hi all,
I just bought a mini, haven’t upgraded the firmware or the license for Wifi as Wan. brand new to mobile networking, but have a few parts i’ve assembled for my camper.
i understand the BR1 can only transmit/recieve on one antenna for wifi, so if im trying to access the local wifi at a campsite, I’ll need to get the license and a wifi antenna. does it need to be a Mimo antenna?
i’ve read that the internal BR1 antenna also cannot broadcast into the camper if it’s attempting to connect to the signal at the campsite AP. so i have an older cradlepoint 1000 router to use as the router for my gear in the trailer which I’ll hook into the LAN connection on the BR1.
am i doing this right? any other setup ideas?
im 300 feet away from the campsite router and can barely get a signal on my laptop, so I’m attempting to set that up with a verizon data package as a backup
Nope. The BR1 mini has a single RP-SMA connector for the WIFI. But you could install a single mimo 4G antenna and use the other element (with an adapter) for the WIFI. And if you’re drilling holes anyway I’d just install a single antenna with LTE, GPS and WIFI and be done with it, rather than have to upgrade it later as my demands change.
The wifi radio can be used for both WIFI WAN and WIFI AP at the same time but throughput is affected because of the double duty. What can happen though is if the BR1 can’t connect to the wifi and is continuously scanning for an SSID to use the WIFI AP and client access via WIFI can get interrupted on single wifi radio devices like this.
In your case though, you’d rock up to the campsite connected on cellular most likely, then attempt a wifi wan connection. If it works great then fine you’d stick the WIFI in Priority 1 and cellular in Priority 2, if not, you’d put wifi into a lower priority and stay on cellular. If you set the standby state of the wifi wan as disconnected it won’t try and scan for SSIDS when its not being used and your wifi client access will be unaffected.
Not a bad idea to have an additional access point as wifi antenna outside can sometimes make coverage inside patchy.