Experiencing poor internet in your static caravan from your site’s wifi?

With the return of the great british holiday and caravan parks being busy this year, some people have noticed that during busy times their internet connection in their caravan has been affected whereas others may struggle for a good wifi signal from inside the caravan quite regularly.

This often depends on your method of connecting to the internet of which there are 2 common methods:

Mobile broadband

If experiencing slow speeds all the time this can be down to:

• Poor signal in the area
• Loss of signal penetration from outside the caravan going into the caravan

If experiencing slow speeds during peak season and busy times but it is good at other times this can be down to:

• High traffic on the mobile local networks caused by high numbers of people in the area

If at anytime when you can receive a good signal directly outside your caravan but not inside then in either situation it is very likely that you may need an external antenna on your caravan.

Campsite wifi

Campsite wifi uses an an infrastructure of different devices within the campsite to provide a wireless signal around the site. This wifi can sometimes be free or it can be a paid for service. A paid for service will usually guarantee a solid steady managed connection at all times whereas free wifi can sometimes slow down at busy times if many users are using it.

A very common misconception we experience from people is that they believe the wifi signal from campsite wifi is poor when in actual fact it is very good – the main causes they have a weaker signal are often:

• Distance from the access point to their caravan
• Obstacles between the caravan and the access points on the site i.e. trees, vehicles
• The walls of your caravan, especially when made of metal not letting the wireless signal pass through them easily – this can often be confirmed if your device picks up a good signal when directly outside your caravan but not inside it. This is the most common cause of a weak wifi signal inside a caravan.

How can I pick up a signal from inside my caravan better?

The most practical way would be to use an external antenna mounted on the top of your caravan. The higher mounting position of these would mean it should pick up a stronger signal from the access point and be less prone to obstacles and interference.

The external antenna would pick up the wifi signal outside your caravan and send it via a cable to the inside of your caravan to a router which you then connect your devices too. Your router can then be set up to broadcast your own personal network for you to connect your devices too.

These can be bought as a kit and installed and configured with several different options available. For further information or advice please do not hesitate to contact us.