Antennas for Cell, GPS, and WiFi

[Cary and Don]

We are trying to find a system that will have one antenna for Cell, GPS, and Wifi that can be mounted on the roof and be connected to a system that will work wireless.  It seems that there are a lot of systems that will do each,  but nothing we can find that will take care of all three.  It seems like there should be a better method than having one antenna run into and plugged into the cell phone.  Then another antenna run in and plug into the laptop for GPS.  And then another antenna and booster run in for the Wifi.  Wouldn't wireless be better?  We are sure someone here will know how to do this.  Then we can reinstall the tv and take a trip.

Don and Cary
1973 05 Eagle
GM3107
Neoplan AN340

[bobofthenorth]

In a word - no.  What you want doesn't exist and - AFAIK - can't exist because the frequencies involved are dramatically different.  You can get a booster for your cell phone.  You can get a wifi booster.  The GPS antenna doesn't need a booster but it does need to be able to see the sky.

There's lots of websites out there that do a better job of explaining this than I ever could.  Jack Mayer for example does a good job of explaining the cellular & wifi thing  here.

What works for us is a Wilson cellular booster with an induction coupler.  That means that we have a little bit of plastic about the size of a credit card on the end of a 6 foot cord that has to be up against the back of the phone in order to get any boost.  On the boat we have a booster system that also has a wireless connection to the phone but I don't particularly like it and if I was doing it again I'd go with the Wilson and the induction coupling.  For wifi we have tried a variety of things and the bottom line as far as I am concerned is that there isn't a good, cheap solution.  I think some of the big square plastic antennas that you occasionally see do actually work but at a significant cost and with a significant headaches to set them up.  We carry a Hughes dish for internet, we also both have tethering capability to our Blackberries and we have a Verizon dongle with a month to month contract that we can activate if we think we need that.  Being connected is imperative for us so we have a lot of redundancy in that department.

[robertglines1]

we have the Wilson home office system in our bus with the egg shaped in side antenna. Runs all cellphone and our mifi.  3yrs in use. inside and outside antenna must have 35ft separation . no physical contact to cellphones or mifi/computers.  run any amount at one time.   Bob

[technomadia]

About the best you can do is mount all the differing antennas on the same mast.   As stated above, all three have very different requirements.  They all operate at very different frequencies (and even different cellular services have differing frequencies).  So one device that does it all is just not feasible.

We're currently testing out a Top Signal cellular booster system :

http://powerfulsignal.com/cell-phone-booster-vehicle-kit.aspx

It broadcasts a signal inside the bus so that we don't have to worry about plugging it into anything.  Our AT&T and Verizon devices all just soak up the glorious signal.

What makes this unit unique from the similar Wilson setup (which we had on our last rig), is that it auto resets while in motion as you switch towers - giving you a nice boost while going down the road, instead of just while parked.

For GPS, we just use what comes in our devices (iPhones, iPads and dedicated GPS units).   And next on our list is researching the ideal WiFi antenna. 

We do also have plans to mount both a WiFi antenna and a narrow beam cellular booster antenna (that will feed into our Top Signal booster) on a mast that we can deploy when parked for any length of time - to give us maximum boosting power when we have time to aim things.

- Cherie

[bobofthenorth]

I should have mentioned in my first post - something we do use for wifi boost is a Pepwave 200.  Its on the boat right now so I kind of forgot about it but I just recently ordered some coax and a yagi for it.  Even with the little stubby antenna on the Pepwave it will pull in wifi that was otherwise unusable and make it decent.  I'm hoping that with 15 feet of elevation and an external yagi it will be pretty useful.  Its biggest appeal to a Scot such as myself is that it was cheap.  I've also got a Rube Goldberg contraption made out of a collapsible collander that actually works when I bother to dig it out.  There's a picture of it here.

[white-eagle]

yagi, goldberg, collander?  technospeak from a farmer?  Holy stuff, batman, who'd a thunk it.

just joking with ya Bob!  He's right, there is no such animal as an all in one antenna.  a yagi is a directional antenna that reaches further toward the source, and sends toward the receiver.  most cellphone broadcast in all directions.  same with wifi.  using a Yagi points the signal toward the tower in the distance or the wifi router in the distance.

there are boosters for cell phones.  sometimes using a different wifi usb card with an external antenna will help the wifi, but you live in a metal bus that blocks signal.  hang it out the window and it all improves.

all radio waves travel in a somewhat straight line.  there is something i think called a frennel zone which is an oblong loop of radio waves.  as the curvature of the earth drops you out of that zone, you lose signal unless you have a taller antenna to help.  The lower you are on that oval, the less signal.  i think.  been a while since i had that class with Intel.


Technomadia/cherie - i got a note from Bill this AM about the Arcadia Rally.  he said i should talk to you.  send me an email whtbus91 at gmail. something about a seminar.

[bobofthenorth]

yagi, goldberg, collander?  technospeak from a farmer?  Holy stuff, batman, who'd a thunk it.

Smarta$$ technogeek.   

Don't forget you still owe me for Hughesnet tech support on your granola crunching tree hugger client from California.

And BTW the collander works pretty well if you can tolerate the weird looks you get from passersby but its really directional too.

[buswarrior]

The Princess Auto is selling a great wire cullender disguised as a parts washer accessory.

It has a nifty rubber coated magnet in the bottom...

happy coaching!
buswarrior