the inside of the package. I also neglected to mention the old Mobile, has the larger WiFiRanger antenna (Think it was called the XT(?)) with also off of memory, bumped up the DB to over 8.). It has pulled in signals from pretty far access points over the last few years. And so far, I've been pretty lucky on not knocking it off (When I added the larger antenna, XT(?), I mounted it to the back of the rear AC shroud with soft small bungie cords. When I hit it with my arm, the bungie cords allow it to slide down and out of the path of my arm without too much resistance, but yet it ha remained in place for now 18 + months.

 

I'll not rush into anything. Maybe keep my eyes out for a Sky2 or SkyPro being resold by someone. If we find we're getting to higher number of locations with WiFi and no Verizon coverage, then I'll look to see what is now the latest and greatest, and make the jump again. Today that would probably be the EliteAC (Thinking that the times the inside GoAC needs help, might as well just put up the pole:)! Though the EliteAC FM does look like a 'mount it and forget it' option, that should greatly out perform my current Mobile with added XT antenna.

 

I also wanted to share that very seldom do we do any heavy streaming off of our current GO2 and Mobile combination. I usually stream Pandora/Spotify/Radio Paradise over a few devices, via the GO2 with sources being either park WiFi, but usually the source is the Samsung S6 Hotspot (I use the GO2, as it has a further broadcast then the S6, especially for outside the coach.) Probably less then 5-7 times over the last 3 years, we've streamed Netflix/Amazon/Etc. via WiFi source. And that is only at places we've been where we were not impacting others. (A few have actually said it was OK, due to robustness. And a few times it has been at private residences, where the owners had plenty of bandwidth and said to go for it.)

 

9 times out 10, the Verizon Samsung S6 with currently non throttled unlimited data, is our primary source. S6 Hotspot to our Samsung TV or Oppo Blue Ray, and our laptops are usually connected to the S6 to, only shifting over to the GO2 when outside of the coach due to stronger signal. My DW will sometimes also WiFi connect to the S6 Hotspot or GO2, when her ATT signal is weak or not existent. So this is why I feel I can let things simmer a bit on the changes to WiFi and routing...

 

As with many things in the tech sector, things don't still for long... But I usually find I like to be towards the end of a shift to newer standards and products... Just too many years in IT, where early adoption of new tech could cause serious impact to operations when a hiccup occurred...:)!)

 

Best to all,

Smitty

Be safe, have fun,

Smitty

04 CC Allure "RooII" - Our "E" ride for life!

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