So on our recent journey, I found internet access where I could. Many commercial RV parks are offering this service and when we were parked in a state campground, I could usually find internet at an accommodating restaurant. Libraries are often access points and surprisingly enough, most Safeways offer free Wi-Fi…even when they don’t advertise it. I found Wi-Fi in Starbucks inside of Fred Meyer on the Oregon coast and at a KOA campground café. I saw signs for free Wi-Fi in bookstores, bars, coffee shops, travel centers, and even gas stations! It’s out there, it just is not always convenient.
One of the frustrations with this method of staying online, is that I often have to go somewhere other than my camping site to find a connection. One solution to that was doing my blog off line in Live Writer. I would do sometimes three posts at a time and then when I found internet I would upload all of them but schedule them to post automatically on different days. It’s very easy to do that in Blogger. If anyone doesn’t know how and is interested, just let me know and I’ll help you through.
The other thing that frustrates is the lack of a good signal. Sometimes I would get no signal at all inside the RV but could get one if I went outside. Our Lazy Daze is metal clad rather than having a fiberglass body and I think that makes a difference. It’s like trying to get a signal from inside an enclosed metal box.
Russ picked up a handy dandy little device at Radio Shack for just $49.95.
It is a simple signal booster. It can either be plugged directly into the USB port (if you are not inside a metal box!) or it can be plugged into the cradle and the long cord plugged into the USB port. Then I just dangle the thing outside the window! Bingo! In one place I had the signal strength go from “low” to “very good” and the speed go from 11 mbps to 22 mbps. Now that’s still not very fast but there are other factors that go into determining the upload and download speeds.
All in all I would say this was a good purchase. I used it whenever I was within range of a signal, sometimes even in restaurants where free Wi Fi was offered. It always improved the signal strength. I suppose if I was clever, I could find a way to mount it somewhere rather than dangle it out the window, but right now, dangling works fine! Simple.
Can’t wait for fall pictures again. These are from October 2009.
