One of the best things about owning a caravan is the chance to situate it somewhere quieter and more remote, making it the perfect getaway from the hustle and bustle that comes with living in a town or city.
However, this can come with a drawback. Often, caravan owners find it difficult to enjoy a good WiFi connection due to a number of challenges, such as their remote location and lack of infrastructure. If your caravan is mobile, this can provide even more problems.
Luckily, there are solutions that mean you can enjoy a good WiFi connection in your caravan, wherever it is. So what are the options available to you, and how do you access them? Let’s take a look.
How Can I Get Broadband in My Caravan?
If you know your options, then it’s easy to get WiFi for your caravan. But to do this, you need to know what options are available to you.
Firstly, it’s worth knowing that many caravan parks provide a WiFi service that you can take advantage of. Whether you’ll need to pay for this WiFi will vary from site to site.
However, it’s possible that you’ll be sharing this WiFi network with a large number of people, making it highly likely that your speeds will be slow and lead to problems such as buffering while you’re streaming your favourite TV shows, patchy video calls, and slow browsing. If this sounds like something you’d rather avoid, you can set up your own WiFi network in your caravan.
Your Caravan WiFi Options Explained
Signal Boosters
If the caravan park you’re in provides a public WiFi service, you can take advantage of this and save yourself having to pay for your own WiFi. If you’re far away from the centre of the park and receiving a weak signal, you can invest in WiFi signal boosters which will improve your connection.
It is worth noting that signal boosters can’t improve bandwidth. This means that if the WiFi service you’re receiving is slow regardless of how close to the hub you are, your boosters won’t be able to improve this.
Mobile Broadband for Caravans
One of the most widely available and popular solutions for your caravan WiFi problems is a mobile broadband service.
Similar to how your phone uses data to connect to the internet, a 4G hub can provide internet for your caravan in the same way. Simply buy a sim card for your 4G router, choose whether you want to pay monthly or pay as you go, and you’re all set.
To get an even better service, you can purchase an antenna to attach to the exterior of your caravan.
While it’s one of the most cost effective solutions that’s also extremely easy to set up, 4G broadband is still not an absolutely perfect service, just like any other. It requires you to be able to get a good mobile signal in your area. Before buying your sim and router, check that your mobile gets a good signal in the area. If it does, you can expect your 4G broadband to work well in your caravan.
Mobile Hotspots
If you want to take advantage of 4G data but don’t want even the minimal hassle of setting up your mobile broadband, you can use your mobile phone’s hotspot to deliver internet to other devices. Simply turn on the hotspot in your mobile’s settings, and connect to it from your other devices just like you would with any other internet service.
Similar to the 4G broadband, this solution won’t be effective in areas that experience poor mobile service. Just make sure to track your data usage so you don’t exceed any monthly limits you may have.
Satellite Internet
If getting a good wifi service is non-negotiable for you, you could get satellite broadband for your caravan. While you may experience the occasional time when your connection is unreliable or latency is high, you can generally expect to receive a good service.
However, this all comes at a price, as a satellite service can incur expensive equipment and installation costs, not to mention much higher monthly bills.
Fixed Wireless Broadband
Likely to provide the fastest speeds to your caravan, fixed wireless broadband is another affordable option for caravan owners.
However, unlike mobile broadband, your fixed wireless will require a direct line of sight to the radio tower that it connects to. Therefore obstacles like hills, trees, buildings, and even bad weather can seriously affect the connection and speeds you get from your wireless broadband.
What’s the best Caravan WiFi Option?
This depends on what your priorities are. If your priority is cost, then using a mobile phone hotspot provides no extra cost, as long as you stay within your data plan. Alternatively, WiFi boosters provide another cheaper solution, since there are no ongoing costs once you’ve bought the equipment.
If getting the best possible speed is your priority, then fixed wireless broadband is the way to go. Remember though that this requires a direct line of sight to the radio tower. Without this, you may struggle to enjoy a reliable connection.
For the overall best solution, we highly recommend 4G broadband. Widely available and often great for even the most remote locations, mobile broadband is easy to set up and usually comes with affordable and flexible price plans. What’s more, it’s easy to check if it will work in your area and is easy to set up.
Dyfed: Delivering Reliable Mobile Broadband
We’re experts when it comes to delivering a good internet service to our customers throughout Wales, and are specialists when it comes to those who live in more remote areas. Whatever you need your WiFi for, be it so you can work from home, watch your favourite Netflix shows, or anything else, we’re here to help.
To find out more about how we can deliver this to you, get in touch with us today.
