Question Camper Wifi Repeater

Jul 26, 2020
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Since most campgrounds have crappy Wifi, I have a Comfast CF-EW mounted on the roof of my camper to repeat the signal to all my devices. It works great from a signal point of view, but the firmware is crap, requiring constant reboots. I've been looking for a replacement from a respectable brand, but most are managed and/or don't have a repeater function. There are repeaters designed specifically for campers, but they're charging $400+ for $25 worth of hardware to people who don't know better. The closest I came was a Meraki device, but it had internal antennas, and the gain looked like it would be a step down. Does anyone know of an 802.11AC repeater that's weatherproof, long range, and powered by POE? Bonus points if it can remember multiple hotspots and connect to the strongest one.
 
Maybe simpler to make your own repeater and likely works on more systems. For a repeater to function the provider of the internet must have WDS turned on. This allows multiple mac addresses. If not you need to run as a router. Running as a router also prevents other people connecting to the same wifi source from seeing your machine.

I would look at ubiquiti products. They sell many outdoor bridge equipment that can run in a number of modes. You would then run a ethernet cable inside and hook it to any router or AP to provide the wifi. The wifi inside would only be shared between your machines.

Using something like a nanostation loco and a mid price router I bet you could get it for about $100 total.
 
Jul 26, 2020
6
0
10
A few years ago I tried two devices connected by Ethernet. I don't remember the exact outcome, but I do remember it was cumbersome, didn't work well, and I abandoned it quickly. Seems common wisdom doesn't always work with camping. For instance, I assumed for years that directional was always the way to go, but the Comfast, with it's stock omni antennas, gave me the best, most consistent connection I ever had. I'm assuming that, with all the obstacles, you can't accurately predict which direction a signal will come from.
Since I've got by far the best performance from the Comfast, I'm hoping to find something as close to the Comfast as possible, just with better quality. I've seen possible devices from companies including EnGenius and TP-Link, but they either don't have a universal repeater function, or aren't 802.11ac.